The news in brief for the week of February 27-March 5
Racecourse group Arena Leisure reported a record 2005, with a 21.6% rise up to £6.3 million in operating profit at its owned tracks Folkestone, Lingfield, Southwell, Windsor, Wolverhampton and Worcester. Group turnover was up 9.4% up to £40.7m, while Arena’s share of the adjusted operating loss sustained by At The Races came down from £3.7m to £1m. Total attendance was a best-ever 534,000, up six per cent from 2004, on the back of a fixture programme that rose from 315 to 324.
At The Races, the horseracing broadcaster and media rights company in which Arena Leisure and BSkyB have an equal 47.5 per cent stake, distributed over £2.5 million to its 29 racecourse partners in 2005. Matthew Imi, ATR’s Chief Executive, revealed in an operational review for 2005 that the firm is in fantastic shape, financially and operationally. “We have hit or exceeded all our internal targets. If we succeed in our objective of breaking even by the end of 2006, that will be an extraordinary performance, especially given the sums we are paying to racing.” The review does not include a profit and loss account, or details of revenues and costs, but advertising and sponsorship revenues have increased substantially, boosted by a relaxation of restrictions on bookmakers sponsoring live racing programmes. “We have multiple revenue streams and, although interactive betting is growing, achieving turnover of about £2 million a week last year, and is expected to show double-digit growth this year, other revenue streams generate more income,” added Imi.
The King Solomons Group announced the acquisition of the Windows Casino group, whose portfolio includes Windows Casino, Gold Key, Portofino and Magic Oasis casinos amongst others. First established in 1998, King Solomons Casino now owns and operates 10 different online casino brands, including King Solomons, Geisha Lounge and Grand Aces, alongside several online bingo and multiplayer poker brands. “It is indeed a great challenge to combine all our brands under one management team” said Keren Fuchs, Head of Marketing for the Group. “We are confident that Windows Casino customers, affiliates and partners will benefit from our group’s fantastic reputation and diligent management.”
Ladbrokes Games launched multi-player Mah-Jong, on both its English and Chinese language sites, in the first of a series of game additions in the coming months. “Mah-Jong is one of the best games ever. Two thousand years of play will back it up,” said Paul Austin, General Manager of Ladbrokesgames.com. “At Ladbrokes, we’re always looking at new games that will satisfy the demands of our customers. The Far East has been responsible for many great games, it’s now time for Su-Doku to move over and let Mah-Jong stake its claim as a game fit for emperors.”
Lasseters Online has undergone a new facelift, boasting a more luxurious and elegant feel, while highlighting the casino’s commitment to a superior customer experience and keeping with the operator’s policy of constant evolution and improvement. The internet casino, which commenced operation on April 1999 licensed under new legislation introduced by the Northern Territory Government of Australia, was the first online casino to obtain a government issued license.
PokerRoom.com has joined forces with universities across Britain to launch the first ever nationwide Student Poker Tour. The country\’s biggest university towns will be playing host to the world\’s third largest poker website as it seeks to discover the best student Texas Hold \’Em player. “With the launch of the Student Poker Tour, we are taking the exciting world of poker directly to a growing audience and developing a relationship with a previously untapped market. We aim to show students that anybody can be a great Texas Hold \’Em player given the tools and the know-how from PokerRoom.com,” commented Patrick Selin, PokerRoom.com\’s Chief Executive.
PokerStars.com, the world\’s largest poker tournament website, reached the 100,000-player milestone last week. The occasion marked the first time ever that 100,000 poker players were logged on simultaneously in games at PokerStars.com, or anywhere else. In response to its growing popularity, the online poker website introduced an unprecedented guarantee. Beginning February 27, all Sunday afternoon no-limit hold\’em tournaments, with buys-ins of either $215 or $530, will pay out at least $1,000,000 in prize money. In addition, PokerStars will offer daily satellites with buy-ins starting at $3. “A year or two ago, a $1 million guarantee on a weekly poker event would have been unthinkable,” said Lee Jones, PokerStars Cardroom Manager. “Now, thanks to PokerStars and its players, it\’s become a reality.” In separate news, PokerStars, in conjunction with the European Poker Tour, has launched the EPT Battleship Poker Championship, where players will be offered the opportunity to play heads up matches both online and live, with contestants playing face-to-face, laptop-to-laptop in the style of the well known board game ‘Battleship’. The two day event will take place during the PokerStars EPT Grand Final that will be held in Monte Carlo next week.
