Friday, Sep. 17
Jockey Betting -- The Western Australian reports that stewards for Racing and Wagering WA are investigating allegations that jockey Stephen Miller has breached racing rules by betting on a horse that he was competing against. Phil O'Reilly, principal investigator for the RWWA, has already questioned Miller and will pursue the inquiry further. Chief steward John Zucal will make an official announcement about the matter on Monday.
Quoteworthy -- "Sir: Mark Griffiths' claim that the government is introducing a bill that will double the number of gambling addicts is absurd. The Gambling Bill is a wide-ranging modernization of legislation that dates back as far as 1710. Without it, many new forms of gambling, such as Internet casinos and roulette machines in bookmakers, would go unregulated."
- Tessa Jowell, Secretary for the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, in a written letter to the Independent responding to Nottingham Trent Professor Mark Griffiths' speech at the British Association for the Advancement of Science's annual festival last week. She concluded, "Gambling is booming, and technology is outpacing the law. The real risk of a rise in gambling addiction is not if we introduce a bill, but if we don't.
Bonus King -- Betfred, the largest independent bookmaker in Britain, has launched an online betting site after 18 months of in-house development. The self-proclaimed "Bonus King" also plans to launch a casino gaming site with software from Playtech later this year.
No PartyPoker Float -- PartyPoker.com's CEO Vikrant Bhargava told eGaming Review that although Party Poker has recently met with investment bankers in the London, it does not plan on going public any time soon, at least not within the next 12 months. Bhargava also stated that his company is far too large to float on the Alternative Investment Market and would have to float on main London Stock Exchange market.
Thursday, Sep. 16
Not Guilty -- The British Jockey Club's disciplinary panel today cleared jockey Sean Fox of any offenses relating his riding of Ice Saint in March when he seemed to have intentionally jumped off the horse. Fox won an appeal against a 21-day ban. At the time of the riding, there was speculation that Fox might have intentionally jumped off the horse in an attempt at match fixing.
Soccer Lottery -- Peter Velappan, general secretary of the Asian Football Conference, has asked Vietnam's sports minister, Nguyen Danh Thai, to establish a soccer lottery to combat illegal betting and to fund a program called "Vision Asia," which seeks to raise soccer standards. The sports minister responded by stating that the Vietnamese government is taking action against illegal betting. He also claimed that a soccer lottery project will soon be submitted for approval. Other countries involved in the Vision Asia project are Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, Jordan, China, Yemen and Indonesia.
Quoteworthy -- "Who needs a proper job when I can make what most people earn in a month in a couple of hours?"
- Lee-Anne Smyth, a 25-year old mathematics graduate of student from Belfast, Northern Ireland who passed up a banking job paying £40,000 per year because she believes she can earn £234,000 per year by playing online poker five hours a day. The Sun reports that Smyth, who rakes in £4,500 per week at Ladbrokespoker.com, claims her studies in pure and applied mathematics help her calculate the odds of a winning hand at Texas Hold'Em. Smyth has so far earned £7,600 in single day, and used her poker winnings to pay off her £150,000 house and £15,000 car.
Racing UK Deal -- Racing UK has signed a deal to make its horse racing broadcasts available to the 1 million customers of Telewest Broadband. The service, which covers broadcasts from 30 British racecourses, will remain free-to-air on Telewest Broadband until Oct. 21, but will then be offered at a subscription rate of £20 a month, the same rate that will apply to Sky digital users on Oct 1.
Chief Retires -- After serving 25 years as elected grand chief of the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake near Montreal, 54-year-old Joe Norton has chosen to retire from public servitude. He will retain his position as chairman of Mohawk Internet Technologies, which offers Web hosting services to online gambling operators.
Chairman Switch -- Hannes Androsch has assumed the position of supervisory board chairman of BETandWIN.com Interactive Entertainment. Androsch, who holds more than 10 percent of the company's shares through foundations and personal portfolios, takes over the position from Michael Tojner, who announced his resignation in May after Global Equity Partners sold a total of around 1.5 million BETandWIN shares, leaving it with less that 1 million shares, or less than 10 percent of the company. Tojner will now act as vice chairman of the supervisory board.
Wednesday, Sep. 15
What Fortune -- The Bugle, a newspaper in Bend, Oregon, reports that the introduction of a new Oregon Lottery scratch card game called "Casino Fortune," has given Anitgua-based online gaming company Casino Fortune a surge of new customers from Oregon. The online company says the number of its customers residing in Oregon has grow by 50 percent (from 8,550 to 12,500) since the debut of the Oregon scratch card in May. More than 2,700 of the new Oregon customers responded to the registration question, "How did you hear about us?" with the answer: "scratch ticket." Casino Fortune spokesperson Kevin Mercuri said that court action over the possible trademark infringement is possible, but the company isn't sure whether such action would be worth it. He claims the confusion has already netted Casino Fortune close to $950,000.
