Eurosport, Europe's most watched sports network, will show coverage of the Poker Stars European Poker Tour in 23 European countries.

"This acquisition will further strengthen IAS's entry into the UK market, which commenced in earnest with the acquisition of the international bookmaking company, Canbet Limited in 2004," Mark Read, IAS' managing director, said.

Gambling industry sources believe that a general election for a new parliament, expected in May, would force the UK's Government to discard altogether the overhaul of the 40-year-old legislation.

Following the latest attack on betting exchanges by David Harding, William Hill's CEO, Martin Cruddace, Betfair's legal director, spoke at the Westminster Forum defending exchange layers.

The campaign promoted by the Minister of Public Security, Zhou Yongkang, will target online gambling along with offices and gambling websites set up by foreign gambling companies.

Another player reports he has been waiting for a payout almost a month.

Ireland's largest bookmaker says it expects a 57 percent jump in annual profits, far below the first half increase of 158%.

Following the consolidation of the betting sector in the past 18 months, and considering the small prospects remaining for home-grown, UNiTAB and Tabcorp are focusing on the opening of new markets offshore.

The Swedish company will provide a casino and poker system for Littlewoods Bet Direct Internet site. The Bet Direct punters will be able to log in and play both casino and poker games using their existing betting accounts.

Ireland’s biggest bookmaker is looking to capitalise on one of the most lucrative areas of internet betting, targeting European players with its new suite of online poker games.

William Hill expects to announce profits of about £232m, although the performance in the second half of 2004 has been adversely impacted by unfavourable horseracing and football results.

"It is unquestionable the best third round for us in a long, long time," Simon Clare, Eurobet spokesman, said.

Menzies Corporate Restructuring, appointed Joint Administrators of Sporting Options on 15 November 2004, will present their proposals at the creditors' meeting which will be held on January 18. 

Dermot Desmond, Betdaq's owner, has created a new company called Exchange Trading Strategies to avoid any financial conflict in seeding the markets on his betting exchange operation.

Anton Kaszubowski, CES' managing director, has great plans for the "Bloomberg of North American sports betting," Don Best. 

Denham Eke, Betinternet chairman, announced at the company’s annual general meeting, that the bookmaker will benefit from the recent policy change in the Isle of Man opening up to accept bets from the US.

The Malaysian casino operator Genting Berhad might launch a takeover on Stanley Leisure.

SportsDirect announced the acquisition of the intellectual property, customers and traffic from Wagerline.com in a $1.2 million deal. The addition of Wagerline.com to SportsDirect family of sites creates the largest sports betting publisher in North America.

The online betting industry has recently witnessed an uprise in extortionists and hacker attacks targeting online bookmakers. A new conference will address issues associated with combating cyber crime within the betting industry.