New Stuff -- Today
Kiwi Casino officially announced its re-launch with
Playtech gaming software. The site, which has been online
since October 2000, had been using software by CryptoLogic
before switching to Playtech technology last month. The land-based
Christchurch Casino in New Zealand owns Kiwi Casino.
Makin' Deals --
Scientific Games Corp. said yesterday that it will
acquire MDI Entertainment for $18.5 million. Scientific
Games will now own all the shares of MDI that it does not already own.
Steve Saferin, MDI's founder and main stockowner, will
sell Scientific Games his shares for about $1.40 each. Saferin also
recently entered an agreement to continue heading MDI for the next three
years. ... CYOP Systems International Inc. signed a deal
with Sterling MacFadden Partnership Inc. that will put
its pay-for-play games software on several e-zine sites, including Metal
Edge, Metal Maniacs, Black Beat and True Story. Mitch
Ross, CYOP's chairman, said the magazines' cross section of
readers will fit perfectly with CYOP's gaming community.
European Tidbits --
Despite two German political factions' efforts to reverse the Hamburg
Senate's decision to allow land-based casino Hamburg
Spielbank to offer live roulette online for real money, it
appears the show will go on. The two groups argue that the Senate
doesn't have the power to issue an online gambling license and that
online gambling could be a health risk due to its potential
addictiveness. A source close to Hamburg Spielbank, however, told IGN
the issue was resolved Oct. 31, when a working group for the Minister
of Health agreed by a vote that the casino has done everything within
its powers to control and avoid problem gambling. ... Representatives
from the Nordic members of the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development will hold a high-level meeting in
Stockholm on Dec. 4 during which cross-border Internet gambling will be
addressed. The group of Scandinavian reps met in Stockholm on June 25,
2002 to discuss the same issue. The topic became an important agenda
item in April, when Peter Sehestedt, the leader of the OECD's Danish
delegation, presented a paper outlining the problems caused by allowing
cross-border gambling.
Bit from Asia -- The chief
executive of Macau said today that he wants the Chinese SAR to further
develop its tourism and gambling industries in 2003. Edmund Ho Hau
Wah made the remarks to the Macau Legislative Assembly. "We
should amplify necessary rules and regulations, strengthen supervision
and train talents in an effort to make the gaming industry more
competitive," he said.
Names and Faces -- The
president and chief executive of Park Place Entertainment Corp.
, Thomas E. Gallagher, resigned Tuesday after two
years on the job. He will be replaced by Wallace R. Barr,
who was previously the company's COO.