Hong Kong News -- A bill allowing soccer betting in Hong Kong is expected to pass the Legislative Council on Wednesday, but various anti-gambling groups in the SAR are still fighting against it, the South China Morning Post reported today. The Great Coalition to Oppose Legalization of Soccer Betting is composed of 55 Christian, social welfare and education groups, and it gathered outside the LegCo building over the weekend to show its disapproval of the bill. Their main argument is that not enough consideration has been given to the topic. "The government has said that legalizing soccer gambling was needed to fight illegal bookmaking," said Wong Hak-lim, the spokesman for the group. "But it has so far failed to tell how serious the problem is."
Bit from Down Under -- Australia's moratorium on betting exchanges is going to be lifted this week, thereby allowing the exchanges--companies like Betfair--to apply for sports wagering licenses. The lifting will possibly coincide with the betting exchange taskforce releasing the results of its study on the impact of online betting exchanges. The taskforce was initiated in February by state racing ministers. The Australian Financial Review reports that Betfair has already been approached by several gaming ministers about the possibility of licensing the P2P betting operation.
Names and Faces -- Ed Stevens has been hired by TBG, a digital marketing company, to oversee its casino division, where he will handle clients such as Ritz Casino, The Gaming Club and 32red. Stevens is the former online marketing manager for the Stanley Leisure Internet casino. He has also worked for Casino Atlantis Online and Aspinalls. ... Chartwell Technology Inc. of Calgary has appointed Don Gleason as its CFO. Gleason has 17 years of experience in the information technology industry, and for the last nine years he led EFA Software's financial planning. ... Blake Tohana is being appointed as an executive vice president and CFO by Magna Entertainment Corp. , effective July 28. Tohana was most recently with Fireworks Entertainment Inc. , where he was the executive vice president of corporate development. Graham Orr, currently the executive vice president and CFO of Magna Entertainment Corp., will be leaving his post to join Magna International Inc. as an executive vice president.
Lotto Update -- Recently proposed changes to the United Kingdom's National Lottery has some people in Scotland fearing that the re-organized and more centralized lottery won't benefit Scottish charities enough. John Swinburne, a Scottish member of parliament, is proposing that Scotland launch its own lottery that would solely support Scottish charities. "Scotland should apply to do its own lottery with all the funds from that ploughed back into Scotland," Swinburne said. "At the moment, (the lottery) is controlled down south, and very little comes to Scotland."
Canadian Tidbit -- A judge in Ontario has ruled that a man who stole money from the Canadian Forces to supply his gambling habit will not have to serve jail time because the government is partially responsible for causing gambling addiction since governments are the beneficiaries of gambling. "The federal, provincial and, to some extent, municipal governments must share some of the responsibility for creating people who fall prey to this addiction," said Justice Paul Belanger. "The same might be said if the government started selling cocaine."