Friday, May 9
Legal Stuff -- Earlier this week Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reintroduced his bill from last session that would prevent Nevada's sports books from taking bets on college and amateur sports. "Congress must take action to close the loophole in our current law that allows just a handful of states to serve as a national clearinghouses for betting on our youth," he said in a statement. A law was passed in 1992 that make sports betting illegal in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon, although Nevada is the only states that allow bets on amateur games.
US News -- U.K.-based bookmakers commented on the U.S. movement to prohibit online gambling in an article on Silicon.com today. Ed Pownall, a spokesman for Blue Square, told the publication that while the United States is "holy grail" territory for his group, it has never accepted U.S. bets on the premise that should America ever hand out online gambling licenses; they probably won't be given to those companies who disobeyed prior prohibition. Pownall said the U.S. government could be a powerful foe in nothing if not the payment transaction arena. "While (the U.S. government) may not have the authority or the jurisdiction to enforce this ban, they do have the power to pressure credit card companies and payment companies into withdrawing all support for people trying to place bets online," he said. "They have already won the battle with PayPal and cutting people off at this level can prove very effective."
New Stuff -- Boss Media delivered VictorBingo.com, a new online bingo product, recently to Victor Chandler Worldwide. Peter Bertilsson, managing director of Boss Media, said the addition of a Victor Chandler bingo site is important to building the "Boss Bingo Network," a system of linked sites where players meet and mingle. Gill Leivesley, managing director of Victor Chandler's games division, said the new site is user-friendly. "As a non-download product, Victor Bingo is easier to use than most of its online counterparts," he said. "There's no time spent installing bulky bingo software. Instead, players simply click and play direct from their browser."
Making Deals -- Net Entertainment announced an agreement with Betshop.com. The site will use Net Entertainment's non-download casino software and will offer a multi-lingual sports book with a U.K. betting license.
Thursday, May 8
Tidbit from Malta -- The Malta Business Weekly is reporting that while the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority has not received any formal inquiries from American companies about setting up online gambling businesses there, requests could be coming soon. Alfred Muscat, chairman of the gaming authority, said the recent sale of Oddsalive, a Malta-based company, to betinternet.com, will improve the country's reputation as a base for online gambling. "The takeover of Oddsalive received widespread publicity in Nordic countries, in particular in Norway, Sweden and Denmark," he said. "That the case was concluded to everyone's satisfaction has put Malta in a very favorable position, even more so after the authority made sure that all liabilities were honored by the buying company."
News from Norway -- Aftenposten, a Norwegian publication, recently reported that a new compulsive gambling hotline in the country has been getting calls for help from children under 13 years old. The hotline, operated by a hospital and the Lottery Commission, has taken calls from children as young as 11, said Thore Paulsen, the manager of the hotline. "(The children) talk about personal problems, depression and always being penniless," he said. "Their gambling addiction isolates them, and when they call us they do it secretly, so that their parents shouldn't know."
Data Hub -- A recent survey undertaken by World IT Lawyers, an international law association found that many European Union Web sites do not always follow the EU's rules on e-commerce. The group found that only 12.8 percent of the sites it looked at provided information on their place of business and only 24.7 percent had information on their trade registrations.
Making Deals -- AngelCiti Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiary, Worldwide Management, today announced an agreement with Be the Dealer. AngelCiti said it expects to be able to provide Be the Dealer's software to www.TheHouseWins.com by the end of May.
Wednesday, May 7
New Stuff -- BettingCorp on May 1 introduced its new interactive television betting service, Play Monte Carlo, which is available to U.K. customers through Sky Active. The channel offers real-money and play-for-fun games, including Monte Carlo dice, slots, soccer-themed keno and arcade horseracing. The proprietary technology was developed by BettingCorp. The company's CEO, Michael Lobel, said there is a large market for interactive television betting. "There is a huge appetite amongst TV viewers for these types of products and we expect to see the service flourish," he said.
