The Battle of the Bookies -- BBC2's The Money Programme broadcasted a 30-minute segment last night titled "The Battle of the Bookies," which presented the arguments of both British bookmakers and betting exchanges with regards to the effects of exchange betting on the integrity of horseracing. In addition to the controversial allegation by Ladbrokes CEO Chris Bell that at least one race per day is fixed, the segment also featured comments from William Hill CEO David Harding, who stated, "I think [corruption resulting from exchange betting] is inevitable, because the opportunity is there to stop horses and inevitably people will seek to profit from it. The last person to see a horse has the ability to spike that horse and profit from it losing." On the other side of the issue, Betfair spokesmen Mark Davies and Andrew Black argued that by providing transparency the exchanges are actually benefiting racing by exposing corruption that has always existed--even before the rise of exchanges. Paul Scotney, director of security for the Jockey Club, concurred that certain scandals could not be detected without the assistance of exchanges, but Harding countered, "Prevention is better than detection, getting better at detection is pointless, why open up the loophole anyway."
Japanese Casinob -- The Trident Group has launched a Japanese version of King Neptune's Casino. The site features the latest version of Microgaming's Viper software and will provide VIP services, marketing, promotions and customer support in the Japanese language.
New Graphics, New Game -- Finnish gaming solutions provider European Game & Entertainment Technology (EGET) recently helped its licensee, Swedish operator Sperospel.se, increase its instant games selection in a fast and cost-effective way. EGET, whose WinOne gaming system and instant game module are the foundation on the sperospel.se site, simply altered the graphics of the site's most popular game, Casinolotto, while keeping the game logic completely the same. By changing the graphics in two different ways, EGET created two new games, Tiger Swing and Casino Roy, which it claims are so strikingly different from the original that it is impossible for players to realize that they are actually playing the same game.
Gold-digging -- LegalPlay Entertainment, the Vancouver-based company that operates SkillPoker.com, is looking at new options to increase lagging shareholder value. The company is apparently not receiving a large enough profit from its gaming operations. According to LegalPlay's president, Mark Glusing, "The dramatic change in business was forced by competition from similar companies based offshore, while awaiting federal legislation to legalize online poker in the U.S. and Canada. Competition in online gaming is extremely competitive and until such time that legislation is passed in the states, the Skill Poker system will not be a popular choice for the online gaming consumer." To compensate for waning business, the company plans to enter joint ventures with mining claim-holders and is now engaged in discussions with several parties to acquire mineral properties. "Sure, mining is a bit of a gamble, but at least we don't have to worry about the (U.S.) Justice Department when we're digging in the ground," Glusing added. "We chose mining because the rise in demand and price for gold, silver and other mineral commodities made the industry attractive." The company will continue to operate SkillPoker at least for now.
Isle of Man Wins Awards -- The Isle of Man's finance center was declared the winner of two awards last month. The Isle was named the Best Offshore Financial Center at the International Money Marketing Awards by winning the most votes from the hundreds of IFAs in the 2004 Quantitative IFA Offshore Business Survey. The Isle also retained its title as Best International Financial Center for the fourth year in a row at the International Investment Awards.