Phishing -- In recent weeks customers of British betting companies have been the targets of phishing scams in which cyber criminals posing as the betting company's staff have sent e-mails asking for credit card information, username and password, and other sensitive personal data. Customers of Betfair, Totesport and Bet365 have received the fraudulent e-mails, and last week Blue Square took pre-emptive action by sending an e-mail to its customers warning them of a possible scam attempt.
SMS-enabled -- Veikkaus, the Finnish National Lottery has upgraded its remote gaming systems to permit Finns to play Lotto, keno, and result odds betting via SMS (text messaging). Both lotto and keno are available only as quick pick plays. Veikkaus' entire line of playslip-based games has already been available via any wap-enabled mobile device at wap.veikkaus.fi. At the moment, remote gaming represents 13 percent of Veikkaus' total sales of playslip-based games, with Finns playing games for 2.5 million euros via remote channels each week.
Improved Stihima -- Greek lotteries technology company Intralot has signed an agreement with Greek gaming monopoly OPAP to undertake a number of measures to upgrade and improve the content, terms and infrastructure of sports betting game Pame Stihima, which has lately suffered a downward trend due mainly to an increase of market share with foreign online betting companies. Intralot will help OPAP increase its target payout to players from 60 percent to 66 percent and also help to introduce Greek championship matches as betting events for Stihima. The companies will also introduce in-play betting, over/under betting and the ability to wager on many more sporting events, including tennis, volleyball, water-polo, hand-ball and motor sports. The addition of the many new betting propositions will require modifications in current Greek betting regulations… In an effort to reduce its budget deficit, the Greek Government plans to sell up to 16.44 percent of OPAP between July 13th and 25th through a combined public offering and international offering as well as through a private placement to employees. The sale would reduce the government's shareholding in OPAP from 51 percent to 34 percent.
Consolidation -- Kahnawake-licensed online casino group Vegas Partner Lounge--operator of CrazyVegasCasino.com, SunVegasCasino.com, CrazyPoker.com, 777Dragon.com, CinemaCasino.com, ArthurianCasino.com, and CasinoUS.com-- has purchased the Golden Riviera Online Casino Group-- operator of GoldenRiviera.com, MiamiParadiseCasino.com, SlotsRoyale.com, RiverNileCasino.com and CasinoFranceNet.com, GoldenRivieraPoker.com. All the Golden Riviera gaming operations will come under the management of Vegas Partner Lounge, but the two casino groups will remain two separate entities.
In Your Underwear -- Irish gaming machine supplier and amusement center operator AVA Leisure has formed a joint initiative with Paradigm New Media to launch an online bingo site at Bingoboudoir.com. The companies have planned a comprehensive UK marketing campaign that will heavily promote the site across all the major search engines, on 8 million MSN messenger chat clients, in AVA's arcades, and through various marketing partnerships. BingoBoudoir, which will target female players, has partnered with online lingerie retailer Figleaves.com to provide sets of underwear to the first 100 players in support of the campaign slogan "Bingo You Can Play in Your Underwear." BingoBoudoir is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
Poker Beat -- Alex Jagodik, the poker room manager for BetHoldem.com, which is operated by BetWWTS, will compete at the 2005 World Series of Poker main event… PokerStars.com, the second largest online poker network in the world, has officially announced its decision to relocate from Costa Rica to the Isle of Man. The company is responsible for hosting the satellite tournaments that qualified the winners of both the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker. The move has conjured renewed speculation that PokerStars could attempt to float on the London Stock Exchange like its main rival PartyGaming did just last week.
Cross Border Dispute -- Oliver Drewes, an Internal Market spokesperson for the European Commission (EC), told Dow Jones Newswires that the EC is currently discussing whether it should take Danish authorities to court for forbidding foreign businesses from running lotteries in Denmark. The country's gaming laws have caused many complaints and are thought by many officials to be contrary to European market laws. Drewes says that the EC should have a decision on how to proceed against Denmark by July 13th.
Fun With Virgin -- Fun Technologies has announced that its Skilljam subsidiaries have entered into exclusive multi-year agreements to supply skill gaming products and services to the Virgin Games website.
Poker for Protest -- Manhattan Libertarians are planning to hold a No Poker, No Peace Penny Poker Tournament at the entrance to One Police Plaza at 6:00 p.m. on July 14th in protest of the New York Police Department's raid of two popular Manhattan poker clubs and the seizure of $100,000 in players' money in late May. Jim Lesczynski, the Libertarian candidate for Public Advocate, says it is not illegal to play poker for money, but it may be illegal to “promote” gambling. He stated, “The Manhattan District attorney admits the players themselves did nothing illegal, yet the police walked off with $100,000. They claim the money was confiscated for ‘evidence’—as if anyone needs evidence that poker is played for money. The police say they have no plans to return the money to the players and that it will eventually become city property. It is not hyperbole to say that is simply armed robbery by the NYPD.” Lesczynski wants the police to make a good-faith effort to return the confiscated money to the players and also to refrain from future poker club hijackings."