Headlines -- GoldenPalace.com has paid a woman named Kari Smith $10,000 to get a permanent tattoo that reads "GoldenPalace.com" on her forehead. The woman put her forehead up for sale as ad space on Internet auction site eBay.com because she needs money to fund her son's education following a series of family tragedies. Golden Palace has already received exposure in close to 100 online news sites today thanks to this latest ploy. Other purchases this week that are generating exposure from the media include the infamous picket fence from the JFK assassination and a jar of air that was apparently near the breath of both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Quoteworthy -- "I believe it is definitely possible for racecourses to work with the ROA (Racehorse Owners Association) and the rest of the industry to combine their pictures and racing's product--you can call it data, if you like--so that we produce what the Americans call, with refreshing simplicity, 'the signal.' And how refreshing it would be if everyone in U.K. racing came together and agreed to sell this package via a commercial company owned by all the major constituents."
- ROA president Chris Deuters, speculating at this week's ROA annual general meeting about the possibility of the British horse racing industry funding the sport through the combined sale of racing data and live pictures after the levy is abolished. According to Deuters, "Pictures are the enforceable part of the package. Data rights might well be more valuable in legal terms than pictures, but the supply of pictures can simply be switched off if the buyer refuses to pay the going rate." Deuters and others in the British horse racing industry have good reason to be wary of a future funding plan that relies almost entirely on database rights alone following the European Court of Justice's ruling in November that bookmaker William Hill is not obligated to pay the British Horseracing Board for the right to provide horse racing information on its website. That case is being reviewed this week by a British Appeals Court.
US Pools -- British bookmaker William Hill has launched a new service on its Internet and telephone platforms that enables punters to participate directly in U.S. pools. Wagers are automatically converted into American dollars and then back to pounds sterling for payouts.
Hot Party -- Shares in PartyGaming rose in price by 3 percent as trading became available to members of the public today. Institutional investors have been trading shares of PartyGaming since Monday and had contributed to a 23 percent rise in the company's stock value since its launch at 116p. Shares closed today at 149p.
Poker Search -- Search engine Lycos reports that the word "poker" was the most searched for term on the Internet for the week ending June 25, 2005. Poker has appeared on Lycos' list of the top 50 search terms for 66 consecutive weeks and has repeatedly occupied a spot in the top 10, but this week marks the first time it has ranked No. 1. Searches for the term has increased by 111 percent over the previous week, no doubt due partially to the buzz surrounding the World Series of Poker and the flotation of PartyGaming. Also this week, the word "blackjack" broke into the top 50 for the first time at No. 25. Pamela Anderson was No. 2, Paris Hilton was No. 3 and Britney Spears was No. 4.
More Greek Betting -- Greek gaming monopoly OPAP has announced a number of changes to its Pame Stihima sports betting operation in an effort to strengthen its competitiveness, combat illegal betting and reverse declining popularity. OPAP plans to increase its target payout to players from 60 percent to 66 percent as well as include Greek championship matches as betting events for Pame Stihima. OPAP will also introduce in-play betting, over/under betting and the ability to wager on many more sporting events, including tennis, volleyball, wager-polo, hand-ball and motor sports. To execute these changes, OPAP will establish a subsidiary to organize, manage and operate fixed- and variable-odds betting. The addition of the many new betting propositions will require modifications in current Greek betting regulations.