Kyl Bill -- U.S. Sen.Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act (S-627) was placed on the Senate's Calendar on Monday, meaning that it's now eligible for discussion before the entire Senate. The bill, introduced March 17, seeks to prohibit financial institutions and credit card companies from processing illegal online gambling transactions and also defines what sort of gaming would be made legal or illegal.
Latin Soccer Book -- San Diego Soccer Development Corp. has made its final payment toward acquiring a 51 percent controlling interest in GoloLotto, a recently completed sports wagering Web site that focuses on soccer in Latin America and parts of Asia and Europe. GoloLotto is in final discussions with a Latin American media conglomerate to market its gololotto.com Web site throughout the larger soccer markets. Costa Rica International Sportsbook partnered with GoloLotto to co-develop and operate the site, which is scheduled to launch Jan. 15, 2004.
Chimera -- Nevada-based Chimera Technology Corp., an I-gaming software and e-commerce services company, has signed a letter of intent with M & M Sports, a private company in Costa Rica that operates the Internet sports book www.BETMMSports.com. Chimera will acquire a 10 percent interest in M & M Sports, which reported $500,000 in business volume in its first year in 2000, but increased that figure to just under $80 million last year.
Retirements and Appointments -- U.K. betting company William Hill has appointed Charles Scott as non-executive chairman in replacement of retiring John Brown. Scott, who will take the position on Jan. 1, is currently William Hill's non-executive director and has been on the board since 1999… Betinternet.com announced today that Sean Graham would resign as trading director and as board member to pursue other interests. Gary Knowles, who has worked in senior positions for William Hill in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man for 16 years, will replace Graham. Betinternet revealed at its annual general meeting that its financial figures for the first half of the year would not meet its earlier expectations as a result of few summer soccer events.