Friday, March 28
News from Australia -- An Australian business executive's gambling spree has cost U.K.-based Sportingbet £1.3 million. The accused crooked gambler, Denis Craig Telford, allegedly embezzled £8 million from the company K&S to support his gambling habit. Many of his bets, which at totaled, at times, up to £40,000 a pop were taken by Sportingbet Australia. The South Australia Supreme Court ordered Sportingbet to pay cash back to K&S, although Sportingbet is appealing the decision, claiming it inherited Telford's account when it took over Australia's Number One Betting Shop in June 2001. On Thursday, Sportingbet's shares plunged 25 percent after issuing a warning that the increased cost of processing credit card bets would hurt profits. The company said it still expects annual profits of £14.5 million.
News from Alderney -- The Alderney Gambling Control Commission on Thursday released its annual report for 2002, by far the most active year for the commission since its inception in May 2000. During the year the island passed regulations for interactive gaming and subsequently awarded licenses to four operators. In the report the commission said it brought in £410,650 in revenue during the year next to £363,513 in expenses and channeled roughly £250,000 into Alderney's economy. The commission also said it expects two of its licenses, Bonne Terre and Ritz Interactive to be operation by mid 2003.
Thursday, March 27
New Stuff -- Bingo Entertainment NV today launched Privilege Casino, a new casino featuring software by Boss Media. So far, said Richard Chambers, the manager of the site, new registrations have increased steadily. "The number of new registrations is immensely encouraging," he said. "We are working around the clock to support the players and make our presence known." The site offers American and French roulette, black jack, Caribbean poker, mini baccarat, slots, video poker and keno.
Names and Faces -- Karlos R. LaSane II has been appointed as the assistant vice president of government affairs at Park Place Entertainment. LaSane is currently the director of community affairs for the company's New Jersey properties.
Wednesday, March 26
UK Tidbit -- In response to the National Lottery going online with its Instant Win games, Ladbrokes has upped the jackpot for its "Balls" game to £1 million. The game is a mixture of a lottery and fixed-odds game and previously had a top prize of £100,000. As an additional competitive measure, Ladbrokes is publicizing the fact that 95 percent of the revenue from the game goes back to consumers as prize money, where the National Lottery only returns 50 percent of the take.
News From Down Under -- The New Zealand Herald reported today that an insider at Australia's Centrebet is saying that the online gambling operation, which is a part of Jupiters, could be sold by the middle of June. Jupiters is selling Centrebet because Jupiters is being purchased by Tabcorp, and unloading the Centrebet was a condition for the sale.
Names and Faces -- SureFire Commerce, an electronic payments company, announced the appointment of three new board members: Tommy Boman, who is retired and was most recently the vice chairman of IMS International; Klaus Rehnig, who is the chairman of the board of EBS Holding; and Markus Braum, the managing director of WireCard AG, a European payment processor.
Tuesday, March 25
News from Sweden -- The Swedish Gaming Board is saying that Swedes spent 7 percent more during the past year on numbers games, sports betting, horse races, VLTs, bingo and casinos than they did the previous year. The Swedish people spent EUR 3.9 billion on those forms of gambling in 2001. Svenska Spel, the state-operated lottery, increased its sales in 2002 by 15.4 percent to EUR 1.6 billion.
Legal Stuff -- The Bloomberg news service reports today that representatives from the nation of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States will meet in Geneva on April 7 at the World Trade Organization. In the meeting they will attempt to resolve Antigua and Barbuda's objection to American efforts to curtail the Internet gambling industry through two bills that are currently being considered in the U.S. Congress. Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua's ambassador to the WTO, said the islands want "survival, not blood." The online gambling industry employs 3,000 people in Antigua, which has a total population of 68,000. If dispute resolution fails, a ruling from a WTO judge could take up to two years to happen.
Data Hub -- The March 21 issue of Science magazine covers a study recently conducted by Christopher D. Fiorillo and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. The study found that brain chemical patterns in people who are gambling are similar to those who are addicted to drugs. The findings may help explain how people become addicted to gambling, Fiorillo said. ... The Society for Human Resource Management has conducted a study concluding that 30 percent of workplaces in America have an NCAA betting pool. Reuters reported today that politicians and officials with the college basketball tournament are increasingly using the series of games as a setting to ask Congress to ban betting on college sports.
Names and Faces -- Paul Micucci is being appointed as executive vice president of Magna Entertainment Corp. 's Gaming Division. Micucci was most recently the vice president of slots at racetracks and development and operations at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. He will join MEC on April 7. Jim McAlpine, president and CEO of MEC, said Micucci will be a welcome addition to the staff. "Legislators in several states in which we operate are studying the merits of introducing slot machines or video lottery terminals at racetracks as a means of maintaining the competitiveness of the horse racing industry in their state and generating revenues for various state-initiated programs," he said. "The addition to our management team of someone of Paul's stature in the gaming industry will better equip us to pursue these opportunities and to develop and effectively execute our business plan should gaming licenses be obtained."
Monday, March 24
Data Hub -- According to a report released Friday, one in 50 adults in Arizona has a gambling problem and one in 10 is at risk of developing gambling addiction. The study was commissioned by the Arizona Lottery and involved interviews with 2,750 people. The study found that among problem gamblers, the largest percentage preferred slot machines to other types of gambling.
US Tidbits -- Officials with American Wagering Inc. said April's meeting of the Nevada Gaming Commission will be a formality in showing regulators that it has sold off its sports betting subsidiary. CFO Tim Lockinger said AWI sold MegaSports in July 2002 after Nevada regulators forced the company to sell its Ausralia-based Internet and phone betting operations, two-and-a-half years after stipulations to the company's initial license were broken. MegaSports was by permitted by Nevada regulators to conduct Internet gambling operations on the condition that it wouldn't accept wagers from customers located in Nevada. In July 1999, the Nevada State Gaming Control Board set up a sting operation in which board members located in Nevada, claiming they were located in Canada, signed up and placed wagers using the site. AWI agreed to sell the subsidiary after the investigation and paid a $10,000 fine. Lockinger said now the Gaming Commission has asked to see proof of the sale and ensure that AWI has divested itself completely from MegaSports, which he says it has.
Asian Bit -- Betfair, the highly successful U.K.-based person-to-person betting exchange Web site, is offering to pay the Hong Kong Jockey Club 10 percent of its profits from Hong Kong betting, the South China Morning Post reported today. Mark Davies, Betfair's communications director, said the company would like to pay tax if it means Betfair can legally offer P2P gaming in Hong Kong. "We're not out to steal Hong Kong revenue," he said. "We're not freeloaders." The Jockey Club, for its part, rejected the offer.
Names and Faces -- The chairman of William Hill, John Brown, told the U.K. press today that he will not be retiring from the company in May as reported. Brown said he will stay with William Hill until at least the end of the year.