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Welcome to Bet Sages 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 leisure based wagering
activities on the internet.
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Top players recruited to go after women's event glory
The competition is heating up at all levels of the projected 8 000 player World Series of Poker this year, and the Ladies Event is no exception. 888 Poker has announced its sponsorship of a lean and mean women's team that includes European players with formidable credentials.
On the way to Las Vegas this summer as part of 888 Poker's challenge are Tiffany Williamson, the Gutshot regular with a 2005 main event 15th place to her name; diamond winning Eunice Waterfield, winner of 888.com Women's Poker UK Open; Rhowena Colclough, who is taking The Mansion Poker Dome event by storm, and respected poker player Veronique Gourdon. Team members are not Internet qualifiers, but part of a professionally managed team carefully selected by 888 Poker for high impact and exciting play.
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Any way the cards are cut, Extreme Poker is a thriller...
Inter Poker.com's unique and innovative marketing vehicle Extreme Poker has to be one of the biggest attractions around in online poker, with previous games by top players taking place underwater and on freezing Arctic icefields. This year it's literally going to take off to new heights with a sky-high game that will also be a real downer for the losers.
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The latest technology in video slots, Spanish 21 BJ and a great new video poker variant now available
The Trident group's premier online casinos King Neptune's Casino (www.kingneptunescasino.com) and Trident Lounge Casino (www.tridentloungecasino.com) are again among the first online casinos on the Web to offer the latest top quality games from the development studios of leading provider Microgaming.
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Gala's gambling platform impresses the judges
It's no small feat for an online gambling company to win a competition judged by executives from some seriously large land gambling casinos, but that's what Gala Group and its software and games developer achieved last week.
The group's Gala Gaming Platform, developed by Inspired Broadcast Networks, won the top award in the "Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products in 2005" before a panel of judges that included top managers from the giant MGM Mirage and Ameristar Casinos.
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Sister company CTXM contracted by online payments company
Udo Yosha's Com Tec Co group companies CTXM and EcoCard were collaborating closely this week in the development of a new software platform for the online payment operations of the latter.
CTXM will use Canadian payment technology firm Incredipay for the back-end of a system for EcoCard that lets users fund their accounts through private and personal bank accounts, bank transfer or credit card.
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New horizons for Silverman
Strong rumours doing the rounds this week are that GoneGambling marketing whiz for the past 5 years, Debbee Silverman is on the move and will shortly be teaming up with a major online gambling group to work on a new project.
The popular Silverman, who is widely respected as a dedicated and effective professional marketer and knows just about everyone worth knowing in the business refused to give more detail to InfoPowa but confirmed that she is about to make a career change.
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InteractiveTV betting platform launched by NDS
Digital pay-TV games and technology developer NDS launched the first interactive TV betting platform in Italy this week in partnership with Sky Italia.
The new platform gives Sky Italias viewers to access to the betting products of Italian bookmakers Snai and Italbet through their TV sets and the ability to place bets through both bookmakers, provided they have a valid account.
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Everyone wins here, owners claim...especially the marketers
For the past two months it's the site more and more people have been talking about, and with over 55 000 unique visitors a month and still climbing it's not surprising that the DonkeyLotto concept is capturing the attention of the public and the marketing fraternity alike.
Owners Jeremy Enke and Brandon Berndt reckon that the reason for its runaway success has been simple: it's entertaining and there's a chance for everyone to score on prizes....or audiences.
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Bring in the beers and the snacks - 32 hours of telecast poker is on the way!
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. announced this week that ESPN will telecast 32 hours of original programming of the 2006 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee's Best Light.
The ESPN telecasts will be aired every Tuesday at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time beginning July 18 and continuing through October 31.
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Pharaohs Poker Palace claims first poker via webcam
Pharaohs Poker Palace claimed this week that it is set to become the first online poker room to offer live interactive poker play over the Internet.
