Friday, April 16
Poker Movie -- As the popularity of poker both online and in casinos and homes across the globe continues to grow, RKO Pictures has released the new movie Shade in a limited number of theaters in the United States with a full scale release scheduled for the end of April. Sylvester Stallone, Gabriel Byrne, Stuart Townsend, Jamie Foxx and Melanie Griffith star in the film, which features poker hustlers who make a living by frequenting the shady underground clubs of Los Angeles. PokerStars.com was on hand as a sponsor of the Hollywood premiere of the film on April 6.
Return of the Luddite -- Australian Prime minister John Howard confirmed in a radio interview that Richard Alston, the former communications minister who retired last fall, is under consideration as a candidate for chairman of Telstra, the telecommunications company. During his career as communications minister, Alston, who is commonly referred to as “The Great Luddite,” attempted to ban online gambling and e-mail forwarding while rationalizing that South Korea’s citizens desired massive amounts of broadband because they were so fond of pornography. He also spent $4 million on the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts' Web site, although the project was allocated only a $0.6 million budget.
Illegal Malaysian Book -- Malaysian police on Sunday arrested seven individuals for operating an illegal multi-million dollar soccer book out of a posh 15th floor apartment. Police say the suspects operated the scheme from the apartment but used another facility in Hong Kong as the collection center. Police also estimate that suspects had been taking up to $1.6 million in bets each day on English Premier League and European soccer matches. The individuals had set up a Web site that allowed bettor to place wagers and pay via credit card.
College Gaming Study -- The United States' National Center for Responsible Gaming announced this week that a new Harvard survey of student gambling patterns indicates that college students face no greater risk of gambling problems than do other adults. Researchers Richard LaBrie, Howard Shaffer, Debi LaPlante and Henry Wechsler used data from a 2001 survey of college gambling behavior and found that the results are nearly equivalent to the figures of the most recent survey of adult gambling patterns.
Thursday, April 15
Crypto Poker -- WagerLogic, the subsidiary of software developer CryptoLogic, has released a new version of Internet poker that is now available at williamhillpoker.com, intercasinopoker.com, littlewoodspoker.com, caribbeansunpoker.com, ukbetting.com and pokerplex.com. Betfair is slated to implement the new poker software this spring. The new version boasts free roll tournament options, increased game speed, easier-to-use screens, new improved chat functions and enhanced gaming logs. It also features no-limit and pot-limit variations of popular poker games as well as multi-table tournaments.
Sports Betting in Estonia -- The Estonian Olympic Committee has launched Spordiennustus, an Internet-based betting system that supports wagering on 30 to 100 sport events per day. As with all other Estonian betting systems, 5 percent of Spordiennustus' income will be forwarded to the state, but nearly all of the rest will be used to directly fund national sports. Though still in its testing phase, the company already lists English Premiere and First Soccer League games, UEFA Cup and Champions League games, NHL games, Estonian championship matches and more. Russian soccer and the European Soccer Championship 2004 as well as the Olympic Games in Athens should be listed soon. By the time the testing phase ends on April 20th, 16 various combinations of bets should be featured. Spordiennustus is the only gaming network to allow betting on sports. The Olympic Committee has contemplated expanding into Latvia and Lithuania and plans to work with sports bars and pubs to offer Internet access so that customers can bet while having a beer and chatting with friends.
Boss and Svenska Spel -- Software developer Boss Media is working closely with Swedish gaming and lottery company Svenska Spel to develop three new scratch card games in flash format--- Dubbel-Triss, Tia med Stjärnvinst, Skrap-Labyrinten-- as well as a gaming engine that creates options for new types of games at www.svenskaspel.se. Swedish citizens over the age of 18 can apply for a free gaming card that is necessary to play the new games. Boss, also a Swedish company, has supplied gaming products to Svenska on two different occasions before now. Boss designed the Internet casino at www.casinocosmopol.se in 2001 and launched Svenska Spel's lottery games on line in October 2003.
TAB War -- UNiTAB has dropped some of the conditions on its bid for Tab Ltd., stating that its bid no longer needs the approval of the NSW racing industry or regulatory officials and no longer requires amendments to Queensland's legislation. Most analysts say, however, that dropping the conditions will not have much affect on its bid since the removal of the conditions seems to be a natural result of the NSW government's recent decision to allow the company to continue bidding. There is still anticipation that the company could raise its $2 billion bid sometime next week.
Wednesday, April 14
IAS Purchase -- Australian bookmaker International All Sports Ltd (IAS) has completed an acquisition of 50 percent of Internet Betting Co Plc (IBC), a Gibraltar-based Internet betting firm. IAS says that by providing expertise in international racing and sports wagering it will be able to provide additional value to IBC, whose results so far have been driven by soccer betting.