Thieves -- Numerous U.S papers reported this week on two cases in which criminals committed theft to pay for online gambling services. Rebecca L. Shreiner of Racine, Wisconsin has been charged with stealing about $1,100 through personal ID theft. While staying at a couple's home, Shreiner used personal identifying information and bank account information of one of her hosts to access gambling funds. The second case involved John Woods of Austin, Texas, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for stealing over $100,000 from 24 city halls across the state to pay off his online gambling debts. His technique was to rent a car, drive to another town, sneak into the city hall and then take all the money he could find.
Totalisators -- George Chapman, chairman of Queensland-based UNiTAB, said his company will maintain control of its wagering businesses and will not enter into joint ventures or alliances with any other totalisators. He also said he expects UNiTAB to continue to deliver increasing profits every year. The company reported a 31 percent increase in annual earnings last month for the year 2003-04. UNiTAB expects that the businesses it recently acquired from Tabcorp and Tab Ltd. will not be a large contributor to its success until 2005-06.
Victoria-based Tabcorp, now the fifth largest gambling company in the world after acquiring New South Wales-based Tab Ltd., has developed a new marketing strategy that involves increasing its $40 million marketing budget. The group recently presented a new look and motto: "the bigger better game." Tabcorp also plans to centralize marketing and cut a number of the agencies it employs.
Quoteworthy -- "It's not for the bookies to judge, it's the Australian people."
- Australia's opposition leader Mark Latham, who was surprised that bookies are listing incumbent John Howard as the favorite to win the Oct. 9 election for prime minister. He added, "Sometimes you get a winner past them."
BoS Summits -- The first discussion panel of
BetOnSports' "Proposition 1: To Regulate or Prohibit Online Gambling" series took place in New York today. Among the panel's contributing experts were: Koleman Strumpf, an associate professor of economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has extensively researched the subject of prohibition vs. regulation; Linda Goldstein, a partner with law firm Manatt, Phelps and Philips LLP, who is an expert in advertising and marketing; Frank Catania, a former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, who now runs his own consulting firm; and David Carruthers, CEO of BetOnSports. The next tour stop will be in Washington tomorrow at the Occidental Grill. Panelists will include Emily Hancock, an e-commerce and technology lawyer; Robin Hanson an assistant economics professor, and Keith Whyte, executive director on the National Council of Problem Gambling. The summit will be in Chicago on Sept. 22 and Los Angeles on Sept. 24.
The 'New' Betfair -- Betfair announced that after two years of in-house development, it has moved from ASP to a J2EE server platform. The site is up and running on the new platform.
Tuesday, Sep. 14
Quoteworthy -- "The cooperation we got from traditional bookmakers was very limited and stopped short of providing hard evidence against individuals that would withstand legal scrutiny. Horseracing has always been vulnerable to corruption. Whatever the form of betting, whether it be with traditional bookmakers, totalisators, exchanges or spread betting firms, there are those who will seek to gain an unfair advantage over other punters. This is the experience worldwide."
- Christopher Foster, executive director of the U.K. Jockey Club, speaking in London on Monday at a conference called "The Evolving Landscape of British Horseracing." Foster resented the argument that the benefits of betting exchanges' transparent audit trails outweigh the potential risk of corruption. He concluded, "The most effective deterrent to malpractice comes from demonstrating that there is a likelihood of being caught. The record of success prior to the emergence of betting exchanges in catching betting-related cheating was poor. I am hopeful that now, the integrity of racing will, over time, be enhanced."
Analysis Tool -- WellDone Software, which develops software for the online gambling industry, announced that it will soon release "MarketFeeder Pro," a data extraction and market analysis tool created expressly for betting exchange trading analysts, developers and professional traders on Betfair. The program captures market information at user-definable periods from multiple markets simultaneously and enables users to archive market data for their own analysis. Market Feeder Pro works independently of API, the Betfair developer's program.
Endorsement -- John Campbell, one of the top harness drivers and trainers in the United States, has signed an endorsement deal with Youbet.com, a U.S.-based provider of horse racing content and wagering. Campbell will sport the orange and black Youbet.com logo on his uniform. While advertising on harness drivers' uniforms is common in Europe, it is a fairly new phenomenon in the States.
Racinguk.tv -- Television channel Racing UK has launched a Web site to complement its television coverage. The site, www.racinguk.tv , is hosted by the Racing Post and offers news, links to courses and television schedules.
