Thursday, April 17
From Down Under -- Representatives from TAB Ltd. are lobbying for Australians to be able to bet on sports games in progress. The company is asking Communications Minister Richard Alston to make the change as part of the review of the two-year-old Interactive Gambling Act. News.com.au reports that a spokesman for Alston said that in-game betting isn't likely to get approved. "When the legislation was first introduced, in-the-run or on-the-run gambling was more likely to be associated with problem gambling," the spokesman said. "We will probably not be looking at reform in that area."
Data Hub -- The National Gambling Board of South Africa is saying that gambling is becoming more popular in the country, possibly because of the midweek lottery. Gambling expenditures in the country rose from 6.8 billion rand in 2001 to 10.6 billion rand in the first 10 months of 2002. Lusanda Rataemane, a managing researcher for the National Gambling Board, said that 60.5 percent of the population plays the lottery twice a week. The board found that of people who gamble, 71.3 percent play the lottery, 19.3 percent gamble at casinos, 15.3 percent bet on horse races and 7.2 percent play bingo.
Wednesday, April 16
Making Deals -- Chartwell Technology Inc. announced Victor Chandler (International) of Gibraltar is renewing its online casino gaming software license agreement. Victor Chandler initially signed with Chartwell in July of 2000, at which time Victor Chandler was one of Chartwell's first major European customers. Darold Parken, president and CEO of Chartwell, said that Victor Chandler's casino site, www.thespinroom.com, has been a successful venture. "Over the past three years we have witnessed the growing success of www.thespinroom.com with our original Java-based casino suite of games," Parken said. "With the evolution of our total gaming system during this period, we are confident that the Victor Chandler organization will be even more successful with our latest Flash-based gaming software, which will be rolled out during this quarter."
New Stuff -- Binion's Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will be offering a pay-per-view Webcast of the World Series of Poker starting today. The 34 table games will be available via broadband-quality video. The cost for the webcast of the 33 final table events is $14.95; for the entire World Championship, the cost is $29.95.
Tuesday, April 15
Making Deals -- Bingo Entertainment NV's new online poker site, www.pokerplex.com, launched recently with poker software from CryptoLogic's wholly owned subsidiary, Wager Logic Ltd. The site has 120,000 players, offers a variety of styles of poker and accepts payment in U.S. dollars, British pounds sterling or Euros. Richard Chambers, CEO of Bingo Entertainment, said his company's sites now offer a large range of Web entertainment. "As part of a larger online poker community, our players can easily find a game at any time, with real people from around the world," he said. "WagerLogic's centralized poker solution gives our players instant access to a live, action-filled online poker experience and allows us to enter this growth area with a market advantage for increased profitability."
New Stuff -- Littlewoods Game On, the interactive section of Littlewoods Gaming, is now offering a new slate of instant-win games on its Web site, www.littlewoodsgameon.com. The company is planning to offer the games as white-label software to other online gaming companies. The eight new instant games include slots, keno and scratch-cards.
News from Hong Kong -- The director of racing for the Hong Kong Jockey Club recently told the South China Morning Post that the club is going to offer bets on its races to overseas gamers for the first time. Winifried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the racing director, said a bet like the group's Triple Trio would be "unmatchable." Plus, the club could offer a monetary incentive to the countries where the overseas bettors live because the product would qualify for tax relief in Hong Kong. "We would then be able to use part of the money that we would not be required to pay in local tax to offer a kind of agent's commission in the country where the bet originates," Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
US Tidbit -- The annual World Series of Poker started Monday at Binion's Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas. About 630 people took part in the event last year. This year, the tournament includes 37 events and will end with a championship game on May 23.
From Down Under -- Tabcorp said this week that 12 people in Victoria have added themselves to the company's gambling-exclusion program since September of last year. The program allows people to exclude themselves from being able to bet on horse races if they believe they are unable to control their gambling. Tricia Wunsch, spokeswoman for Tabcorp, said the program has not been promoted yet and that Tabcorp expects more signups to come.
Monday, April 14
Names and Faces -- World Gaming plc, which was recently given funding by Sportingbet, today announced its new board of directors. James Grossman, a lawyer based in San Francisco, will serve as chairman of the board. Other board members will include: Daniel Moran, the company's CEO; David Fleming, the CTO; Clare Roberts, World Gaming's counsel in Antigua; and Victor Collins, a U.K.-based financier.
Making Deals -- Scotland-based Itsnotrocketscience has been purchased by Wheel, one of the United Kingdom's top interactive agencies. Under the terms of the sale, which was finalized April 1, Wheel will own the company's business, assets and staff of nine people. John Muir, the general manager of Itsnotrocketscience, said the company plans on developing more software products for the gaming industry. ... Parlay Entertainment Ltd. , which is part of the dot com Entertainment Group of Companies, will be providing gaming software to SaturnBingo.com, which is operated by the Saturn Gaming Group. Shaun McCauley, president of Saturn Gaming Group, said he chose Parlay because of the power of its bingo software. "The flexibility of Parlay's software allows us to offer network partners a complete turnkey bingo solution," he said. "Full access to backend functions, including their own confidential database, lets operators manage all aspects of their bingo business."
Tidbit from Hong Kong -- A bill that would legalize soccer gambling in Hong Kong was introduced to that county's Legislative Council on April 9, reports the Associated Press. The bill would help the government recoup some of money that is currently spent by Hong Kong citizens in illegal betting schemes. Patrick Ho, the Home Affairs Secretary, said that while the bill doesn't provide guidance on whether soccer betting is morally right or wrong, it could take some business away from the underground betting industry.
Tidbit from the Czech Republic -- The largest lottery company in the Czech Republic, Sazka, has started a Web site with services for players of its oddset games at www.tipovani.cz. The site offers sports news, statistics, a tipping contest and forums. The company said the site now has 15,000 registered users.
New Stuff -- Microgaming Software Systems Ltd. is backing a new non-profit group that will aim to help online gamblers determine which betting and gaming sites are fair and responsible. The group, eCOGRA, which is short for E-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance, is based in the United Kingdom and has six directors. The chief executive, Andrew Beveridge, said the group will offer a seal of approval program. "The organization will provide online gaming software suppliers and their customers with the guidance and tools necessary to adhere to a higher level of integrity and responsibility," he said. "eCOGRA is a long-overdue initiative in an industry that has been trying to build credibility with consumers and regulatory. Our mission is to prove that responsible companies are involved in online gaming and to make them readily recognizable to consumers and government officials." The group's other directors include: Paul Hainsworth, former director of risk management for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East; Bill Galston, former chief inspector of the Gaming Board of Great Britain; and Frank Catania, former assistant attorney general for New Jersey and the former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. The group's other directors are representatives from Microgaming and Virtual Holdings.
Quote Worthy -- "We've reached the point where the demand for rules is about to replace the demand for chaos." -- Debora L. Spar, professor at Harvard Business School, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal on April 14 in a story about regulation of the Internet.