Using proprietary software on a new dynamic poker platform, the company is about to offer the webcam-based service as an optional, complementary facility available to all players, in an effort to help move poker to the next level of competition and social interaction.
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An unlikely but powerful partnership for heart health
The Internet's largest poker site, Party Poker.com has announced it is to partner with the international women's magazine Elle to sponsor a women's charity team in the upcoming World Series of Poker Ladies Event starting July 9.
Competing under the title "Queens of Heart" the team will be captained by WSOP bracelet winner and Hollywood actress Jennifer Tilly and will play for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign.
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Some legal experts say it's too broad to hold up in court
Widespread criticism of Washington state's ban on online gambling and threats that this could result in felony prosecutions for advertising online venues continued this week.
The Seattle PI and other mainstream media carried stories indicating that some weeks after the promulgation of the new state law there were some serious legal doubts about its propriety, with legal experts questioning whether it would hold up in court.
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Payday for Paris World Poker Tour 2006 winners
PokerTeam.dk team members Christian Grundtvig and Henrik Witt enjoyed a lucrative payday following the Paris World Poker Tour champs at the Aviation Club de France earlier this month; Grundtvig picked up a cheque for Euro 712 500 as the winner, and fourth placed Witt banked Euro 168 750 to add to his salary as a full time poker manager for sponsor Poker Plex.com.
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A case of double standards on Internet gambling
The Hungarian government's attempts to impede online gambling offered by sources outside its monopoly clearly do not apply to online operations launched to further fill government coffers this week.
Hungary's state lottery operator Szerencsejatek Zrt has launched online versions of its lottery and sports betting games in a move that is expected to boost the monopoly's annual revenues by HUF 1 billon, CEO Gabor Szekely announced at a press conference Monday.
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Affiliates and senior 888.com managers jaw-jaw instead of war-war
There were promising signs this week that the affiliate sector vs. 888.com dispute over search engine optimisation black hat activities is about to enter a more constructive and consultative phase.
Some months into increasingly bitter differences (see earlier InfoPowa reports) with the online gambling affiliate sector over its alleged tolerance of "black hat" search engine optimisation tactics involving site scraping and blog spamming, 888.com executive Nicholas Lev came forward last week. Pointing to the sound reputation his company enjoyed, he condemned unethical practices and give an undertaking that his company would investigate complaints and take action against any affiliate found indulging in bad SEO practices.
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Tournament of Champions was a poker thriller
If the rest of the World Series of Poker competitions are anywhere near as fiercely contested and skilled as the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions, poker fans are in for a real feast of excitement and big money action.
The free roll tourney was held earlier this week and attracted large crowds of spectators to the Rio casino-hotel in Las Vegas to watch the exclusive (only 27 players were invited) competition featuring some of the top players in the business.
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Mike Sexton walks the walk in donating $500 000 to five charities
Days after winning the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions against the top players in the business, Mike Sexton has proved to be a champ with a heart, providing irrefutable evidence that he deserves his affectionate nickname "The Ambassador of Poker".
Sexton has just announced that he is to donate half of his Tournament of Champions prize purse - that's a stunning $500 000 - to five charities.
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Details on eight number deal still awaited
Full details are still awaited on a terse announcement by PartyGaming and Harrah's Entertainment that they have signed a deal for PartyGaming.com to be the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker.
The agreement apparently gives the major London-listed gambling group serious advertising and publicity exposure for its PartyPoker.net information site on the well over 208 poker tables used throughout the tourney.
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Online poker sites are routinely running tourneys for thousands of players
One of the online gambling phenomena that InfoPowa reporters have increasingly noticed is the high value tournament, and this week we took a look at the most popular of at least three different big bucks competitions that have become a regular happening in online poker.
The PokerStars $1 Million Guaranteed tournament attracted "only" 1301 players with its $1.3 million prize pool and $1 000 + $50 buy-in but when the final table had been decided in some intense play, the average stack was well over 425 000.
