Friday, April 23
Sponsorship -- Online poker room and casino The Gaming Club has announced a two-year sponsorship deal worth over 1 million euro for The Gaming Club World Poker Championship. Taking place in Dublin June 23-27, the tournament will be part of a 10-part television series on Sky Sports later this year. . . . Victor Chandler poker will also lend its name and logo to a poker tournament this summer. Casino operator London Clubs International will assist the company in sponsoring The Victor Poker Cup July 21-23. Players can attempt to qualify for a seat at the tournament by entering online tournaments at www.vcpoker.com.
Welcome Aboard -- Bodog.com has announced the addition of Penny Phang as its new communications director. Phang has worked with Sony Pictures, IMAX, Hasbro and Electronic Arts, and also represents Playboy as a special editions celebrity model. She will soon begin attending industry events, and it is rumored that she could play some role in the upcoming Sumo Grudge Match at the Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo in Toronto next month.
TAB Truce -- The bidding war for NSW's Tab Ltd. between Victoria's Tabcorp and Queensland's UNiTAB has ended in a compromise. UNiTAB has agreed to drop its offer for Tab Limited, allowing Tabcorp to acquire the bulk of the wagering company. In exchange, Tabcorp will sell Tab Limited's gaming machine business to UNiTAB for $175 million as well as its own monitoring service for gaming machines in hotel and clubs in Victoria for $40 million. UNiTAB's managing director, Dick McIlwain, is pleased with the truce. "It will deliver a better outcome for UNiTAB shareholders than would have resulted from our bid for Tab," McIlwain said. "The new company that will emerge from the TAB-Tabcorp merger should possess about 80 percent of Australia's betting turnover.
VirtGame Licensed -- VirtGame Corp, which provides server-based software to the gaming and lottery industries, on Thursday received a non-restricted gaming license without time limitations as a manufacturer and distributor from the Nevada Gaming Commission. The commission had granted VirtGame a conditional license in October 2002 that was limited to 18 months and then subject to review in April 2004. The company has developed a secure server-based software gambling platform that is based on open technology and can distribute applications such as games of chance, various types of race and sports wagers and instant lottery applications from a central server via secure closed-loop systems or private networks.
King Solomon -- Cytech Ltd., which operates the King Solomon Casino and the bingoballroom.com bingo network, is teaming up with New York-based software company LTDnetwork Inc to develop new software intended to enhance the user experience at King Solomon Casino. LTDnetwork will supply a unique Web browser add-in with features designed to deliver better communication between the casino and its customers.
Thursday, April 22
Streaking Not Allowed? -- Mark Roberts, the famous GoldenPalace.com streaker who crashed the Super Bowl this year, will be tried before a jury of six people for a misdemeanor trespassing charge in Houston on June 21. Roberts' lawyer intends to argue that no one informed him that he could not step onto the field. If convicted, Roberts could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
I-Gaming Addictions Growing -- Eileen Fahey, director of Aiseiri addiction centers in Ireland, told the Irish Independent that Internet gambling addictions are growing more common, now constituting as much as ten percent of the addictions treated by the Aiseiri centers. According to Fahey, "Often a family is unaware of the extent of debt involved until someone knocks on the door to re-possess their home."
Tax-free -- Irish Betting group Gamebookers (www.gamebookers.ie) has received an Irish bookmakers license, becoming the first Irish sports-betting company to offer tax-free telephone and Internet betting. All bets placed with Gamebookers terminate in Ireland, and the Gamebookers says it plans to target the Irish market to transform itself from an offshore bookmaker into an onshore one. Spokesman Ed Lee said, "Up to now every so-called 'Irish' online bookmaker has terminated Irish punters' bets abroad so the Irish exchequer has not benefited from the many millions bet by Irish punters online. Gamebookers.ie will maintain tax-free betting, but by absorbing the Irish betting levy on behalf of our customers, in effect keeping Irish punters' money in the country. This is a very exciting development for gamebookers and for the online sports betting industry in Ireland. I hope it will herald some much overdue sensible legislation on taxation and online betting in Ireland, bringing us in line with the UK model. This would create a level playing field and discourage many Irish bookmakers from lining the UK exchequer's coffers rather than our own."
SuperToto -- Expekt.com, Unibet, and Globet.com, have teamed up to offer bettors Supertoto, a pools betting service licensed in Gibraltar by a jointly owned company called Monnet Ltd. In a game of Supertoto, the player predicts the results of 14 matches from the best football leagues in Europe. Players can win by correctly guessing 11, 12, 13 or 14 matches, and the total prize money is dependent upon the size of the pool. Another European sports book is expected to join the Supertoto venture in the near future.
eCOGRA Seals -- e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA), has awarded 16 more online casinos with seals of approval. International auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has extensively inspected each casino to ensure that it upholds eCOGRA's strict requirements on operational efficiency, fair gaming and player protection. eCOGRA granted a first round of approval seals to 23 casinos in February and is currently reviewing another batch of eligible candidates.
