Gambling for Pets? -- Neopets.com, a popular site that enables children to create and care for virtual pets, has blocked Australian residents from accessing certain games on the site after its promotional partner, McDonald's Australia, received numerous complaints that its Happy Meal toys were directing children to a site where they could play casino games such as blackjack, poker machines, scratch tickets, dice games, slot machines and roulette. The two companies had signed a promotional deal whereby McDonald's Australia began distributing Neopets toys in happy meals that also included advertisements for the Neopets.com Web site. After creating their virtual pet, children can participate in games (some of which closely resemble traditional gambling games) to win virtual money to buy food and accessories for their pets. Though access to the controversial games has been shut off to Australian residents, they remain accessible to users outside of Australia.
Welcome Aboard -- The Gaming Board of Great Britain has appointed Jenny Williams as its new chief executive. Williams will take over the Board's current operations and lead its transformation into the Gambling Commission, the modernized regulatory authority proposed by the new Gambling Bill. Williams was most recently director general and also a board member at the Lord Chancellor's Department (which is now the Department for Constitutional Affairs) responsible for Judicial Group. Williams will begin serving as the board's chief executive on Nov. 15.
Text Games Launch -- Camelot, operator of the U.K. National Lottery, today added text-messaging as an option with which players can participate in the lottery. Players can enter the lotto, EuroMillions or Daily Play games through text messaging-enabled mobile phones. Today Camelot also revealed statistics showing that ticket sales for the last six months have risen by 4.7 percent to £2.34 billion compared to sales of £2.25 billion over the same period last year. The numbers also indicate that the lottery is growing less reliant on the main lotto draws: Lotto sales grew only 0.7 percent to £1.6 billion, while sales of non-lotto games jumped up 14 percent to nearly £749 million.
Mobile Poker Ads -- Summus, a provider of mobile media applications, will begin a television ad campaign next week to promote its wireless multiplayer Texas Hold 'Em game, "Hellmuth Hold 'Em." The game features a 3D interface, chat functions, and friend-search capabilities. Players will also be able to track which table professional poker player Phil Hellmuth is playing at, giving them a chance to compete against one of the game's masters. The ad campaign entails 12 commercial slots that will air on ESPN on Oct. 26 from 8 to 10 pm and on ESPN2 on Oct. 17 and Oct. 20. Hellmuth will appear in the commercials.