Making Deals -- Interactive marketing company Connextra announced that Coral Eurobet has begun a three-month pilot of its advertising system, which enables Connextra's clients to edit and update their Web advertisements in real time. Ladbrokes, Victor Chandler and bet365 are already customers. "It's now much easier to publish event-based creative across our partner base," said Rosemarie Torres, a marketing executive with Coral Eurobet, said. "And we can quickly measure the impact of the new system by using it to test alternate communications strategies across key sites. The early results look very promising." John Coates, CEO of bet365, said Connextra's service gives it higher levels of click-throughs and new accounts while saving money on the costs of traditional advertising methods.
Tuesday, May 6
Bit from the Philippines -- The Manila Times reported that a Quezon City administrator is asking the city council to bar Internet gambling in the city. Pacifico Maghacot Jr. , an assistant city administrator and the chief of the business and license office, said that although Internet gambling would be difficult to control completely, the ease with which citizens can access it bothers him. "We are not taking [online gambling] lightly, because it is available to anybody who has an access to the Internet," he said. "Even in homes and schools, Internet gambling can be played."
Quote Worthy -- "I view it as drinking. If you can't handle it, don't do it." - William Bennett, conservative lecturer and author of "The Book of Virtues," quoted yesterday on MSNBC.com in an article about his prolific gambling
New Stuff -- Access Gaming Systems last week rolled out Xenia, the successor to the company's ACES 4.4 interactive gaming system. Paul Barnes, vice president of sales and marketing, said Xenia was designed with an eye toward input from Access' clients; regulators in Australia, Europe and the Americas; and in-house product management and expertise. The program was developed in Java and offers the latest open technical standards including XML. It supports multi-player games, multi-lingual sites and multi-currency payment systems.
US Tidbit -- Youbet.com, the online race wagering company based in Woodland Hills, Calif., said its handle for the Kentucky Derby totaled $2,433,780, a 141 percent increase over its 2002 handle for the event. The group said it processed 5,000 funding transactions on Derby Day and signed up 1,000 new customers.
News from the UK --
Littlewoods Game On is launching a new interactive digital TV game on the Sky Active platform called "Hot Spots." The game is based on the Spanish Daily Lotto and will give players the chance to win between £30 and £6,000 daily. "With U.K. iTV games and gambling business models expected to generate $1.1 billion by 2007, we are committed to developing fun, usable, interactive games to allow consumers to play from the comfort of their own homes," said Peter Cuffe, the interactive media director for Littlewoods Gaming. "The Hot Spots Spanish Daily Lotto game is a valuable addition to our iDTV games portfolio, and strengthens our growing reputation as interactive gaming leaders."
Names and Faces -- WorldWinner has appointed Peter Blacklow as its chief marketing officer. Blacklow is the former head of marketing at Monster, the job search Web company. WorldWinner also recently hired Joe Bai as the head of its technology department and Melanie Walsh to lead the finance department. ... Bengt Ake Berg has left his position as chairman of the board of Svenska Spel, the Swedish National Lottery. He was replaced by Anders Gustafzon, a banker with Foreningsbanken who has served on the Swedish Lottery Gaming Board.
Monday, May 5
US News -- At 4 p.m. EST on Tuesday the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will markup and vote on HR 21, the Internet gambling bill proposed by Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa. The bill would make it illegal for online gambling merchants to accept credit cards or other bank instruments as payment for Internet gambling by Americans. The Crime Subcommittee is part of the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives.
New Stuff -- SkyBet recently launched a new online gaming site at the URL www.skybetvegas.com. The Internet casino is licensed in Alderney and is the first online casino to go live under the island's latest interactive gaming legislation.
Bit from Down Under -- Denmark as has asked that its citizens be banned from placing Internet bets with Australian operators, the Australia Financial Review reported today. The Danish Ministry of Taxation wrote Communications and Information Technology Minister Sen. Richard Alston asking that Denmark be placed on the designated country list under section 9A of the Interactive Gaming Act of 2001.