Friday, Dec. 12
Irish Tote Jackpot -- The Irish Independent reports that Horse Racing Ireland, which owns the Irish Tote, will discuss renovating the Tote's Jackpot at its board meeting next Wednesday. With revenue for the year up an estimated 14 percent from last year, the Tote is performing well, but the Jackpot is doing poorly and has not kept pace with the rest of computer betting. Part of the problem can be traced back to the introduction of the Euro two years ago. Previously the basic Jackpot unit was 50 pence, but it was raised to 1 euro as a matter of convenience. If the board speculates that the price increase is too much for punters to bet on the desired number of combinations, it will likely suggest a price reduction for the Jackpot as part of its overhaul in February.
Hill Updates Mobile -- Volantis Systems Ltd. is supplying an MCS server to William Hill that will give mobile users access to the sports book at www.williamhill.co.uk no matter what type of handset and network they are using. For some time now, William Hill has been using WAP services to deliver interactive services to phone users, but the early technology is only able to accommodate a small number of mobile handsets from the main manufacturers. The first phase of the two-phase project--providing access to the URL from any phone and network--is already complete. The second phase will improve the audio and visual experience of customers using the most popular devices.
Spammer Indictment -- Two of the world's most prolific spammers have been indicted by a grand jury in Virginia on four felony counts of sending bulk unsolicited e-mail. The two men (one of whom is No. 8 on the top 10 worldwide spammer list) used America Online's network in Virginia to launch spam campaigns, for which they could face up to 20 years of imprisonment. Virginia has the toughest anti-spam laws in the United States; the state can prosecute violators on specific criminal charges, whereas other states can only take civil action.
AGA Code of Conduct -- The American Gaming Association has composed a 25-page Code of Conduct for Responsible Gambling for casinos to use as a behavioral guideline for curbing compulsive gambling problems. Among other things, casinos are advised to ban gamblers who ask to be excluded, to prevent visibly drunk gamblers from playing and to explain the odds of winning at any game. The 17-member AGA board voted unanimously to adopt the code, which administers no penalties for non-compliance.
Security Standard -- The 2020 Committee of the Thoroughbred Racing Association in the U.S. voted unanimously on Wednesday to adopt an industry wide standard for tote systems in the event of a host-to-guest communications interruption. The new system seeks to increase wagering security by automatically suspending the guest's pari-mutuel betting for the host's entire card until the transmission link has been re-established. Such a system will prevents any wagering after the start of a race. The Thoroughbred Racing Assocation has asked AmTote, Autotote, United Tote, and Las Vegals Dissemination Co.-- the four U.S. companies that handle tote wagering in the U.S--to implement the system as quickly as possible.
Thursday, Dec. 11
Survey Says -- ATE reports that Business In Sport and Leisure (BISL), an umbrella organization that represents the British leisure industry, recently commissioned Ernst & Young to conduct a survey to poll citizens' opinion of gambling regulation in the UK. Out of 1,000 respondents, 80 percent favor easier access to casinos and new ways to bet, 66 percent participate in at least two forms of gambling per year, and over 75 percent welcome the reform of the UK's gambling laws... Meanwhile, the Salvation Army conducted a survey of its own, claiming that 93 percent of the British public feels there are already enough gambling opportunities in the UK, 94 percent feel that allowing people to gamble with credit cards will lead to greater gambling debts, 82 percent feel that people are more likely to lose money if they drink alcohol while gambling, and 56 percent of the population, and 64 percent of women do not want a casino to open near their home.
ePoker at ICE -- Tribeca Tables, a US company that was the first to develop an online poker room aggregator system, will make its first ever trade show appearance at the London International Casino Exhibition 2004 in January. Tribeca, who will show its ePoker solutions, has partnerships with Victor Chandler International and Golden Palace Casino, and over 100 other poker sites use its Tribeca software, which is uniquely branded for each site, but aggregates the players from each site into one massive card room.