Ladbrokes Science -- Scientists believe that Ladbrokes will almost certainly take a huge loss on a book it opened concerning a handful of future scientific discoveries. Ladbrokes set odds on five different discoveries, including the finding of gravitational waves, for which odds were set at 500 to 1 and trimmed way down to 25 to 1. Physicists are very confident that a new observatory in the United States will detect the waves before 2010. The company stands to lose £150,000 if the waves are found.
Mobile Scratch Brands -- NewMediaAge reports that Freemantle Media wants to discuss with Camelot the possibility of launching mobile phone-based scratchcards branded with some of its properties, such as "Baywatch," "Benny Hill" and "The Price Is Right." Freemantle is already in discussions with other operators in the United Kingdom and Europe to offer similar products. The company says that its Price Is Right-branded games played online and the slot machines played in land-based casinos consistently outperform its non-branded counterparts. Camelot announced earlier this month that it will take its lottery mobile with help from O2.
Monday, Sep. 13
ARGO Meeting -- The executive committee of the Association of Remote Gambling Operators (ARGO) recently met for the first time. The group, whose members include operators who conduct business in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, has made social responsibility one of its top priorities by establishing a sub-committee to work with Gamcare in developing a code of practice. ARGO Chairman Ian Spearing stated that the organization will also focus on removing trade barriers across Europe and ensuring that the United Kingdom's remote gambling regulatory and tax regime meets the needs of operators. The group's executive committee is composed of chairman Ian Spearing (William Hill), vice chairman John O'Reilly (Ladbrokes), John Coates (Bet365), Steve Taylor (Bet Direct), Phil Knight (Coral Eurobet), John Whittaker (Stanleybet), Joe Scanlon (totesport) and Ed Andrewes (Victor Chandler). Clive Hawkswood, the former DCMS chief advisor to the government's remote gambling policy, serves as ARGO's general secretary.
Addiction Conference -- The 1st International Meeting on Gambling Research and other Addictive Behaviours will be held Oct. 15 and 16 at the Hilton Hotel in Barcelona, Spain. The intention of the meeting is to organize a group of experts who specialize in different areas and work in different countries to explain the current situation and establish a future path for dialogue and teamwork. For more information, visit the Web site at www.csdm.es/rijoca.
Welcome Aboard -- Camelot, the operator of the U.K. National Lottery, has appointed Sir Peter Middleton as its new chairman. Sir Peter stepped down from his position as chairman of Barclays Bank on Aug. 31, though he will continue to complete a number of engagements for the bank through the end of the year. His main duty with Camelot will be to work with the government to create a fair bidding process for the third lottery license and to help Camelot bid for it. . . . London-based gaming law firm Harris Hagan has welcomed licensing lawyer Elizabeth Southorn as a partner. Southorn was formerly employed with international law practice Richards Butler, where as head of licensing she specialized in the licensing of liquor, betting, gaming and entertainment. Her clients include Diageo, Coral Bookmakers, the BBC, Thistle Hotels, The Royal Opera House, Marriott Hotels, Anschutz Entertainment Group and Conran Restaurants.
PartyPoker Float? -- The Times (U.K.) reports that Partypoker.com may be planning to float on the London Stock Exchange. Company representatives are said to be in the early stages of discussions with several investment banks concerning the timing and feasibility of a possible share offering.
Bets As Speech -- Michael Rossides, the man behind BetPress.com who is challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. Justice Department's use of the Wire Act to prohibit online wagering, filed a memorandum in response to Attorney General John Ashcroft's motion to dismiss the case. The Department of Justice must reply by Sept. 20. The court will have 10 days to review the motion to dismiss and then make a ruling. Rossides' argument is that certain bets are forms of speech and therefore protected by the First Amendment.
Problem Gambling -- Speaking at the BA's annual Festival of Science, Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, an expert on the psychology of gambling, derided England's new Gambling Bill, which he believes will allow children to gamble on slot machines. According to Griffiths, children will still be vulnerable to becoming addicted to the slot machines that will remain in leisure centers and amusement arcades. Griffiths also believes the bill will increase the number of adults with gambling problems. "What you find everywhere in the world is that where you increase access and opportunity to gamble, not only do you increase the number of regular gamblers, you also increase the number of problem gamblers," he said. "There will be an increase in the number of problem gamblers as a result of the Gambling Bill going through."
Healthy Correlation -- Rani Desai, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, and her colleagues recently completed the "Gambling Impact and Behavior Study," which now appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry. According to the study, there is a correlation between moderate recreational gambling and good health among adults over the age of 65, unlike younger gamblers, who show high rates of alcohol use and abuse, depression, bankruptcy and incarceration.