Friday, July 1
Indiana Bill -- A prohibitory online gambling bill that passed through the legislature in the U.S. state of Indiana at the end of April became law today. Authored by Sen. David Ford, R-Hartford City, the law makes it a Class D felony for anyone to operate an online gambling site or service in Indiana or to promote such a site or service from within the state. The law also provides a structure under which gambling companies outside Indiana who transmit gambling information over the Internet would have to submit to the jurisdiction of Indiana courts for prosecution. At least one provider of Internet horserace wagering, I>TVG, has ceased doing business over the Internet with residents of Indiana. TVG Vice President John Hindman stated, "While we have no reason to believe that the intent of the legislature was to curb legal forms of wagering such as pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing, we've decided that the prudent course of action is to suspend wagering transactions with Indiana residents." Youbet.com, Magna Entertainment Corp. and the AmericaTab family of account wagering providers still accept wagers from Indiana residents.
Audit Risk -- As WPT Enterprises announced that it was launching a World Poker Tour-branded real-money online poker site based in Alderney, the company's auditing firm, Deloitte, announced that it was dropping the company as a client because the "involvement in an online gaming venture created audit risks that would require an inordinate investment in time and resources relative to the company's size as a client."
Superbeautifulmonster -- Bodog Music, the music label of Costa Rica-based online betting company Bodog.com, released its first CD, Superbeautifulmonster by recording artist Bif Naked, on Tuesday. Bif Naked will perform live at the Bodog.com Poker & Sports Marketing Conference in Las Vegas July 6-7.
Quoteworthy -- "Despite the considerable risks and uncertainties, we find the PartyGaming business and its stock's valuation attractive."
- a research report from U.S. bank Citigroup Smith Barney, which started its coverage of PartyGaming Thursday with a buy rating and a 185p target price. Meanwhile, it seems apparent that other U.S. investors have been buying PartyGaming shares through contracts for differences (CFDs), which provide economic exposure to a stock but do not confer beneficial ownership.
Boss and Princess -- Princess Group, whose Princess Casinos International holds licenses to operate casinos in nine countries, has selected I-gaming software provider Boss Media to supply its online casino and poker products. The contract is a 10-year exclusive deal.
Thursday, June 30
p align="justify">Headlines -- GoldenPalace.com has paid a woman named Kari Smith $10,000 to get a permanent tattoo that reads "GoldenPalace.com" on her forehead. The woman put her forehead up for sale as ad space on Internet auction site eBay.com because she needs money to fund her son's education following a series of family tragedies. Golden Palace has already received exposure in close to 100 online news sites today thanks to this latest ploy. Other purchases this week that are generating exposure from the media include the infamous picket fence from the JFK assassination and a jar of air that was apparently near the breath of both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Quoteworthy -- "I believe it is definitely possible for racecourses to work with the ROA (Racehorse Owners Association) and the rest of the industry to combine their pictures and racing's product--you can call it data, if you like--so that we produce what the Americans call, with refreshing simplicity, 'the signal.' And how refreshing it would be if everyone in U.K. racing came together and agreed to sell this package via a commercial company owned by all the major constituents."
- ROA president Chris Deuters, speculating at this week's ROA annual general meeting about the possibility of the British horse racing industry funding the sport through the combined sale of racing data and live pictures after the levy is abolished. According to Deuters, "Pictures are the enforceable part of the package. Data rights might well be more valuable in legal terms than pictures, but the supply of pictures can simply be switched off if the buyer refuses to pay the going rate." Deuters and others in the British horse racing industry have good reason to be wary of a future funding plan that relies almost entirely on database rights alone following the European Court of Justice's ruling in November that bookmaker William Hill is not obligated to pay the British Horseracing Board for the right to provide horse racing information on its website. That case is being reviewed this week by a British Appeals Court.
US Pools -- British bookmaker William Hill has launched a new service on its Internet and telephone platforms that enables punters to participate directly in U.S. pools. Wagers are automatically converted into American dollars and then back to pounds sterling for payouts.
Hot Party -- Shares in PartyGaming rose in price by 3 percent as trading became available to members of the public today. Institutional investors have been trading shares of PartyGaming since Monday and had contributed to a 23 percent rise in the company's stock value since its launch at 116p. Shares closed today at 149p.