Quoteworthy -- "This case is fundamentally about the ability of a developing economy such as ours to fairly compete in the massive United States gambling and betting market with domestic service providers. The United States has imprisoned the operator of an Antiguan company for doing just that. Antigua and Barbuda believes that the United States' position is in violation of its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services."-- Sir Ronald Sanders, Chief Foreign Affairs Representative for Antigua and Barbuda. Yesterday Sanders delivered the two islands' opening argument against the U.S. to a World Trade Organization dispute panel. The hearing is expected to last three days, and the panel will publish its final ruling early in 2004.
Intralot -- Greek gaming systems operator Intralot has purchased Tektron SA, a Peruvian gambling operator for $19.1 million. Tektron's 1,400 sales points will be added to the 1,000 sales points that are owned by Intralot de Peru, a Peruvian subsidiary of Intralot. Tektron and Intralot will merge in the first half of 2004, giving Intralot the largest consumer distribution network in the country for its products.
Survey Says -- Microgaming, a gaming software and management systems company, has reached a patent licensing agreement with Menashe Business Mercantile Limited and Dr. Julian Menashe, allowing Microgaming and its associates and licensees to use Menashe's patented interactive, computerized gaming technology, in online casinos… Microgaming's latest product, MegaSpins, was launched on King Neptune's Casino last week, enabling users to play 4, 6 or 9 games at once on their screen.
ARB Meets With Corporate Bookmakers -- Australian Racing Board chief executive Andrew Harding called the ARB's meeting on Wednesday with corporate bookmakers "very productive." The ARB met with representatives from International All Sports, Sportingbet, and Allsports to try to negotiate a contribution fee from the corporate bookmakers to the sport.
Wednesday, Dec. 10
I-Gaming in Montana -- The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Justice Department is warning residents of Montana that online gambling is illegal after Curacao-licensed gaming company Sirbet on Friday put an advertisement in The Billings Gazette, stating that it would help interested parties set up their own gaming site for less than $499, after which the parties could expect to make $5,00 to $10,000 per week. Montana's Constitution bars all gambling except what has been authorized by the Legislature. Gambling on credit is also forbidden.
Asian Kiosks -- Fortuna Casino will soon launch CasinoWebcam's live online casino via an Internet kiosk product in an effort to capture the Asian markets where computer ownership is not yet pervasive. Fortuna will deploy 20 kiosks on December 20th and 30 more by December 30th. By the end of March, Fortuna hopes to have 200 kiosks operating. The kiosks will feature real time webcasts of CasinoWebcam's live online baccarat game in Mandarin Chinese.
Quoteworthy -- "To the extent that spammers in one country are targeting consumers in another, we recommend that our respective enforcement agencies form closer working relationships on this issue, so that spammers are not able to hide behind jurisdictional barriers. We strongly recommend that our respective governments engage in bilateral co-operation on enforcement, particularly in the areas of fraud, illegal sales of prescription drugs and obscene child pornography."-- a letter sent on Tuesday to US Commerce Secretary Don Evans and British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt, signed by U.S senators Ron Wyden and Conrad Burns and by British parliament members Brian White, Andrew Miller and Derek Wyatt. On Monday the US's Can-Spam Act unanimously passed the House of Representatives. The bill now awaits President George Bush's signature before it can become law.
LegalPlay Poker -- On December 22nd, Legalplay Entertainment will launch PokerPass.com, a traditional card room for European players. LegalPlay also says it is refining its North American SkillPoker.com system and improving its marketability, in preparation for a marketing initiative that will improve its number of players. The company hopes that the new PokerPass.com site will compliment SkillPoker.com through cross marketing and promotional incentives.
Tuesday, Dec. 9
Tab War -- The Australian Financial Review reports that Tony Hartnell, chairman of NSW Racing, is loosening up on the organization's demand that TAB Ltd. sell Sky Racing, its monopoly racing broadcaster, before its merges with either Tabcorp or UNiTAB. Hartnell now says NSW Racing is willing to compromise in order to obtain "competitive neutrality" in the industry.
