German Ruling -- The District Court of Cologne, Germany ruled on April 21 that German courts must consider criteria set forth by the European Court of Justice in the Gambelli and in doing so has refused to punish cross-border providers of sports betting services. The court stated, "The penal provision of Art. 284 German Criminal Code in conjunction with the Sports Betting Act of North-Rhine Westphalia in view of the ECJ's Gambelli-decision of Nov. 6, 2003 is not compatible with the Community Law and, therefore, not suitable as legal basis for the punishment of the accused."
Loan Settled -- I-gaming software provider AngelCiti Entertainment, a company seeking to acquire interests in other online gaming software providers, has reached an agreement with its lender to retire an outstanding $300,000 loan. The company will retire 25.6 million shares that were held as collateral for the loan, leaving AngelCiti with about 6.5 million shares issued and outstanding. The company's president, George Gutierrez, says the settling of the loan is the first step in its progress toward completing the acquisition of Carib Gaming.
Trading Exchange Sold -- Intuition Capital Ltd. has agreed to buy loss-making business The Trading Exchange Ltd. (formerly TradingSports Ltd.) from the Trading Exchange for £125,000. The Trading Exchange suffered a loss of £3.1 million in 2004, including reorganization costs of £430,000 and a 755,000 charge for the impairment of fixed assets, which brought it fixed asset value at year-end to zero.
Ladbrokes Expansion -- If William Hill's purchase of Stanleybet is successful, Hilton Group may open as many as 200 new Ladbrokes betting shops by the end of the year to maintain its lead over William Hill as the largest bookmaker in Britain. William Hill has about 1,600 shops, but would acquire an additional 600 through a £500 million purchase of Stanleybet. Ladbrokes owns 1,921 shops. "We believe the maximum number we could have without attracting attention from regulators is 2,200," Hilton CEO David Michels said.
Sponsorship Canceled -- Top-tier North American horse jockey Patrick Venezuela has canceled a sponsorship agreement purchased on EBay by Costa Rica-based I-gaming operator BetCRIS because track regulators did not feel the sponsorship was appropriate. Valenzuela has since re-listed himself on eBay.
Content Deal -- Youbet.com has signed an agreement to become the exclusive horse racing content provider for Internet sports media organization CBS SportsLine.com. Youbet's diverse content offering of live racing video, race replays, handicapping products, racing tutorials, games, contests and more will now be made accessible to the millions of sports fans who visit the cbs.sportsline.com site each month. The deal will have Youbet providing CBS SportsLine.com with program content in three phases over the next six months. The first installment will be live in time for the Kentucky Derby later this week and will feature live racing audio and video, a Youbet-Daily Racing Form Triple Crown Watch page and a $100,000 Kentucky Derby Pick 12 contest. Another installment will go live before the Breeders Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in October.
TST Certified -- Game testing facility Technical Systems Testing North America Inc. has certified the random number generator of Internet bingo solutions provider Parlay Entertainment. The software is now in compliance with generally accepted industry standards for highly regulated jurisdictions.
US/Antigua Meeting -- Ron Maginley, a spokesperson for the Antiguan Offshore Gaming Association, says that representatives from Antigua and Barbuda will meet with representatives from the United States in Geneva on May 19 to discuss how the two countries are to implement the recommendation of the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body. The burden is now on the United States to act after an Appellate Body ruled that the United States must treat domestic and foreign providers of online gambling equally.
Gambling.com Sale -- Gaming Corporation, an online gambling marketer, operator and portal manager, has announced its acquisition of the Newbold Enterprises, owner of the Gambling.com portal. The consideration for the acquisition is US$20 million, to be satisfied as to $15.3 million in cash and $4.7 million in new ordinary shares. Gambling.com's income is primarily generated through its proprietary technology that includes an international and U.K.-specific pay-per-click advertisement system that enables clients to bid to reach higher rankings in results in the site's search engine.