Poker Search -- Search engine Lycos reports that the word "poker" was the most searched for term on the Internet for the week ending June 25, 2005. Poker has appeared on Lycos' list of the top 50 search terms for 66 consecutive weeks and has repeatedly occupied a spot in the top 10, but this week marks the first time it has ranked No. 1. Searches for the term has increased by 111 percent over the previous week, no doubt due partially to the buzz surrounding the World Series of Poker and the flotation of PartyGaming. Also this week, the word "blackjack" broke into the top 50 for the first time at No. 25. Pamela Anderson was No. 2, Paris Hilton was No. 3 and Britney Spears was No. 4.
More Greek Betting -- Greek gaming monopoly OPAP has announced a number of changes to its Pame Stihima sports betting operation in an effort to strengthen its competitiveness, combat illegal betting and reverse declining popularity. OPAP plans to increase its target payout to players from 60 percent to 66 percent as well as include Greek championship matches as betting events for Pame Stihima. OPAP will also introduce in-play betting, over/under betting and the ability to wager on many more sporting events, including tennis, volleyball, wager-polo, hand-ball and motor sports. To execute these changes, OPAP will establish a subsidiary to organize, manage and operate fixed- and variable-odds betting. The addition of the many new betting propositions will require modifications in current Greek betting regulations.
Wednesday, June 29
p align="justify">Skills with the Ladies -- New skill gaming site MoneyGaming.com next month will initiate a £1 million advertising campaign targeting women. The company, which is backed by £10 million in private and corporate investments, says it's negotiating revenue share deals to provide white-label games for a number of consumer magazines and newspapers. Internet service provider Wanadoo is already a commercial partner.
Pending Legal Action? -- French bookmaking company Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU) is reportedly preparing to take action against ZEturf, a new online wagering site, for a horseracing service launched June 20. PMU, which is composed of 63 French bookmakers, believes that its monopoly on horserace wagering in France should prevent ZEturf from offering services to French citizens, but ZEturf says its services are legal because its betting sites are located in the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and Malta. PMU also believes that French residents who use unauthorized online betting sites could be liable for fines of up to 45,000 euro and prison terms of up to three years.
Pitch Crashers -- Franz Beckenbauer, chairman of the football World Cup's organizing committee, says World Cup officials are pondering ways to stop spectators from running onto the field during matches. Recently spectators ran onto the field in four matches of the 16-game Confederations Cup tournament in Germany, which will be the host country of next year's World Cup. Agence France-Presse reports that the latest spectator to run onto the field--a Spaniard carrying a flag during a Brazil v. Germany semi-final match in Nuremberg--confessed to being paid by a "U.S.-based" Internet gambling site.
WSOP Stars -- Hollywood actress Jennifer Tilly defeated around 600 competitors this week to win the $157,625 first prize in the ladies no-limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. . . . Shannon Sharpe, the CBS Sports football commentator and former NFL star, has signed up with AbsolutePoker.com to play as part of Team AbsolutePoker in the World Series of Poker's main event, which begins July 7.
Welcome Aboard -- Youbet.com, Inc., the largest provider of horseracing content and wagering in the United States, has named Jeff True CEO of the company. True will continue in his role as Western Region General Manager and will also lead promotions and promotion partner development programs for the company.
Hot Application -- The Fortune Lounge Group of online casinos says that 90 percent of its customers use the Fortune Lounge Personal Messenger application, which enables players to receive personalized messages, account information, gaming news, promotional updates, bonus offers and prizes related to Fortune Lounge's gaming operations. Released in January 2005, the application functions like a chat or instant messaging program in that it resides unobtrusively in the task bar and is activated only when a new message is received. One of the primary purposes of the application is to help players avoid the rigorous spam filtering systems that can prevent legitimate offers and invitations from reaching recipients. The application also provides chat functionality and enables users to access the casino gaming software.
Tuesday, June 28
Expansion and Change -- Nevada-based I-gaming software provider World Bingo League Co. Inc. says it has broadened its goals to include the development of other Internet games, including poker, sports betting, betting exchanges, pari-mutuel wagering and casino games, rather than exclusively focusing on bingo games development. The company has also changed its name to World Entertainment Corp. to reflect its expanded interests.