Intralot y Polla Chilena -- Greek gaming systems operator Intralot and Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, Chile's state gambling operator, have signed a six-year deal whereby Intralot will operate and provide risk management of fixed-odds betting games in Chile. Polla Chilena, which plans to roll out fixed-odds betting games in the first half of 2004, has given Intralot an option to extend the agreement for two more years. In September the two companies signed a different six-year contract whereby Intralot would install and manage an integrated gambling platform to offer betting games via mobile phones, call centers, and the Internet.
Virtual Theft -- In Taipei, Taiwan a district court ruled that stealing virtual money is not theft. The court ruled on a case that involved a Japanese online game called Lineage that lets players earn virtual money that can be redeemed for more play-time at Internet cafes. A Taipei resident was charged with using a friend's Lineage password to access and steal all of his virtual money, about $4,000 worth. The judge ruled, however, that virtual money is not the same as real money, and therefore the resident's act is not theft. According to the judge, "It was the virtual money, not cash, that he was accused of stealing. And those records, that can be reproduced, constitute no evidence." The judge ruled that the crime was only common larceny, which is a felony to the public, but since the afflicted person had not filed charges the case was dismissed.
Mobile Numbers -- Alexander Resources, a research and consulting company that specializes in wireless communications, has released a report estimating that worldwide revenues for all types of mobile phone gambling could reach $16 billion by 2008. Titled Mobile Gambling: Casinos, Lotteries & Betting, the report divides mobile gaming into three divisions and predicts that by 2008 mobile casino style betting will reap $6 billion, mobile lotteries will reap $5 billion, and mobile sports and other betting will reap $5 billion. Just last week Juniper Research announced its own study for mobile betting, claiming that the industry should earn $5.7 billion by 2006.
Monday, Dec. 8
Victoria Racing Fee -- The Age reports that Racing Victoria's chairman, Graham Duff, has called a meeting this week with corporate bookmakers, including Australia's IASbet and England's Sportingbet. Duff, who insists that the bookmakers must not be allowed to ride for free on Victoria's racing product, has called the meeting so that an appropriate product fee can be established. The bookmakers, and also English betting exchange Betfair, have previously indicated that they are willing to negotiate the fee, though discussions so far have not merited much. Betfair has not been invited to this week's meeting, however, because Duff says it is not a bookmaker but an interactive gambling service that threatens the integrity of sport. Meanwhile, Betfair says it is eager to contribute a "fair share to the Australian racing industry for what is clearly its product," and claims to be logging its own accounts of what it owes Australia racing, backdated from February.
GMTV Instant Win Games -- GMTV is launching GMTV Instant Win Games as a sub-site to www.gm.tv. GMTV Instant Win Games was designed by Gamesys, who will also manage and update the site. Featured games include scratchcards, slot machines, lottos, Shopping Spree, and more, and users earn prize points that can be redeemed for merchandise like DVD players and weekend getaways. GMTV will promote its instant win games through permanent menu links, banners, tower and tile ads, and its weekly newsletter.
Korean I-gaming Indictments -- Online Casino News reports that South Korean courts have indicted three Internet auction companies-- Korea Tender, Lowwin, and Seven Today-- on charges of illegal online gambling. The sites let users pay low bid fees for the chance to win prizes of higher value, a practice that the authorities consider to be equivalent to gambling. The authorities are said to be investigating, though it is still uncertain whether the auction sites are in fact breaking the law.
UNiTAB in New Zealand -- Queenlsand, Austalia-based gaming company UNiTAB Ltd. is attempting is first offshore venture by entering a deal with Telecom New Zealand whereby the two companies will jointly tender a request for proposal from the NZ government for the right to monitor the country's 22,500 non-casino gaming machines. The NZ government, which uses the Queensland Communication protocol as its monitoring standard, should issue a request for proposal by mid-2004.