The news in brief for the period of February 1-12
According to The Express On Sunday, online casino and poker group 888 is considering a move to offer players a share of profits from the site. It would replicate a similar concept developed by PokerShare, in which a 40% of profits were returned to players. Earlier in January, PokerShare filed a lawsuit against Excapsa, which shut down the poker website just few months after it took off, when according to the lawsuit, it appeared that more action was heading over to PokerShare than to the network preferred room, UltimateBet. PokerShare is working toward a relaunch in March before launching a casino site using the same sharing principle in April.
Casino City Press has released the 2006 edition of the Online Gaming Business Directory, which provides comprehensive coverage of the key players within the I-gaming industry. The directory profiles 2,200 online gaming sites and 2,100 web portals along with a directory of I-gaming software providers, regulatory jurisdictions, industry suppliers, and I-gaming products and service, plus 350 online gaming site owners.
Chariot, a new online lottery operator, was admitted to London’s Alternative Investment Market. The company, which raised £9.6m, expects to launch its website during the first half of 2006.
Covers.co.uk, part of the Covers Media Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of SportsDirect, has completed a deal to provide the Trinity Mirror group with in-depth sports information for several of its online brands, including the Daily Record and the Daily Mirror. Covers.co.uk will provide the latest football statistics, injuries, match previews and latest odds for the English Premiership, the Scottish Premier League and the Champions League.
As reported by eGaming Review, GameAccount, the London-based skill gaming operator and white-label provider, is to launch its new 3-Card Poker product. The peer-to-peer game will be a skill- and rake-based adaptation of the table game. Online opponents will play each other with the objective of building up the highest chip stack possible through the same sequence of cards dealt to both players. “3-Card Poker represents a compelling opportunity for egaming operators to generate incremental revenues from existing customers and re-activate lapsed customers with an instantly recognisable skill-based gaming opportunity,” said John Jones, Chief Executive of GameAccount.
Gamebookers launched a Polish-language version of its betting website and will look to promote the brand in Poland with strategically targeted and locally relevant marketing and advertising deals. This follows on from recent translations into both Russian and Italian, and marks the tenth language in which Gamebookers.com users can bet on their favourite sporting events. “Gamebookers is the European leader in local-market customization, and we will use our local knowledge in each country across Europe to aggressively build market share throughout Europe this year. We will be adding nearly one language per month in the lead-up to the World Cup 2006, which will ensure that we continue to grow quickly in Europe and expand our market share,” said the company’s Chief Executive, John O’Malia.
Groupe Partouche and Probability Games have launched a new mobile casino targeting the UK market, Partouche Mobile Casino.
IG Group, the financial and sports spread-betting firm, has appointed Roger Yates as Non-Executive and Senior Independent Director. IG has also said Robert Lucas, who was on the Board as a representative of private equity group CVC Capital Partners, will remain on the Board as Non-Executive Director despite CVC’s shareholding in the company falling below 15%.
IQ-Ludorum, provider of software and payment services to the online and land based gaming industry, announced a number of changes to the board reflecting the on-going evolution of the company. Tony Norris and Rory Knight have been appointed respectively as Chief Finance Officer and Non-Executive Director of the Board. In addition, as part of the wider restructuring of the company toward payments processing, Chief Executive John Reynolds, together with Pietro Tomassi, Phillip Rhee, Samuel Drennen and Joseph McFadden will step down from the Board. They will form a new management committee of a wholly owned subsidiary of which John Reynolds will serve as CEO/President, focusing on developing the company’s gaming software business into land based opportunities. IQ-Ludorum has established new sources of licensing revenues by deploying its software in the land-based gambling market, which represents approximately 96% of the global gambling market, including networked (internet-connected) kiosks & virtual gaming terminals, betting shops and mobile gaming. The IQ-Ludorum Board now comprises Mike Muscato, Chairman, Tony Norris, Chief Finance Officer and Rory Knight, Non-Executive Director. The company expects to make further board level appointments. Mike Muscato will also be Chief Executive in the interim period.
Ladbrokes, the world’s largest bookmaker, said in a statement that the Winter Olympics in Turin will attract record bets in the UK because of increased television coverage and more online gambling. “Wagers at UK bookmakers may surge tenfold to more than 10 million pounds from four years ago, boosted by internet sales from regions including Scandinavia,” said the bookmaker.
