Friday
Names and Faces -- betinternet.com plc is appointing Paul Doona as its finance director. He will replace David Craine, whose resignation was effective on Friday. The odds and tote betting provider is also announcing the resignation of Pat Flanagan as operations director.
Bit from Asia -- Stanley Ho, chairman of the Macau Jockey Club, offered on Friday to meet with the leaders of the Hong Kong Jockey Club to talk about Macau's desire to offer discounted wagers on Hong Kong Jockey Club races. The Macau group would like to offer punters a 10 percent higher return if they gamble from Macau instead of from Hong Kong. A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong club said its representatives would be meet with the Macau group, but that they also want to make sure charity contributions made from wagering profits at the Hong Kong Jockey Club don't suffer. The Hong Kong club donates 2 percent of its profits to charity.
Thursday
Makin' Deals -- Gaming Insight plc on Thursday announced a deal with Euro off-track Ltd. , a tote provider that is part of betinternet.com plc, to broadcast the remaining races of the Paddy Power Irish Greyhound Derby. Gaming Insight will broadcast the races on its greyhound racing and betting channel, gobarkingmad. The deal will enable users to bet on the races directly from their interactive television set. David Sanderson, CEO of Gaming Insight, said the agreement means viewers in 6 million U.K. homes will be able to bet from home on the greyhound races. "This move by Euro off-track is a compelling vindication of the red-button racing proposition pioneered by gobarkingmad," he said.
Names and Faces -- Paddy Power plc is announcing the addition of Fintan Drury and Stephen Thomas to its board of directors as non-executive directors. Michael Quinn and Peter O'Grady Walshe are resigning from the board and their positions as non-executive directors effective today. Drury is chairman of sports management company DSMI and Thomas is the CEO of Luminar plc, an independent operator of late-night entertainment venues in the United Kingdom.
Bit from Down Under -- Tattersall's said Thursday that it will give back money that punters bet that the Bulldogs would win the National Rugby League premiership. John Mortimore, general manager of the company's sports betting division, said the money was being refunded in the interest of fairness to bettors. Less than one week ago, the Bulldogs were put of the running for the premiership when they were docked 37 points for going above the league's AU$1 million salary cap. "It appears that many of our competitors are keeping bets placed on the Bulldogs, but we felt it was bad enough for Bulldogs supporters that their team lost the premiership, let alone that they lose their bets as well," Mortimore said.
Wednesday
New Stuff -- Online gaming site InterCasino said Thursday that it is ready to face life without PayPal. The e-cash service was acquired by eBay recently; once the sale is complete, PayPal will no longer process online gaming transactions. InterCasino, however, said it has been experimenting with other payment mechanisms, including a service called 900pay, which enables players to charge their online gambling activities to their phone bill. The gaming company said it is also introducing electronic check processing, which will allow users to deposit up to $2,000 per week directly from their bank accounts.
Tuesday
US Bit -- Station Casinos Inc. said it is backing off from its original plans to dive into the Internet gambling market with Kerzner International Ltd. , formerly SunOnline. According to the Las Vegas-based company's recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Station is converting its 50 percent interest in Kerzner Interactive in favor of an option to buy worth $4.5 million. Scott Nielson, Station's chief legal officer, said the decision was based on the Nevada Gaming Control Board's inability to come to a conclusion regarding the legality of Nevada gaming corporations getting involved in offshore Internet gaming operations.
Monday
Makin' Deals -- Sports Spread, a spread betting firm based in Dublin, said Monday that it has been awarded a US$20 million contract with Chartwell Technology Inc. to manage the sports betting business of a number of online casinos. According to the Irish Independent, the casinos are "U.S. online casinos," but IGN could not immediately ascertain the names of them, as the Sports Spread managing director was not available to speak. Profits from the endeavor will be split 70-30, with the fixed-odds division of Sports Spread, Supreme Odds, receiving 70 percent and Chartwell receiving 30 percent.
Bit from Asia -- The Home Affairs secretary of Hong Kong, Patrick Ho Chi-ping, is saying that public opinion polls will not be the government's only reference point when it decides whether to legalize soccer betting. Ho said he would try to take the opinions of several different groups before coming to a conclusion, and that polls would not be his only consideration. "We will make reference to overseas experience and listen to views from individual groups, and hope to get to know, in a more in-depth manner, about the cause for their concern," he said, referring to groups that are against legalized soccer betting. During the last four months, the amount of Hong Kong residents who support legalized soccer betting has jumped 11 percent to 66.5 percent.
UK Bit -- The Independent Television Commission is releasing its new advertising standards code next week, and it won't contain a relaxation of rules for gambling advertisements on television. Bookmakers, casinos and other gambling operators are not permitted to advertise on British TV, and the Gambling Review Body had recommended that that rule be changed. However, the ITC has decided against relaxing the rule. The National Lottery, bingo and football pools are the only betting operators allowed to advertise on television.
Quote Worthy -- "When New York went, I said to myself, 'We're done.'" -- Thomas A. Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, in an Aug. 25 story in The Buffalo News about the increase in state legislatures considering legalizing gambling to fill budget gaps.