Increasingly Asia-Focused -- I-gaming provider Playtech said on Tuesday that it is in preliminary talks with a pure Asia-facing gaming business over a new licensing agreement. "Owing to confidentiality agreements, the company is not able to provide further comment at this stage and will update the market when appropriate," it said in a prepared statement. The company on Dec. 20, 2006 announced a five-year licensing agreement with China-based gaming group Sino Strategic International.
Gnuf Said -- Online bingo and poker site Gnuf, the brainchild of several former Ongame execs, launched today on the Microgaming network.
Going Live -- Ongame today announced the addition of Scandic Bookmakers to its poker network. The Denmark-based sports book, which previously offered games through the Tain Network, went live on Monday.
New Payment Option -- London-based technology company Seed Capital said on Tuesday that it will launch in March YouTeller.com, a new payment processing service targeting I-gamers,. The U.K. Financial Services Authority on Monday certified YouTeller to operate as an e-wallet, the company said in a prepared statement. "We have no overseas branch in a NAFTA-country like Neteller or Citadel," YouTeller CEO and co-founder Johannes Knierzinger said. The company added that it is part of an international lobbying task force that works in conjunction with the World Trade Organization and the European Union on the issue of "worldwide online payments."
PPA Publicizes its Tax Return -- The U.S.-based Poker Players Alliance (PPA) said on its Web site that it had received nearly $1.2 million in "direct public support" during 2005, with lobbying activities ($220,000) and advertising marketing ($278,000) as the major expenses.
Sounding Off -- The I-gaming community in the United Kingdom has become distressed by the recent actions of the U.S. Justice Department (DoJ). Many worry that the ongoing DoJ probe into some London-based banks--about which the DoJ has refused comment--will lead to further arrests and charges, damaging an industry already beset by controversy. Moreover, Britain's legal relationship with the United States, especially regarding extradition, is coming under increasing scrutiny. Several industry observers and executives shared their thoughts on these issues in a Jan. 27 article featured in The Telegraph. Following is a cross-section of comments taken from the article; click here to view the article in its entirety.
"Nobody should be blasé about what the Americans are doing. They're acting very aggressively, and if you're an executive of an Internet gaming company operating just about anywhere from Alderney to the Isle of Man, the message is, don't go anywhere near the United States."
- Jason Chess, a partner at Wiggin, the London law firm, and a gaming law specialist
"The Americans want to bring these gaming company executives to what they refer to as 'justice,' which means slamming them in jail, pocketing their proceeds from the business and claiming the market as their own. Our view is that the United States will legalize online gaming within five years. These subpoenas and the arrests represent sheer hypocrisy."
"There is a poker and gaming Web site in the United States run by a Texan, who moves freely around the [country], as does the famous actress who stars in his TV commercials and only recently closed her own online gaming company that had customers in America. Why don't the U.S. authorities arrest the pair of them?"
"We're co-operating fully. We don't have any legal right to withhold information from the U.S. authorities."