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Welcome to Bet Sage's
Online Gambling News Section, featuring the latest breaking
gambling industry news courtesy of
InfoPowa
News. This is your
one stop source for all
and any of the latest
developments concerning
all aspects of the
Online Gambling
Industry. InfoPowa News
headed up by senior
partner Brian Cullingworth
are recognised as one of
the leading and most
respected independent
gambling news services
in the online gambling
industry.
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| 12 OCTOBER 2007 : HEADLINES |
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Governor still undecided on extradition of Washington state citizen to Louisiana on Internet gambling allegations
Nick Jenkins, the 38 year old Seattle entrepreneur and owner of now defunct Betcha.com (see previous InfoPowa reports) will have another week of stress and waiting to hear his fate after Governor Chris Gregoire postponed her decision on a request his extradition by Louisiana authorities.
In a sting operation a Louisiana trooper placed a bet at Betcha.com in July this year after Jenkins had a run-in with Washington State gambling officials over whether his betting site was illegal or not.
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Owner and colleagues voluntarily surrender to Louisiana authorities
The Betcha.com saga (see previous InfoPowa reports) continued this week with the sad news that Washington State governor Chris Gregoire has granted a request by Louisiana authorities that owner Nick Jenkins and his colleagues Josie M. Imlay and Peter M. Abrahamsen be extradited on "illegal gambling" charges.
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Betfair's sophisticated security measures acted on by tennis officials
Achieving major headlines in the global sporting press this week is another instance of Betfair security officials 'doing the right thing' in flagging suspicious betting activity in tennis.The betting exchange� has highly sophisticated tracking facilities to ensure betting is fair.
The UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported at length on the issue, saying that Betfair had delayed payment on bets laid on a women's match played in India after becoming concerned about what appeared to be irregular gambling patterns.
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Top international pros and some promising young guns in starting field
After braving wind, sun, insects and a tension filled heads up that lasted only a few hands, Travis Rice emerged as the winner of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic over the weekend when he saw off second placed James Mordue to collect the winner's cheque of $800 000 and the respect due to the top dog in a starter field of 546 players, many of them top international professionals.
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Dirty work afoot in online casino land
The online gambling business is a highly competitive arena that�on occasion has involved some questionable marketing tactics, but this week a presumed competitor....or perhaps a disgruntled player.....plumbed new depths in trying to discredit an operator.
How this cretin managed to obtain the mailing list of the online casino attacked is not known, but players at Maxima Casino.com received the following alarming email from tracyn@ezonlinemedia.com, and in Italian from andreshicksuu@gmail.com :
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Higher propensity for addiction in online poker players, study reports
According to Gambling News Review this week, the National Institute of Public Health in Sweden has been conducting a study of internet poker in the country over the past year, and the results are a cause for concern, with indications that poker players may have a greater propensity to become problem gamblers than online casino players.
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It's taken some time, but Richard Lee will now have his day in court
World Series of Poker ace player Richard Lee (56) now knows what charges he faces in his home town of San Antonio, Texas following the announcement that the local District Attorney has filed charges for promoting gambling. San Antonio news media reported this week that the poker ace will finally have his day in court.
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Paddy First and a golden future add to the charm
Paddy Power Poker.com has added further incentives to the Euro 3 million Irish Open poker spectacular scheduled for 2008.
If the player who wins the 2008 Irish Open qualified online at the sponsor's site, he or she will win the golden ticket of poker - free entry to Europe's premier poker tournament for the next 5 years.
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Casino City stats show continued growth - 8.2 percent up last year
Casino City's North American Gaming Almanac and CD, released this week by Casino City Press, reports that in 2006 gaming revenue in the U.S. grew 8.2 percent, for a total of $92.68 billion.
The Almanac contains almost 600 pages on the North American gaming market, including market profiles for each state and Canadian province and nearly 1 000 charts and tables. Property rankings are also included, with top properties listed by type of gaming activity and property, and number of gaming positions, machines, table games, and hotel rooms.
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Disputed national lottery back in action under a new administrator
After months of lying in limbo due to a legal dispute over the operating contract, with punters unable to purchase weekly lottery tickets, the South African national lottery is back in action again this weekend under new administrator Gidani.
This was confirmed Friday by former operator Uthingo's Non-Executive Chairman, Barney Pityana, who said it was not inUthingo's interests to inconvenience the public, according to reports from the South African Press Association.
