Oral Commitment -- The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has granted Casino City's request to submit oral arguments in its First Amendment declaratory judgment case against the U.S. Department of Justice. Barry Richard, who represented U.S. President George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election litigation, will deliver the arguments on Dec. 7.
Coral Commitment -- Bookmaker Coral will spend £7.1million over the next five years on a broadband network to connect its 1,268 U.K. branches, providing a simpler, less time-consuming way to introduce new products, said Coral's IT support and infrastructure manager, Neil McCrossen. British telecommunications company BT is providing the high speed access, which is expected to be completed by February 2006.
Swedish Hero in Pakistan -- Sweden-based lottery and gaming products company EssNet has announced that Pakistan's "Hero Card" lottery draw (developed by Comset Services International and based on EssNet's ELOS technology) is now available to Pakistani consumers via mobile phone. Hero Card, a project of the Pakistan Sports Trust, and was launched as a terminal-based game in the beginning of 2005.
Loading up the Anti-Betfair Bus -- The Morning Herald reports that the Australian Racing Board and Racing Victoria are planning to launch an anti-Betfair campaign early next week to be backed by leading trainers and jockeys. The identities of the supporting horsemen are supposed to be under wraps, but the publication reports that trainers Lee Freedman and John Hawkes and jockeys Damien Oliver, Danny Nikolic and Nick Ryan were approached, and that all but one signed on. Bernard Saundry, racing development manager for Racing Victoria, denied that the horsemen were pressured to get on board. "A document has been put together and shown to people," Saundry said. "If they wish to put their name to it, then it's up to them. It's absolutely not true anybody has been put under any pressure." ARB CEO Andrew Harding had no comment. The Upper House debates begin next week.
VC Still Holding Out -- Victor Chandler, the driving force behind Gibraltar-based sports betting and gaming company Victor Chandler Group, said he would consider moving the business back to England if wide-scale changes to British gambling policy result in a favorable tax regime. The company left England in 1999 for Gibraltar, where it has operated since then in a tax-friendly environment. "It will be interesting to see what the government does because they could end up making laws to ensure the industry is properly regulated," Chandler said, "but then, if they get the tax system wrong, they'll have virtually nobody to regulate because everyone will stay where they are."
Poker Beat -- Bodog.com Poker released a new and improved version of its poker tournament software, giving more value to its players by guaranteeing $1.8 million in winnings each month and dealing larger starting chip stacks to tournament participants. There will also be a longer interval between the changing of blind levels. . . . The number of poker-related Internet searches in Spain (according to statistics recently released by Overture) increased by more than 500 percent during September, and OnGame's answer to this trend is PokerLoco.com, a new site geared toward Iberian and Latin American players. The site, part of the OnGame Network, is available in Spanish, English and two Portuguese dialects.