Re-Branded -- Online sports betting and entertainment brand betandwin has officially changed its name to bwin. Parent company BETandWIN.com Interactive Entertainment AG decided the former name was no longer suitable for the full range of entertainment options the brand had to offer, including sport betting, poker, casino games and soft games as well as live-audio- and video-streams. It also wanted to distinguish itself from companies branding themselves with the word "bet" (Betfair, BETonSPORTS, Betinternet, etc.). The formal brand launch will take place Aug 1.
Open -- The U.K. Gambling Commission is opening its new headquarters in Birmingham today. Up to 200 jobs will be created when the Victoria Square office becomes fully operational later this year.
Poker Beat -- Southeast Asia-focused new-kid-on-the-block online gaming site Maharajah Club (MClub) will launch its unique online gaming brand Friday at the Asian Lifestyle Show in London. MClub targets a market of over 300 million people of Asian origin, including over 3 million in the United Kingdom alone. It features online poker tables that are available for free or real-money play. Games include Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, 7 card stud and 5 card draw. Maharajah Gaming will be hosting the first ever Asian Poker Classic next year in Goa, India and is also planning to launch a sports book later this year. . . . Pokerzone Television's (Sky Channel 226) Poker News team will be in Las Vegas to cover the World Series of Poker's main event in a week-long series of location reports leading up to the final table. The Pokerzone crew will be on hand Aug. 4-10 bringing to British television viewers exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in poker, plus all the action of the final week of the biggest event in poker.
Appointed -- eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance), an independent online casino gambling and online poker standards authority and player protection body, has announced the appointment of Anders Lantz to its board of directors. Lantz is currently the Chief Security Officer at online poker and casino solution provider Ongame e-Solutions AB in Sweden.