Health Concerns -- U.K.-based charity organization the Mental Health Foundation has created new online resources for people who may be experiencing problems with gambling. The charity is concerned that the exciting buzz surrounding gambling--in advertisements, on TV, in news stories about floating companies and, of course, for play on the Internet--could create many dangers for some individuals' heath.
Data Rights -- A British appeals court today initiated a two-day hearing into the judgment rendered by the European Court of Justice in November over the horse racing data rights case. The ECJ ruling favored bookmaker William Hill in its argument that it did not have to pay the British Horseracing Board to use horseracing data and information on its Web site.
Monday, June 27
Launch -- Antigua-based online betting operator CyberSportsBook, which was recently acquired by Betcorp Ltd. (the parent company of BetWWTS), has launched a new online poker room called BetHold'em Poker. The site is part of the Prima Poker network.
Gambling Comic -- PartyPoker is the official sponsor of a daily online comic strip called "Low Rollers." Written and illustrated by Richard Lorbach, Low Rollers offers "a twisted (sometimes even funny) insight into the world of sports, casinos, celebrity, gambling, pop culture, Vegas and the glamorous low roller lifestyle."
TV Tournaments -- Online poker site World Poker Exchange will hold its four-day London Open 2005 poker tournament at the Old Billingsgate Market on the banks of the Thames Aug. 3-6. The event promises a prize pool of more than $2 million and will feature a private concert, a separate charity tournament and a VIP reception featuring Dirty Vegas, Grace Jones and DJ Guy Preston. The London Open will be broadcast on the Bravo TV network later this year. . . . On July 13 Fox Sports Net will carry a live broadcast of the final table of the FullTiltPoker.net Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. Kahnawake-licensed FullTiltPoker, which prides itself on its close relationships with several professional poker players, will send many members of "Team Full Tilt" to the $500,000 tournament, including Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Clonie Gowen, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch and Erick Lindgren. Every player at the final table will wear a heart monitor so that viewers at home can determine how cool the players remain under pressure.
Shower Jesus -- The latest eBay auction purchase made by the marketing team at GoldenPalace.com is a piece of plaster that resembles the image of Jesus Christ. Jeffrey Rigo, the man who placed the plaster up for sale, named the auction "Shower Jesus" because he first saw the image of Jesus in the wall as he stepped out of the shower. GoldenPalace paid $1,999.99 for the relic.
Mobile Forum -- The Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP)--a forum led by cellular network operators that aims to define a set of functional requirements for mid-end and mass-market handsets that can be tailored to operator requirements--will deliver its first terminal requirements by month's end. Formed in June 2004, the OMTP now has more than 50 members (nearly all from Europe). The forum's first priority is to define an application environment; its next is to define a customization environment.
Bodog Salute -- Online gambling company Bodog.com will hold a four-day event (July 21-24) for the 110,00 men and women of the U.S. military currently in Hawaii, many of whom are either awaiting or returning from deployment in the Middle East. Called "Bodog Salutes Our Troops: A Tribute to American Heroes," the event will feature celebrities, musicians, comedians and professional athletes interacting with troops in various activities, including a poker tournament, family picnic and softball game.
Welcome Aboard -- Tony Curtis, CEO of the Australian Capital Territories Gambling and Racing Commission, has been chosen to replace Sue Baker-Finch as the new CEO of betting company ACTTAB.
Quoteworthy -- "With the time I have spent and the contacts I made in this business I suspect it isn't only limited to Germany, and could affect the whole of Europe. The problem is that it is very difficult to control the world of betting. I propose they put it under state control, but even then it would be difficult to stop some scandals. It would not end the corruption."
- German football referee Robert Hoyzer, who was banned for life by the German Football Federation after it was discovered that he had received over $85,000 to fix matches. Hoyzer has reportedly been extremely cooperative with investigative authorities, and his lawyer is hoping the court system will show him some leniency as a result. Prosecutors are said to be investigating around 30 more individuals in relation to the match fixing allegations, including three other referees and 14 players.