Friday, May 6
Popemobile -- Online casino GoldenPalace.com, the online casino that has become famous for its outrageous promotional stunts, has purchased a 1999 Volkswagen Golf that was once owned by Pope Benedict XVI (then known as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger) for $244,591 on eBay. The auction page for the car received over 8.5 million hits, and hundreds of news media providers on both sides of the Atlantic have already provided coverage of the sale--many of them specifically mentioning GoldenPalace.com.
Quoteworthy - "A decade from now, when Party.Poker.co.uk and PokerStars.com have swallowed up ICI and BT, historians may seek to explain how this card game progressed at such bewildering pace from the back rooms of redneck Alabama bars to the apex of the FTSE 100. On one level, it will be a story simply told by reference to a Holy Trinity of popularizing breakthroughs."
- an excerpt from an article titled "How Poker Took Over the World" and written by Matthew Norman for The Independent.
Taz License -- ABC Online has reported once again that the licensing of Betfair and PBL to operate a betting exchange in Australia hinges on whether Victorian betting agency Tabcorp agrees to waive a AU$5 million annual racing fee that Tote Tasmania pays to Tabcorp to participate in betting pools. Geoff Harper, chairman of the Tasmanian Racing Club told ABC that he believes there is a strong chance Betfair and PBL will not receive a license if Tabcorp drops the fee. Otherwise, he says, "I think the government is looking quite rightly at Betfair as a source of replacement for that $5.3 million in revenue." Next week Harper will lobby Australian Racing Board members to support his bid to scrap the payment to Tabcorp.
Summit Gaming -- A new company called Summit Entertainment Group has entered the online gambling sector with the launch of an online sports book/bingo hall/bingo room at LuckySummit.com. Software for the new sites was designed by Ikonsoft Ltd.. In the near future Summit Entertainment also plans to launch a radio station called "Summit Radio," which will cover online and offline gambling topics as well as issues affecting all Internet users.
Poker Industry Mag -- Casino Connection International, publishers of Global Gaming Business magazine, has announced the launch of a new quarterly called PokerBIZ, which will provide coverage of the global commerce and industry surrounding the game of poker. The company says the new magazine is designed to teach card room executives how to attract players to their facilities and to reveal successful practices in customer service, tournament organization, equipment upkeep and employee motivation. It will also examine online poker rooms, poker-like table games, poker machines, and more.
Partners -- Gibraltar-based white-label I-gaming software provider St. Enodoc is partnering with mobile gaming operator Profitability Gaming to create a mobile casino product for the European market.
Thursday, May 5
Quoteworthy -- "There's a hard core of about 10 to 15 percent of the public who are morally opposed to gaming. It's part of their religious background."
- Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., president and CEO of the American Gaming Association. Yesterday the AGA released its annual "State of the State" report on gambling in the United States, which estimates that last year 53 percent of Americans played the lottery, 35 percent gambled in a casino, 18 percent played poker, 6 percent wagered on races and 2 percent gambled online. The report also includes data from a survey by Luntz Research in which 54 percent of Americans said gambling is "perfectly acceptable for everyone," while 27 percent said gambling is "perfectly acceptable for anyone but not you personally," 15 percent said gambling "is not acceptable for anyone" and 4 percent did not know or refused to answer.
CTXM Games -- CTXM--a developer of software (with an emphasis on I-gaming), a provider of IT consulting and development services and a subsidiary of Com-Tec-Co, has an agreement in place to supply online betting company Expekt.com, whose main target is the Scandinavian market, with 10 fixed-odds soft games. The first release of games will include flash versions of "Hockey Shot," "Run of Hearts" and "Spin That Wheel," all of which CTXM says include special themes for Scandinavian punters. CTXM has also launched a "Virtual Greyhound" race book on Expekt.com. Last week the company provided Ladbrokes.com with three games: "Slapshots," "Golden Jacket" (the name used by Ladbrokes for its virtual greyhound race book) and "Penalty Shootout."
