Friday, Feb. 25
Gibraltar Tax Change -- At the request of the European Commission, the UK has agreed to abolish the Exempt Company Tax Regime of its dependency Gibraltar by the year 2010. Under the Exempt Company Tax scheme, I-gaming operators licensed on the island have enjoyed a zero percent tax rate on income tax, paying instead a fixed annual tax of between £225 and £300. But last month the EC threatened the UK with court action because it suspected Gibraltar's tax scheme was a form of illegal subsidy that impeded competition and violated EC Treaty rules. Gibraltar's government will likely introduce a new tax rate for corporations while phasing the exception out completely by 2010.
Quoteworthy -- "In my view we're spending too much money on it, but we will spend the money because I want to get to the bottom of it. I'm sick of all the whingers out there who complain about what's happening in the racing industry; now they've got to put up or shut up. At the end of this inquiry, I never ever want to hear about another whinger talking about corruption or improper behavior in the racing industry."—Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland, discussing the Daubney-Rafter Inquiry.
On February 6th the Daubney-Rafter Inquiry into corruption in Queensland's horse racing industry began. Earlier this week Premier Peter Beattie confirmed that the inquiry would continue for another three months, although it was originally planned to last only until the end of March. Beattie also stated that it would eventually end up costing more than A$3 million in tax dollars.
People's Court -- In China, the Supreme People's Court has pledged its support to fighting gambling by stating that it will strip gamblers of all their illegal wins and also heavily fine them. Gambling operators and organizers are to be severely punished.
Poker Rankings -- Williamhillpoker.com has signed a two-year deal with poker portal PokerinEurope.com to become the sponsor of European Poker Rankings, a ratings system that gauges the performance of professional poker players in Europe. In 2005, players' performance at 66 different tournaments (with over 300 individual events) will be taken into consideration for the ratings.
Appeal Rejected -- The Supreme Court of the Philippines has denied Sports and Games Entertainment Corp. (SAGE) its motion for reconsideration of a January 2004 ruling that voided the company's online gambling franchise. The Court ruled last year that Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) acted beyond the limits of its authority when it granted SAGE the right to operate sports betting and Internet gaming. The court ruled this week that SAGE has not presented substantial arguments to warrant the reversal of the decision.
Thursday, Feb. 24
WINPlay -- Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc's play-by-play sports betting system, SportXction, was launched yesterday on BSkyB's interactive TV network during three simultaneous UEFA Champions League matches. ISWI will operate the SportXction system for Sky Sports' broadcasts of soccer, cricket, golf, rugby, tennis and snooker as a SkyBet branded product named WINPlay. The agreement between SkyBet and ISWI's subsidiary GIG is a one year-trial on the basis of shared betting profits with either party having the right to terminate the agreement six months after launch.
Court Order -- Britain's High Court yesterday ordered Vodafone and T-Mobile to deliver records of phone calls and text messages placed via mobile phone to the Jockey Club in order to aid its investigation of alleged match fixing. The two mobile carriers had both indicated an eagerness to share the information with the Jockey Club but were reluctant to do so without a court order because of data protection laws. The Court ruled that the public interest in maintaining racing's integrity supercedes the privacy of the individuals under investigation, and it also stated that the Jockey Club fulfilled the role of regulator rather than the victim of a scandal and should therefore be granted the information. The precedence of the case gives the Jockey Club yet another powerful tool to investigate corruption in racing.
No Tax on the Isle -- The Isle of Man's Treasury has agreed to extend a zero percent income tax rate to all companies licensed by the Online Gambling Regulations Act 2001. Effective as of April 2005, all taxable income derived from online gambling activities will be free from local income taxes. Recently the Isle welcomed Jane O'Rourke as its new Gambling Control Commission chairperson, and in early January a policy change allowed the Isle's operators to begin accepting U.S. residents as customers.
Deal -- Online gaming company Sportingbet, arguably the largest online gaming company in the world, has enhanced its product offering by signing an agreement to license a suite of soft-games and bingo-games from Canada-based I-gaming software provider Chartwell Technology.
Betting Law Firm -- Attorneys Dr. Wulf Hambach and Claus Hambach have founded law firm Hambach and Hambach, which is located in Germany and specializes in European and international gaming law. Supported by both German and foreign specialists, Hambach and Hambach promises speedy and efficient service, particularly for companies who are active in the German market or wish to become so. The firm also provides legal advice on media law and stock exchange law. For more information, see their website at www.betting-law.com.
Sky Upgrade -- BSkyB has re-launched the Sky Active interactive television service with a new interface that uses much more sophisticated media. According to Gerry O'Sullivan, operations and design director of Sky Interactive, "The audience has been experiencing full branding designs on television, but not through interactivity. People want a TV channel that they can interact with, rather than a list. We wanted to achieve the personality and engagement that you get with broadcast television."