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A catch phrase with profit potential
Full Contact Poker.com has developed an ingenious marketing concept for the next WSOP, using the catch phrase "Wear the name, share the fame."
The online poker site offers FCP members who play in WSOP events the chance to share in potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, just for wearing FCP apparel in the TV-intensive competition. Adding money to the gear, the company has announced that they will match five percent of their champion Daniel Negreanu's gross winnings in the tourney and award it to eligible FCP community members.
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Still raging flawed software controversy does not inhibit new games launch
The long established online casino brand English Harbour has been the focus of intense interest on the Internet message boards for all the wrong reasons recently. Some weeks ago a player discovered a flaw in the doubling up feature on one of its games, leading to a major debate (see previous InfoPowa reports) over whether the software was deliberately rigged now and in the past, or whether it had been a genuine and isolated technical error.
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WagerWorks loses a major client next year to Silicon Valley developer
World Poker Tour Enterprises, Inc. announced this week that it has reached an agreement with the Silicon Valley software development company CyberArts to provide technology and software for re-launching WPTE's online gaming business.
"This relationship will make it possible for us get to market faster with a superior product," said Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO of WPTE. "Now, like most companies that have been successful in the online gaming space, we will be able to build a unique offering and control our own destiny. We have been searching for a powerful alternative to our current technology for some time and are convinced that this is the perfect solution."
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Molnick's "live over the Internet" patent at the centre of dispute
The LV Business Press reports that Mel Molnick of Home Gambling Network (HGN) is exercising his "268 Patent" on "Live Casino Gambling" over the Internet against members of the famous Ho gambling interests family. The report unveils an intertwined series of business arrangements that at one time involved Casino Web Cam, which sub-licensed some 15 or more "live over the Internet" gambling sites.
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OnlineBingo.co.uk study finds that 88 percent of online bingo players are aged around 47 and are female
An extensive industry-wide survey conducted by OnlineBingo.co.uk has been released, showcasing online bingo demographics.
The online Bingo portal and information site's survey found that 88 percent of online bingo players were female and that the average player was just over 45 years old. Interestingly the male players were younger than the females at an average age of 37 with the women coming in at an average of 47 years old.
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Online gambling advertising in Sweden is a no-no...unless it happens to be for the government monopoly
Details of a reported threat to Swedish media for carrying online gambling advertisements were sketchy as InfoPowa went to press last week, but a full report has now appeared in Interactive Gaming News.
Last week Sweden's National Gaming Board reported four of the country's print-based editors to police for the violation of running advertisements for foreign gambling companies.
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The ultimate frustration - winning a million and then losing it when an online casino goes out of business
There can be few online gambling events sadder than the story of New Yorker Susanne Uebler which came to light this week and will stir sympathy in the toughest player heart.
Ms. Uebler won herself a million dollars some six years ago in a trivia contest at Cybercroupier group's Oriental Casino.com, and received only a small percentage of this live-changing bonanza before the company went out of business around 2003.
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A 5 000 year old game gets a 21st century lift-off
Earlier InfoPowa reports that the Gibraltar-based Party Gaming group is about to launch an online backgammon site came to fruition this week with the appearance on the Internet of PartyGammon.com.
Known as "the game of kings" and requiring skills of timing and calculation, backgammon is one of the world's most popular games and one of its oldest, claims PG, with variants dating back more than 5 000 years. PartyGaming has now brought this history to the modern world of the internet, enabling new and existing customers to play backgammon, poker and casino all from a single PartyAccount.
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One hand between victory and defeat in final heads-up
It took nearly four hours for Erick 'E-Dog' Lindgren and Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow to get heads up at the FullTiltPoker.Net Pro Showdown at Red Rock Casino, but just one hand for Lindgren to claim the victory and the $600 000 first-place prize last week.
