Party's US Ambitions -- Following last week's arrest of BetonSports CEO David Carruthers, online gaming behemoth PartyGaming has banned its executives from traveling to the United States. PartyGaming CEO Mitch Garber, said Friday that he had no imminent plans to travel to the United States. Meanwhile, the company announced intentions to expand in Europe and South America. Garber said his goal was to cut the share of business the company gets from the United States from 76 percent to 50 percent. . . Today, however, PartyGaming announced that it will launch a major ad campaign in the United States for its PartyCasino site, despite Carruthers' arrest. Garber said the company's casino games have not been marketed before, and the group intends to change this with a strong branding campaign across Europe and North America. Launched this year, PartyCasino offers 39 games, including blackjack and slots. Garber said the action against BetonSports would not deter the group from legally marketing in the United States through the Internet, television, radio, newspapers and sponsorship deals.
BetonSports Back in Business -- A reliable industry source said today that BetonSports' Web sites will most likely be back up and running, with some conditions, by day's end. The sites, which were taken offline Wednesday in accordance with a DOJ restraining order, will probably go live today, but they will no longer accept bets from the United States.
Board Announced -- Dublin-based data-sharing fraud management firm Ethoca Limited announced today the formation of its board of directors. Irish business advisor and lawyer James Osborne will lead the seven-member board, which includes Andre Edelbrock as president and CEO; Darryl Green as chief operating officer; John Coman as non-executive director; Chris Laslett as non-executive director; Philip Nelson as non-executive director and Hon. John D. Reynolds P.C. as non-executive director. Ethoca's client list includes online gambling site Bodog and online gambling software applications developer Excapsa.
In the Pokerzone -- Online skill gaming provider GameAccount Global Ltd. and interactive gambling channel Pokerzone have announced a collaboration to bring Pokerzone TV (Sky channel 226) viewers live backgammon beginning in October. Pokerzone will broadcast live in-game footage from GameAccount's WorldGammon brand and destination site to educate and stimulate interest in the classic parlor game. Each episode will last three hours for an initial run of 12 episodes, as well as additional repeats, every weekend.
Quotable - Part 1 -- "The U.S. collectively loses anywhere from $4 billion to $9 billion a year to overseas companies due to online gambling, we might as well be shipping it over in briefcases. Congress thinks that making cash transfers to (online) casinos illegal will do the equivalent of creating 100,000 jobs with a stroke of a pen."
Dr. David Croson at the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in Dallas, Tx., as quoted by Reuters.
Quotable - Part 2 -- "I think once the U.S. has killed off the offshore gambling enterprises targeting the U.S., they will legitimize online gambling in the U.S. and favor their domestic suppliers."
Warwick Bartlett, the head of U.K.-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, as quoted by Reuters.