Friday, July 5
Banned -- The U.K. Jockey Club on Thursday banned race horse owner Darren Mercer for six months for laying one of his horses to lose a race at the Welsh Nationals on Dec. 23, 2003. Mercer and the horse's trainer both testified that there was no agreement as to whether the horse would participate in the race in question, but the Jockey Club's disciplinary panel alleges that Mercer knew his horse, Joss Naylor, would not run. Mercer, who gained just £410 on his wager, is outraged at the panel's decision and claims he was simply hedging bets since he had also backed the horse to win a large sum. He also claims he was unaware of a rule that prohibits owners from laying their horses to lose. His punishment is much lighter than the one administered in March to Miles Rodgers, an owner who won several thousand pounds by laying his two Platinum horses to lose. Rodgers placed wagers through an account with a false name in an attempt to conceal his betting, whereas Mercer place his bets with his own legitimate account. Rodgers, who was consequently banned for two years, was the first man found guilty of violating the "lay" rule, which was introduced in September.
Charges Filed Against My Casino Traders -- After a four-year investigation that included the use of bugging devices, telephone intercepts and surveillance, the Australian Crime Commission has charged two men for illegally trading thousands of shares in online gambling company My Casino. John Kizon, an organized crime figure and former boxer, faces 17 counts of insider trading, three counts of communicating insider trading information and two counts of conspiring to insider trading. Kizon's financial advisor, Nigel Cunningham Swift Mansfield, faces 296 counts of insider trading, 11 counts of communicating insider trading information, nine counts of money laundering, one count of destroying documents and one count of conspiring.
Rake-Free Poker -- www.zerorake.com has launched an online poker room that charges a fixed monthly subscription free rather than taking a commission on winning hands. To demonstrate the amount customers save using the no-rake model, the site features a "Rake-O-Meter" that shows the player how much money he has saved by paying a fixed fee instead of a commission. The site is operated by Action Poker Gaming, Inc. and powered by software from Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment. Members pay a $6 fee for the first month and $30 per month each following month.
YooMedia -- Fancy a Flutter, the interactive games channel recently acquired by YooMedia, has added another launching point on iTV through its sister site, "YooPlay," which also offers pay-per-play gaming. Fancy a Flutter also recently launched a new game called "Super Madcap Keno." The company additionally made new appointments to iPublic, its public-sector division that focuses on delivering interactive digital television and wireless solutions for public-service organizations. Margaret McDonagh, former general secretary of the U.K. Labor Party and former general manager of Express Newspapers, joins iPublic as chairwoman, and Waheed Alli, co-founder of television production company Planet 24 and former managing director of Carlton TV Production, will join iPublic's board as a non-executive director.
Teletext and DITG -- Information and entertainment service Teletext has partnered with Digital Interactive Television Group (DITG) to launch a new games service on BSkyB's Channel 4. The service features multi-screen slot machines and virtual horse racing for free or for real money.
Crackdown in Hungary -- The Gambling Supervision in Hungary last week warned that foreign online gambling services are illegal under the Gambling Act of Hungary and that prizes obtained using such services cannot be legally claimed in the country. Anyone using the services, the office warned, is breaking the law and could face charges. It also stated that the leading violators are operators of online lotteries and sports betting sites targeting Hungarian punters.
Thursday, July 8
Hacker Tactics -- Reuters published an article Wednesday on methods used by hackers to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Internet gambling and other Web sites. The process begins with an individual--often a teenager in his bedroom--who infects Internet connected computers with a virus that allows him to take control of the computers, essentially making them zombies. Some of these individuals are known to have acquired large networks called botnets that consist of 10,000 to 30,000 zombies. In recent months, police and security experts monitoring message boards and other discussion areas have noticed that hackers have begun renting access to their botnets to spammers, DDoS attackers and anyone else who could benefit from commanding a massive network of zombie computers. The networks apparently rent for several thousand dollars per hour. So far police investigations have uncovered a lot of computer-savvy kids who write viruses and acquire networks of zombies, but they haven't been able to track the criminals who use the networks to attack Web sites or send spam.
Quoteworthy -- "I want to emphasize that our views have not been colored by the publication of reports claiming that the proposals in the draft bill, as we first published it, would lead to big increases in the number of problem gamblers. One report suggested 200,000; another one million. To be frank, these reports were, in our view, slipshod pieces of work which involved some arbitrary assumptions but no useful fresh evidence or analysis. They are no substitute for the program of proper research into problem gambling which is badly needed, and to which the Responsibility in Gambling Trust is committed."
- Lord McIntosh, Britain's Minister of Culture, Media, and Sport, defending the draft gambling bill at GamCare's Seventh Annual Conference on Wednesday.
