Friday, March 18
Virgin Marketing -- eGaming Review reports that Virgin Group's online gaming site, Virgin Games, has experienced a 300 percent increase in its number of players following a major promotional campaign in the company's U.K.-based mega-stores. Over 1 million flyers were distributed to the company's retail customers.
GFed Resignation -- I-gaming software provider Gambling Federation voluntarily resigned from the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association (GPWA) following the revelation that the company altered its hosts file on players' computers to block those players from accessing the Web sites of other operators who had allegedly stolen Gambling Federation's client list. The GPWA took action against Gambling Federation on Monday by fining the company $5,000, which was donated to Gambler's Anonymous. The company's resignation from GPWA was not sanctioned by the organization but self-imposed.
Hold'Em Law -- Minnesota State Sen. Dave Kleis introduced a law that would add Texas Hold'em to the definition of social skill games that are legal in the state. If the bill passes, social games of Hold'em would be legal as long as there is no direct financial benefit to the organizer and the sum of all prizes do not exceed $200. Phil Gordon, a professional poker player, analyst, and co-host of the Celebrity Poker Showdown on the Bravo television network, will travel to Minnesota on March 21 to testify in support of the bill.
EU Services Directive -- The European State Lotteries and Toto Association (European Lotteries), an organization composed of the state lotteries and toto companies of the EU member states and 16 other European countries, held a "high-level" conference in Brussels yesterday to address the impact of the European Commission's Services Directive on the internal market. According to Hans Jürgen Reissiger, president of the European Lotteries, the reforms proposed by the directive will lead to a dangerous deregulation of the European gambling sector. The European Lotteries opposes such liberalization and instead favors the current exclusive rights model, the restrictive policies of which provides better control over the market while protecting consumers from the harmful effects of gambling. The European Lotteries therefore believes that gambling must be removed from the scope of the Services Directive.
Redesign -- Littlewoods Casino is the process of redesigning its Web site to convey the image of a long-established and well trusted brand and also to create a fresh, contemporary look. The revamp will be launched in April and accompanied by a six-figure ad campaign targeting demographics that are inclined to play online casinos.
Race Fixing -- Former six-time champion British jockey Kieren Fallon is suing News of the World and News Group Newspapers Ltd. for printing allegedly libelous articles which claimed that Fallon had informed undercover reporters that he had fixed the Ballinger Ridge race.
Thursday, March 17
p align="justify">League Bookie -- Authorities with the German Football Association (DFB) are considering establishing their own betting firm as a way to prevent match-fixing and help amateur soccer improve its earnings. If such a move were to occur, it would happen sometime after the 2006 World Cup. Theo Zwanziger, one of the DFB's two co-presidents, said bookmakers take in US$3.9 million worth of turnover on German matches each year. "We want to get a cut since we provide the foundation," Zwanziger said.
Racing Post Mobile -- The Racing Post has teamed up with mobile solutions firm Cellectivity to create a Racing Post Mobile service that is available to subscribers of all of the United Kingdom's cellular providers. The service gives users the ability to compare racing and football odds and place wagers with BlueSquare, Ladbrokes, PaddyPower, SportingOdds and Totalbet. Users can also open and manage accounts with those bookmakers through the Racing Post Mobile service.
Chimera in China -- Publicly listed I-gaming software provider Chimera Technology Corp. has announced that its 724Pay.com payment gateway will provide all of the company's current and future licensees with access to the Chinese gambling market.
Bulgarian SMS -- According to the Sofia News Agency, the Bulgarian Gambling Commission has stated that out of the multitude of companies running SMS games in coordination with TV programs, only two of them actually possess licenses to conduct such games. Gambling Commission Chief Mitko Kirov stated in mid February that all of the other companies are apparently trying to pass their games off as non-gambling. Kirov also stressed Bulgaria's need to tighten legislation governing the operation of the games.
