Friday, Oct. 24
Merge -- Ninety-nine percent of Jupiter Ltd's shareholders voted in favor of merging with Tabcorp at a board meeting on the Gold Coast today. Jupiters' managing director Rob Hines says that Tabcorp's new casino division will be headquartered on the Gold Coast.
In-Game -- ukbetting is now offering operators live in-game betting capabilities on its mobile phone services. Customers can now bet on up to 10 individual markets throughout the course of a game.
Can't Spam -- The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 97-0 in favor of the Burns-Wyden Can Spam Bill, which prohibits people from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail with a misleading subject line or a false return address. All commercial e-mail must clearly indicate that it is an advertisement, and must also contain opt-out mechanisms as well as information about the sender's physical location. The law also bans the practice of harvesting e-mail addresses from Web sites and hacking into computers to disguise the actual source of a mailing. Offenses are punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years.
Thursday, Oct. 23
Scrum Betting -- Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. has made another update to its SportXction software, adding play-by-play betting on rugby just in time for the Rugby World Cup in Australia. As fans watch the game, they can bet on every scrum, try and kick from the Internet, a mobile device or interactive television.
Bet Fair? -- Betting exchanges are back in the spotlight with reports of suspicious betting on Monday at P2P site Betfair on a horse at Wolverhampton. According to the Racing Post, word got to the U.K. Jockey Club that Red Lancer, which should have been favored to win, was laid more heavily than would ordinarily have been expected. The horse stalled out of the box, getting off to a late start that it couldn't overcome. The horse's jockey and trainer say the horse was simply mucking around in the box, and they deny that the race was fixed. A spokesman from Betfair said the site notified the Jockey Club of the unusual betting prior to the race.
New GMs -- Youbet.com has appointed David Bonfield as General Manager of its Eastern Region. Bonfield was previously publisher of the Trentonian/Journal Register Company. The company has also pointed Jeff True as General Manager for its Western Region. True is a former general manager and director of marketing for Los Alomitos Race Course in Cypress, California.
Dealing -- Skill gaming company CYOP Systems International Inc. has contracted ProRanking.com, a search engine marketing firm that is a subsidiary of CGI Holding Corp., to employ various tactics to drive traffic to CYOP's gaming site at www.skillarcade.com, which enables players to play games and tournaments for real cash prizes.
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Wireless -- Gaming system provider Chartwell Technology Inc. today announced the first version release of its wireless gaming suite for Java-enabled mobile phones. The system, which uses the same secure back-office system that's provided through its Internet software, can be fully integrated into operators' existing banking and player databases and gaming systems. Licensees can customize the suite's animated graphics to their own brand and design preferences. The initial five games--baccarat, multi-hand blackjack, casino war, slots and video poker--can be played for fun or for money.
Affiliate Program -- The new BlackJack.com Casino Affiliate Program gives webmasters a choice between a 35 percent flat commission or a $50 cost-per-acquisition payment program from the moment they enroll. Consumers that an affiliate refers to the site belong to the affiliate for life, and the BlackJack.com online tracking system lets affiliates view comprehensive statistics on the activities of its players, deposits, and revenues. Blackjack.com also gives affiliates free marketing support and guarantees on-time, monthly payments.
TAB Merger -- The Australian Financial Review reported yesterday that several major shareholders in the proposed Tab Ltd and UNiTAB Ltd merger don't want Warren Wilson to become managing director of the new company. According to the AFR, Colonial First State-- which holds about 10 percent of UNiTAB's shares and about 10 percent of Tab's shares--along with Perpetual Trustees and other companies with smaller holdings--would like to hold a special shareholders' meeting to drop Wilson. Colonial's senior portfolio manager, Simon Shields, told the AFR, "Professional investors want Dick McIlwain to run the merged business because of his superior track record."
McIlwain, who is currently managing director for UNiTAB but will step down for $3.04 million when the merger is complete, responded, "We have put a deal out to our shareholders and naturally we support the deal and part of the package is that Warren becomes the managing director of the company. That is the position that all of the directors on UNiTAB support, including myself. We didn't put it out there lightly. This deal needs to go through. It is a good deal, and it is a good deal regardless of who manages it." TAB's chairman Graham Kelly has also spoken in defense of the companies' decision to give the reigns to Warren and has said that the "media-driven egos" of some fund managers puts the country's governance standards at risk.
Dealing -- The Nottingham Evening Post reports that George Akins has sold his betting shop empire to Coral Eurobet for about £14m. Located throughout Notts and South and West Yorkshire, the betting shops have a turnover of about £25 million. George Akins has kept a shop in Keyworth and one in Mansfield.
