More Languages -- eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance), an organization that awards certificates of approval to online casinos that meet its standards for fair gaming, player protection and efficiency, says it can now provide operators with certificates in the Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Hebrew languages. Previously, the certificates had been available only in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
Quoteworthy -- "The secretary of state took the view last year that the Gambling Bill would be viewed in Parliament and the wider country as a substantial piece of essentially social reform. The wider social impact and the perception of sufficient safeguards will make or break the bill. Thus, the government thought it important to involve both houses and virtually all parties early in considering how legislation could be best designed, including what protections are necessary for what will always be an enjoyable, but inherently risky activity."
Greig Chalmers, Britain's DCMS Gambling Bill manager, stressing the need for social responsibility in passing the Gambling Bill through Parliament.
Spread Betting Exchange -- Cantor Index has launched an online spread betting exchange at www.Spreadfair.com. The site is different from most P2P betting exchanges in that it focuses on spread betting rather than fixed-odds betting. Spreadfair takes a 5 percent commission from winners' profits.
IT Challenger -- EssNet, a Swedish supplier of lottery and gaming products for terminals, Internet and mobile phones, was named "IT Challenger of Year 2004" by Veckans Affärer, Sweden's most popular business magazine, which provides a yearly analysis of the country's 500 biggest IT companies. According to the magazine, "EssNet is a pure software company, developing and selling software worldwide to the big state-authorized gaming and lottery companies, such as Norsk Tipping and Australian Tattersall's. EssNet is a model example of a company that with new owners and clear focus can reach new successes. Previous owners were both Hugin, the producer of cash registers, and Esselte, the giant supplier of office equipment. Being a niched supplier, EssNet serves as a model for the Swedish software industry, proving that Swedish IT companies by its own efforts can be very successful abroad."
Happy Birthday -- Betfair celebrates its birthday today, having launched four years ago on Oaks Day at Epsom. The company boasts 200,000 registered users from over 85 countries and technology that can handle 1 million transactions per day and match 12,000 bets per minute.
The Streak -- World renowned streaker Mark Roberts humored spectators between races at the Epsom this weekend by galloping down the track wearing little more than the now famous Golden Palace.com temporary tattoos.
Illegal in Malaysia -- Police in Kuala Lumpur say they are aware of at least 15 illegal football betting Web sites that have been established by Hong Kong-based syndicates in preparation for the Euro 2004 championships that will begin next week in Portugal. Investigators, who expect more sites to emerge in the next few days, are attempting to extinguish the betting sites through assistance from the National ICT Security Emergency Response Center. To prevent the sites from being tracked by authorities, computer programmers and webmasters for the sites have created mirror site that lead trackers to false locations, such as porn sites. Police speculate that syndicates have raised billions of Malaysian ringgit in the last year.