The news in brief for the week of June 12-18
Mexican company Apuestas Internacionales, subsidiary of Televisa, the largest Hispanic media group in the world, obtained a government license to open 65 betting centers and 65 bingos. The licenses were granted five days before the resign of the outgoing Mexican Government Secretary causing controversy and a Senate’s investigation.
Casino City has filed an appeal of the lawsuit which attempted to define accepting egaming adverts as a protected first amendment right. Earlier this year, the Louisiana district court dismissed the case claiming Casino City had no standing as it was not under risk of prosecution from the Department of Justice.
Channel 4 has agreed a substantial sponsorship package with the Tote, Betfair and participating UK racecourses that will ensure the continued broadcast of Channel 4 Racing in 2006, with an option to renew for 2007. Channel 4 will receive £4.95 million for the deal, which covers 74 days of racing action, including all Saturdays, selected weekdays with major festivals at York, Chester, Newmarket and Cheltenham, and the weekly edition of The Morning Line.
Chartwell Technology expects a strong growth in the second half of the year as a result of the acquisition of the Gibraltar-based poker firm Micropower.
CryptoLogic introduced 14 new internet casino games, including the first Scratch Card games ever developed by the gaming software company.
EGET, a supplier of money games for mobile Internet, has joined forces with Finnish mobile marketing technology provider, Add2Phone, to offer player profiling, mobile CRM capabilities and advanced mobile marketing tools on the latest release of its WinOne Mobile Gaming Platform.
Fun Technologies acquired fantasy sports site Fanball for $12m in cash plus earn outs based on results in 2005 and 2006. Fanball is one of the largest fantasy sports providers in the US and has existing deals with NASCAR and AOL.com. The site has 1.5 million visitors a month and in 2004 it posted a profit of $1m on turnover of $4.59m.
GameAccount signed a deal with GII Entertainment, an entirely internet-based corporation with strong Scandinavian roots, to allows GII Corp’s existing clients and partners to have access to GameAccount’s skill-based games through their existing accounts.
Ladbrokes and Tote Direct signed a deal to display live Tote win shows on screen next to the racecourse show. “Our punters now have a genuine choice between taking a board price, waiting for the starting price and now placing a Tote win bet with an appreciation of the likely dividends,” said Ladbrokes spokesman Balthazar Fabricius. “For shop punters it will be just like betting at the racecourse,” added Tote Direct Development Director Ed Comins.
American Wagering-operated Leroy’s announced record quarterly results. “The best in Leroy’s 25-year history,” said Vic Salerno, President and CEO of American Wagering. The company operates nearly 50 sports books and six race books throughout Nevada.
UKbetting increased its online offering with the addition of 10 games from software firm Electracade.
Youbet.com has reported a 33% increase in handle to $3.4m for this year’s Belmont Stakes. The California-based online wagering service received more than $9.5 million in bets on the three racing days that featured this year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. The last time Youbet offered all three races in 2003, the company handled $6.5 million for the three racing days.
eCOGRA awarded the “Play It Safe” seal to PokerRoom.com. The online poker room boasts players from more than 140 countries, which will now have the benefit of eCOGRA regulations governing every aspect of poker operations from fair gaming to timeous payouts and efficient customer service.
The newly formed Irish Bookmakers Association, which represents 80 per cent of Ireland’s 800 betting shops, is pushing to be represented on the board of Horse Racing Ireland.
Jockey Jeremy Rose was suspended for 7 days and fined $5,000 by the Churchill Downs stewards because he had an advertisement for ParadisePoker.com on his pants when he rode Afleet Alex to a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Jockeys Corey Nakatani and Kent Desormeaux received the same punishment for similar alleged violations.
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