TradingSports Inks Deal with Golanta
TradingSports Exchange Systems plc, a P2P betting exchange system provider, announced its expansion into the European market through a signed contract with Golanta Sports.
The launch of Golanta's interactive P2P exchange will enable bettors to place in-running bets on a wide range of European, UK and Turkish sporting events to customers worldwide.
Under the terms of the agreement, TradingSports will provide Golanta with a multi-currency multi-lingual P2P betting platform through its betting exchange, allowing Golanta's customers to benefit from TradingSports' worldwide-pooled customer base.
In return, TradingSports will receive a percentage of all margins generated through Golanta's P2P exchange. The exchange will operate under the name SporBorsa.com and will be fully integrated with all of Golanta's existing sportsbooks and casino services.
Historic Cricket Series
As longtime rival neighbors India and Pakistan gear up for a cricket series this month, many are predicting the action could have adverse economic effects on the India as more people spend their extra money to bet on the matches instead of investing it in other places.
According to a report in The News, the cricket series may divert funds from stock exchanges and affect trade volumes. They said that speculators and punters in local bourses would definitely shift their focus to cricket matches, which may affect volumes at the Karachi bourse.
The country's stock market serious and long-term investors are already cautious ahead of cricket matches as evident from the lower volumes in recent days.
Sportech Stays Flat in '03, Optimistic About '04
British gambling firm Sportech Plc , home to Littlewoods football pools, reported flat annual profits as its betting business under performed, but said on Thursday it had made a good start to 2004.
"We are happy to indicate that the start of the year has been positive," managing director George Rushton told Reuters.
Sportech reported a profit before tax and exceptionals of $21.5 million in 2003, unchanged from 2002, on turnover up 6.5 percent.
Sportech plans to improve results at its sports betting division in 2004 by reducing reliance on horse racing and increasing its share of the football, rugby, cricket and golf betting markets.
UK Government to Crackdown on Exchanges
Part of a Government-led overhaul of UK gaming laws, the Gambling Commission will have wide-ranging powers to investigate and prosecute claims of corruption.
The Commission is planning a new watchdog group to clean up the image of Britain's betting industry, which was damaged again this week by a series of horseracing scandals.
Central to the commission's work will be the policing of Internet betting exchanges, such as Betfair and Betdaq, which allow gamblers to back horses to lose, as well as win, races. The latest race-fixing allegations involving jockeys Kieren Fallon and Sean Fox and trainer Alan Berry claimed huge sums were made from laying horses to lose.
The Government hopes the commission - along with other measures in its new Gaming Bill, including licenses for companies that run exchanges - will erase fears that racing is open to manipulation.
EBA Gets Off to Rocky Start
The European Betting Association has got off to a difficult start.
The EBA is considering refusing membership to betting exchanges wanting to join, and until that decision is cleared up, other firms are steering clear of the newly formed trade association.
Belfair said it's applying to join but isn't certain the EBA will welcome betting exchanges.
FOBT Codes Effective at the End of March
UK bookmakers were warned on Tuesday that they must comply with the new code relating to fixed odds betting terminals that comes into force at the end of the month - or possibly put at risk the arrangement which has safeguarded the position of these lucrative moneymakers.
Ladbrokes and William Hill have both recently declared record profits, highlighting the increasing importance of FOBTs.
Tom Kelly, chief executive of the Association of British Bookmakers, said time is running out before bookmakers.
"There are only three weeks for all bookmakers to comply, and there's no ifs, or buts," he said. "It must be done."
Kelly explained that the new code allows for a maximum of four machines, of which up to two can be AWPs.
"FOBTs need to be made compliant, which involves the timing of games, and the levels of stake and pay-out – it's a matter for bookmakers to sort out with their supplier, it cannot be left," he said.
Kelly said the deal with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport also involves Gamcare charity literature being made available in the vicinity of machines.
William Hill Float A Success for Shareholders
Investors who took a punt when William Hill launched on the stock market in June 2002 were counting their winnings on Thursday, as Britain's second-biggest bookmaker increased its 12-month dividend by nearly 44 percent to 12.5p.
There was even some good news for British horseracing. Its gross win - the amount left behind by punters - grew in absolute terms for the first time in four years, and after a change of emphasis in the Far East it overtook football as the dominant force in Internet betting, company officials said.
A legal crackdown by the Hong Kong authorities, accompanied by action from credit card companies, meant Hills switched their Internet marketing attention to Europe and the UK, and horseracing accounted for 36 percent of the gross win compared with football's 31 percent.