New Stuff -- Parlay Entertainment Ltd. has been given a U.S. patent for its new Internet bingo operation system. The announcement was made today by dot com Entertainment Group Inc., Parlay's parent company. "The technology behind DCEG's patent ensures fairness for all players regardless of network connection speed and access," said David Outhwaite, dot com's CEO. "The granting of this patent protects the instrument we have made in developing and marketing our online bingo technology that is currently in use by customers around the world." The now-patented systems ensures that Internet connection speed isn't a factor in whether a player wins or loses, and also allows players to win on a card even if they get kicked offline during a game.
Asian Bit -- The Xinhua News Agency reported today that Hong Kong has -- just days after making soccer betting legal in the Chinese special administrative region -- given a soccer betting license to the Hong Kong Jockey Club's soccer betting company, HKJC Football Betting Ltd. Patrick Ho, the secretary for Home Affairs, said the move was made to cut down on illegal betting. "The issue of the license would enable the licensed operator to capture the expected upsurge in demand for football betting arising from the upcoming international football season in August, which would otherwise turn to illegal channels," he said.
Quoteworthy -- Stephen Hill, the new CEO of Betfair, recently told New Media Zero that he would like the person-to-person wagering operation to be known more for its technology business than for betting. "I don't think of Betfair as a gaming company but much more of an Internet technology company," he said. "I see no reason why the technology can't be used in other business areas and I expect the company to be thinking very seriously about it."
On the Payment Front -- AVN Online reported recently that payment providers to the Internet porn industry are frustrated that a new Visa policy that will cut their chargebacks to 1 percent of domestic transactions and two percent of international transactions.