Greek Case -- OPAP, the only company licensed by the Greek government to offer gambling games, has taken legal action against Coral Eurobet because the company advertised its betting products through the outdoor panels of Master Media, which is also facing legal action from OPAP. The one-member District Court of Athens has issued a temporary order prohibiting Eurobet from advertising any further in Greece, and Master Media has been ordered to take down all of Eurobet's outdoor advertising. A hearing of the case is scheduled for May 11.
iTouch -- U.K.-based mobile phone content supplier iTouch will soon begin testing a mobile blackjack gaming service. The company has already signed an agreement to provide a technology platform to distribute Zone4Play's mobile gaming services to iTouch customers through its direct mobile channel model and also via its media, telco and broadcast partners in the United Kingdom. iTouch is also negotiating partnership agreements with other gaming groups. The publicly listed company reported €5.3 million in profits in 2004.
Wednesday, March 16
888 IPO -- Much speculation was confirmed today when it was revealed that Gibraltar-based Cassava Enterprises, owner of 888.com, Pacific Poker and Casino-On-Net, has contracted Credit Suisse First Boston as advisors to a potential public offering. At the moment analysts are predicting that the company will seek an initial valuation of $1.6 billion sometime in the second half of 2005. The London Stock Exchange is the likely market for such an offering.
Commingling -- Scientific Games Worldwide Limited (SGW) and The Racing Network International (TRN) have signed an agreement whereby SGW will use its worldwide tote hub in Ireland to commingle wagers from the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe back to U.S. host racetrack wagering pools that are TRN customers. TRN provides software and information systems that interface between fixed-odds bookmaking systems and tote interfaces so that all bets may be commingled. The deal with SGW will allow TRN, which is also involved in a joint venture with At The Races, to commingle its American racetrack customers' pools with At the Races' international pools.
Skill Games -- Skill gaming systems provider CYOP Systems International has signed a deal with Prime Multimedia International, whereby CYOP will make its pay-for-play CrediPlay software available on Prime Multimedia's Host.sk network of sites. The skill games will be promoted through rich media advertising that will be integrated into approximately 110,000 individual Web sites based in Europe and North America. CYOP also has an online poker product that is in the final stages of testing and integration into the CrediPlay platform. The company expects to launch poker later this month. . . . Costa Rica-based BetCRIS has launched skill gaming on its Web site using software from British skill games provider Gameaccount. The company is reportedly also planning to launch bingo, lottery and virtual horseracing games on its site in the future.
Quoteworthy -- "The Wireless gambling market is huge, and research has shown that serious gamblers are more likely to carry a mobile device. However, most tracks don't understand the capabilities this gives them in providing information to their customers."
--Bob Rapp, director of strategic enterprise planning for Microsoft Corp, speaking last week to the joint meeting of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations and Harness Tracks of America. Rapp estimated that mobile gambling could be a $15 billion industry by 2009.
VC in Spain -- Victor Chandler has initiated a plan to develop its brand in Spain by signing a partnership with Spanish-licensed betting operator Equiniela that will allow VC Bet to offer on-course betting at two Spanish racetracks. VC Bet is also in the process of installing 100 sports betting kiosks in bars and restaurants through the southern part of the country.
Quickies -- David Power, chairman of the Irish Bookmakers Association, stated this month at his organization's annual dinner that he believes betting exchanges should pay the same tax--2 percent of turnover--as off-course bookmakers. . . . Casinofeed.info, an affiliate service that enables participants to display the most recent bonus offers and promotions the moment they are published, has attracted 53 online gaming operations since its full launch in January. Ladbrokes is the latest company to join the program.
Keno.com Ads -- Publicly listed Gaming Transactions Inc. has signed an agreement whereby Red Ruth Ventures will purchase $1 million in advertising to promote Keno.com. The advertising will consists of e-mail newsletter, static ad space and interactive rich media.
