Friday, Aug. 15
Bet on Arnold -- BetonSports.com is offering odds on Arnold Schwarzenegger's fate in the California recall election. The Costa Rica-based online sports book, well known for its menu of unusual bets, is taking bets on propositions such as: Will Arnold defeat Gov. Davis?; "If Arnold were to lose, would he say "Hasta la Vista baby, I'll be back" in a concession speech?; Will Arnold admit he has used any illegal drugs besides marijuana?; Will Arnold dress as the Terminator at a political rally?; and Would Arnold seek a constitutional amendment to allow a naturalized U.S. citizen to become president?
Thursday, Aug. 14
Spam -- Clearswift, a London-based company that specializes in managing and securing electronic communications, has published its second "Spam Index." Clearswift found a significant increase in the amount of gambling related spam, which now accounts for 7.2 percent of all spam worldwide.
Hurling -- Bookmakers Paddy Power have asked eight endorsed hurlers not to use hurls with the company logo in the Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-finals. Paddy Power terminated its sponsorship after the Gaelic Athletic Association and Gaelic Players Association criticized the company and players for infringing sponsorship guidelines by using the hurls in a previous game. The players will still be paid in full.
Web Controversy -- Two weeks ago Ryan Lackey, Former Chief Technology Officer of HavenCo, abandoned the project. HavenCo, a man-made, basketball court-sized platform off the coast of England, launched in 2000 as the home for controversial web businesses. Lackey says his business partners had become nervous and were leading the company, which has only six customers, into financial failure. Representatives from HavenCo, however, deny that that the company is in any danger and that it has only six customers.
Wednesday, Aug. 13
Legal Stuff -- The Associated Press reports that a man in North Dakota has pleaded guilty in a state court to illegal gambling charges in relation to bets he placed over the Internet. Jeffrey Trauman pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge on Monday. He was fined $500 and given a one-year deferred sentence.
Rugby -- Rugby World Cup Ltd. has appointed SuperOdds UK Ltd. as the official betting agency of the Rugby World Cup 2003. SuperOdds will provide an exclusive on-site betting service on the official Rugby World Cup Web site and will supply the official odds to the Rugby World Cup media center and all official publications.
Asian News-- In Thailand on Monday nine companies placed bids for a contract to install the government lottery office's online lottery system. The winner will be decided in two or three months.
Parlay -- Deloitte & Touche have named dot com Entertainment Group, Inc. as one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Canada. The criteria for ranking are based on percentage of growth in revenue over the last five years. dot com Entertainment supplies software and services to the I-gaming industry through its affiliate Parlay Entertainment Limited.
Tuesday, Aug. 12
Making Deals -- Worldwide Management, a subsidiary of Angelciti Entertainment, will provide AmericanDynastyCasino.com with software under its “TheHouseWins” program.
Regulatory Update -- In Guam the Citizens of Economic Diversity have obtained enough signatures to allow its proposed special election for the legalization of gambling. The group, which acquired 2,490 signatures, now needs at least 8 of the 15 members of the Guam Legislature to approve its bill… Tax-News.com reports that three more online gambling firms have been advertising vacancies in Gibraltar. Set2go, a company who has verifiably established an operation in Gibraltar says that “As Gibraltar has only issued a small number of licenses, following extremely detailed due-diligence on the company and its Directors you can rest assured there is no safer place to operate an online gaming company.”
European News -- Italy’s pick-six SuperEnalotto jackpot grew to $75 million on Saturday after nobody was lucky enough to win for the 44th consecutive time.
Names and Faces -- The UK herald reports that John Banks, the Scottish ex-bookmaker who described the business as "a licence to print money", has died at the age of 68. Nicknamed the “Flying Scotsman,” Banks was a former chairman of the Rails Bookmakers’ Association and was known for offering odds on unusual bets… Julie Cooper, former Customer Services Director for the Financial Times Group, has been signed as Betfair’s Customer Service Director. Her first priorities will be formulating a new CRM package and continuing Betfair’s globalization program.
Data Hub -- Researchers at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center in Phoenix, Arizona claim that a drug called Miraplex, which is used to treat Parkinson’s disease, can give some users a compulsive gambling side effect.
Police Blotter -- Israeli police have been authorized by Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein to advance upon illegally operating casino ships out of Eilat. Rubinstein reached the decision one week after hearing Deputy State Prosecutor Nava Ben-Or’s report on how to best deal with the problem. Rubinstein strongly opposes establishing casinos of any type in Israel.
Monday, Aug. 11
Names and Faces -- The two gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky are split on the issue of gambling. Republican Ernie Fletcher opposes gambling on the grounds of social ramifications, but Democrat Ben Chandler said on Friday if elected he would push the General Assembly to let voters decide whether to legalize expanded gaming at race tracks.
US News -- Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius appointed 15 members to a Gambling Committee to determine the benefits and practicality of legalizing gambling within the state. The governor stated, "I believe thousands of Kansans are going out of state to pursue a recreation that they enjoy and in the course of that the state of Kansas is losing millions of dollars in gaming revenue to our sister state of Missouri."
Kansas currently permits pari-mutuel wagering, bingo games offered by nonprofit groups, and casino gambling on its four American Indian reservations. . . . Tampa, Fla. detectives on Friday raided an "adult arcade," which they said was really a mini-casino with 62 video slot machines. Chief Deputy David Gee said, "These particular games are billed as skill-related, but in reality they are games of chance." Police confiscated all 62 gaming machines and arrested four people on felony charges for illegal gambling. No customers were present during the raid.
Quoteworthy -- "Every time any form of gambling is legalized in any way, it always expands beyond what the original plan was. Unless you prohibit everything, it is impossible to write a gambling statute that is not ambiguous, that does not leave the door cracked open for some new entrepreneur," says Nelson Rose, a professor specializing in gaming laws, commenting on a new card game variation of craps that has been invented at Harrah’s Rincon Casino, near San Diego where craps is illegal.
UK News -- The Premiere League has granted BskyB all live football rights, but Mario Monti, the European Competition Minister, might decide otherwise. Last year Brussells thought the way rights were sold resembled price-fixing, so this year the Premiere League divided the rights into four packages. A spokesman for Monti said, "We want to see that there was genuine competition per package. Competition has not been introduced because the live rights are still with one broadcaster. We will ask the Premier League to provide information on how the bidding took place and how many bids were received per package.". . . . New Media Age reports that beginning September 1, Isle of Man bookmakers will be able to advertise in the UK. Until recently, only online bookmakers who had a physical presence in the UK were permitted to advertise there, but the Isle of Man has become exempt by raising its tax rates on bets from the UK up to the same level as the UK—15 percent. All other international bets will remain taxed at the same rate of 1.5 percent, however.
Betinternet, the only bookmaker on the Isle of Man without a UK presence, is the only one to be affected by the change and says it will launch a six figure ad campaign in the fall.
Making Deals -- UK newspaper, the Sun, is taking its Dream Team Fantasy Football game to BskyB’s Sky Digital Network. Last year 45 percent of the 400,000 entries came from online and Sky Digital will make Dream Team available to over 7 million subscribers. . . . Footyflutter, scheduled to launch this week, lets football bettors place wagers with a combined web and interactive voice-response system. When bettors dial a premium rate number, the call charge becomes their stake and they record their bet at the IVR service. Users claim winnings at the Footyflutter Web site.