Freeserve and Chandler -- Victor Chandler will continue to supply British ISP Freeserve with an end-to-end casino and poker product for another year. The two companies have been partners since November 2002, and their new deal will pledge increased marketing input from both parties.
Wednesday, April 21
French Lottery -- The French State Lottery, La Francaise de Jeux (LFDJ), has launched its core 6/49 Loto game as well as the Euromillions online with the help of Access Gaming Systems Europe (AGSE), which also provided the interactive technology for LFDJ's Internet-based instant lotto games and its fixed-odds football betting game, Cote et Match. AGSE says it will soon connect all of LFDJ's games and channels through a Xenia, its secure, high performance transaction processing architecture for gaming via the Internet, interactive TV and wireless networks.
New Attheraces -- "We were devastated when Attheraces went off air. We now feel we can make a revised media rights proposal unencumbered."-- Matthew Imi, chief executive of "New Attheraces." Now that Channel 4 has left the Attheraces consortium, the remaining two companies, BSkyB and Arena Leisure, have issued a formal offer to Britain's 59 race courses to put the television station back on the air by June 21. The courses have until a May 21 deadline to decide whether they will accept a bid to run the channel for seven years. The course would also receive direct shareholding in the new channel, beginning at 10 percent with the potential to rise to one third of equal sharing with Arena and BSkyB.
Effect on Bingo -- The United Kingdom's Department for Culture Media and Sport(DCMS) has published its study of what sort of impact the proposed Gambling Bill will have on the future viability of bingo operators. The study's conclusion is that the bill will make competition much tighter, especially for smaller clubs. The document is available online at the DCMS site.
Scandinavia Market -- Modern Times Group--an operator of broadcast television stations in Scandinavia that recently acquired a 19.9 percent stake in I-gaming company Bet24--says it plans to develop a major presence in the Scandinavian betting market. Modern Times' CEO and president, Hans-Holger Albrecht, said that the company's betting management experience with Bet24 combined with its own branding, Internet retailing presence and extensive TV sports rights should make it a viable player in the Scandinavian betting market.
Betting at Work -- Research firm IRS has published a survey that found that Internet gambling is at the top of a list of online activities in which employers have banned their workers from participating. Sixty-three percent of the companies polled ban online gaming. E-mails that put down or belittle colleagues are also banned by 63 percent of polled companies, and Web-based e-mail is banned by 45 percent.
Hoax? -- Michael Sullivan, a bookie for Sportingbet in Darwin, is seeking legal council about whether to file suit against rival Melbourne-based bookmaker Michael Eskander. Sportingbet claimed earlier in the week that one of its punters had laid down a $5 million bet on Lonhro to win its race at the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney on Saturday. Eskander suggested the announcement was a publicity stunt, but Sullivan insists the bet will be verified when the Northern Territory government collects $19,000 in tax.
Tuesday, April 20
Gambling Bill Critics -- Geoff Rayner, chairman of the Public Health Association, has joined a list of other prominent figures who have voiced concerns that Britain's new gambling bill could lead to a rise in problem gambling. According to Rayner, "There are major mental health problems associated with the expansion of gambling." He added, "I do think it flies in the face of the other anti-poverty, pro-public health policies of this government." The Salvation Army has been speaking out against some of the bill's measures for several months already. "All reputable academics and an influential committee of MPs and Lords agree that problem gambling is likely to rise as a result of the extra gambling opportunities available in the Gambling Bill," said Salvation Army spokesman Jonathan Lomax. "Pressure must surely be mounting on Ms. (Culture Secretary Tessa) Jowell to explain why she is one of the only people in the UK who thinks that the numbers of problem gamblers will not rise after gambling liberalization." But Jowell insists the bill takes measures to insure against problem gambling. "What will characterize the modernization of what are widely recognized as outdated gambling laws is not a free-for-all, as has been misleadingly reported, but a very clear obligation on all gambling businesses to act in a socially responsible way," she said. Gambling Minister Lord McIntosh also supports the bill and emphasized the role the new Gambling Commission will play. He said, "The truth of the matter is that casino gambling is, at most, 3 percent of the population of this country. Much more of this 150-page bill is actually increasing the controls on gambling. It is creating a gambling commission with greater powers to keep out crime, to ensure fair play and to protect against problem gambling--to protect vulnerable adults and children."
