Friday, Dec. 3
Sports Betting in NJ -- The New Jersey Assembly Tourism and Gaming Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would permit visitors at Atlantic City casinos to place wagers on sporting events. The bill was welcomed by the committee as an opportunity to increase state revenue for health care and other social programs, but several hurdles remain. Besides needing to pass a vote by the state's full assembly and then the citizens of New Jersey, the bill would also have to challenge and defeat a federal law that prohibits sports betting in all but four states. The Tourism and Gaming Committee almost unanimously agreed that the federal law could be overcome. The next step for the bill is consideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. . . . Meanwhile, New Jersey police officers busted a large illegal sports betting operation that operated in the northern part of the state, reportedly under the control of three organized crime families. The suspects are said to have used a wire room in Costa Rica to process bets placed via phone and Internet. According to prosecutor John Molinelli, "It's the direction illegal gambling is taking. You get an access code, you get an 800 number letting you call the wire room and place a bet." Among the charges faced by the 43 suspects are racketeering, promoting gambling, trafficking stolen property, money laundering, loan sharking, aggravated arson and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Dutch Cases -- Last week the Dutch national lottery, De Lotto, joined in proceedings in a Dutch court hearing Betfair's case against the government. Betfair is challenging the government's decision to maintain De Lotto's sports betting monopoly in the country for another license period. De Lotto's five-year permit expires Dec. 12, and a decision in the case is expected to come Dec. 9. A high court is also expected to deliver sometime next week a verdict on German company Star Games' attempt to introduce Internet gambling tournaments in the Netherlands.
The KPMG Company of the Year -- Betfair accepted the KPMG "Company of the Year" award Thursday at the annual CBI/Real Business Growing Business Awards in London. The event, now in its sixth year, is organized annually as a partnership between Real Business magazine and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The Company of the Year award was decided upon by a panel of judges chaired by CBI Director-General Digby Jones.
Match Fixing? -- Bookmakers are quite certain that a seemingly insignificant UEFA Cup Group D match between Greece's Panionios and Georgia's Dinamo Tbilisi was fixed. Dinamo Tbilisi was leading the match 1-0 at halftime but went on to lose 5-2, and suspicious betting patterns were reported by many books. Before kickoff, odds on Betfair for Dinamo Tbilisi to lead at halftime but to eventually lose drifted from a normal 36-1 all the way down to 5-1, while odds on Panionios winning went from 4-7 to 1-4. "A few years ago this match would have been inconsequential," commented Graham Sharpe, a spokesperson for William Hill, "but we now have clients in these markets and feel obliged to offer odds." Sharpe also noted that his company lost £10,000 on the event. Betfair has stated that it would help UEFA's investigation into the match, but the company would only be able to show graphs of betting patterns because Britain's Data Protection Act prevents it from providing customers' names. Betfair said it would be able to share more specific information if the UEFA had a memorandum of understanding in place with the company. Company officials met with the organization last week to discuss such an agreement.
The Italian Market -- Giorgio Tino, Italy's state-run gambling monopoly, estimates that Italy is now the world's third largest gambling market, behind only Great Britain and Japan. (The company's figures treat Nevada, California and Atlantic City as separate entities instead of consolidating them into one large U.S. market.) The gambling market in Italy grew enough last year for it to climb from sixth to third place. A spokesperson said the statistics are especially important "if one considers that the state levy in Italy is much higher than the European average, which does not reach 14 percent. In Italy, taxes on winnings were 22 percent in 2003, even without considering the taxes in favor of the Olympic committee and Unire, and it will be higher in 2004."
Thursday, Dec. 2
Correction -- Nambling Notes reported Tuesday that Betfair left the betting lines open for last week's episode of "Australian Idol" after the event had ended, however, the company has since clarified that this wasn't the case. According to Betfair, all bets placed after the event are known and have been voided in line with standard practice. The company said that only seven punters would have been adversely affected by the error and that only one of them placed a bet over A$10.
Cuban Hedge -- Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team, plans to start a hedge fun led by a team that will gamble on sports and casino games rather that investing in stocks and bonds. "It won't be me figuring out what bets to place or what games to play," Cuban stated. "This is a fund. I will find the best and the brightest, with a confirmable track record and hire them."
Quoteworthy -- "Actually, Cole Turner was not an entirely real character. Many years ago at the start of the big move to create online gaming and entertainment companies, I created an alter ego named 'Cole Turner' that was designed to be a fun character to be used to promote the Bodog.com brand."