Centrebet Attacked -- Australia-based Centrebet, a bookmaker that does 95 percent of its business online, was hit by a distributed denial of service attack Saturday evening. The company received a ransom letter at about 9:30, and within 10 minutes, the site was attacked and brought offline. The company stated that it was prepared for an assault and was surprised it had not been targeted before now. Nevertheless, the company's Web site was brought down for an undisclosed amount of time, and Centrebet estimates that it lost $2 million in turnover as a result.
Betfair Attacked -- British betting exchange Betfair was also struck by a DDoS attack this week. The site was bombarded beginning at 5:35 on Monday, forcing the betting service to shut down. But according to spokesman Tony Calvin, they "had procedures in place for such an attack and were up and running again an hour later." The attack persisted into Tuesday and even amplified a bit. The site was slowed, but remained online. Calvin said Betfair received the standard threatening e-mail from the attackers, but was never sent a financial demand.
AftertheRaces -- Trading on in-running markets for horse racing has fallen by 25 percent on Betfair's exchange network since the closure of attheraces on March 29. Tony Calvin told the Racing Post, "The in-running market accounted for 10 percent of our overall business, and this area has been affected more than pre-race trade, although that's down too. There's a marked difference in trade on in-running markets, you have only to look at the Web site to see that. It's blatantly obvious. Mind you, there are still big six-figure sums being traded, for instance on Serengeti Sky and Soviet Song within the last week. Irish betting exchange Betdaq, however, recently issued a trading bulletin claiming it has experienced only little effect from the attheraces fallout. Said Betdaq's Rob Hartnett, "Our overall turnover figure of £6.4 million on Easter Monday was five times that on the equivalent day last year, which belies the stories of gloom elsewhere. Our registrations, deposits and overall racing turnover have all risen since the start of the month, and while televised racing is a definite plus in the long run, we are not experiencing any falling off in the short term and remain very positive about the sport's long-term health as a betting medium."
Quoteworthy -- "We are hopeful that the United States will work with us hand-in-hand to ensure that our gaming operators have fair access to the huge United States market while at the same time dealing with any concerns the United States may have. In the first instance the United States, as the primary proponent of the [General] Agreement on Trade in Services, as well as being a vocal advocate of the participation of developing countries in the GATS and the WTO dispute-settlement procedure simply cannot be expected to ignore this decision. What kind of message would that be sending to other WTO members? Secondly, the United States has been a significant beneficiary of the WTO dispute-resolution process. It is clearly in the best interest of the United States to keep the WTO dispute-resolution process vigorous and credible. We have no doubts that the United States will stand by its obligations and honor the decision of the WTO."
-- Antigua and Barbuda's new foreign minister, Harold Lovell, expressing the view that the new Antiguan government, headed by Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer completely supports the initiative taken by the previous government, which was headed by Lester Bird.
Tuesday, April 13
State Lottery Study -- Cincinnati, Ohio-based company Games Inc., which operates a games and lottery news Web site at www.lottery.com, recently commissioned the Economics Center for Education and Research at the University of Ohio to conduct an economic impact study of the effects of putting the Ohio Lottery online. Researchers concluded that online lottery tickets in the state could add $1.18 billion in lottery sales over five years. For four years Games Inc. has been lobbying the governments of Ohio and other states to become a lottery retailer. The company argues that the $1.2 billion from online gaming would yield $376 million toward education, but at the moment neither Ohio's governor nor its lottery officials are interested in going online.
Gaming Corporation -- Gaming Corp, which owns the popular casino portal at www.casino.co.uk, has launched several new online casinos as part of a new affiliate marketing strategy. The company will launch Casino Ireland on www.casino.ie, a site that already has an existing customer database and effective search engine placement. Casino Wheel, www.casinowheel.co.uk also has a customer base already in place, and its owner will promote the site in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Gaming Corp has also provided two themed casinos, Formula 1 Casino and Grand National Casino, while a third, World Cup Casino, will launch soon. By building and operating proprietary special-interest casino Web sites, the company avoids the need for expensive marketing and encourages affiliate sites to promote the casinos in exchange for revenue share agreements. Justin Drummond, chief executive of Gaming Corp, said, "Our business model has a fixed cost base and as such future growth will be driven by our ability to recruit new players with innovative new products in a cost effective way. It is our intention to launch several new affiliate casinos each month. These will be branded casino websites promoted by an experienced commission driven affiliate sales team." Meanwhile, The Independent reported today that Gaming Corp is negotiating the purchase of an Israeli software house. The company current relies on software licensed from Boss Media, but acquiring a software division would enable Gaming Corp to diversify its product offering. Gaming Corp has about £500,000 in cash, but it is likely that the takeover would be funded by new equity.
