New Stuff -- Netgame Factory has developed a new game for the Swedish lottery. The game, "YeeHaa!" is a combination of a scratch-card game and SMS game with a maximum prize of US$108,000, or 1million SEK. Players seek to scratch off three identical symbols on a scratch card and then answer a series of trivia questions via SMS on their cellular phones. The game was launched by Folkspel, a non-profit organization, on Oct. 7. ... CYOP Systems International Inc. today launched a gaming portal called www.skillarcade.com. The site, powered by CYOP's CrediPlay system, enables players to compete at skill-based games like darts and solitaire for real-money prizes. ... BetOnSports.com is courting major attention in the United States with its latest promotion on the Howard Stern radio show. According to the company, every Friday, several members of the show will choose one fantasy football team to beat the BetOnSports spread. Whoever has the best record at the end of the season wins $25,000.
US Bit -- Antigua and Barbuda said yesterday that it will begin to lobby the U.S. Senate not to pass a bill that would ban Internet gambling. The country has hired American lawyers Joe Pataney and Joseph Kelly to lobby the Senate on behalf of its cause, which is keeping online gaming legal. The country stands to lose $2.2 million in licensing fees if the online casinos operating there are closed. "It would be a major economic calamity for Antigua if the bill became law," said the islands' director of offshore gaming, Ron Maginley.
Quote Worthy -- Forbes magazine's article, "Betting Against the House," published Oct. 2, takes a look at legislation currently up for consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives. Keith Furlong, deputy
director of the Interactive Gaming Council, sent a letter to the editor of the magazine in response to the article, which he applauds. Furlong had this to say:
"The politicians who led the charge on this bill are rightly concerned about money laundering, but the last thing money launderers want is a transaction that leaves records. Cut off the credit
cards, and other, anonymous and unregulated, means of payment will be developed in their place, surely an unintended consequence of Congress' action. Even some of the existing land-based gaming has less transparency in terms of traceable transactions as, unlike online gaming, they accept cash."