Bet on Bettors -- Bluff Magazine, a new gambling publication, has introduced "Fantasy Poker Challenge," a free-to-play fantasy poker league that lets participants use allotted money to purchase a team of at least four professional poker players. Fantasy players earn points based on the performance of the poker players on their teams. This month's top scorer will win a trip for two to the Bahamas, and the next nine finishers will win subscriptions to Bluff.
TradingSports Update -- TradingSports Exchange Systems, a company that provides white-label betting exchange systems, has appointed Ray Ranson as its new executive director for business development. Ranson, who made a significant financial investment earlier in the year, will work closely with CEO Roger Mitchell. The company also issued a trading update, stating that a report consisting of a full strategic review of TradingSports' business shows that the current business model is still not performing as expected, due mostly to the slow adoption of exchanges in North America. Progress in the United Kingdom and Europe has only partially offset the underperformance, so the board is reviewing the company's future funding requirements and examining all options.
Australian Stats -- After analyzing data from all of Australia's states and territories, the Tasmanian Gaming Commission has published a report showing the popularity of gambling in Australia. According to the commission, Australians gambled a record $128.3 billion and lost $15.3 billion or $1,026 per adult in the last financial year 2002-03. The previous year Australians gambled $125 billion and lost $15 billion or $1,016 per adult. Punters in the Northern Territory lost the most per capita with an average $1,806 loss per adult, followed by punters in NSW with $1,248, in Victoria with $1,133, in ACT with $1,070, in Queensland with $882, in South Australia with $754, and in Tasmania with $759. Australia's governments took $3.9 billion in revenue, $150 million more than the previous year.
Pagcor's Text-Based Gaming -- Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the state-run gaming operator in the Philippines, has notified the country's National Telecommunications Commission that it plans to operate games of chance via mobile phones, and therefore requested access numbers to send and receive text and multi-media messages. Games of chance via TV or texting must be centralized through the requested numbers so that Pagcor can regulate them and collect the government's 20 percent share.
Under Attack -- Netcraft, a site that for several months has been monitoring the performance of 20 of Britain's top online gambling Web sites, reported that Eurobet and Coral have both experienced intervals of downtime since Monday. Eurobet's service has been up and running continuously since Wednesday, but Coral was still experiencing difficulties today. Though it has not been verified, DDoS attacks are the most likely cause of the service outages.
HKJK Soccer Betting -- The Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has a five-year license to operate soccer betting in Hong Kong, has reported that turnover on soccer betting has not reached its expected levels in the 11 months that it has been legal. Although the club expected soccer betting to clear between $2.6 and $5.2 billion in turnover, it took only $2.1 billion. The club's chairman, Ronald Arculli, said the results are satisfactory because they do not represent a full-scale operation. (The first eight months were spent on launching bet types and streamlining operations.) Despite the lower-than-expected turnover, the club reported that its profit margin of 20 percent is twice what it expected.
Fantasy Deal -- No-download poker site PokerRoom.com has signed a one-year, six-figure sponsorship deal to launch a fantasy poker section within telegraph.co.uk. The fantasy poker section of the Telegraph will feature useful information, poker tips and editorial content. It will also enable users to click through to the PokerRoom.com site.
Wireless Stats -- Wireless research and publishing experts EMC estimate that the global wireless market reached 1.5 billion subscribers at the end of June. The company expects that number to climb to 2 billion by 2006. China is home to the most subscribers, with 550 million expected by 2009. The second largest market is in the United States, where 223.9 million subscribers are expected by 2009.
Wednesday, July 7
p align="justify">BAW's Euro -- BETandWIN.com Interactive Entertainment AG, an Austria-based online sports book and gaming company, announced that the Euro 2004 tournament was an even larger success for the company than expected. BETandWIN credits the tournament with delivering 56,000 new registrations, 41,000 active new customers, 8,000 reactivated customers, 1.3 bets per second and a high customer frequency of up to 32,000 active customers daily.
888 and Middlesbrough -- Casino On Net, the online casino at 888.com has signed a multi-million-pound deal to become the main sponsor of the Middlesbrough football club for the next three years.
Fixed-Odds Dilemma -- Australia's racing minister, Grant McBride, has extended Tab Ltd.'s trial period for offering fixed-odds betting on all group two, group three and listed races until the end of July. The Australian government originally allowed the New South Wales-based Tab to offer fixed-odds betting on a trial basis from Sept. 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004. TAB argues that it must offer fixed-odds betting to compete with the TABs from other states. New South Wales' bookmakers, however, are scared that a permanent extension could mean the demise of most bookmakers, who distinguish their businesses from the TAB by being the sole providers of fixed-odds betting. Tab Ltd. claims that the racing industry would benefit from its increased revenues, but Racing NSW, which argues that it takes far less revenue from fixed-odds betting than it does from totalizator betting, would rather see Tab Ltd. stop offering fixed odds.