Belgian Stats -- Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal (Rvi) in Belgium reported that the country's Gaming Commission estimates that Belgians spent 27 million euros on Internet gambling last year. Rvi also reported that the country has around 150,000 citizens with gambling addictions. Over 1,000 gamblers have registered with the Gaming Commission to have themselves banned from land-based casinos.
College Tourney -- Lou Krieger, a professional poker player and the author of Poker for Dummies and Internet Poker, has received sponsorship funds from Royal Vegas Poker to offer the first annual College Poker Championship. Entry into the tournament is free and open to all college students worldwide who are enrolled between January and June of 2004. The tournament kicked off Jan. 25, with qualifying rounds being played every Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT for the following 18 weeks. Each week, $500 is awarded in prize money and 30 students advance to the semifinal round. The top 200 will then compete in the final event on June 6 for a grand prize of $50,000 cash and a $10,000 donation to the winner's charity of choice.
Chimera Adds Another -- Nevada-based software supplier Chimera Technology Corp has signed a third licensee, Pan-Caibbean Holdings Inc. A due diligence period is required before the license is actually granted, and in the next few weeks Chimera and Caribbean Holdings will work together to customize the theme, domain name, and other elements of the new gaming site. Chimera also announced that the Web site of its second licensee, BetVooDoo.com, is nearly completed and will launch as soon as the final Web site audit is completed.
Charity Tournament -- When only three people remained competing for the $25,000 prize in the UltimateBet.com Charity Poker Tournament, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott suggested that each of the three remaining players narrow the prize money to $10,000 by awarding $5,000 to each player's charity of choice. In the end Norm Daniels president and CEO of G.I. Joe's won $5,000 for the Portland State University Foundation, columnist Jonathan Nicholas obtained $5,000 for the Cycle Oregon Fund, and radio personality Dave Anderson delivered first place and $15,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Oregon.
Monday, April 12
Sports Dividends -- AllSportsMarket.com, a trading platform that was modeled off of the NASDAQ and allows players to buy and sell stock in sports teams and to receive cash dividend payments, announced that it has nearly completed its public beta testing phase with $3,070,734 in volume. The beta phase will last another six weeks, and until then players can sign up for a free account and 500 beta cash dollars.
Atlantic Lottery -- Michelle Carinci, president of the Atlantic Lottery Corp in Canada, told the Canadian Press that her company's Web site is gathering information about potential gamblers so that it could quickly and easily open up the market if it were to launch an online lottery. The Atlantic Lottery's eClub Rewards site, which has so far logged 24,000 Atlantic Canadians, lets users play games like air hockey and rock-paper-scissors (against a chimp) in exchange for personal information. Carinci said, "If we were to go online, yes certainly we would have a database of players that have already shown an interest . . . that we could open up the market to fairly quickly."
CasinoPhone -- Mobile gaming technology provider Casino Phone Technologies has announced its CasinoPhone product line that is intended to allow land-based casinos, primarily in Europe and Asia, to offer their gambling services to consumers via mobile platform. Users can access the casino network with Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Samsung Java mobiles, as well as with Microsoft Smartphones, Pocket PCs, and Windows. Casino Phone uses a prepaid card system, and since the casinos control the distribution of the cards, they should experience an increase customer loyalty and prevent access by minors.
Spin -- Ashley Revell-- the 32-year-old London man who sold all of his possessions and then flew to the Plaza Hotel Vegas in Las Vegas to bet it all on a single spin of the roulette wheel--won his spin and collected $270,600. Revell was the subject of a short Sky One reality series that followed him as he sold his belongings, told his friends and family what he planned to do, traveled to Vegas, and of course, gave the wheel a lucky spin. Sky plans to follow him for another month afterward.
VirtGame License -- Nevada's Gaming Control Board has given gaming technology provider VirtGame Corp a recommendation of approval for a non-restricted gaming license as a manufacturer and distributor without any time limitations. The company, which has obtained permission to sell its PrimeLine Race Book to licensed establishments across Nevada, had earlier received a conditional 18-month license in the state.
TAB War -- Both UNiTAB and Tabcorp are expected to raise their bids for New South Wales' Tab Ltd this week. Tabcorp had recently seemed most likely to win the bidding war because the New South Wales racing industry commissioned a study that found it would be $200 million worse off over the life of the agreement if it were to accept UNiTAB's deal. But just last week, the NSW government released its own independent report which stated that UNiTAB's offer would improve racing's situation. A necessary part of either group's merger plan must be that NSW's racing industry is no worse off in the future than it now is. The government's report should prompt.