The news in brief for the week of May 15-21
America’s Card Room confirmed that selected poker rooms have left Dobrosoft for Ongame. Other poker room skins formerly with ACR’s myPokerNetwork will join a new network to be branded The Association of the Independent Game Room Operators currently being put together by Dobrosoft and scheduled for launch within July 2005.
Blue Square opened the first high-street betting shop next to its Grovesnor Casino in central London. The online bookmaker revealed plans to open up to 150 further shops in the UK, where punters will be encouraged to place bets using the kiosk terminals.
FUN Technologies signed a deal with Skyworks Technologies to develop, host and manage a private-label, pay-for-play skill-gaming platform for Skyworks’ newly launched site, Rcade.com.
Gaming Corp announced soaring sales and gross profits for the first half and said it is considering further acquisitions to extend its geographical reach.
Gaming VC signed an agreement with Boss Media that will enable the company listed on the Alternative Investment Market to launch a poker product in several European languages.
Gaming VC signed an agreement with Boss Media that will enable the company listed on the Alternative Investment Market to launch a poker product in several European languages.
MTS, Russia’s largest mobile operator, signed a contract with Jupiter Trade to expand the range of its mobile casino games.
Cherryforetagen’s Net Entertainment received certification and approval for its Random Number Generator by Canada-based Technical Systems Testing and the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science.
NETeller signed deals to add Betfair and Expekt to its merchant base.
A new UK poker channel launched on Sky Channel 226 and global broadband. PokerZone is targeted at the growing audience of poker enthusiasts logging onto online poker rooms being advertised throughout the UK on television and magazines.
The Trading Exchange approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting the proposed disposal of the company.
Tribeca Tables Europe announced a major online poker deal with Gambling Federation to create a new brand, Commodore Poker.
Zone4Play signed an agreement with Cosmotrade Investments, the largest online casino operator in South Africa, to develop a range of mobile casino games to be distributed throughout Europe.
World Gaming has started trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market raising £2.5m. The provider of internet gaming software revealed plans to acquire a medium-sized bookmaker.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has begun an investigation into whether the horse racing industry in Australia has colluded to prevent Betfair from securing a state betting license, and in doing so, breached the Trade Practices Act. The investigation will look at bodies such as the Australian Racing Board, Racing NSW, Racing Victoria and Tabcorp Holdings.
A New York state lawmaker has introduced a bill to legalize poker in bars, restaurants and clubs, which could hold “social poker” tournaments that benefit a charity.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed a bill allowing year-round off-track betting on simulcasts wagering on horse and greyhound races.
The Oregon House voted unanimously to end ‘Sports Action’, a lottery in which players could wager on the results of football games, in hopes of attracting lucrative college tournaments to the state. House Bill 3466 now passes to Senate.
Elgin City and Queen’s Park have been cleared of involvement in an alleged betting scandal in which teams’ players were said to have bet on the outcome of a recent match between the two Scottish Third Division clubs. Totesport and William Hill reported losses for £200,000, but the Association of British Bookmakers and the Scottish Football League, which have investigated the claims of alleged suspicious betting, have found no excessive sums bet on the match and ruled out any foul play. End-of-season Scottish football matches have been the subject of betting controversies and betting coups for decades.
Activists from Community, the union that represents betting shop employees, lobbied shareholders attending the annual general meeting of Ladbrokes’ parent company Hilton Group in London over the refusal of senior management to recognize and negotiate with the union.
According to Adweek.com, major online gambling groups are looking for advertising agencies to promote their businesses in the US. The US Department of Justice notified advertising media that they “may” be breaking federal law in accepting online gambling advertisements and told Adweek that “agencies are on their own when it comes to deciding if creating such ads runs afoul of the law.”
As reported by the Boston Herald, the Boston Red Sox had a website run by the world’s largest online poker company as primary spring training sponsor. Partypoker.net posted signs around the team’s Fort Myers ballpark and is currently sponsoring a poker tournament between Sox and Yankees fans that airs on the Sox-owned NESN TV network. Billed as the ‘world’s biggest poker school’, the site doesn’t allow cash gambling but is owned by the same company that runs Partypoker.com.
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