No Fear of Kyl -- Peer-to-peer betting network BetBug.com said in a press release issued today that it might actually welcome U.S. Sen. John Kyl's Internet gambling prohibition bill. "BetBug are confident that if the Kyl bill was made U.S. law, it would cement their position as the only legal online betting network in the U.S.," the company stated. Betbug says its unique betting network does not violate the Wire Act or the proposed Kyl bill because the company does not act as a bookmaker that participates in wagers, sets odds or knows the underlying nature of private wagers among individual users of the system.
Gaming VC -- Gaming VC, a German online casino operator that floated on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market in December, plans to launch an online poker site in July. The company also plans to target more European markets by launching foreign language sites.
Wednesday, May 4
Poker Faces -- With general elections only a few days away in the United Kingdom, PartyPoker.com's new outdoor advertising campaign features the faces of some of Britian's most prominent politicians accompanied by taglines related to poker. One poster, for example, features the face of Tory Leader Michael Howard and the words "Good at bluffing?" while a poster featuring Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy says "No one to play with?" The posters can be seen in at 32 locations throughout London.
Bluff Poker Tour -- From June through December, Bluff Media, publisher of Bluff Magazine, will run the Bluff Poker Tour, a virtual poker tour that seeks to find the world's best online poker player by holding $30 no limit Texas Hold'em tournaments at a different online poker room each week. Players can earn points toward their ranking on the Bluff Poker Tour by participating and doing well in official tour events. At the end of the season, top players will compete in the Bluff Poker Tour Championship event, with the winner receiving a buy-in to three World Poker Tour tournaments.
Absolute Promos -- AbsolutePoker.com will target the college student demographic by holding a free "Win Your Tuition" no limit Texas Hold'em tournament on May 26. . . . Every Saturday leading up to the July 7 World Series of Poker main event, AbsolutePoker.com hosts a free-roll tournament for its leader board, with the winning player receiving a piece of the prize pool, a bonus $1,000, an Absolute Poker jacket and the opportunity to play Mark Seif (AbsolutePoker.com's resident professional poker player) in a heads-up shootout for a chance to win a $10,000 seat at the WSOP. After the first two weeks of the promotion, both players who have faced Seif heads-up have defeated him to earn a seat at the WSOP.
Ultimate Poker -- Kahnawake-based online poker room ultimatebet.com has entered the British market by launching a new brand, ultimatepoker.com. The company is accompanying the launch of the brand with a large marketing campaign that includes signage on 2,600 taxi cabs and advertisements in print an online. CEO Jim Ryan says the company also hopes to present a TV series.
Quoteworthy -- "I don't write this to brag, I just want any robbery-minded people out there who hear about this to know that I'm a tough mark, and they won't get that much off me even if they succeed."
- Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, champion of the 2004 World Series of Poker, who qualified for the event through a satellite tournament on PokerStars.com. In December two men armed with guns attempted to rob Raymer as he returned to his hotel room after playing poker at the Bellagio, but Raymer refused to give them his money and fought them off as they tried to shove him into his room. After being identified later by Las Vegas police who viewed the security tape, the two men were arrested this week at a gun show.
Red Felt Software -- Skill Gaming software provider CYOP Systems International Inc. announced that it's launching a U.K.-based online poker software licensing unit called Red Felt Software. CYOP announced in March that it plans to target Asian portals for the integration of its new poker software. The company's backend financial systems are already localized into traditional and simplified Chinese, and it has begun working on the front-end game translations of its poker games.
Poker Royale -- The third season of U.S. cable television network GSN's Poker Royale franchise will be called "Poker Royale: Celebrities vs. Poker Pros" and will debut on Friday as part of GSN's weekly "Casino Night" series. The first six one-hour episodes will feature three celebrities competing against six professional poker players, while the final two-hour episode will feature a tournament combining the three highest ranked celebrities with the three highest ranked professionals. Celebrities include Lance Bass, Tracy Bingham, Morris Chestnut, Mimi Rogers, Jennifer Tilly and Patrick Warburton, while poker professionals include Scott Fischman, Kathy Liebert, Cindy Violette, Roxci Rhodes, Paul Darden and Kenna James.
