Indiana Bill -- A prohibitory online gambling bill that passed through the legislature in the U.S. state of Indiana at the end of April became law today. Authored by Sen. David Ford, R-Hartford City, the law makes it a Class D felony for anyone to operate an online gambling site or service in Indiana or to promote such a site or service from within the state. The law also provides a structure under which gambling companies outside Indiana who transmit gambling information over the Internet would have to submit to the jurisdiction of Indiana courts for prosecution. At least one provider of Internet horserace wagering, I>TVG, has ceased doing business over the Internet with residents of Indiana. TVG Vice President John Hindman stated, "While we have no reason to believe that the intent of the legislature was to curb legal forms of wagering such as pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing, we've decided that the prudent course of action is to suspend wagering transactions with Indiana residents." Youbet.com, Magna Entertainment Corp. and the AmericaTab family of account wagering providers still accept wagers from Indiana residents.
Audit Risk -- As WPT Enterprises announced that it was launching a World Poker Tour-branded real-money online poker site based in Alderney, the company's auditing firm, Deloitte, announced that it was dropping the company as a client because the "involvement in an online gaming venture created audit risks that would require an inordinate investment in time and resources relative to the company's size as a client."
Superbeautifulmonster -- Bodog Music, the music label of Costa Rica-based online betting company Bodog.com, released its first CD, Superbeautifulmonster by recording artist Bif Naked, on Tuesday. Bif Naked will perform live at the Bodog.com Poker & Sports Marketing Conference in Las Vegas July 6-7.
Quoteworthy -- "Despite the considerable risks and uncertainties, we find the PartyGaming business and its stock's valuation attractive."
- a research report from U.S. bank Citigroup Smith Barney, which started its coverage of PartyGaming Thursday with a buy rating and a 185p target price. Meanwhile, it seems apparent that other U.S. investors have been buying PartyGaming shares through contracts for differences (CFDs), which provide economic exposure to a stock but do not confer beneficial ownership.
Boss and Princess -- Princess Group, whose Princess Casinos International holds licenses to operate casinos in nine countries, has selected I-gaming software provider Boss Media to supply its online casino and poker products. The contract is a 10-year exclusive deal.