Bodog Bowl -- Costa Rica-based sports book Bodog.com says it has sent invitations to the two undefeated Division 1 college football teams in the United States--Auburn University and USC--as well as to the NCAA Athletic Committee, offering to pledge $50 million toward a "Bodog Bowl" game between the two teams to declare an undisputed national champion. Each school would receive a $15 million scholarship fund, and the winning team's school would win an additional $15 million scholarship fund. A final $5 million would be allocated to the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee. The offer is very unlikely to be taken seriously, considering the NCAA's outspoken opposition to betting on college games as well as betting among student athletes.
CES Expansion -- British betting exchange and skill games software provider CES Software has signed a deal to acquire Nevada-based Corcom Inc. and assets of its Don Best Sports business, whose Web site (donbest.com) publishes exclusive, real-time wagering odds. The company, which reported a loss of $250,000 for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2004, does not offer wagering, but it publishes a wide range of market-sensitive wagering information, live odds, line move alerts, alert messages, injury reports, statistical reports, line seekers and bet trackers on its customizable Web site. The acquisition, arranged through Toronto-based Celeus Capital Corp. (part of JJR Capital Partners), includes payment of $40 million in cash, the issuance of 1 million CES shares on completion and the issuance of up to 1 million additional shares based on earnings performance. Corcom had agreed to sell Don Best to Celeus last August, and JJR later approached CES with the opportunity to purchase the business. As part of an agreement, CES will deliver 2.24 million ordinary shares to JJR Capital Partners and will reimburse Celeus for $1 million.
Nigeria's Lottery -- News reports in Nigeria indicate that a company called Fortune Games Limited is launching a mobile lottery in the country this week. Subscribers to Nigeria's four mobile phone networks--MTN, Econet, V/Mobile and Global Comm.--will be able to participate in the weekly draw by selecting six numbers between 1 and 49 and sending them via SMS to the lottery's server. Rather than launching a terminal-based lottery that would suffer from the occasional loss of power experienced by Nigeria's infrastructure, Fortune Games opted to launch a mobile lottery, which would be immune to power failures. Ten percent of the company's gross earnings will be allocated to the development of Nigeria's tertiary, secondary and primary education.
SportsDirect Growth -- SportsDirect Inc., publisher of sports content site Covers.com, has acquired Denver, Colorado-based sports contest and office pools site Wagerline.com for $1.2 million. The site will continue to operate as a separate property, but management and operations will be transferred to SportsDirect's headquarters in Halifax, Canada. SportsDirect says the acquisition is part of the overall continual growth it is seeking. In the last two years the company has doubled its workforce to 80 employees and opened offices in Galway, Ireland and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Offline Promotions -- U.K.-based ThinkBingo.com has announced plans to launch what it calls the first offline advertising campaign for an online bingo site. Created by Mercier Gray and bought by Target NMI, ThinkBingo's print campaign will target female gamblers. The site, which has a player base of over 8,000, enables members to play games from as little as 10p.