Pari-Mutuel Pools -- Graeme Levine, founder of Gambling.com, has launched a new site called AnyBets.com that allows users to bet in pari-mutuel pools on any event, including sports, politics, finance and entertainment. By letting the market set the odds, Anybets can derive its profits from a cut from the aggregate wagers before winnings are distributed. With such a system in place, Anybets is able to pay affiliates based on the amount of bets placed rather than the amount of bets lost. The company is now offering affiliates 2.5 percent of total stakes and white label partners 3.5 percent of total stakes.
Section 79 -- Section 79 of Britain's proposed Gambling Bill-- which states that remote gaming operators will have to return any money gambled by an under-age minor if they learn that a child has gambled on their site— has lately caused much concern within Britain's I-gaming industry. Some operators worry that an adult could use a child's debit card to accrue massive losses but then have them canceled by claiming a child had placed the bets. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport defends the measure, claiming that it is the responsibility of operators to use effective age verification software and that Section 79 provides even more incentive for appropriate age verification software.
888 Exchange -- Gibraltar-based Cassava Enterprises, operator of 888.com, has signed a white-label betting exchange platform licensing deal with Betdaq in order to launch its own 888.com-branded online betting exchange in 2005. The site is currently in a soft-launch phase. The deal marks the first time Cassava has licensed software from a third-party provider rather than developing its own proprietary platform.
Harrah's Second Effort -- Following the closing of its soft-gaming site LuckyMe at the end of last month, Harrah's Entertainment's online division may try to launch a World Series of Poker-branded online poker-room using software by WagerWorks sometime in 2005. Like LuckyMe, the WSOP site will probably not take accept customers from the U.S.
Cut and Deal Contracts -- Cut and Deal, a London-based design company that provides stock photography and other images for use with sports, betting and gambling content, within its first three months of operation has signed contracts to provide its services to Bluff Magazine, iGaming Business and Thompson Gale, which is a U.S.-based family of publishing imprints that includes Macmillan and Thorndike Press.