Board Changes -- World Bingo League Co. has appointed Gregory Wilson to its board of directors. Wilson is a practicing lawyer and the owner of investment firms Clarendon Corp and Elan Custom Homes. Before starting the investment companies, Wilson was CEO and founder of American Bingo and Gaming Corporation. The company started with a single charitable bingo center in 1987, and by 1994 it had assembled seven centers and completed an initial public offering that raised $5 million. By 1997 the company had 21 centers and gross revenue exceeding $10 million. . . . I-gaming software provider World Gaming has appointed Michael Cumming and Jonathan Moss to its board of directors. Cumming has 35 years of experience in private equity, including 14 years at Barclays Private Equity, which he expanded from a London base into a company with nine offices worldwide. Moss has served as World Gaming's director of sales and marketing since January, and before joining the company he served as business development director for CryptoLogic Inc. . . . BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment announced that as a logical consequence of changes in the ownership structure of the company, both Carsten Koerl, founder and former executive board member, and Michael Tojner, venture capitalist and executive board member of Global Equity Partners, have resigned from their positions on the company's supervisory board. Tojner's legal advisor, Karl Liebenwein, has also stepped down, and so has Hartmann Weirather, founder of the WWP Group, which recently agreed to collaborate with BetandWin on consulting and rights acquisition. Weirather has resigned to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Tuesday, March 15
Quoteworthy -- "The issue that we're really concerned with is that young people are becoming involved in an illegal activity and then get in over their head. Then the bookie's in charge. Certainly a $1 pool is not going to cause any of that to occur. We understand that the $1 pool is very much part of the NCAA Tournament. But we have to take a zero-tolerance policy. We need to send a clear message."
--Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of gambling activities, explaining in an interview for Knight Ridder Newspapers why the NCAA condemns all forms of gambling on college sports, including office pools for the March Madness basketball tournament in which 10.7 percent of Americans participate, according to one of the organization's surveys.
Poker 425 -- William Hill TV, Channel 425 on the BSkyB network, will premiere a new weekly late-night poker program called Poker 425 on March 23. Sponsored by WilliamHillPoker.com, the new program will feature the latest news, results and analysis from the European Poker Tour in addition to interviews and tips from some of the tour's top professionals. William Hill PR Director David Hood says the company "expects Poker 425 to attract a large slice of the late night poker viewership."
Free Lottery -- SportingbetUSA.com has launched a free online lottery that gives players a chance to win $1 million every week. Players can participate by picking six numbers once a week up until the final drawing on Oct. 30. Any player who chooses the correct numbers automatically wins $1 million.
Mobile in Japan -- I-gaming operator BeTheDealer Casino has licensed its proprietary software to ArkCasino.com in order to launch a secure, real-money mobile casino platform that is available to subscriber of the DoCoMo 3G cellular network in Japan. Mobile solutions company TBR Entertainment has also contributed technology to the project. The cellular mobile version of the casino currently offers three 3-reel multi-line progressive jackpot slots, and video poker and blackjack are to be released within a few weeks. Figures show that 7.2 million DoCoMo users have played the slot game since its launch in February.
Poker Beat -- Victor Chandler will hold the VC Poker Cup in London August 1-5. The buy-in is £5,000, and the competition will be limited to 128 players, with the first place finisher taking home £255,000. The event will be filmed for international broadcast and is expected to reach a larger audience than last year's tournament, which was shown in 20 countries. . . . On March 19, the cruise ship MS Oosterdam will set sail from San Diego Harbor with about 725 players who will participate in the PartyPoker.com Million IV. Six hundred seventy players have qualified for the cruise and a chance to win a piece of the $7.2 million prize pool by playing on PartyPoker's Web site.
Monday, March 14
Blue Broadcast -- British bookmaker Blue Square has secured broadcast rights to stream several World Cup qualifying football matches on its Web site, and viewers will be able to use a live in-running betting service to wager while they watch the action. Blue Square's press officer, Ed Pownall, says the broadcast will be a live television stream whose quality will be far superior to normal Internet images for broadband users. The company attracted 6,000 users earlier this year when it did a similar broadcast for a live darts contest in Holland.
WTO Delay -- The chairman of the World Trade Organization Appellate Body considering the case of Antigua and Barbuda vs. the United States has notified the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body that the Appellate Body will not be able to provide its report on schedule and has therefore asked for an extension. The United States filed its notice of appeal on Jan. 7, 2005, and WTO rules stipulate that the Appellate Body must circulate its report no later than 60 days after such a notice is given--which in this case was March 8. The Appellate Body stated, "Due to the time required for completion and translation of the report, the Appellate Body will not be able to circulate its report in this appeal by Tuesday, 8 March 2005. We estimate that the Appellate Body report will be circulated to WTO members no later than Thursday, 7 April 2005."
