Friday, March 21
New Stuff -- U.K.-based gaming software provider World Gaming PLC announced Thursday the delivery of new casino products. The new suite of games, "Casino 3.3," produced by the company's development subsidiary, Inphinity Interactive Inc., was released as part of a two-phase rollout; the company said the global rollout will come "in a matter of weeks." Casino 3.3 includes 17 downloadable games and 16 Java games (an increase from four Java games available in the previous version). Among several new options, the highlight of Casino 3.3 will be a progressive jackpot system that starts at $10,000 and is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bit from the US -- The resolution this week of criminal cases against the three former frat brothers who tried to rig a $3 million Pick 6 jackpot during last year's the Breeders Cup brings more than just closure to race bettors. The three co-defendants pleaded guilty to federal charges of tampering with wagers placed and all received prison sentences. Now that the cases have been settled, Arlington Park racetrack, the host site of the event, is authorized to distribute the winning pool monies to customers who correctly selected five of six winning horses. The winnings had been frozen since October 2002. As of the Wednesday, the remaining Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick 6 pool monies to be distributed totaled more than $3 million.
Thursday, March 20
Data Hub -- A recent study from In-Stat/MDR informs Internet Service Providers that they could be missing out of millions of pounds in revenue from online gaming. "The biggest risk to any company even marginally affected by online gaming is to dismiss it out of hand or put plans on the backburner until they think it matures," said Eric Mantion, a senior analyst with the research group.
New Stuff -- Person-to-person betting Web sites are such a success that online bingo operator Gala Group is now offering a P2P casino game for galacasino.co.uk. The game, called Winning Circles, was developed by Carlton Interactive and was launched in December. "We have a raft of new games in development," said Nigel Willis, Gala's director of interactive gaming. "It's not hard to attract an audience with a good quality casino on the Web. But now we're developing new content to differentiate us." Since its February purchase by private equity firms Candover and Cinven, Gala has vowed to step up its marketing efforts for the online gaming sites by spending up to £150,000 on marketing.
Names and Faces -- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has appointed its first non-American as its leader. Paul Twomey, an Australian, will join the organization on March 27. Twomey is the managing director of an Internet consulting agency, Argo Pacific. He takes the place of Stuart Lynn, who has lead ICANN for two years. Twomey joined ICANN in 2001 when he was elected the chairman of the group's Government Advisory Committee.
Wednesday, March 19
Legal Stuff -- MasterCard said this week that it wholeheartedly supports Congressional efforts to ban online gambling. "We strongly support legislative efforts that build on our proven track record to block illegal Internet gambling transactions," said Noah Hanft, the association's general counsel. "For example, legislation introduced in the Senate (S. 627) and in the House (H.R. 21) contains core provisions that establish a workable framework for combating illegal Internet gambling and we are committed to working with Congress as it seeks to provide a legislative solution to this important problem."
US News -- The Washington Times reported today that as long as office pools on the NCAA tournament remain informal, the participants are in no danger of trouble from the police. David Vice, the leader of the organized crime and narcotics division of the Fairfax, Va., police department, said the police are more interested in higher crimes. "We all know they're everywhere," he said. "It's one of those things that someone who never bets puts a dollar in."
Names and Faces -- James E. Billie, the Seminole's famous leader, has been voted out by the tribe's four-member council. Jim Shore, the tribe's general council, said Billie was a folk hero for Seminoles, but had lied to the tribe and overstepped constitutional restraints. "His personality put us on the map," Shore said. "But after a while, he thought the tribal business was his personal candy store." Last year Billie was involved in an investigation that he had allowed tribal funds to secretly be used to fund an Internet gambling venture in Belize and Nicaragua.
Tuesday, March 18
New Stuff -- As all bookmakers know, Sunday is the Academy Awards. U.K.-based bookmaker Ladbrokes said yesterday it has had so much interest from bettors in the musical "Chicago" that it has to close the books on "Chicago" bets. However, to make up for closing bets on whether "Chicago" will win Best Picture or not, Ladbrokes is announcing a new bet on exactly how many Oscars the film will receive. Sean Boyce, communications director for Ladbrokes, said betting on the Oscars is more popular than ever. "In the years that we've been focusing on the big Hollywood event, we've never had such concerted interest in one motion picture," he said. "Therefore, we had to close the books on the previously announced odds and add the new category for the number of Oscars 'Chicago' may receive. 'Chicago' truly has piqued global interest like no other film in the past."
Tidbit from the UK -- British Sky Broadcasting announced yesterday that it has launched a new iTV service called Sky Bet Vegas that offers casino games. Players will have the chance to win up to £250,000.
Monday, March 17
Names and Faces -- CryptoLogic has appointed Michael Starzynski as chief technology officer. Starzynski was most recently the CTO at Financial Models Co., where he managed product development strategy. Before that he worked at Bell Canada for 13 years and has also worked at CGI Canada. ... BMM International Pty. Ltd. has appointed Martin Storm as president and CEO. Hugh Monypenny, former managing director of the independent testing firm, will focus on developments in the land-based casino industry, and Patrick Miller will continue to serve as technical director. Monypenny said Storm's sales and marketing experience will serve the company well as it continues to expand internationally.
Bit from the Caribbean -- BetWWTS.com said last week that it expects to take in more than $25 million in bets during March Madness this year. The Antigua-based Internet sports book said the NCAA tournament has surpassed the Super Bowl as the biggest betting event of the year. Simon Noble, CEO of BetWWTS.com, said the tournament "captures the imagination of basketball fans everywhere." "The tournament has become the most heavily bet annual sporting event and this year we anticipate betting on March Madness continuing to grow exponentially -- we are certain that BetWWTS.com will exceed $25 million in wagers on the 2003 tournament alone," he said.
Legal Stuff -- David Hampton Tedder, a lawyer for the owners of Gold Medal Sports, is scheduled to stand trial in May on charges of seven federal felonies relating to Internet gambling, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last week. Police believe the attorney assisted the owners of Gold Medal Sports, Duane Pede and Jeff D'Ambrosia, hide the profits of their Internet sports book. Both Pede and D'Ambrosia are serving five-year federal prison terms for convictions on gambling and tax offenses. Tedder has pleaded not guilty.
Back in Action -- The Harrods online casino is now back open for business after a brief respite that began in December. While dormant the site replaced its Gaming Insight software with technology from Kismet Studios.