WSOP Machines -- Harrah's has licensed the World Series of Poker brand to WMS Gaming for the development, manufacture and deployment of video poker and slot machine game themes on WMS' Bluebird gaming devices in North American and Caribbean land-based casinos. WMS will develop several unique WSOP-branded games that will initially be available only at Harrah's properties for an exclusivity period in each jurisdiction. After the exclusivity period, the games will be made available to other casinos in those markets.
Nintendo Poker -- Console video game publisher Crave Entertainment in April released its "World Championship Poker: Deluxe Series" video game for the Nintendo DS system. The game features more than 10 different poker games and lets players compete in multiplayer tournaments using the Nintendo DS's wireless connection.
Tuesday, May 3
German Ruling -- The District Court of Cologne, Germany ruled on April 21 that German courts must consider criteria set forth by the European Court of Justice in the Gambelli and in doing so has refused to punish cross-border providers of sports betting services. The court stated, "The penal provision of Art. 284 German Criminal Code in conjunction with the Sports Betting Act of North-Rhine Westphalia in view of the ECJ's Gambelli-decision of Nov. 6, 2003 is not compatible with the Community Law and, therefore, not suitable as legal basis for the punishment of the accused."
Loan Settled -- I-gaming software provider AngelCiti Entertainment, a company seeking to acquire interests in other online gaming software providers, has reached an agreement with its lender to retire an outstanding $300,000 loan. The company will retire 25.6 million shares that were held as collateral for the loan, leaving AngelCiti with about 6.5 million shares issued and outstanding. The company's president, George Gutierrez, says the settling of the loan is the first step in its progress toward completing the acquisition of Carib Gaming.
Trading Exchange Sold -- Intuition Capital Ltd. has agreed to buy loss-making business The Trading Exchange Ltd. (formerly TradingSports Ltd.) from the Trading Exchange for £125,000. The Trading Exchange suffered a loss of £3.1 million in 2004, including reorganization costs of £430,000 and a 755,000 charge for the impairment of fixed assets, which brought it fixed asset value at year-end to zero.
Ladbrokes Expansion -- If William Hill's purchase of Stanleybet is successful, Hilton Group may open as many as 200 new Ladbrokes betting shops by the end of the year to maintain its lead over William Hill as the largest bookmaker in Britain. William Hill has about 1,600 shops, but would acquire an additional 600 through a £500 million purchase of Stanleybet. Ladbrokes owns 1,921 shops. "We believe the maximum number we could have without attracting attention from regulators is 2,200," Hilton CEO David Michels said.
Sponsorship Canceled -- Top-tier North American horse jockey Patrick Venezuela has canceled a sponsorship agreement purchased on EBay by Costa Rica-based I-gaming operator BetCRIS because track regulators did not feel the sponsorship was appropriate. Valenzuela has since re-listed himself on eBay.
Content Deal -- Youbet.com has signed an agreement to become the exclusive horse racing content provider for Internet sports media organization CBS SportsLine.com. Youbet's diverse content offering of live racing video, race replays, handicapping products, racing tutorials, games, contests and more will now be made accessible to the millions of sports fans who visit the cbs.sportsline.com site each month. The deal will have Youbet providing CBS SportsLine.com with program content in three phases over the next six months. The first installment will be live in time for the Kentucky Derby later this week and will feature live racing audio and video, a Youbet-Daily Racing Form Triple Crown Watch page and a $100,000 Kentucky Derby Pick 12 contest. Another installment will go live before the Breeders Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in October.
TST Certified -- Game testing facility Technical Systems Testing North America Inc. has certified the random number generator of Internet bingo solutions provider Parlay Entertainment. The software is now in compliance with generally accepted industry standards for highly regulated jurisdictions.