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137 compete for winner's cheque of $436 675
Taking Texas Hold 'Em to the exotic Turks & Caicos Islands, World Poker Tour and The Players' Club welcomed hundreds of locals, poker players and pros who gathered last week on the Island of Providenciales in the British West Indies to take part in the inaugural WPT Turks & Caicos Classic.
Welcoming the island visitors, The Honourable Premiere Michael Misick, or President of Turks and Caicos, called "Shuffle Up & Deal" at the final table.
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Biggest prize pool yet for NBC show.
Poker fans will enjoy some high tension and big money as major names in the poker tournament world clash in the latest version of the NBC action television show 'Poker After Dark' scheduled for screening soon. Among the big names who will be seen in action are Phil Ivey, David Benyamine and Eli Elezra, all of whom bring $50 000 to the table, creating the biggest prize pool in the history of the NBC winner-takes-all show.
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Online gambling software developer wants audit of Atlantic Lotto after missing out on gaming contract
The Canadian Press reports that well known Oakville-based
online bingo games developer Parlay Entertainment is
questioning a decision by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation
to award a contract to a Swedish company without putting the
job out to tender. Parlay has called for an audit of the Atlantic Lottery process.
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Advertisers sponsor new concept at Zero Risk Poker
A game-changing site is starting to make waves on the free online poker landscape. Zero Risk Poker, LLC has launched website, a sponsor-based online poker site that gives Texas Hold'em players the chance to win prizes without opening their wallets.
"We're taking the free online poker concept and turning it on its head," said Adam Majewski, President & CEO of the company behind the website. "We don't believe playing for free should mean playing for nothing and we don't believe that playing poker has to be a risky proposition."
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Probability Games appointment to strengthen management team
Probability plc, the AIM quoted mobile phone gambling specialist, has appointed Glenn Elliott as Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect, strengthening the management team at a time when the company has been experiencing strong growth in its mobile casino and bingo operations, a company spokesman revealed this week.
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GBP 47 million deal to secure remaining shares in FunTech
US-based Liberty Media has snapped up the remaining outstanding shares of skill gaming group FunTech in a deal valued at GBP 47 million, of GBP 1.75 a share.
In November 2005, in a $195 million agreement, John Malone's Liberty Media group bought a controlling 53 percent share of FunTech laying the foundations for this weeks total acquisition of the company.
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Martinspoker merge completed
The merger between online poker firms 24hPoker.com and Martinspoker.com reported in InfoPowa bulletins several weeks back has been confirmed, with the combined companies now falling under the new Casablanca Gaming Group operating out of Malta.
Peter Anstrom, CEO of 24hPoker which has recently announced staff cuts, said that going forward Casablanca will operate his company's online poker site "...more efficiently than we could do ourselves, enabling us to focus on our supplier operations." Claus Nielson of Martinspoker will be the CEO of Casablanca Gaming.
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Red Brick advertising agency lands Gala Coral account
UK land and online gambling group Gala Coral Group has appointed The Red Brick Road as the advertising agency responsible for its entire portfolio of businesses. The agency had initially agreed to work for Gala Bingo in February, and will now expand its responsibilities to Gala Casinos, Coral Retail, Telebetting and Online divisions.
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Neutralize engaged to bring in the traffic
Search engine marketing agency Neutralize (*\*) has added online gambling group Sky Bet to the recent additions to its client roster (which include the giant Nestle group).
The BSkyB interactive television betting subsidiary has tasked Neutralize with working across Sky's betting and gaming products which include Sky Bet, Sky Poker, Sky Vegas and the forthcoming Sky Bingo, handling all elements of search engine optimisation for these brands.
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No more big tourney buy-in worries for MCBill....
Montana resident and online poker player "MCBill" probably feels like he's struck gold this week after winning access to a possible over $100 million in online poker tournament prize pool money. Absolute Poker revealed that the online poker player hailing from Helena, Montana has won the 5th Absolute Dream Package on October 7th.
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Victor Chandler apparently in trouble with French authorities
The UK newspaper The Daily Mail is reporting that Victor Chandler, one of Britain's best-known bookmakers, is understood to be one of a group of bookies arrested during the Arc de Triomphe horse racing meeting at Longchamps on Sunday for illegally taking bets.