Poker Craze -- E! Networks plans to put another poker program on U.S. television. The channel's one-hour series called E! Hollywood Hold'em will debut on March 17th and will feature poker tournaments held at the home of a different celebrity host each week. The host will provide a tour of his home and invite two of his best friends as well as two other celebrity poker players to the table…. InterPoker.com will provide 145 of its online players with seats to the World Series of Poker this year. Players can win the WSOP's $10,000 entry fee by entering $10+$1 buy-in satellite tournaments at InterPoker.com…. OnGame, the Swedish company that runs PokerRoom.com and PokerNetwork, will soon launch a campaign in Israel to teach the game of poker. At first the campaign will consist of actual (not online) poker classes in Tel Aviv with tutors brought in from overseas. The company also plans to launch a Hebrew-language online poker site soon.
Wednesday, Feb. 23
Body Ads -- PartyPoker.ph, an affiliate to PartyPoker.com, has announced that its upcoming marketing campaign will utilize "body part" advertising in order to focus on target local markets. Noting the success of "online casinos whose work was originally seen on boxers in the late 90s and other online poker rooms deploying ads on a pregnant woman's belly," the company is now openly seeking volunteers with the most outrageous body parts for advertising space. The company has stated that it "feels very strongly that the combination of this effective advertising medium, combined this the additional publicity it will garner, will create a terrific bang for the advertising dollar."
UK Bill -- The British Gambling Bill continued its progress through Parliament yesterday with its second reading before the House of Lords. Gambling Minister Lord McIntosh announced new changes to the Bill in his opening speech, including a ban on using credit cards to buy chips or credits in gaming machines, a ban on gambling at physical premises on Christmas day, a change to the reserve power allowing the government to impose a minimum age requirement on Category D gaming machines if there is evidence they are causing significant harm, a requirement on the Secretary of State to consult widely before using the reserve on Category D machines, and retaining the maximum value of non-monetary prizes for Category D machines at £8. Penny Cobham, chairman of the British Casino Association, which last week launched a campaign to oppose the Bill, issued a statement to address yesterday's hearing. She stated, "To claim that a return to the Government's pre-December gambling policy, which we are asking for, would lead to an increase of 10,000 Category B machines is absurd. We know our estates extremely well and believe that the number would be under 5,000 due to several practical reasons, not least a lack of physical space in existing casinos. Nor are we now demanding any Category A machines, even if the Government would have been wise to experiment with them in the controlled environment of our casinos. The real 10,000 figure people should focus on is the total number of unlimited prize machines being proposed by the Government for the eight experimental super- casinos."
NJ Agenda -- On Monday New Jersey's Senate Committee on Wagering Tourism and Historic Preservation will hold a hearing to examine online gambling. The subject of online gambling has been mentioned frequently enough during discussions about video lottery terminals at New Jersey racetracks that it has warranted its own exploratory hearing.
Welcome Aboard -- GB Group, a company that provides identity authentication and fraud prevention solutions, has appointed Michael Smeaton, GamCare's former remote gambling specialist, as business development consultant for URU, its web-based identity and age verification service. Smeaton, who spent five years with Gamcare, will continue to work closely with Gamcare in developing social and corporate responsibility certification programs and will also provide his expertise to insure that GB Group's age and identity verification solutions continue to develop in line with the online gaming industry's needs. Launched in conjunction with British Telecom, the URU service can in a matter of seconds verify single or multiple customer records, confirm name and address, link to payment card details, produce an age verified certification and retain a full audit history.
Zone4Play, a company that develops multi-platform interactive game applications and solutions, has welcomed Sean Ryan to its board of directors. Before joining Zone4Play Ryan served as vice president of music services at global Internet media delivery company RealNetworks, where he was responsible for managing the company's digital music business unit and integrating Listen.com into RealNetworks. He also served as CEO of Listen.com, which developed Rhapsody, an on-demand subscription-based digital music service. As a member of Zone4Play's board of directors Ryan will help the company foster relationships with the content, distribution and financial communities.
BOS in Mexico -- BetonSports.com recently signed a management supply contract to provide sportsbook facilities for Comercial de Juegos de la Frontera SA de CV in up to 18 locations throughout Mexico, where they offer bingo under the name Big Bola. The first location will open on March 5th in Mexico City and will feature a 562-seat bingo hall with bar and restaurant facilities and a sportsbook area of 1,800 square feet and 24 TV screens showing live sports and full sportsbook service lounge areas managed by BetonSports.
Strategy Aid -- The Poker Power Network, a company that is developing a network of web properties that offer Texas Hold 'em strategy information, has launched FoldorRaise.com, an interactive Texas Hold 'em strategy web site that presents users with a starting-hand scenario and then asks them to decide whether they would fold, call, raise, or make a large raise. The site also reveals the probability that a hand would defeat other hands and offers advice on how experts would play each hand. It also monitors a user's decisions and advises him in which positions and with which hands he may play too aggressively or too passively.
