What Happens Next? -- Global Interactive Gaming has launched the new competition version of its SportXction product in partnership with Sportinglife Limited in preparation for the 10-day "Tri-Nations" series between England, New Zealand and the West Indies beginning June 24. The new game, which will be promoted on sportinglife.com as "What Happens Next?", does not provide real money wagering but enables users to compete against each other for points by predicting the outcome of events. They receive points for correct predictions and bonuses for strings of successful predictions. They can also earn points by answering trivia questions, and points can be redeemed for a variety of prizes. Players in the Tri-Nations predictions games will compete for a grand prize two-week trip to South Africa and many other prizes.
Welcome Aboard -- British gaming group Gala, known best for its bingo and casino properties, has appointed Matthew Roberts to replace Blair Sinton as finance director on July 5. Roberts previously served as finance director for department store chain Debenhams, where he assisted the company in de-merging from another company and then later listing on the London Stock Exchange. Analysts speculate that the appointment of Roberts could indicate that Gala plans to float on the stock market.
No Jail For Streaker -- The GoldenPalace.com-sponsored Super Bowl streaker, Mark Roberts, was found guilty of criminal trespassing by a jury in Houston on Monday. The jury apparently didn't buy the argument that Roberts wasn't aware that stepping onto the field was illegal. Though he could have gotten a maximum sentence of three months in jail and a $2,000 fine, on the jury opted to give him a $1,000 fine and no jail time.
Good IT Workplace -- Lottery and gaming company GTECH Holdings Corporation ranks 48th on the IDG's Computerworld list of the top 100 workplaces for information technology professionals. ComputerWorld, which has listed GTECH for the third year in a row, ranks companies by evaluating their offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention.
Quoteworthy -- "This is a reaffirmation to me of how markets rise up to meet demand. (Internet gambling) had this built-in advantage of being prohibited, and as a result, there was this vacuum that the markets rose up and filled. It's like this perfect storm: a combination of this technology that gets rid of boundaries and the fact that all these other countries permit the activity and regulate it."
- Koleman Strumpf, an assistant professor of economics at the University of North Carolina and visiting scholar at the Cato Institute. Strumpf was commenting to the Las Vegas Review Journal about how the market for online gambling will continue to grow despite efforts at prohibition.
Wireless Security -- Diversinet Corp., a company that provides wireless data security products and services, has released a new product called the "Passport Trust Platform," which is an expanded version of its flagship wireless data security infrastructure product suite that speeds the deployment of next-generation mobile data applications. The platform is designed to simplify the provisioning of wireless credentials and reduce the effort needed to create a robust security infrastructure for secure wireless data applications such as mobile payments, messaging, data access, gaming, wagering, high-value content download, enterprise mobile workforce and more.
Loyal Punters -- Despite the massive amount of wagering on the Euro 2004 tournament, the event could still prove disastrous for bookmakers in the United Kingom. Thousands of loyal British soccer fans snatched odds at 11-2 for England at most books, which could calculate to heavy losses if Britain wins the tournament. Another potential threat this summer is British tennis star Tim Henman winning the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon, which is already underway. Most books offer odds of 5-1 on Henman.