The group, including Chandler's nephew and rails representative Butch Beaton-Brown, were apparently caught in a raid on the corporate facility for British racegoers run by Horse Racing Abroad, who take around 1 300 punters to the Arc in Paris every year.
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Four new online gambling venues planned for Asian market
Online gambling software provider Playtech's penetration of the Asian market appears to be continuing apace, judging by further contract announcements this week from Sutida Suwunnavid, spokesman for Buzz Technologies, Inc. which is using the company's gambling software for its various operations under the 12buzz.com banner.
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Horsepower 8 World Pool Lottery to launch on the Internet.
Franfurt and Toronto listed Sungold International Holdings Corp. has announced that it has signed a three year agreement with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in Belcourt, North Dakota, to market and launch in partnership, the Horsepower 8 World Pool Lottery on the Internet.
Both horseracing and lotteries benefit from exemptions to American restrictions on Internet gambling.
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2008 spectacular will again be held at the Rio
The 39th World Series of Poker 2008 poker championships will be held at the Rio in Las Vegas again, according to an announcement from Harrah's Entertainment this week which gives the dates as May 30 through July 17, 2008.
"The team is still hard at work on the schedule of events for next year," said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner, "but we've received so many requests for the dates that we decided to announce them now."
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Net Entertainment's top online casino product will be active before year's end
UK online gambling company BestGames Holdings is the latest Internet gambling business to sign up for Swedish turnkey provider Net Entertainment's gaming platform CasinoModule.
BestGames operates an online poker room at BestPoker.com alongside a bingo site at BestBingo.com and boasts over 50 000 registered customers from more than 160 countries. It is anticipated that the CasinoModule platform will be operational before year's end.
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Sweden and Malta based online poker group signs up 2 big betting names
Things are looking up for the Malta and Sweden based 24hPoker group with its announcement that two well known betting firms have joined its poker network.
In a complicated deal, 24hPoker has announced that the Irish-based Betdaq betting exchange is to join its poker network, and subject to conditions will be granted an option to acquire 125 million B-shares in the listed parent company 24hPoker Holding AB.
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Following successful casino transition, bet365 moves poker, too.
Online gambling software developer Playtech has reported a new and significant addition to its i-Poker network in the form of Gibraltar gaming company bet365, owned by Hillside (Gibraltar) Ltd.
Already an online casino operator using the Playtech software platform since 2005, bet365 has now successfully migrated and integrated its online poker operations into the i-Poker network, too.
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Desert nights, adventures in the jungle and some office mayhem in latest releases
Dublin-based online gambling software developer Cryptologic has magic carpets, native treasures and stressed-out office workers all featured in its latest four-game lineup
And exotic travel, hair-raising adventure and the chance to smash a computer await online gamers with the unveiling of Bonus Pack 12, the newest casino slot lineup from the company this week.
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Internet companies to get a show window for Asia at major conference
After a successful debut in Macau this June, G2E Asia 2008 in partnership with market leading publication iGaming Business, will include a pavilion dedicated to the internet gaming industry.
Scheduled June 3 - 5, 2008 in the Cotai Strip Convention & Exhibition Center of the Venetian Macao, G2E Asia 2008 will feature the new iGaming Business Pavilion that will allow attendees to see and learn about the latest online products, services and cutting-edge technologies of interest to both established and new market operators across Asia.
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Top operator has some ambitious poker expansion plans
In a move which confounded persistent rumours that it was going to sign up with Playtech, the major online betting group Mansion has announced instead that it has joined the Ongame Network.
Ongame boasts one of the largest global poker platforms with over 30 000 concurrent players at peak times and Mansion players will have immediate access to its facilities and diversity.
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There are real advantages for a Vegas buyer
What seemed to start out as a general comment by Party Gaming boss Mitch Garber at the recent EiG conference in Barcelona that he would entertain offers for his group has become a the subject of
'full-on' comment in the mainstream press this week.
The idea that one of the US land gambling giants might acquire Party Gaming is certainly an entertaining one with some solid advantages.
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Brussels free trade think-tank to consider implications of US withdrawal of treaty obligations
The groundbreaking World Trade Organisation Internet gambling case that is threatening a major trade clash between the United States and the European Union will be the subject of a forum this week sponsored by the Centre for the New Europe, a leading Brussels-based public policy think tank with a special interest in free markets and open trade.