--Calvin Ayre, CEO and Founder of Costa-Rica based Bodog.com. Ayre, who has for the last few years assumed the name 'Cole Turner,' officially revealed his real name this week.
EGET Instants -- EGET (European Game & Entertainment Technology), a Finland-based supplier of digital gaming solutions, has launched the WinOne Instant Game Platform, which will enable lottery operators to add mobile and Internet to their existing offerings. Included in the instant games portfolio are keno, "Wheel of Fortune" and several scratch cards as well as other original games. The company plans to continue to develop new instant games and applications for the WinOne platform. It recently supplied Swedish lottery operator Sperospel.se with an MMS scratch card that will enable gamblers to play games via mobile devices.
Macau vs. Vegas -- Revenues from Macau's casinos could surpass those from casinos on the Las Vegas Strip next year. The 12 casinos in Macau reported $3.6 billion in profit last year, while the Las Vegas Strip casinos cleared $4.8 billion. In the first quarter of 2004 Macau's casinos improved by 38 percent compared to the same period last year. Macau, the only place in China where gambling is legal, ended a 40-year gambling monopoly in 2001 by opening licenses to international tender. MGM Mirage will open a hotel and casino there in 2006 as part of a joint venture; and just last month, Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, announced that he will invest $163 million in a Macau gaming joint venture with Stanley Ho's Melco International.
UNiTAB Is Hot -- Autralia's Bulletin magazine has ranked Queensland-based UNiTAB fifth on its list of Australia's 50 hottest companies. A survey conducted by IBISWorld ranked companies according to earnings compared with the level of funds invested with each company by shareholders.
Wednesday, Dec. 1
Censured -- England's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today ruled in favor of racecourse bookmaker Geoff Banks in his complaint that a national press ad run by Betfair was unfair and misleading. The ad, which borrowed evidence originating from an episode of BBC's The Money Programme, claimed that a punter who had bet £2 on Betfair 10 minutes before a race on May 18 at Goodwood would have won £334, but if he had bet with a starting price he would have made only £187. The ASA agreed with Banks that such a claim was "unfair because it compared bets placed at different times," and "misleading and unfair because a £2 bet was not representative of the size of bets placed by most customers." The ad was found to be misleading because it didn't mention that Betfair charges a 5 percent commission on winnings. The ASA has ordered Betfair to mention its 5 percent commission rate and to refrain from using a time-based argument in future ads.
Race Fixing Arrests -- City of London Police have arrested three more individuals in their broad investigation of alleged race fixing in over 80 races over the last two years. The latest three, jockey Paul Bradley, trainer Alan Berry and farrier Steve O'Sullivan, were all suspects in a Jockey Club hearing into alleged illegal betting and race fixing surrounding the Hillside Girl running at Carlisle in June 2003. The Jockey Club's case eventually collapsed, but now the City of London Police would like to question the men on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. The investigation's total number of arrests is now up to 25. Those arrested are out on bail, but police reportedly plan to call them back for questioning in April.
New WLA Execs -- In a meeting held two weeks ago, the World Lottery Association reelected Reidar Nordby, Jr. of Norsk Tipping as president and chose a new executive committee. The committee now consists of Senior Vice President Arthur Gleason of Kentucky Lottery Corporation, Vice President Jan Stewart of Lotterywest, Ray Bates of An Post National Lottery Company, Henry Chan of HKJC Lotteries Limited, Jesús Rodríguez of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, Idrissa Haidara of Société de Pari Mutuel Urbain du Mali, Sergio Díaz of Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, David Loeb, of Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Risto Nieminen of Oy Veikkaus, Luis Vargas of Junta de Protección Social de San José, Friedrich Stickler of Österreichische Lotterien GmbH and Rolf Stypmann of Toto-Lotto Niedersachsen GmbH.
Welcome Aboard -- The Dutch State Lottery has appointed Yvonne van Oort to succeed Hans Smits as CEO in January. Van Oort, who currently serves as CEO of ECI B.V./Euroboek B.V. (part of the Bertelsmann international media company) has over 20 years of senior management experience, including work Unieboek/Van Reemst.
Play-by-Play -- Antigua-based bookmaker CyberSportsBook.com said it plans to begin providing a new live play-by-play wagering platform called "ProBet" for NFL and college football. ProBet would allow bettors to place one of a number of wagers before each play such as whether the offensive team will run or pass, how many yards will be gained or whether the team will score on the play.