Validation -- Camelot, the operator of the U.K. National Lottery, has commissioned Albany Software to supply its Albany Verify products for validating online bank accounts details. The validation tools will help Camelot reduce both the number of incorrect account captures and the amount of time needed for processing online transactions.
Ladbrokes -- Ladbrokes has become the first program sponsor of live racing on digital channel attheraces. The sponsorship must be carried out under the Ladbrokespoker.com brand, however, because of Independent Television Commission broadcast rules that bar bookmakers from sponsoring sports TV programs that include racing results. Ladbrokespoker.com is able to sponsor attheraces because it is classified as a gaming product instead of a betting Web site.
Tuesday, Oct. 21
TV Lotto -- Win Win Gaming Inc., a Las Vegas-based operator of international lottery games, has entered into an exclusive agreement with television game show production company Sande Stewart Television Inc. to produce lottery TV game shows in jurisdictions around the world, particularly China. Sande Stewart produces the Powerball Instant Millionaire game show for 14 different U.S state lotteries, as well as the Missouri State Lottery's "Fun and Fortune" game, which is now in its seventh year of broadcast. Win Win President Patrick Rogers said, "TV lottery games shows are an essential marketing strategy for our company. Statistics indicate that Instant Ticket lottery games that are tied into televised game shows can significantly increase ticket sales."
CrediPlay -- CYOP Systems International Inc., a provider of online skill games and tournaments, has launched a new version of its corporate website at www.cyopsystems.com , using flash technology to showcase its CrediPlay software, which lets contestants compete against each other for real money. The web site also displays info about the CrediPlay Transaction Network, which has developed a credit integration system for sales that permits the transfer of money to merchants, game developers, server operators, and consumers. CrediPlay charges a network maintenance fee on each game of skill.
Monday, Oct. 20
Debate -- Dublin-based betting exchange BETDAQ on Oct. 29 will host a debate on the growth of exchange betting and the issues surrounding it. The event will be chaired by BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght, and panel members will include Clive Hawkswood from the UK Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, Hilary Stewart-Jones, a partner at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner and former head of Legal services at Ladbrokes and Rob Hartnett, public affairs director of BETDAQ. Representatives from major sporting authorities will also attend. Some questions to be addressed: how to curb potential charges of corruption, how to balance the need for integrity with basic consumer rights, how to address the demands on governing bodies to protect their sport and what the evolution of new betting media might mean in the future.
Skill Games -- The Associated Press recently featured an article about two new gaming networks that enable players to wager on their own performance as they compete against others in head-to-head games like Quake and Unreal. YouPlayGames, which obtained 18,000 subscribers in its first four months, lets gamers decide upon a predetermined amount that a player wins each time he kills an enemy and loses each time he dies. Players can also win money by scoring high enough on the leader boards. Ultimate Arena, which has obtained 20,000 active players this month, lets players agree upon any entry fee of $1-$20 to be collected in a pool before game play. The pool is later paid out to the winner (minus 15 percent commission that goes to Ultimate Arena). Users for both networks must already own the full-version of the games they wish to play for cash. The networks are legal in most states because the activities constitute skill rather than chance…. CYOP, a developer and provider of online skill-gaming solutions and services, says that it has reached a user-base of 160,000 members on its CrediPlay Network through its www.skillarcade.com game site and 220 affiliates. SkillArcade.com, the central portal, lets players compete in games of skill against other players and in tournaments for real cash and prizes. CYOP's proprietary online transaction application, CrediPlay, charges a network maintenance fee for each game played over the Internet.
Betex -- U.K.-based betting exchange Betfair today announced the launch of its new international software platform, Betex, which uses a more efficient and easier-to-use interface. The site, now accessible in traditional Chinese and Mandarin, is localizable to punters in foreign districts. Within a few months punters will be able to place global bets in 12 different languages.
Wireless Virus -- "They're getting to a point where the networks are becoming more intelligent. There are more places within a network, within a PC, within a wireless network, that you can actually break-in and so it's an increasingly difficult job to actually keep those people out."-- Chris Bray from IBM, telling CNN why the number of potential threats to wireless technology is increasing. According to CNN, the wireless world is vulnerable to the same sorts of viruses and worms that attack computer software.
e-Patriot -- Last week the New York Times published an article that speculated that the PATRIOT Act could threaten the growth of e-commerce. A section of the act, which allows the FBI to obtain a court order to obtain any information from businesses and citizens that it deems necessary to solving a terrorism or espionage case. The New York Times interviewed a bookseller who has stopped obtaining a great deal of information from its customers as a result of the PATRIOT provisions. The Times speculates that many e-commerce companies