Access Blocked -- Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the Cassava group of Web sites, including Casino-on-net.com, 888.com and PacificPoker.com, has made a strategic decision to block Israeli residents from accessing their online gambling services primarily because there is a lack of clarity in Israeli law regarding Internet gambling. Arguably the largest Internet casino in operation, 888.com was founded by and is controlled by two pairs of Israeli brothers, Avi and Aharon Shaked and Shai and Ron Ben-Yitzhak.
Partners -- Multi-platform I-gaming solutions provider Zone4Play has entered into a technology partnership with Orbis Technology, developer of the OpenBet gambling platform, whereby Zone4Play will develop front-end solutions and game engines for mobile devices, broadcast TV and iTV gaming so that they may be integrated into the OpenBet platform.
Mobile Palace -- Phantom Fiber, a company that provides mobile technology and solutions to the I-gaming industry, has signed a five-year license agreement to supply its advanced wireless framework to GoldenPalace.com, whose new GoldenPalace Mobile Web site (goldenpalacemobile.com) offers casino games and banking facilities for Java-enabled mobile devices. The companies' press release announcing the deal states that "GoldenPalace.com plans to continue its aggressive marketing approach which combines the power of media and over-the-top promotions to capture and convert customers to its wireless service." Among some of GoldenPalace's latest "over-the-top promotions" are the sponsorship of a child's birth (the son of the woman who attended the Daytona 500 with the casino's logo on her pregnant belly) and the purchase on eBay of a silicone breast (size 69-HH) removed from former adult film star Tawny Peaks.
Bulgarian SportXction -- Sportingbet has expanded its agreement with Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. (ISWI) to launch ISWI's SportXction play-by-play sports betting system on its Bulgarian wagering site, bg.sportingbet.com. The launch of SportingXction on Sportingbet's Spanish, Greek and Turkish Web sites in the later months of 2004 has already dramatically improved Sportingbet's financial figures.
Betbull In-Running -- eGaming Review reports that Betbull - The European Betting Exchange Plc is planning to launch its own in-running betting product for bookmakers. According to Simon Bold, the copmany's chief operating officer, "Most big online sports books are offering live betting now, and most of them aren't doing it very well. You need to offer a live betting product and no matter how much you develop it will never compare to what a customer can get on a betting exchange."
WWTS Acquisition -- Betcorp, the Australian parent company of Antigua-based BetWWTS, has acquired Sinsational, the holding company of Cybersportsbook.com for $6.15 million.
Poker Beat -- World Poker Exchange has announced that IFILM.com--a streaming video Web site that features a wide variety of content, including short films, trailers, TV clips, music videos, and viral videos--will film Worldpx.com's first annual World Intercollegiate Poker Championship in Cancun, Mexico from March 12-14 and will exclusively stream clips and highlights on its Web site. World Poker Exchange has also signed a sponsorship agreement with Susie Isaacs, the first woman to ever win back-to-back World Series of Poker championships (in 1996 and 1997). She is also a regular columnist for Poker Player newspaper, Women's Poker Player and Fifth Street magazine, and she will appear regularly on two television shows in 2005--"Fox Sports National" and "Final Table Challenge." According to World Poker Exchange, "Our tournament play sponsorship of Susie Isaacs marks the beginning of a formal pro-team recruitment effort we have initiated, with additional player announcements to follow shortly"… Meanwhile PartyPoker.com has announced its own sponsorship of a female poker professional. The company welcomes Kathy Liebert, winner of television network GSN's "Battle of the Sexes" tournament, as its new spokeswoman.
Celebrity Betting -- Clear Media, the company that runs the Pointspread.com Web site (where users can compare the sports betting odds of the site's sponsored bookmaking partners), has launched another Web site, WhataretheOdds.com, which enables visitors to compare the wagering odds on an array of novelty propositions, such as celebrity break-ups, divorces and pregnancies.