Tuesday, Feb. 22
Caribbean Support -- Following an intervention by Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer last week at the 16th inter-sessional summit of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Caribbean leaders have passed a resolution to support Antigua and Barbuda in its Internet gaming services dispute with the U.S. at the World Trade Organization. The Caricom resolution regards the dispute as a pioneering one that has been and will continue to be instructive on how small nations can defend their rights in the WTO. The submission hearings for the U.S. appeal of the WTO dispute panel's ruling on the case is scheduled to take place in Geneva next week.
Chinese Bust -- Chinese police announced today that they have shut down yet another online gambling operation. The Xinhua state news agency has reported that a man named Liu Junwei and several associates have been arrested as the local representatives of a foreign gambling company, but there is no mention of where the foreign company is based. Liu apparently ran a soccer betting website for nine months. Officers confiscated US$7.2 million during the bust.
NZ Lotteries -- The New Zealand Lotteries Commission put out a press release today stating that claims made by Gambling Watch, an anti-gambling lobby group, about interactive gaming are untrue and misleading. According to the Commission's CEO Trevor Hall, "Any interactive offering we eventually make will be lawful, responsible, strictly controlled and carefully monitored." Hall also clarified that the Gambling Act of 2003 permits the NZ Lotteries to offer remote gambling, but he stressed that it will no do so until after a new gaming system is introduced in 2006. "Our new system will replace our centralized gaming system," he stated, adding, "A new gaming system is required to ensure NZ Lotteries products can continue to be sold through our retail network after the conversion of the organization's telecommunications data links to the Internet Protocol standard. An added feature will be the ability to offer games remotely, but this will only be done after strict guidelines have been developed and agreed to with government regulators. Some of the measures we will be working through with the regulators will be safe-guards such as compulsory player registration, strictly enforced age restrictions and limits on the number and/or value of any online purchase by a registered player in any given time." Last week GTECH Global Services Corporation was selected as lead bidder for the gaming system contract.
Sponsorship Deal -- Sports Acumen-- an Australian company based at Canberra Racecourse that offers fixed odds and spread betting via the Internet, telephone and over the counter—has signed a deal to become a sponsor of reigning Super 12 champions, the Brumbies, for the 2005 season. Sports Acumen's General Manager Robert Gallagher says the sponsorship offers the opportunity to promote the company's business to an international audience through the Super 12 competition while also creating a strong link to the Canberra community.
Monday, Feb. 21
WPT Console -- WPT Enterprises has signed a deal giving 2K Sports, the sports division of 2K Games, exclusive licensing rights for World Poker Tour interactive poker games on console, PC and handheld systems. 2K Games is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, which owns an empire of proprietary video gaming brand franchises that includes "Grand Theft Auto," "Max Payne," "Railroad Tycoon" and others.
Thorough Coverage -- Poker information Web site PokerPages.com has hired four journalists to report on major poker events in North America and Europe. Mike Paulle, Daniel Lazerek and Steve Hall will cover poker tournaments in the United States, while Rolf Slotboom will cover European events. The PokerPages Web site also features a searchable database of poker establishments, tools to find online poker action, daily-updated events & results, tips, daily articles and a comprehensive poker player gallery and profiles section.
Poker Portal -- Gaming Corporation, the owner of online gaming portal www.casino.co.uk, has launched another portal at www.findpoker.com. The new site will replicate the business model of the casino.co.uk site by providing news, editorial content and links to poker sites. It will also generate revenue through a cost-per-click advertising system that uses the same ad-serving technology and backend system used for casino.co.uk.
Accepting US Play -- Alderney-licensed Littlewoods Casino recently began accepting play from U.S. residents. Parent company Sportech Plc this month revealed that half of its gross win for 2004 came from non-sports gambling. The company is expected to report full-year gross winnings for the year 2004 that are 65 percent higher than 2003's figures, due largely to growth in casino, poker and telephone betting operations.
Record Payout -- A 40-year-old hospital worker named Ted Reid received a £743,760 payout from a fruit machine last week at Ladbrokes' online casino. The sum is apparently the largest Internet payout ever in the United Kingdom. Reid had placed a 20p bet on the "Major Millions" game.
Shakeup -- I-gaming software provider IQ Ludorum has made a number of changes to its management personnel. Dick Wright has resigned as a director of the company, and Gurcharan Singh has resigned as a director and officer to the company. Replacing them are three non-executive directors: Joseph McFadden, Samuel Drennan and Phillip Rhee. Meanwhile, board member John Reynolds has been appointed interim chairman to temporarily fill the position vacated by Nicholas Willis last month.
Arrests Pending -- Sergeant Julian Goodchild, the media liaison officer for the City Of London Police, stated recently that he expects more individuals to be arrested soon in connection to the investigation of race fixing in Britain. Goodchild stated that the arrests will likely occur in a matter of days rather than weeks, and jockeys may be among those apprehended. So far 26 individuals have been arrested as part of the investigation, five of whom are jockeys.