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Pro players breathe a sigh of relief as 25 percent IRS cut is cancelled
The United States IRS proposal to impose a withholding tax of 25 percent of tournament winnings of over $5 000 (see previous InfoPowa reports) has apparently been abandoned.....undoubtedly a source of relief for pro poker players.
Wally Chalmers, Vice President of the American Gaming Association said this week that the proposal was abandoned after an assessment of the rule's viability and following negotiations with the IRS's rules-making group.
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282 entrants for Baden Euro 8 000 buy-in event
282 of the world's top players took to the felt in Baden, Austria in the Poker Stars European Poker Tour - Baden Euro 8 000 Main Event last week, generating a Euro 2 143 200 prize pool and the eventual winner a major bank account boosting top prize of Euro 670 800.
Among the many internationally known players who entered were Ram Vaswani, Barry Greenstein, 2005 EPT Baden Champion Patrik Antonius, Marcel Luske, Internet mavan Hevad "RainKhan" Khan and WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and rising star Annette Obrestad.
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New study shows 48 percent of Britons view Bingo as important for social interaction
A new study commissioned by the Bingo Association in Britain suggests that 48 percent of the general population view bingo as an important venue for social interaction. The report entitled 'Social Impact of Bingo Club Closures' also revealed that an estimated 3.8 million adults in the UK (8.1 percent of the adult population) play bingo regularly.
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London's CHI and Partners specialise in big branding
Gibraltar-based online gambling group 888.com has engaged the London advertising agency CHI & Partners in a GBP 6 million branding campaign commencing later this (October) month.
The campaign will include television, poster and taxi ads featuring the strap line 'Enjoy the game' devised by the agency, which describes itself as 'Big Ideas For Ambitious Brands'.
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Mega Moolah alone now worth $3.7 million
�
�
Online gambling progressive jackpots, in which numerous casinos network into a single major jackpot on specific virtual slot machines, continue to grow into multi-million dollar opportunities.
�
This week the Microgaming Jackpot Network which introduced the progressives concept to Internet gambling announced that 4 of its progressive jackpots combined had now pushed the value of the�rewards achievable�through the $6 million benchmark, creating a new record.
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Not a good idea to abuse the identity of a university
Reports from the Associated Press news agency this week describe an online poker promotional website which has apparently misused the logo and identity of the University of Massachusetts to attract traffic, causing a ruckus and a demand from the college that the site be taken down.
UMasspoker.com contains the trademarked UMass-Amherst lettering and Minuteman athletic logo and depicts the Minuteman peering over stacks of cash, dice, cards and poker chips. School officials have sent a cease-and-desist demand to the site's operators.
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New digital media system will speed up marketing communications
Norske Tipping AS, the state gambling monopoly in the reportedly anti-gambling Nordic country appears to be gearing up its marketing capability with the installation of a Cisco Digital Media System, a "....comprehensive digital signage solution for approximately 4 000 point-of-sale locations nationwide to deliver timely and targeted marketing communications to customers."
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Fake law firm the front for illegal gambling operation
Police in Taichung this week arrested 18 people on suspicion of running illegal sports betting operations over the Internet, taking advantage of the popularity of New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming to earn several million US dollars.
Officers from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) broke up the gambling ring, arresting main suspect Huang Chu-ming and 17 other people in the process. Among those arrested were computer engineers who maintained the online gambling web sites for Huang.
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Irish Poker Championship set for Galway in January 2008
Party Poker, aided by Irish events company Pokerevents.ie is gearing up for its first first major tournament sponsorship in Ireland and Europe�s first major tournament of 2008.
The Irish Poker Championship 2008, will be held at the Radisson Hotel & Spa, Galway, Ireland, from January 3 to January 6, 2008 with up to 400 players expected to ante-up the Euro 2 000 buy-in (9 percent withheld). The tournament will be recorded for six hour-long broadcasts on RT�, Ireland�s national broadcaster, and will be distributed internationally.
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With EiG '07 now history, time to turn toward Malta
Malta takes centre stage over 27 - 30 November with the Clarion Gaming-produced trio of events covering the hottest sectors in i-gaming.
World Poker Congress - Poker is still the ultimate draw for many online and
land-based casino players. This event offers perspectives from both sides of the poker table and from both land-based and online industry powerhouses.� So don't pass up a chance to visit the lovely Mediterranean island of Malta over 27 & 28 November. Full details at www.worldpokercongress.com
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