Two Way TV -- Interactive digital media company Two Way TV Australia Ltd will try to raise $40 million through a public float later this month. The company, which has been operating in Australia for over 10 years, has an exclusive license to access Two Way TV UK's library of digital, interactive TV and mobile media applications. The company has already used the licensed technology to collaborate with Sky Racing and TAB Ltd. in developing an interactive racing application that would allow punters to place bets with state-licensed totalisators from their televisions. The company expects to have the betting application available to NSW TAB 1 customers within 18 months.
Making Deals -- Global Interactive Gaming Limited has expanded its deal with Sportingbet to incorporate its play-by-play SportXction betting service into the Spanish Sportingbet site, Miapuesta.com. The service has already launched successfully.
Tuesday, Nov. 30
Idol Betting -- Betfair found itself in a bit of a mess last week when it left the betting lines open on an event that had already finished. Apparently many Queensland punters were not aware that Australian Idol was broadcast in their state one hour later than it was broadcast in other eastern states, so they continued to place losing bets with gamblers from eastern states who already knew the outcome. Punters in the eastern states who capitalized on the mistake are of course delighted, while the Queensland punters who lost unfair bets are outraged.
LassetersEuro -- Publicly listed Australian casino company Lasseters has launched LassetersEuro.com, its third online casino. The new site features 27 Flash games and enables players to use the euro as their currency of choice. The launch follows the success of Lasseters' other two online casinos, Lasseters.com and AusVegas.com.
King of Poker -- Victor Chandler Poker and Dennis Publishing, which produces men's magazines Maxim and Inside Edge, have signed a six-figure cross-promotion deal whereby Maxim will host the Maxim King of Poker Tournament in London in June 2005. Maxim plans to supplement its offerings with poker content and will allow its readers to enter online tournaments for a chance to qualify for the final tournament event.
Quoteworthy -- "There is no question whatsoever that the industry has already started to consolidate. There is a very substantial number of deals that are being looked at by various players in the industry out there today. . . . There are a lot of people talking to each other, and frankly I think the acquisition of Paradise Poker has spurred a number of those people to further their thinking a bit."
--Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet, in an interview with AFX News. Payne also noted, "We've had a great first quarter, the best ever."
Search Engine Ads -- Although Google, Overture, MSN, LookSmart.com, AOL and several other U.S.-based search engines no longer accept advertising from online gambling companies, at least one search engine, GenieKnows.com, continues to enter revenue-sharing partnerships with online gambling operations. GenieKnows.com is the Web search solutions division of privately held Canadian Internet technology firm IT Interactive Services.
Plan B -- Despite announcing yesterday that it would continue a national lottery system with only one licensed operator, the U.K. government today stated that it might award several National Lottery licenses for different parts of the lottery if all bids for the license are unsuccessful. Noting problems with the awarding of the last license in 2001, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell stated that the government would include a fallback option "in the extreme circumstance of an unsuccessful competition." The new plans, published yesterday in the National Lottery Bill, include a two-stage bidding process, the design for which the National Lottery Commission has already begun work on. Some analyst suspect that large gambling operators like Ladbrokes, Rank and Virgin will apply for the license.
Ads in Russia -- A draft law restricting gambling advertisements has passed the first of three readings in Russia's Lower House of parliament. If signed into law, the bill would ban casino and gambling advertisements on television between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. It would also require that ads do not project the idea that gambling could help a person attain personal success and higher social status, and no one under the age of 35 could be shown in the ads.
Monday, Nov. 29
UK Gov. Affairs -- The British government decided Friday that the next National Lottery license will last 15 years--more than doubling the length of the current seven-year license held by Camelot. Earlier in the year it seemed that Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell would attempt to divide the license into three licenses to govern the different lottery products separately, but last week's decision restores the single license for the distribution of the main lottery game, scratch cards and games played through interactive channels. Bidding for the next license will not begin until 2006, and major gaming companies like Ladbrokes, Rank and Virgin are expected to vie for the prize. The Observer speculated that bookmakers might try to enter agreements with partners from other industries to quell fears among the public that the lottery will be operated by bookies. . . . Peter Dean, chairman of the U.K. Gaming Board, stated that the board's proposed transformation into the new Gambling Commission will be delayed due to the government's decision to relocate the Gaming Board outside of London and the South East. Dean says the move will result in the board losing some of its experienced personnel at a time when an experienced transitional team is needed for a quick and smooth transformation. Although the board has suggested that the commission be fully functional by the beginning of 2006, Dean stated at the BACTA Convention that the target date will probably not be met.
