Wednesday, Nov. 26
Chinese Customs -- Xinhuanet reports that customs officers in Beijing have seized 3,544 CDs used for online gambling in three cases this month. In two separate cases early in the month, authorities seized 44 CDs "containing over 17 games in Mandarin and Cantonese." In a third case, customs confiscated 3,500 CDs labeled "Best On-line Gaming City." The publication reported: "According to the Customs, the smugglers wanted to cash in on the coming festivals like Christmas, New Year's Day and the SpringFestival, when people tend to spend more time on the Internet." Customs did not indicate whether there are suspects in the case or what the penalties would be.
New Stuff -- Casino Fortune on Tuesday signed an agreement with Saturn Gaming through which Casino Fortune's new bingo site, www.SunnyBingo.com, will become part of the Saturn Bingo Network. Using the network, players can access Saturn's white-label bingo games via partners' branded sites.
Coming Very Soon... -- Europmedia reports that the U.K. National Lottery could launch an iTV service via Sky Active by the end of 2003. The two groups announced the signing of a deal this month to jointly develop an interactive version of the popular charity-funding draw.
British Invasion -- TimesOnline reports that Swedish online poker group PokerRoom.com will spend £1.75 million in the United Kingdom on competing with the country's "Big Three" bookmakers (Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral), all of which operate poker rooms. The group will apply for a license in England when the country's new gambling laws are in place. With 10 percent of its clients already coming out of the United Kingdom, the company maintains that it doesn't need approval to target British bettors, but COO Patric Selin said a license would serve as a "stamp of approval." The company reported profits this year of £2.5 million on turnover of about £10 million, making it the 19th most profitable business in Sweden.
Party Time -- BetonSports.com has opened an onsite VIP club in San Jose, Costa Rica and brought in a handful of celebrities to partake in the festivities. On hand were Carmen Electra and the Pussycat Dolls (who provided musical entertainment) as well as the cast from Fox Television's "That '70s Show" and others. The club serves an oasis for regular users of the BetonSports.com, should they choose to visit Costa Rica. It features a live gaming area, a spa, manicure/pedicure facilities, a gym, a sauna, a restaurant and a bar. For the party, the club was transformed into a collection of exotic theme rooms, which included a Garden of Eden with loin-clothed women, a bondage room with dominatrix and slave and an office with a dancing maid entertaining an executive. "There's no party without show," said CEO David Carruthers, "and we like to put on a good show."
Politics -- The World Lottery Association has reportedly offered its full support to the United States in its World Trade Organization dispute with Antigua and Barbuda. The association has allocated an undisclosed substantial budget for activities connected to this case.
Tuesday, Nov. 25
Sentenced -- Anthony Delevo, a 63 year-old man from Westfield, Massachusetts, was yesterday sentenced to 3 years incarceration for racketeering and money laundering in connection with an illegal gambling business operated by the Genovese Organized Crime Family. Delevo, who plead guilty to the charges in June, is one of 15 individuals who were charged in the same gambling and loan sharking case. He also received a $100,000 fine, and his prison term will be followed by five and a half years of supervision.
Trademark Case -- Last week Mirage Resorts, which owns the Golden Nugget hotel-casino, filed a lawsuit against YH Technology, whose web site at www.goldnuggetcasino.net might be in violation of Mirage’s trademark rights. The online casino has apparently relocated, however, and is now accessible at www.24ktgoldcasino.com rather than at www.goldnuggetcasino.com, though it still retains the name Gold Nugget Online Casino. YH Technology, which is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and seems to be based in Australia, is also accused of unfair competition, trademark dilution under federal statutes, deceptive trade practices, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
Deals -- Internet sports media company SportsLine.com, Inc., has sold subsidiary Las Vegas Sports Consultants to a group of investors in Las Vegas with much experience in the gaming industry, including Ellen Whittemore, Jeff Patterson, David Whittemore and Ken White. Las Vegas Sports Consultants supplies gaming information and analysis to legally licensed sports books. The sale is part of SportLine.com's plan to get rid of some of its information operations so that it can focus on its main business, which is proprietary-branded properties NFL.com, PGATOUR.com, and NCAAsports.com.
Recruits -- Chimera Technology Corp. has recruited two new personnel to its E-Network operations in Costa Rica. Melvin Pereida-- who has worked in the industry for over five years and has held executive management positions with Tropical Cyber Casino and ABC Islands Casino and Sportsbook-- will become president of E-Network, and Arnoldo Rodriquez-- who has assisted in the restructure of multinational companies in Costa Rica such as Chiquita brands, Seagram International and Euro Autos de Centro America-- will become Corporate Financial Officer for the E-Network.
