Friday, Oct. 11
Makin' Deals -- Access Gaming Systems announced today that it has received an order from the French State Lottery for an interface to connect the Access interactive system with a satellite-based interactive television platform for French players. Access already has a deal with the lottery to help it serve Internet lottery players. "This project is very special for us, as it will establish our products as true interactive gaming solutions for the regulated market serving multiple distribution channels on one back-end system," said Paul Barnes, vice president of sales and marketing for Access. "We are very proud that La Française des Jeux has (the French State Lottery) asked us to work with them and their iTV partners in France on this ground-breaking venture, and we look forward to the launch early in the new year." .... Virtual Gaming Enterprises Inc. said today that it has entered an agreement to purchase Insatcom-Earthlink, a data transmission company. Virtual Gaming Enterprises offers "on demand" Internet
gambling for people to play against each other and then use their winnings in the Virtual Entertainment store.
Bit from Mexico -- The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today that Mexico, despite numerous media reports to the contrary, is nowhere near legalizing gambling. Jorge Urdapilleta Nunez, an official with the ruling national political party
Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), told the paper that the government is, in fact, planning to get stricter with forms of illegal gambling.
Asian Tidbit -- China recently established a new set of rules for Internet cafes. The rules, which will go into effect on Nov. 15, include a ban on smoking and a rule that no cafe can be operated within 124 feet of a school. The cafes must close by midnight, and no customers can visit sites that offer gambling or pornography.
Thursday, Oct. 10
New Stuff -- Netgame Factory has developed a new game for the Swedish lottery. The game, "YeeHaa!" is a combination of a scratch-card game and SMS game with a maximum prize of US$108,000, or 1million SEK. Players seek to scratch off three identical symbols on a scratch card and then answer a series of trivia questions via SMS on their cellular phones. The game was launched by Folkspel, a non-profit organization, on Oct. 7. ... CYOP Systems International Inc. launched a gaming portal called www.skillarcade.com. The site, powered by CYOP's CrediPlay system, enables players to compete at skill-based games like darts and solitaire for real-money prizes. ... BetOnSports.com is courting major attention in the United States with its latest promotion on the Howard Stern radio show. According to the company, every Friday, several members of the show will choose one fantasy football team to beat the BetOnSports spread. Whoever has the best record at the end of the season wins $25,000.
US Bit -- Antigua and Barbuda will begin to lobby the U.S. Senate not to pass a bill that would ban Internet gambling. The country has hired American lawyers Joe Pataney and Joseph Kelly to lobby the Senate on behalf of its cause, which is keeping online gaming legal. The country stands to lose $2.2 million in licensing fees if the online casinos operating there re closed. "It would be a major economic calamity for Antigua if the bill became law," said the islands' director of offshore gaming, Ron Maginley.
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Tidbits from the US -- Jay Cohen, the first person in the United States to be given prison time for violations related to Internet gambling, is speaking out on HR 556, the Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last week and now awaits attention in the Senate. It would outlaw all payment mechanisms for Internet gambling and update the Wire Act to include a ban on gambling via the Internet. "This bill is one more example of certain congressmen trying to advance their right wing social agenda in the name of fighting terrorism," Cohen said. "It is an insult to all those who lost their lives last year and all Americans to have their tragedy invoked in the name of stopping online gambling."
Funny -- The satiric Web siteThe Onion gets a laugh out of gambling this week, with a (fictitious) story titled "Gambling-Addiction Study Gets Out of Hand." Here's a quote: "'Just one more sample group,' said study director Robert Layton, nervously snapping the clasp of his lucky clipboard. 'I have a hunch about this batch, a real hunch. I think it's gonna be a honey.'"
Names and Faces -- Gtech Holdings Corp. is appointing Emmett Paige Jr. as chairman. He replaces W. Bruce Turner, who will be the company's new president and CEO.
Going Public -- Company officials couldn't be reached for comment today, but media reports out of London indicate that BetOnSports.com, one of the leading offshore sports books based in Costa Rica, will float its stock on London's AIM index and become a publicly traded company within the next year. The site has a large U.S. player base that accounts for about 90 percent of its business and actively targets U.S. players. It is unclear how the company's plans to go public would affect its current business structure. According to reports, the plan would raise about £25 million and would come on the heels of a previous venture that the company abandoned after business slowed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks last year.
Tuesday, Oct. 8
News from Down Under -- Australian online gaming company eBet Ltd. is purchasing Paecu Pty. Ltd. , which operates Turbo Bonus, the country's largest maker of card-oriented gambling loyalty systems. eBet
will pay AU$6 million in cash for the company and its assets. eBet will fund the purchase with an AU$8 million convertible note issue.
UK Bit -- The Ritz Club London online casino has a unique marketing advantage in its affiliation with the The Ritz Hotel. This week, the online casino is embarking on an e-mail marketing campaign in which 250,000 users of the site will be given a chance to win a weekend at the hotel.
New Stuff -- attheraces is gearing up to launch interactive television betting by the end of October. The venture, which is supported by BSkyB, Channel 4 and Arena Leisure, went live last year, and the television channel started in May. The interactive betting launch is being timed to begin at the same time as Channel 4's program, "Lunchtime at the Races."
Monday, Oct. 7
Makin' Deals -- It's official: eBay completed its acquisition of PayPal on Friday. Shareholders representing 65 percent of PayPal's stock voted in favor of the acquisition. In addition to the change of hands, PayPal CEO Peter Thiel resigned his position. He will be replaced by
Matt Bannick, the senior vice president of eBay. The person-to-person auction site announced its intention to purchase PayPal on July 8. eBay bought PayPal by trading 39 cents of an eBay share for each share of PayPal, a value of approximately $1.5 billion.
Names and Faces -- Sue Slipman and David Clark are stepping down from the Camelot Group plc board. Clark, the deputy chief executive, will continue working with the company part time. Slipman, the director of external affairs, will leave her position in mid-October. Camelot operates the U.K. National Lottery.
The Data Hub -- A study in New South Wales shows that up to 20 percent of white-collar crime in the area could be attributable to problem gamblers. Penny Crofts of the University of Technology Sydney, who authored the study, said problem gamers are turning to crime to further their habit and pay debts and living expenses. The study looked at 2,800 district and local court cases from 1995 to 1999 and found that about one of every five people convicted of larceny or check fraud had a gambling problem.