Hong Kong Policy -- Hong Kong's Football Betting & Lotteries Commission has asked Jockey Club Football Betting Limited to limit advertisements for soccer gambling to off-course betting facilities. The commission said that curbing ads would help achieve its goal of diverting demand from illegal bookies to the regulated operator without encouraging gambling. The commission is especially concerned that adolescents could be receiving the wrong impression about gambling. Noting that football and horse racing games are available on the Jockey Club's Web site, the commission stated that access to such services should be restricted to betting account holders whose ages and identities are verified. The commission's next plan of action is to ask newspaper editors to separate sports betting odds and other gambling information from the sports news pages. Some local papers have already done this.
Spread Betting Case -- A British High Court has ruled in favor of spread betting firm Spreadex in its case against a former customer. To protect themselves from potential loss, spread betting services usually require customers to make a security deposit that is calculated by multiplying the stake by a given figure and a margin based on the exposure of a customer on a losing open bet at the time the calculation was made, according to law firm Olswang. In the case of Spreadex Ltd v. Battu, the customer failed to pay the £40,000 margin within the required five days, so Spreadex closed his account. Believing he did not owe £40,000, the customer filed a law suit against Spreadex. The court eventually ruled in favor of Spreadex, stating that the margin requirement was well known and understood in the financial industry.
Mobile Providers -- Mobvision, a U.K.-based provider of mobile content and solutions, has launched Arabian Nights Mobile Casino, which has four games (slots, poker, blackjack and Hi-LO) and is available on all British mobile networks through any Java-compatible mobile device. The company's gambling division, Mobwin.com, emphasizes the effectiveness of its age and ID verification systems. Mobwin says it offers partners a fully licensed and U.K.-operated mobile casino and is keen to attract U.K./European affiliates as well as large brands wanting a white-label mobile casino. . . . GigaSlot, a company that operates and develops Internet and mobile gambling solutions, recently released its first game in the form of a five-payline, three-wheel slot machine. The game--and all of GigaSlot's future releases--can be downloaded at wap.gigaslot.com. The group, which says it is willing to build strong relationships to accelerate its wireless gaming startup, offers mobile content for free or for royalties through wireless content providers. GigaSlot Wireless Casino intends to release at least one new game each quarter.
P2P -- Betfair announced Thursday that it had already paid out £367,000 in cash to 414 out-of-pocket customers of Sporting Options, which had gone into administration on Nov. 15. After Sporting Options ceased operating, Betfair stated that it would compensate the company's customers by paying in full the amount they lost in Sporting Options, up to £1,000. Those who lost over £1,000 would receive either £1,000 or 20 percent of their Sporting Options account balance, depending upon which is greater. When Sporting Options went into administration, a total of 5,342 customers lost money. So far Betfair has received 650 application forms by post and 414 have been processed and paid out. About 200 application forms are being received by post each day. Another betting exchange, IBetX, is offering a similar compensation package to former Sporting Options customers. . . . Betfair also announced that racing broadcaster Brough Scott will be on hand Dec. 1 to celebrate the opening of a second Betfair office in Stevenage.
Quoteworthy -- "The arguments presented by the DOJ in their motion to dismiss were seriously flawed. We anticipate a prompt decision by the district court upholding our right to bring this lawsuit against the Department of Justice."
--Michael Corfman, president of Casino City, the Louisiana-based gambling portal that has challenged the U.S. Department of Justice by asking a court to rule on the legality of the department's attempts to stifle online gambling advertising by threatening media advertisers with aiding and abetting charges.
New Microgames -- Software developer Microgaming has added eight new games to its Viper-powered casino suite. The proclaimed flagship of the new games is "Reel Strike," a five-reel, 15 paylines slot game with a blue-water game fishing theme. A second slot game, "Ladies Night," features five reels, nine paylines and graphics such as lipstick, cocktails and Chipendale waiters to appeal to female customers. Also included in the new suite is a festive Christmas-themed slot called "Ho Ho Ho," a slot called "Bar Bar Blacksheep," a video poker game called "Double Joker" and "Bonus Video Poker," which has two variations.