Floater -- Betting firm Betex, operator of the elite128.com soccer betting site, has appointed Numis Securities as an advisor to a float on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. The company is already listed on Ofex--a less regulated market for smaller companies--but intends to raise £10 million and £15 million through an AIM float to fund gaming contracts in China. Betex in July became the first non-Chinese company to win a lottery contract in the country when it received a contract to manage the state lottery of the province of Guizhou. The company is also in discussion with other Chinese provinces to potentially run more lotteries in the country.
Sportingbet Sued -- AFX reports that U.S.-based fantasy sports company RotoPlay Inc. is filing legal proceedings in a Pennsylvania federal court against Sportingbet, alleging that Sportingbet infringed upon RotoPlay's copyrights by copying its games and using them on its Web sites. "Sportingbet copied all of our lottery games, unique scoring system, game rules, HTML code and tie-breaker information verbatim," RotoPlay President Korey Gardner said. He added that RotoPlay had previously discussed with Sportingbet the possibility of licensing the games.
Quoteworthy -- "We don't think commission levels are a driving force behind the attraction of exchanges, talking to our clients, and people will go where they get the best service and deals. We have invested massively in the product and we believe our third version technology is the best around. We have tried to differentiate our product in a competitive industry with multiple bet and each-way options. This is working well, especially with multiples in the football field."
- Russ Wiseman, public relations director of Betdaq, explaining to the Racing Post why his company is raising its commission rate from 3 percent to 5 percent. New clients are paying the new rate, while existing clients pay 3 percent until the end of October and 4 percent until the end of the year. Wiseman also mentioned that Betdaq's number of active users has doubled since the beginning of the year and its matched bets have tripled over the previous year.
Shop Franchises -- Independent Irish bookmaker Boylesports plans to offer franchises for some of its betting shop operations. The company will provide all backup services in return for a percentage of profits. CEO John Boyle told the Irish Independent that he prefers to keep the value built up in his shops to remain within the industry, rather than be exported to outside investors through a stock market flotation, which is the plan rival Irish bookmaker Paddy Power--as well as about a dozen other online gambling firms--is pursuing. Funds gained through franchises will enable Boylesports to focus on developing its online gambling business.
DV8Poker -- Irish company AVA Leisure, which manufactures gaming machines and operates a chain of arcade outlets, has launched an online poker site called "DV8poker.com." The site is part of the Excapsa Poker Network and is powered by software from Excapsa, which supplies the network and software of UltimateBet.com and UltimatePoker.com. Excapsa recently announced its plans to float on the London Stock Exchange.
Fixing Trial -- Former soccer referee Robert Hoyzer and five other suspects will go on trial Oct. 18 for fraud charges relating to the manipulation of more than 20 German soccer games. The trial will likely last at least until the end of the year.