Ads and Free Speech -- Autotote Enterprises Inc., an operator of off-track betting in Connecticut, was successful in overturning a ruling that prevented advertising for telephone wagering services from broadcasting during racing simulcasts. Autotote's lawyer, Robert Tobin, told the Associated Press, "We say there’s no such prohibition. It would probably be an unconstitutional infringement of free speech rights. We could not find anything in the statute that says we can’t advertise." Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to appeal the decision.
Tuesday, July 6
Irish P2P Policy -- Irish racing officials met last week to discuss how they should address betting exchanges. They have scheduled their next meeting for Sept. 5 and hope to finalize their policy at that time. Said Denis Egan, chief executive of the Turf Club, "There are a few big issues that still have to be discussed including a memorandum and what staff we will need. All this will be agreed at the Sept. 5 meeting and after that we will be in a position to go ahead." The officials have until recently maintained that there is not enough betting on Irish racing to warrant the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Betfair, but last month's return of Irish racing to digital television should bring more wagers.
Risk Managment -- iGlobalMedia, the owner and operator of PartyPoker.com, StarluckCasino.com and PartyBingo.com, has implemented the Accurate NXG operational risk management solution from risk management experts Accurate Software. The solution will enable iGlobalMedia to reconcile larger volumes of customer deposits and withdrawals against its global gaming systems, while providing a complete audit trail of all transactions. It will also speed up processing times, identify anomalies more quickly, and reduce exposure to operational risk.
New and Improved -- Gaming Corporation, which owns the online casino portal at www.casino.co.uk, has launched a new and improved version of the site with assistance from Eyeconomy Limited, the online media planning and buying agency that Gaming Corp acquired in May. Gaming Corp. says its new site provides greater usability, additional content and increased revenue opportunities through new supplier partnerships. The company has also reached an agreement with paid placement search engine Overture to power a new Top 5 Casinos and Web search tool. It recently changed to a cost-per-click revenue model that enables performance-based advertising campaigns. A campaign management tool enables advertisers to optimize their campaigns and to monitor their activity rate.
WPT in Aruba -- UltimateBet.com will host a World Poker Tour event in Aruba for the third year in a row Sept. 26 - Oct. 1. The 2004 UltimateBet.com Poker Classic boasts a guaranteed minimum prize pool of $4 million and a first-place prize of $1 million. The event will be featured as part of the World Poker Tour's third season. Buy-in is $6,200, but players can win a spot at the table as well as an Aruba prize package with airfare and hotel accommodations for two by qualifying in online tournaments at UltimateBet.com.
Running of the Bulls -- GoldenPalace.com is helping Ray Sabbatini, a 36-year old man from Wisconsin who was last year stricken with multiple sclerosis, to realize his dreams by sending him to the Running of the Bulls in Pamploma, Spain this week. The online casino is also helping to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society by pledging $10 for every runner who wears a Golden Palace shirt. Former NBA superstar and bad-boy Dennis Rodman will also travel to Pamploma and participate in the running while sporting GoldenPalace.com apparel.
BetonSports P2P -- The entire board of New South Wales-based Tab Ltd. resigned Monday as Tabcorp appointed its own personnel to fill each slot. Tabcorp has also instated its own new managing team to control Tab, with the head of Tabcorp's wagering business, Michael Piggot, taking over Warren Wilson's former position as managing director. Tabcorp directors Michael Robinson and Tony Hodgson, managing director Matthew Slatter and senior executives Peter Caillard and David Elmslie have all taken seats on Tab's board. Tabcorp has already initiated a four- to six-week operational review of Tab to plan the structure of the new juggernaut company, which will become the fifth largest gambling firm in the world, and complete integration should be completed in about two years. Tabcorp now controls 57 percent of Tab shares, but needs to acquire 90 percent.
All Currencies and Languages -- Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. has announced the launch of a new multi-language and multi-currency version of the SportXction play-by-play sports betting product. The new version of SportXction supports all currencies and languages and will be available on interactive TV, mobile phone, Internet and kiosk terminals. According to ISWI, rolling out a new language only requires a translation effort and no further technology effort. With the appropriate translation tables, any language and currency can be supported. The initial launch of the new version will target the Greek speaking market, and the Turkish-version is slated for release very soon. ISWI also plans to launch in other European markets as well as in Asia, Australalasia, Africa and South America.