Floater -- eGaming Review reports that Cyprus-based I-gaming software firm Playtech met with advisors in London over a potential initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. A source indicated that a listing could occur as early as November and that a trade sale was an alternate possibility. A spokesperson from Playtech stated, however, that a listing would occur before the end of 2005.
Quoteworthy -- "The WTO held the U.S. had not shown that it applied its prohibition on remote wagering on horse races in a nondiscriminatory manner. But the solution is easy. Congress should immediately amend the IHA to allow what is already being done: expressly allow Americans to bet on foreign races and allow foreign bettors to wager on American races. The U.S. could then safely prohibit all other forms of Internet gambling, foreign and domestic. Of course, if Nevada casinos ever start taking bets online, or state lotteries begin selling their tickets on the Internet, everything changes. At that point, Antigua might go back to the WTO, and this time, win."
- concluding lines of an article written by I. Nelson Rose, Professor at Whittier Law School. Titled "Internet Gaming: U.S. Beats Antigua In WTO," the article was written for the Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS), of which Rose is a member of the editorial board.
Danish Restrictions -- The government of Denmark is planning to cut back on the amount of advertising done by its gambling monopolies to demonstrate that the country's restrictions on foreign operators are consistent with their laws. The Remote Gaming Association believes this "is likely to be indicative of how many EU states will react if challenged [by the European Commission]."
Services Directive -- The gambling industry is excluded from the country of origin rule in the current E.U. draft directive on services in the single market as a transition measure, but no deadlines have been set. The draft directive was introduced in January 2004 and does not force member states to abolish monopolies in betting and gambling, but does include gambling and betting in the scope of application of the directive without applying the principle of country of origin to them. The European Commission has contracted a comparative study on national legislation on gambling and the results will be published at the end of the year.
Study Questioned -- MEP Pervenche Beres of the French Socialist Party has tabled a formal question with the European Commission regarding the potential bias of a study of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. Some of the work on the study was subcontracted to the Gaming Studies Research Centre of the University of Salford in Manchester, which is sponsored by British gaming company Stanley Leisure, a proponent of liberalization of gambling.
Italian Site -- Italian firm Lastminute.com, which finds bargains on travel and leisure prices, has signed a deal with Malta-based I-gaming software and services provider WorldMatch to launch a gaming section on its Web site. The site is online at www.casinolastminute.com, and all games are available in Italian with no downloading required.
GP Purchases -- GoldenPalace.com's eBay purchases this week include the only known copy of the property deed for the White House (a duplicate of the original) for $43.45 and the naming rights to a hybrid Daylily flower, which for $5,000 will now be called the GoldenPalace.com Lily.
Celebrity Reps. -- BETonSPORTS Plc has named actor, comedian and star of Fox Sports' "The Best Damn Sports Show Ever" Tom Arnold as the representative of its two online gaming brands, BETonSPORTS.com and BoSPOKER.com. . . . The World Poker Tour has introduced Courtney Friel as a host of Season 4, which will commence in March 2006. Freil has previously worked as a correspondent for "America's Most Wanted" on FOX, "E! News Live" on E! Entertainment Television, and "Trackers" on the Oxygen Channel.