Ownership Split -- The owners of two payment services companies--ePassporte, which sells pre-paid Virtual Visa and Visa Electron cards to online consumers, and Paycom.net, processor of online payment transactions--have divided their business interests. Joe Hall and Clayton Andrews, the original co-founders of Paycom.net are now the sole owners of Paycom.net, while Christopher Mallick, who joined Hall and Andrews later, is now the sole owner of ePassporte. Neither company's business model will change. Paycom.net will remain in its current offices in Southern California, while ePassporte will have a representative office in Southern California, with its corporate headquarters and majority of its business activities remaining in Curacao.
No Appeal -- Following its defeat in a British Court of Appeal last week, the British Horseracing Board has confirmed that it will not appeal its data rights dispute with William Hill to the House of Lords.
Stole to Gamble -- Newspapers across Australia are this week reporting the tale of Keith Fernandez of Melbourne, a stamp duty collector for Victoria's State Revenue Office who stole more than AU$10 million between 1998 and 2000 to fuel his gambling sprees. Prosecutor Gavin Silbert claims that Fernandez paid more than $3 million into a Vanuatu-based Dial-A-Bet account. He also put half a million dollars into a Tabcorp betting account.
Gambling Ties -- The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that John Roberts, the man recently nominated by U.S. President George Bush to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, has ties to the gambling industry. In 1999 Roberts filed briefs for the American Gaming Association (AGA) in support of the Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Association case before the Supreme Court. Though he did not appear during oral argument sessions, Roberts was the counsel of record. In that capacity Roberts wrote that an advertising ban could not be justified by "the perceived dangers of commercial casino gambling." The court unanimously ruled in the case that banning television and radio advertisements for casinos violates the First Amendment. Roberts has also apparently known AGA president Frank Fahrenkopf since 1986, when they worked at the same Washington law firm, Hogan & Harston. Fahrenkopf told the Review Journal that he did not think Roberts would have to recuse himself if any lawsuits involving Internet gambling were to appear before the Supreme Court.
More Shops Sold -- Coral Eurobet, Britain's third largest betting shop operator, has purchased 49 Bet365 outlets, mostly in the Midlands area. The company says the shops will continue to operate under the Bet365 brand. Bet365's chief executive, John Coates, whose father started the business in 1974, explained that although he had some sentimental regrets about letting the shops ago, it was necessary to strengthen the company's new core business of remote gambling, which now accounts for about 90 percent of its expected £700 million turnover. A remaining 10 Bet365 shops that were not sold to Coral will likely revert to the Backhouse name.