BAW's Euro -- BETandWIN.com Interactive Entertainment AG, an Austria-based online sports book and gaming company, announced that the Euro 2004 tournament was an even larger success for the company than expected. BETandWIN credits the tournament with delivering 56,000 new registrations, 41,000 active new customers, 8,000 reactivated customers, 1.3 bets per second and a high customer frequency of up to 32,000 active customers daily.
888 and Middlesbrough -- Casino On Net, the online casino at 888.com has signed a multi-million-pound deal to become the main sponsor of the Middlesbrough football club for the next three years.
Fixed-Odds Dilemma -- Australia's racing minister, Grant McBride, has extended Tab Ltd.'s trial period for offering fixed-odds betting on all group two, group three and listed races until the end of July. The Australian government originally allowed the New South Wales-based Tab to offer fixed-odds betting on a trial basis from Sept. 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004. TAB argues that it must offer fixed-odds betting to compete with the TABs from other states. New South Wales' bookmakers, however, are scared that a permanent extension could mean the demise of most bookmakers, who distinguish their businesses from the TAB by being the sole providers of fixed-odds betting. Tab Ltd. claims that the racing industry would benefit from its increased revenues, but Racing NSW, which argues that it takes far less revenue from fixed-odds betting than it does from totalizator betting, would rather see Tab Ltd. stop offering fixed odds.
Ads and Free Speech -- Autotote Enterprises Inc., an operator of off-track betting in Connecticut, was successful in overturning a ruling that prevented advertising for telephone wagering services from broadcasting during racing simulcasts. Autotote's lawyer, Robert Tobin, told the Associated Press, "We say there’s no such prohibition. It would probably be an unconstitutional infringement of free speech rights. We could not find anything in the statute that says we can’t advertise." Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to appeal the decision.