Friday, Feb. 7
US News -- Youbet.com said that during January it handled more than $20 million in bets, the largest monthly handle in the company's six-year history. The company also took in more wagering account deposits than ever before during last month.
Quote Worthy -- The new president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Myles Brand, spoke to the New York Daily News this week about his plans for the organization. One subject he touched on was betting on college sports, which he said he is very concerned about, especially when the Internet is involved. "I'm certainly concerned about betting on college games through campus bookies and through the Internet," he said. "I was just in Washington yesterday, meeting with Congressional leaders and one of the issues in every conversation was sports gambling on college campuses." Brand also said he thinks HR 21, Rep. James Leach's recently introduced bill that would make Internet gambling illegal, "has a very good chance of being successful."
Thursday, Feb. 6
Tidbit from the IOM -- NewMediaAge is reporting that several online casinos licensed in the Isle of Man are considering pulling out of the jurisdiction. Kerzner International announced last week that it is throwing in the towel on its online version of Casino Atlantis. The publication also reports that Club Fiore is considering moving its operations to the Kahnawake jurisdiction in Canada and that a marketing representative from MGM Mirage is calling Isle of Man's online gaming regulations "myopic."
Data Hub -- During the last fiscal year, Nevada's casinos posted a collective loss of $33.5 million. As the Las Vegas Sun reports, this marks the first time the industry has not achieved a profit in the last 15 years. According to the state's Gaming Control Board, profits after asset write-downs were 105 percent lower than during the 2001 fiscal year.
Bit from Asia -- The executive director of racing for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, told the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong can learn from the techniques used by the Netherlands to keep unauthorized online gambling from being offered to its citizens. A Dutch court recently ruled that Ladbrokes must block all Dutch punters from its site because the sports betting group is not licensed to offer online gambling to Dutch citizens. In May, Hong Kong passed the Betting Ordinance, which makes it illegal for offshore gaming sites, including operators like Ladbrokes, to take Hong Kong bets. "The case establishes a precedent and is going to impact on how Internet operators are able to do business," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "This is a significant step in Europe and I expect other racing authorities will be looking at a similar solution."
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Tidbit from Asia -- A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Jockey Club told the South China Morning Post that since the Gambling Ordinance was passed last spring, making offshore gambling illegal in the SAR (special administrative region), illegal gambling is not so much of a problem as it used to be. June Teng told the paper that the Club's gambling revenue has dropped 7 percent since last year because "people have less money to spend as their income is cut. Illegal gambling also robbed us of some business, but the situation has improved since the Gambling Ordinance was introduced."
Names and Face -- World Gaming plc put out a press release announcing that it now has a "stable" management team in place. Nicholas Jackson will serve as CEO; David Fleming will be the chief technology officer and Mark Thompson will be the operations officer. "I am pleased to reassure shareholders that the nucleus of the management team that has been running the company since July of 2002 will continue to operate profitably as an honest, open group without interference for the balance of 2003," Jackson said.
Making Deals -- Chimera Technology Corp. , through its subsidiary, 724Bingo.com, is entering an agreement with X-Generation Technology. The two companies will work together on research and development for 724's Internet gambling platform.
Tuesday, Feb. 4
Making Deals -- Diversinet Corp. and Effective Solution Ltd. are teaming up to develop a secure lottery application for mobile phones. Diversinet is a provider of mobile solutions and Effective Solution Ltd. is a maker of lottery and pari-mutuel software. The companies report that the solution will enable players to purchase lottery tickets from their cell phones.
News from Asia -- The Japan Times is reporting that an academic association has been created in Osaka Prefecture with the purpose of giving gambling a more positive image in Japan. The association, called the Academy of Gambling and Gaming Studies, is based at the Osaka University. The group will be studying the economic effects that pachinko parlors and racetracks have on communities.
Data Hub -- The Australian Bureau of Statistics is saying that gamblers' losses at Australia's pubs and gambling clubs are up 86 percent in the last six years. Last year, gambling losses were at an all-time high of AU $5.43 million.
Names and Faces -- Norsk Tipping recently appointed Peer Jacob Svenkerud as its vice president of communications and external relations. Svenkerud was previously the director of branding and stakeholder relations at Telenor ASA.
Monday, Feb. 3
Making Deals -- Ukbetting netted £418,000 from the sale of the assets and property of Irish Radio Tara, a radio station ukbetting purchased as part of its takeover of Teamtalk. Ukbetting paid £14 million for Teamtalk in August. It also owns Sportinglife.com and Sportal.com.
Names and Faces -- Safe3w Inc. today announced the appointment of Moshe Elgressy as vice president of engineering. Elgressy will also serve as the general manager of Safe3w R&D, the company's subsidiary in Israel. Safe3w is a provider of two-factor authentication for secure online access, payments and transactions.
Bit from the UK -- The South London Press reported last week that a university professor in South London has come up with what the paper is calling one of the weirdest bets of 2003. Sean Hill, a professor at Goldsmiths College, bet that art collector Charles Saatchi would pay £10,000 for the betting slip associated with Hill's bet. William Hill put the odds at 1/2.