Friday, Feb. 14
US News -- Congress Daily reported Thursday that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., will hold off on introducing his Internet gambling bill so that he can work with Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, to advance Leach's Internet gambling bill. Leach's bill aims to quell Internet gambling by making it illegal for credit cards and other bank instruments to be used as payment for online betting and gaming. In other legislative news, a source close to the Congressional process said that while no official announcement has been made, the House Financial Services Committee is planning to mark up the Leach bill on March 12. ... A preliminary report from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association found that the Breeders' Cup Pick Six betting incident was an isolated occurrence. In October, an employee of Autotote and two of the employee's friends were found to have used a computer to change bets that they had already placed on the race.
Thursday, Feb. 13
Tidbit from Greece -- Wired.com is reporting that the European Union is planning to "press its point" with Greece at the end of the month concerning Greece's law that bans electronic games in public. The E.U. notified Greece in October that the law could conflict with article 28 of the European Community Treaty because it could restrict imports from other E.U. countries. Greece's law, which was passed in July, bans all electronic games from public places such as Internet cafes. Christos Folias, who is a Greek representative in the European Parliament, said he hopes the law is changed before the E.U. has to get further involved. "The government has done a half-baked job with this law," he told
Making Deals -- Stanley Leisure is joining forces with Agency TBG, an Internet marketing agency, to promote its Crockfords online casino site. The site was launched last week as part of Stanley's move to increase its online gaming presence. ... The Independent Television Network on Wednesday signed a deal with British Sky Broadcasting plc that will allow BSkyB to feature a series of new interactive services on its digital satellite platform. One of the services will be betting offered via Littlewoods Leisure. ITV signed a deal with Littlewoods in 2002 to bring interactive betting to the network through a revenue-sharing agreement.
Legal Matters -- A Stevens Point, Wis. Woman is pleading innocent to charges of embezzling $42,000 from a church and charity to fund her addiction to Internet gambling. The Stevens Point Journal on Wednesday reported that Wendy C. Menzel, 46, is being charged with one count of forgery, one count of fraud and two counts of felony theft. If convicted she faces up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $40,000. Police say Menzel worked as a bookkeeper at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Stevens Point and that she allegedly took $10,000 from the church between February and May of 2002. They also allege she stole $32,000 from the Community Foundation of Portage County while working there as a secretary. Menzel's family has said she has obsessive-compulsive disorder and that it led her to develop an addiction to Internet gambling.
Wednesday, Feb. 12
New Stuff -- A live, in-game betting service on cricket matches was introduced by ukbetting.com and totalbet.com. The services will allow punters to wager on a range of incidents throughout individual games, including whether a run will be scored off a particular ball or whether a wicket will fall in a particular over. Eric Semel, the CEO of ukbetting plc, said the product is unique in the betting world. "I see cricket as the perfect sport for the in-run betting product," he said. "Although playing our service while watching the match on TV is the best way to enjoy the service, players could simply follow the event on live scoreboards on sportinglife.com and play along, fully informed about the match situation." ukbetting owns totalbet.com as well as sportinglife.com. ... Be the Dealer recently announced the launch of its private label casino software licensing program. The platform, available at www.privatelabelcasino.com, allows both casino operators and Webmasters to offer a branded casino as either a stand-alone entity or as part of an existing online gaming site.
Oscar Odds -- Oscar nominations were announced yesterday, and it didn't take bookmakers long to compute odds on who will win. Ladbrokes is already declaring "Chicago" its favorite in the Best Picture category and has placed the odds at 4/7 that the musical will take the award. The U.K.-based bookmaker is putting odds of 1/1 that Nicole Kidman will win a statuette for Best Actress. BetWWTS.com agrees, apparently -- it is also laying 1/1 odds that Kidman will win. The Antiguan site has slightly less faith in "Chicago," however, given its assignment of 1/2 odds that the film will take Best Picture. The Oscars are awarded on March 23.
Tuesday, Feb. 11
Making Deals -- Cherry Casino Group's subsidiary, Net Entertainment, introduced its version of Craps. The Stockholm-based gaming software company is calling the game the first-ever non-download craps game on the Internet. Pontus Lindwall, the CEO of Net Entertainment, said his group's new products are doing well despite the industry's recent economic downturn. "The online gaming industry has gone through some kind of depression, but we feel that we have more activity than ever and our flow of new products is higher than it has ever been." ... Worldwide Management said that its wholly owned subsidiary, AngelCiti Entertainment, is stepping into the German online casino market with its recent agreement to license software UrlaubCasino.com. George Gutierez, president of AngelCiti, said the agreement is part of his group's effort to expand internationally. Next up will be a French site, which should be live in 60-90 days. The other gaming sites that AngelCiti licenses software to include VacationCasino.com, StarbrightCasino.com, WelcomeToOurCasino.com, QuePasaCasino.com and LuckyDogCasino.com.
Names and Faces -- Youbet.com Inc. is appointing Rita Ward as its director of member services. Ward was most recently a manager of international consumer services at MCI.
Legal Stuff -- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. , also known as Pagcor, filed a complaint against Globe Telecom Inc. , a mobile phone service provider in the Philippines, the Dow Jones new service is reporting today. The complaint alleges that the mobile phone company is operating illegal games of chance as part of its SMS promotions.
Monday, Feb. 10
Making Deals -- Bingo.com and Buy Easy Ltd. announced an agreement though which Buy Easy's Web site, www.growerflowers.com, will be able to offer its wares on Bingo.com's site. According to Tarrnie Williams, CEO of the Vancouver-based Bingo.com, players on his site will be able to use their "Bingo Bucks" to purchase a coupon redeemable for a free flower vase with a flower order on Buy Easy's flower site. Players on Bingo.com receive Bingo Bucks for winning on bingo, poker games and slots. Bingo.com will earn a percentage of sales made on www.growerflowers.com by Bingo.com users. ... Parlay Entertainment, which is owned by dot com Entertainment Group Inc. , is licensing Phantom Fiber 's wireless middleware framework technology to extend its market reach into the wireless segment. Jeff Halloran, president and CEO of Phantom Fiber, said the agreement will help increase both companies' penetration. "This new licensing agreement helps Parlay extend its exciting interactive gaming platform into the world of real-time functionality where interactive excitement no longer has limits," he said. Parlay offers online bingo, casino and lottery games.
New Stuff -- VIPsports is announcing a new service: index wagering. The Curacao-based gaming site will now offer what has come to be known as spread betting in the United Kingdom. According to VIPsports, the betting style is "similar to the financial futures markets in that the more right you are, the more you win, and conversely the more wrong you are, the more you lose."
News from Sweden -- More Svenska Spel products will be available on the Internet later this year, the Swedish lottery said recently in a press release. Residents of Sweden who are 18 or older can currently log on to the group's Web site and play nine games. Svenska Spel said in a few months scratch instant tickets will be for sale on the site as well.