Will Darren Beadman Jump Off Lonhro? -- In an attempt to call more public attention to its call for a ban on betting exchanges, New South Wales-based Tab Ltd. on Monday ran its first of six advertisements that will run over the next two weeks. The first ad, which appeared in national newspapers on Monday, was an obvious reference to Sean Fox's riding of Ice Horse in Britain last month. It included the message: "Will Darren Beadman Jump Off Lonhro?" followed by, "Ask for a price with Internet betting Exchanges." Just two days prior to the ad's appearance, Beadman and Lonhro were defeated in an upset at the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick. Beadman is now angry and seeking legal counsel on whether to file suit against Tab. He said, "This is certainly not something a jockey wants to be associated with and I will seek legal advice on the matter. I was never made aware my name would be used in such a way." Mark Davies, communications director for betting exchange Betfair, called the ad "as inaccurate as it is offensive. It suggests that betting Lonhro to lose would only have been possible with an exchange." . . . In somewhat related news, Sportingbet accepted a $5 million wager on Lonhro to win. After being accused of making the story up to generate publicity, Sportingbet released its account ledger to prove the news was legitimate.
Operational Risk Management -- Betfair has licensed Accurate Software's operational risk management system, Accurate NXG, to gain more efficient reconciliation of high volume multi-currency transactions that will create faster transaction processing and reduce operational control risks. Accurate boasts that its NXG product will allow Betfair to achieve 95 percent straight through processing across all transactions. Accurate NXG will also provide Betfair with a complete audit trail of all transactions.
Mobile Trisslotten -- Svenska Spel and Boss Media are putting Trisslotten, Sweden's most popular gambling product, onto mobile networks, allowing players to log on to the same account through their mobile phone or home computer. Mikael Franzén, the head of Svenska Spel's Internet gambling shop, said, "Mobile gambling is the next logical step from computer-based online. Digital distribution methods have enabled us to extend the use of our previous development work. We simply add new distribution channels to the same basic platform."
Quoteworthy -- "Trading in opinions forces you to put your money where your mouth is. People will only trade if they feel they have solid information. If you follow the prices, you follow the money. And if you follow the money, you follow the future."
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Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams, the director of the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. Williams recently provided an explanation to the Telegraph about the nature of future betting exchanges and how they how work.
Monday, April 19
DDoS Finds New Target -- Columbus, Ohio-based 2CheckOut.com, an online firm that processes credit card transactions for online merchants, came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on April 9. The attack resulted in intermittent service outages until April 16, when the company announced that the ongoing attack had been brought under control. The company was originally hosted by Time Warner Telecom, but after the attack began 2CheckOut.com switched to a dedicated server with SBCHost. 2CheckOut.com refused to pay the extortion demands.
Women's Poker Club -- Victor Chandler Poker estimates that one out of every six new players joining its network is female, while just two years ago the statistic was negligible. The company also estimates that the typical female player is between 24 and 25 years old, is Internet savvy, shops online and has a professional business career. Just last month the Women's Poker Club (www.womenspokerclub.com) was launched to encourage women to be better players by competing against other women in a more comfortable and friendly environment. The club is free to join and welcomes players of all experience levels, from amateur to professional. For now the club's tournaments are played online, but it plans to hold land-based events later in the year. The club has already logged 400 members in its one month of existence.
Channel 4 -- The Guardian reports that Channel 4 is completing a deal with an unnamed betting company that will create a new interactive betting service. Channel 4 is also close to announcing a renewed 18-month broadcasting deal with British racetracks. The company's attheraces venture cost it £10.5 million in losses last year, but commercial director Rob Woodward says his division aims to make all of its parts profitable this year.
Rugby Betting Scandal -- Two British rugby players from St. Helens face investigation by the Rugby Football League and St. Helens officials for allegedly placing wagers on their team to lose. The Daily Mail reported last week that Sean Long and Martin Gleeson won £909 each by placing bets at 6 p.m. on Easter Sunday with Gibraltar-based bookmaker Stan James, which sponsors Sky TV's coverage of the Super League. The men allegedly wagered £1,000 each that the Saints would lose by more than 9 points, and the eventual score was 54-8. St. Helens chief executive Sean McGuire announced that he would lead an inquiry into the allegations. Stan James said it would cooperate with the company, but could not confirm whether Long and Gleeson were customers.
Sportingbet to Operate IGH Site -- Sportingbet will begin operating one of Interactive Gaming Holdings' Internet sites, oneworldsportsbook.com in exchange for a monthly payment based on net revenue. IGH, a British company, does not take bets on its Web sites but instead earns income through advertising revenue and by running back-end operations
iTV Bingo -- Zone4Play, Inc, which provides interactive gaming on a variety of different platforms, has created a new North American multi-player interactive TV Bingo game. The game allows an unlimited number of players from different locations to participate, and new games begin every 6 minutes. Users can either play for free or sign up for a subscription plan. The game will soon be released on various cable and satellite TV systems.