Skill Extreme, a new skill gaming site on the SkillPlay platform developed by season5gaming is in its final beta-testing phase in preparation for its official mid-April launch. The skill gaming platform, which will include a line up of classic and traditional games (Ship Battle, Ro Sham Bo and Chess) as well as several new additions (ACROmania and Octoneuro), will feature regular free-roll and money tournaments, alongside the single player progressive games which will be generating large cash pools for prizes. Skill Extreme said in a statement that it will also look to sign partnerships with operators for white-label solutions of its products.
ThwartPoker, a version of poker developed by mathematician Arthur Pfeiffer that eliminates the element of luck from the game, is set for online launch. ThwartPoker, which has offered games on mobile phone networks for nearly two years, is now available on the internet with two versions: Hold\’em Blitz and 6 Card Battle. In both games, cards are played face up and players select their own cards to build the best possible hand. Players simultaneously pick one card at a time, and if two or more players select the same card they receive a blank card and miss that turn. In Hold\’em Blitz, three community cards are revealed before each player selects four cards, while each player selects six cards to make a hand in 6 Card Battle. The best 5-card poker hand wins in both games. The internet version of the game adds a new element, allowing players to make bets based on the strength of their hands and their opponents\’ hands. “With this new form of Hold\’em Poker, we combine the betting experience of No Limit Hold\’em with the element of choosing your cards,” said Pfeiffer. “Now when you get beat on the last card you get beat based on your own choice and your opponent\’s choice, not on the luck of the draw.”
UNiTAB, Australia\’s No.2 wagering company, said it expects profit in fiscal 2006 to rise by more than 27 per cent up to A$80 million, a growth boosted by expansion in its gaming services business. “The majority of the increase will be delivered by the expanded gaming services in Queensland and New South Wales,” said the company in a statement. UNiTAB runs totalisator operations in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory and operates internet betting and an extensive slot-machine monitoring service in New South Wales and Queensland.
UKbetting’s content division, TEAMtalk Media, has extended a contract with ITV to provide news, results and comment on the broadcaster’s World Cup 2006 website. The decision builds on an existing deal to provide football and boxing websites to the ITV.com portal.
Zone 4 Play, a developer of interactive software and technology for the betting and gaming industry, and Two Way TV Australia, the exclusive licensee of Zone4Play technology for the Asia Pacific Region, announced the launch of their mobile lottery services, offering the most popular land based games such as traditional lottery, fixed odds lucky number games, Keno & Bingo, instant tickets and scratch cards. The services support different technologies such as Java, WAP, HTML and SMS. “We believe the benefits of our lottery services will be significant, as both lottery providers and mobile operators can expect high take up of mobile lottery services thanks to the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of our solutions,” said Shimon Citron, CEO of Zone4Play. “Our advanced lottery games are easy to play, immediate to deploy and aimed at meeting the strong surge in consumer demand for mobile gambling,” said Jim McKay, Managing Director of Two Way.
Calvin Ayre, founder of Bodog, formally announced the launch of the Calvin Ayre Foundation website. The Foundation, which is federally registered in Costa Rica, is active in supporting charitable causes in five broad areas, Environment, Education, Social Development, Child Welfare and Animal Welfare, throughout the world. “Through the Calvin Ayre Foundation, we\’re able to cross international borders,” said Ayre. “With fewer barriers, we are better able to offer support for meaningful charitable causes.”
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