Mansion Bits -- Mansion Poker last week unveiled plans for the forthcoming Mansion Superstar Challenge, and the inclusion of players from Team Full Tilt didn't go over well with FullTiltPoker.com. The event entails everyday online poker players competing for the chance to play poker pros at a tournament to be filmed at Mansion's PokerDome in Las Vegas. Mansion said that among others, Team Full Tilt players Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer and Mike Matusow had agreed to participate in the tournament, and FullTiltPoker.com has taken issue with the statement, claiming it is false. FullTiltPoker.com stated today that not only did the three men never agree to participate, but they were never actually contacted by Mansion Poker. . . . In unrelated Mansion news, the company has signed a two-year, six-figure media deal with European discount airline Flybe to brand one of Flybe's jets with Mansion's black and red corporate moniker. The airline's scheduled services now encompasses 108 stops and 40 airports and spans seven countries. The Mansion-branded jet took the skies on Saturday, with an inaugural flight from Luton to Frankfurt.
WC Betting Fever -- Internet research firm Nielsen//NetRatings reports that people tended to spend more time on gambling sites than sport news sites during the first week of the World Cup. Ladbrokes welcomed almost 115,000 visitors during the span, according to the research firm. Its findings also indicate that people spent an average an hour and 10 minutes during the week on Betfair. Overall, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, one in six people using the Web over the past week visited either a sports or a gambling site.
Appointing -- The government of Alderney announced Monday the signing of Robin Le Prevost to help drive the island's burgeoning I-gaming Industry forward. Le Prevost has worked in the industry for five years as a consultant, and in his previous position with Internet hosting company Cable and Wireless, he was instrumental in supporting the Alderney Gambling Control Commission from the very early days.
Launching -- Online gaming software developer CryptoLogic Inc., through its subsidiary, WagerLogic Limited, recently debuted "Bonus Pack 9," an 11-game suite that includes an online version of Texas Hold 'Em bonus poker and two new Marvel comic-themed slots. With Texas Hold 'em bonus poker, players maintain control, upping the ante to see the flop, turn and river, and if he doesn't like his cards, he can fold after one bet. CryptoLogic has added two Marvel Comics-themed slots featuring the characters Thor and Silver Surfer and costing as little as $0.05 to play. . . . Global online gaming group betinternet.com has teamed up with British soft games developer Football 1x2 to launch a suite of fixed-odds betting games called "PANORAMA." Football 1x2 has supplied betinternet with its sports game, "Play Football," since 2004. The game is now integrated into betinternet's full suite of sports games.