Friday, Feb. 21
US Tidbit -- George Atiyeh, a former professional football player, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, a $4,000 fine and two years of probation in connection to his conviction on a variety of bookmaking-related charges. According to prosecutors, Atiyeh ran a gambling business called International Casino using telephone lines in Allentown, Pa., which took 8,000 calls per month in the mid-1990s. Atiyeh's brothers, Dennis Atiyeh and Joseph Atiyeh, were acquitted of similar charges in 2001.
News from New Zealand -- The Christchurch City Mission in New Zealand is getting complaints about its deal with Christchurch Casino. The agreement allows the casino to put its logo on all television, radio, billboard and newspaper ads that the mission runs for three years in exchange for NZ $6,000 per year. The City Mission, which works with problem gamblers, is under fire from other gaming addiction help groups who say the mission is promoting the casino.
Thursday, Feb. 20
Making Deals -- Spanish gaming group Codere said it is working with Digital Orchid, an American company, to develop live gambling games for cell phones. Codere said the games will be targeted at Latin American and European customers.
New Stuff -- Trident Entertainment Group relaunched www.vegasusa.com on Wednesday. Trident, which operates online casinos including King Neptune's and Trident Lounge, took over the site last year and since then has revamped it with a new look and 51 Microgaming-produced games. Scott Gaines, spokesman for Trident, said his company has invested substantially in VegasUSA to bring it up to the standards of the group's other casinos. "Our business approach is to under promise and over deliver, and we hope that online players will see evidence of that in the near future," Gaines said.
Data Hub -- WINNERonline.com took a look at the top ten icons and logos that online casinos post on their sites. Not surprisingly, the Visa and MasterCard logos were numbers one and two on the list. Next on the list were FirePay and NETeller, followed by PrePaid ATM. Number six was the Interactive Gaming Council logo. Citadel, 900Pay, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and awards logos of any kind brought up the end of the list.
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Names and Faces -- James F. McCann is being appointed to the board of directors of Gtech Holdings Corp. McCann is the chairman and CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com Inc.
News from Down Under -- The National Rugby League of Australia is looking to distance itself from all types of gambling. The group has re-drawn its agreement with SportsTAB, a move that will cost the NRL AU $100,000 because it no longer wants SportsTAB to refer to itself as the sports "official betting agency" anymore. The NRL is changing its policy about betting because its agreement with SportsTAB sent a confusing message, since players and officials are not allowed to bet on games, said Graham Annesley, the CEO of NRL.
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Tidbit from the Far East -- Mark Blandford, the executive vice chairman of Sportingbet.com plc, held a press conference in Taiwan to deny media reports that his company is planning to open an office an operate a lottery in Taiwan, where gambling is illegal. "The stories are unfounded," he said. "Sportingbet is not setting up an office in Taiwan because this would be illegal." Blandford said his company would continue to offer online gaming and betting to Taiwanese customers from its base in the United Kingdom. Sportingbet has 500 customers in Taiwan and hopes to increase that number to 3,000 by the end of the year, Blandford said. AFX is reporting today that Taiwan police have raided SBC Advertising et Promotions Ltd. , a company that did local marketing for Sportingbet. Police told the news service that they took four computers, account books, and Internet and betting data from the office. The Taipei District Court has started a formal investigation into whether the company has encouraged betting among Taiwanese citizens.