US/Antigua Meeting -- Ron Maginley, a spokesperson for the Antiguan Offshore Gaming Association, says that representatives from Antigua and Barbuda will meet with representatives from the United States in Geneva on May 19 to discuss how the two countries are to implement the recommendation of the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body. The burden is now on the United States to act after an Appellate Body ruled that the United States must treat domestic and foreign providers of online gambling equally.
Gambling.com Sale -- Gaming Corporation, an online gambling marketer, operator and portal manager, has announced its acquisition of the Newbold Enterprises, owner of the Gambling.com portal. The consideration for the acquisition is US$20 million, to be satisfied as to $15.3 million in cash and $4.7 million in new ordinary shares. Gambling.com's income is primarily generated through its proprietary technology that includes an international and U.K.-specific pay-per-click advertisement system that enables clients to bid to reach higher rankings in results in the site's search engine.
Monday, May 2
BINGO! -- Yahoo! UK & Ireland has launched new real-money bingo games on its Games Channel site using software from Parlay Entertainment. In conjunction with white-label gaming solutions provider St. Minver Limited, Parlay is working on launching an aggregated bingo network that features 75- and 90-number bingo so that all of its partners, including Gala Bingo and Virgin Games, can share liquidity and jackpots. Yahoo! UK & Ireland's bingo games will also aggregate through that same network. The massive search engine and Web services company took its first step into real-money gaming only recently with the launch in late March of a simplified betting exchange called Yahoo! Betting, a partnership with Betfair.
Arrests in Korea -- The Korea Times reports that South Korean police have arrested about 13,000 people for gambling on foreign Internet gambling sites. Police estimate that that the suspects wagered an estimated US$12 million at about 50 different gambling sites. According to the Times, "Police requested an arrest warrant for seven suspects on charges of habitual gambling, while 26 others, including a diplomat identified as Kim, 41, were booked without physical detention." Diplomat Kim allegedly used his credit card 122 times to spend a total of $30,000 with foreign gambling sites. Police say that only individuals who have spent more that $25,000 or used their credit cards more than 100 times will face criminal charges. Police have also asked the Ministry of Information and Communication to block access to detected foreign online gambling sites, and they estimate that up to $100 million has been leaked offshore due to gambling, $25 million of which is thought to go via online gambling wins.
Partnership -- Betfair has entered into an exclusive international agreement with land-based casino technology company TCS John Huxley whereby TCS John Huxley will create and maintain a sports betting system that will be available for land-based casinos to offer cash betting based on prices and liquidity available on the Betfair betting platform. The two companies will offer their product to casinos on a risk-free basis, and casinos will only be able to back bets. The systems will operate on a trial basis for 10 months; the agreement excludes properties in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States and Nordic countries.
What on Earth -- I-gaming software provider Microgaming has released four new games for its online casino suite. The centerpiece of the rollout, a five-reel, nine-payline video slot called "What on Earth," features rich graphics and a wide range of bonuses. Other games include "Off the Hook," a three-reel, one-payline jackpot slot with a fishing theme; "Aces and Faces 50 Play," which lets gamers play 50 hands of video poker simultaneously; and "All American Video Poker," which lets them play single hands.
WINPlay Ads -- An advertisement campaign to promote WINPlay--the SkyBet-branded version of Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc.'s SportXction play-by-play wagering platform for interactive television on the Sky Digital network--was kicked off this weekend to coincide with the start of the West Indies-South Africa international five-day test cricket match. The initial campaign includes multiple newspaper placements as well as banner ads on SkyBet's interactive TV site.
KenoBook.com -- Gaming Transactions Inc., the company that owns the Keno.com portal, has launched its new online sports book, KenoBook.com, using software from FutureBet Systems Ltd. The site offers a full range of sports betting options, including straight bets, parlays, over/unders, money-lines and teasers. It emphasizes betting on North American sports, but also provides betting lines on soccer from 60 countries.