Lindgren and Matusow outlasted five other Team Full Tilt members, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, and Clonie Gowen who each paid $120 000 to enter this invitational poker tournament broadcast live on FOX Sports Network.
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Pokerstars competition brings home the bacon for Polish team.
In last week's "forthcoming attractions" InfoPowa reported on the upcoming clash of top poker players from 8 nations around the world at the third annual PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker in Barcelona, Spain.
Ultimately, it was Team Poland that defeated Team United States to take the top prize as the Polish team battled their American opponents heads-up to collect the $100 000 first place payout. Team USA did not go home empty handed - it was awarded $50 000 in total for its second place finish, while Team Canada received $30 000 and Team Israel split $20 000. Other teams in the competition included Brazil, England, Ireland, and Iceland.
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If you're a funny writer, Suited pocket rocket wants to talk to you...
Internet message boards often carry interesting, not to mention intriguing tidbits of information and business offers, and this was the case on the popular Winneronline.com forum this week.
Using the eye-catching *handle* "Suited Pocket Rocket" an American poster revealed that he or she was about to start up a really innovative venture - a daily webcomic that will have online poker as its background theme.
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Ban on internet gambling continues to draw acid comment
The online gambling ban imposed on June 7 in a Washington state law signed off by Governor Christine Gregoire has been taking media flak throughout the week. The mainstream media is clearly not happy with the idea that online gambling and advertising for online gambling is banned, whilst citizens are actively encouraged to gamble in that state's various Indian land based casinos, state lotteries and on horseracing online.
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An analyst's view of "cack-handed" management actions and the impact on share price
The Daily Telegraph this week pointed out that Party Gaming does not have much to celebrate a year on from its GBP 5 billion market debut, with shares that have barely budged from their 116p float price, and a stock that has lagged the FTSE100 index by almost 10 percent, while its closest listed rival, Sportingbet, has outperformed the index by the same amount.
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You ain't seen nothing yet....!
The excitement and anticipation attending the big-time nature of the World Series of Poker in Vegas is already almost tangible as the media machine behind poker's most globally watched event goes up a gear with the tournament date now visible on the horizon.
Last year's WSOP recorded the most successful run in its history with almost 30,000 players participating in 45 events for a record total prize pool of more than $103 million.
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Mobile casino gaming is now a commercial reality in the United Kingdom
PlayWizard Co. Ltd., a developer of solo and multiplayer mobile gaming systems, today launched its 3rd generation CasinoPhone2004 mobile casino technology, claiming that British cell phone users have taken mobile gambling to their hearts.
Nader Rahimizad, Chief Technical Officer,said: Mobile casino gaming is finally a commercial reality in the United Kingdom with a sustainable 100 000 transactions reached on mobiles.
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Interest in top Chinese search site Baidu sold
Google is apparently reassessing its Chinese ambitions after making a significant profit on the disposal of its 2.6 percent interest in major Chinese search site Baidu. The local search engine outpunches Google in the Chinese market.
Analysts suggest that Google is instead intending to focus on its own Chinese business, targeting the world's second largest Internet market, with more than 100 million users.
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$70 million public offering attracts a strong response
The management at Australian sportsbook Centrebet.com will be pleased with the strong response to the companys $70 million public offering, which has been over-subscribed following strong demand from retail and institution investors, and is now closed.
Scheduled for listing on July 12, the offer consisted of 35.111 million shares, or around 40 percent of the company at $2 a share.
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GBP 500 million bond issue for acquisitions
PartyGaming again dominated the UK mainstream business news this week with the announcement of a GBP 500 million acquisition plan to expand its influence into the sportsbook sector.
The announcement followed the launch of the group's new backgammon site at PartyGammon.com, and its major (believed to be GBP 20 million) sponsorship of the 2006 WSOP.
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| MORE GAMBLING
NEWS |
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| PREVIOUS NEWS ARTICLES... |
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| 17th June 2006
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| 24th June 2006
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