More Soccer Bans -- The Italian Football League's disciplinary commission has delivered another series of punishments to players and clubs after its investigation into illegal betting and match fixing. Second-division club Catanzaro, which won the Serie C1 championship last season, was penalized five points while one of its players was banned for three years and three others were suspended for five months. The team was able to retain its championship despite the fact that prosecutors attempted to annul. Prosecutor's also wanted to cancel the team's promotion to Serie B but failed. Four other players from different teams also received bans ranging from five months to nearly four years. The disciplinary commission delivered its first wave of punishments in the match-fixing scandal last week, suspending several players in the top two leagues and penalizing Modena with a five-point deduction.
Cellular Resistance -- Smart Communications, the largest mobile phone company in the Philippines, has publicly stated its objection to Pagcor's (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) plan to operate games of chance via cellular phones. Dr. Rogelio V. Quevedo, Smart's legal counsel, stated, "The majority of cellular phone users are young people, including a large number of minors. Pagcor's plan to offer games of chance through mobile phones would inevitably expose them to the dangers of getting hooked on gambling." In July Pagcor first revealed that it would like to operate games of chance over cellular phones by asking the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to grant it four access numbers to handle text and multi-media messages. Smart, however, has refused to give the access numbers to Pagcor because as Quevedo explains, "we are against allowing games of chance to be made available through our mobile phone network." Text-gambling on school campuses recently became so prevalent in the Philippines that the Department of Education has banned the use of cellular phones during school hours.
Flutter At the Races -- Interactive media group YooMedia will soon begin operating fixed-odds games on the AttheRaces television channel through its subsidiary Fancy a Flutter. Sky Digital users will be able to access the Fancy a Flutter portal by pressing the red button while watching AttheRaces. Fancy a Flutter, which currently offers seven play-for-cash keno and other fixed odds games, was launched in May of 2003 and then acquired by YooMedia in March 2004.
Legality Challenged -- The Ontario Racing Commission has asked the Canadian Federal Courts to decide whether HorsePlayer Interactive-- an Internet site run by Woodbine Entertainment Group-- is legal. The Commission argues that former agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief did not have the authority to permit Internet horse race wagering by expanding the definition of telephone services to cover Internet services. As head of the Agriculture Department, which presides over the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency, Vanclief ruled that horse-racing bets could be placed with "any telecommunication device." A court decision on the matter could take up to two years, and for now the site will continue to operate unless the government declares otherwise. Nick Eaves, Woodbine's senior vice-president of marketing and business development, commented, "We're absolutely flabbergasted and, frankly, offended that the Ontario Racing Commission has filed the application in an area over which they don't have jurisdiction. I mean their mandate is to do that which is in the best interest of Ontario racing. And essentially, what they're doing is being the instigator in an action which, if successful, would have the effect of discontinuing one of the only recent services in the Ontario racing business that's actually attracting new customers and really performing in a way that our customers have told us they want."