MEDIAN, a German subsidiary of AMITELO, a Swiss provider of internet telephony, will equip its call shops (known by their brand name as “Telecafes”) with stationary terminals offering sports betting. MEDIAN plans to introduce the new terminal service in time for the World Cup.
Parlay Entertainment, the Canadian online bingo software provider, has released Parlay 4, the latest version of its online bingo product. The product will debut in both 75-number (for the North American market) and 90-number (European) versions on several sites licensed to Parlay, with more rollouts planned throughout the year.
Planet Ace Gibraltar, owner of PokerPages, the leading provider of live tournament poker content, announced the completion of its acquisition of Tournament Reporter, an online tournament poker player rankings and reporting service. Planet Ace also announced that the Random Number Generator used to shuffle cards by the company’s Poker Pages software has been independently examined and has passed inspection of Australian test specialists iTech Labs. The Australian company evaluated Poker Pages’ RNG for statistical randomness, unpredictability, non-repeatability, internal state of the RNG, seeding and background cycling.
Progressive Gaming International, a provider of diversified technology and content products and services used in the gaming industry worldwide, announced that its net debt position as of December 31, 2005 was approximately $31 million, its lowest in 7 years.
Racing World, the international horseracing satellite channel, plans to start with Cheltenham Festival coverage next month and could be available as a free bonus offer to Racing UK subscribers. The channel, which intends eventually to operate around the clock with races from South Africa, North America and Australia, will start broadcasting from 18 tracks in the US including Arlington, Gulfstream Park, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.
Sport-IM.com launched a new service set to revolutionize the way players bet online by incorporating an Instant Messenger tool that allows users to exchange tips and information with each other, as well as real-time access to news, odds, statistics, and match reports. Bettors will have the chance to import their “Buddy Lists” from other messaging platforms like AOL, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo!.
The Sportsman, the sports and betting newspaper headed by former Telegraph Chief Executive Jeremy Deedes, is to launch just before the Cheltenham Festival in March. According to The Guardian, the paper will have an initial print run of 40,000 and a cover price of £1. The Sportsman will be backed by a £2m marketing budget.
Leisure & Gaming, parent company of VIP Sports, has been recommended as a buy by Altium Capital analysts Greg Feehely and Wayne Brown, who said L&G’s numbers for the year to December 2005 are ‘in the bag’ and added that “the current year estimates leave room for upgrades as the year progresses, given the encouraging performance (in particular) from the (recent) acquisitions of Nine.com and English Harbour.”
World Entertainment announced that it has successfully completed testing of its portal of bingo-related entertainment and social networking for cellphone users and its integration with the major wireless carriers across the US.
WPT Enterprises, owner of the World Poker Tour and the Professional Poker Tour, has engaged Thomas Weisel Partners as its financial advisor to assist it in exploring strategic alternatives, including the sale or merger of the business with another entity offering strategic opportunities for growth.
Yoomedia, a supplier of interactive gambling and games, announced that unaudited full-year results are in line with the Board’s expectation. The company announced in June 2005 that the original profit forecasts would not be met following slower growth and delayed project implementation on Channel 425, the interactive channel operated with William Hill.
The Interactive Gaming Council has revised its Advertising Code of Practice, which contains the guidelines on the content and nature of all forms of advertising, and a list of information that should be made readily accessible on online gambling websites.To view the revised code, click here.
The Isle of Man opened its first off-island business premises in the City of London. “The Isle of Man’s London office offers a great opportunity to build on already established business links with the City of London. It is also significant the offices have been opened just as the Isle of Man is on course to introduce a 0% corporate tax strategy in April 2006,” said Tim Craine, Isle of Man Government Director of e-business and space commerce.
The UK-based Responsibility in Gambling Trust has commissioned Tacade, the leading national provider of resources and training for health and risk behaviours in school and youth work settings, to provide new work to encourage education about problem gambling in the UK’s schools and youth clubs. Tacade will work in partnership with the Nottingham Trent University International Gaming Research Unit.
Ezra Gavriely, father of MK Inbal Gavriely (Likud)) has been arrested by the Tel Aviv Police together with six others on charges of running an illegal online gambling operation, money laundering and tax evasion. Among other things, Ezra Gavriely is suspected of having a link with two online gambling companies, Net Market and Target.
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