I-gaming Europe -- The European Casino Forum, the association that represents licensed casinos in Europe, has expressed satisfaction with the European Commission’s report on the e-Commerce Directive, in which the Commission says that it will investigate a potential harmonized approach to online gambling among the EU member states. ECF Secretary General Heliodoro Giner said, “With remote gambling being one of the driving forces (killer applications) in the proliferation of advanced communication technologies, there is an urgent need to regulate the offer of and the access to interactive services. This would protect the interests of European citizens, the European casino businesses and last but not least the EU-Member States themselves.”
Monday, Nov. 24
Ukbetting Radio -- Ukbetting's in-store media branch, TEAMtalk Broadcast, has just signed deals to provide Littlewoods' Index stores, Topps Tiles, and Makro Self Service Wholesalers with in-store radio services. With the new additions, TEAMtalk now supplies in-store radio to seven mainstream retailers, giving them access to the airwaves in over 1,000 outlets in the United Kingdom where over 15 million customers will hear the service each week.
TAB War -- The Sydney Morning Herald reports that ACT bookmaker SportOdds and U.K. betting exchange operator Betfair have both expressed that they do not oppose a merger between Tabcorp and Tab Ltd., as long as they are all permitted to fairly compete. "We would like to get licenses and enjoy the same benefits they do in reaching the consumer," said SportOdds owner, Con Kafataris, who would like to see the NSW Government change its licensing structure to allow more than one licensed online sports betting operator. Betfair would also like access to bettors in NSW. Mark Davies, spokesman for Betfair, said, "If you are going to create as great a monopoly as this, you have to ensure that there is greater competition to make sure the consumer has choice."
Sarawak Loophole -- The government of Sarawak, Malaysia's largest state, has tried to stem the proliferation of gambling by limiting the number of licensed numbers forecast operations (NFO). The Sarawak Tribune reports that a large betting company based in peninsular Malaysia has for the past few weeks aggressively sought an NFO license, but all of its applications have been rejected. The company, whose name has not been verified, reportedly may have found a legislative loophole to circumvent the state's authority by setting up its NFO outlets through telelink service centers. The centers would allow customers to bypass tickets (the sale of which is regulated by the Finance Ministry) and access their accounts with mobile devices. The company is reported to have made arrangements with a bank to ease transactions of the service accounts, and the centers could possibly start operating next month as live horse racing telecasts via satellite TV begin. If the online network is successful, the Sarawak government will lose the 5 percent gambling tax that it earns on NFO tickets.
Fate of Tote -- The Independent reports that the U.K. Office of Fair Trading and the U.K. Department for Culture, Media, and Sport will likely inform the Tote this week that its monopoly on pool betting will expire in seven years. The Tote has an exclusive license to operate pool betting for an unlimited amount of time, but the OFT expressed last year that it would like to enhance competition by removing the license. Tote's chairman, Peter Jones said, "The license is indefinite at the moment. We're hopeful there will be a reasonable length to enable us to have a smooth transition. What we were promised originally by the Home Office was 15 years and what the OFT suggested was nil." Some speculate that the loss of license could lead to the Tote's privatization through a transfer to a not-for-profit trust. Meanwhile, the Tote announced today that its pre-tax profits for the 25 weeks ended Sept. 17 have risen 39 percent.
The Funding Question -- "Current accusations leveled at betting exchanges--regarding turnover, margin, punter behavior, bookmaker behavior, bookmaker profitability, and ultimately the funding of racing--are unfounded."
- forward to "The Funding Question," Betfair's 86-page refute of attacks from bookmakers. The report analyzes starting price data for every horse in every race in the past eight years. Betfair also argues that the removal of the betting tax in 2001 has impacted horseracing in a way that has been "dramatically underestimated." Betfair will send the report to all of racing's major interest groups and to the U.K. Parliamentary Committee established to evaluate the draft Gambling Bill.
Casino Freeplay -- Ladbrokes is launching a six-figure Internet marketing campaign for Ladbrokescasino.com. Called Casino Freeplay, the promotional program will let new customers play the online casino for free until November 28. In that time Ladbrokes will be offering 1,500 prizes, including gift vouchers from Amazon and Hilton, a new Mini, a trip to Las Vegas, and a grand prize BMW Z4. Ladbrokescasino's lead online agency, Unique Digital, will splatter the Ladbrokescasino logo in about 55 million places such as on banners, buttons and skyscrapers.