Makin' Deals -- MGM Mirage and Quova announced a deal today. Quova will be providing MGM Mirage with geolocation and IP mapping services for its Isle of Man-based online casino, which has yet to launch. Bill
Hornbuckle, president and COO of MGM Mirage Online Isle of Man Ltd. said his group believes Quova will give them the highest level of jurisdictional compliance.
Bit from the UK -- Cantor Fitzgerald LP, whose U.K. arm, Cantor Index, offers online spread betting, will be closed on Sept. 11 to allow its employees the day to attend a private ceremony in New York. Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Bits from Down Under -- Australian bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse has been suspended from going to race tracks for nine months. He was charged in February by the New South Wales Thoroughbred Racing Board with, among other things, giving 500 to one odds on horses that had been even-money favorites. Waterhouse had his bookmaking license revoked in the mid '80s for his involvement in the infamous Fine Cotton horse substitution scandal and was finally reinstated in July 2001. He will have to reapply for his license when his suspension is over. ... Spread betting could soon become taxable in Australia. The Australian Taxation Office has said that it is considering the tax issues related to spread betting, which is currently an untaxed
alternative to share trading.
Asian Tidbit -- Stanley Ho, the chairman of the Macau Jockey Club and the don of the Macau gambling industry, said today that he will help fund the building of a bridge between Hong Kong and mainland China. The bridge is expected to cost HK$15 billion. Ho said he will support the project personally rather than subject his company to potential losses.