News Archive

29.11.2008
Russian shutdown
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports that more than 1 000 land-based casinos have been closed down in Moscow in the past 18 months under a law passed last year to move gambling from large cities to far-flung regions

28.11.2008
Bwin takes initiative in Austrian law drafting
Legislation drafted by the Austrian government's Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer is so skewed to favour state monopolies like Casinos Austria - and against European Union law - that the Vienna-listed online gambling group Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG has commissioned its legal team to draw up alternatives for the politicians to consider.

28.11.2008
South African launch for Ukash
Ukash, the European payment solution that enables online purchasing using prepaid vouchers, has launched in South Africa.

28.11.2008
Good news from Spain
The liberalisation of the Spanish gambling market continues to develop, with online gambling licensing and regulation taking centre stage in the Castilla y Leon region this week.

28.11.2008
Monday is Jamaica casino gambling crunch day
Monday is crunch day for the possible introduction of casino gambling on the island of Jamaica. Local radio reports are that the much debated decision on whether to press ahead with land casino plans as an added tourist attraction will be made at Monday's Cabinet meeting.

27.11.2008
Betsson won´t back off on land betting shop
The feisty move by Swedish online gambling company Betsson to challenge Swedish monopolistic practice by opening a land betting shop in Stockholm (see previous InfoPowa report) continues to generate headlines. This week the company announced that it has decided to appeal against the County Administrative Court’s ruling regarding the betting shop to the Administrative Court of Appeal. Betsson has consistently asserted that it believes the shop - opened six months ago - complies with European Union law.

27.11.2008
Monaco investment for sportsbet firm
Mangas Capital Gaming, which owns 75 percent of the UK online betting firm Betclick, will be half owned by Monaco hotel and land casino group Société des Bains de Mer soon following a deal involving Euro 100 million in investment that will enable Mangas to make further European online gambling acquisitions. Mangas is known to be talking to Scandinavian sports betting firm Nordicbet which is likely to be the next target.

27.11.2008
Brighter news from Sportingbet
Online gambling group Sportingbet's belt-tightening has started to deliver results, with a brighter first quarter report that shows a pretax profit of GBP 4.9 million, net gaming revenue growth up 28 percent to GBP 38.9 million, and sports betting net gaming revenue growth of 34 percent.

27.11.2008
Aussie internet threat
Australia's federal government continued to take flak this week in the growing row over its attempts to muzzle the Internet (see previous InfoPowa reports) by selective ISP and enforcement actions against sites it deems unacceptable, which include online gambling.

26.11.2008
Isle of Man unveils gambling bill
Interest in the Isle of Man as an online gambling jurisdiction has resulted in the Treasury launching the Gambling Supervision Bill 2008, which is primarily intended to provide for the Gambling Supervision Commission to become a statutory board. It also expands on the constitution, status and the exercise of functions of the commission, but does not look to alter the existing regulatory objectives, reports Isle of Man Today.

26.11.2008
Traceable tickets
Jacksonville's Lottery Post reports that two local men are facing felony charges over a stolen lottery ticket that was redeemed for $20 000, according to a police report.

26.11.2008
More sports betting arrests in New York
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan report that six arrests were made Monday in the Bronx in connection with online sportsbetting offences. The New York Daily News said prosecutors associated the arrests with organised crime, with one of those detained, Anthony Croce, allegedly an acting capo in the Luchese crime family.

26.11.2008
Topgame launches new slots at Money-Casino
Online gambling software provider Topgame has debuted its latest online slot developments on the Costa Rican based Money-Casino.com website. The launch includes a brand new progressive jackpot slot, and a collection of slots upgraded by the addition of bonus games.

26.11.2008
Tabcorp names new casinos boss
The Australian gambling group Tabcorp's new casino boss is to be Larry Mullin (46), a highly experienced executive recruited from Atlantic City in the United States. Mullin will replace former CEO Walter Bugno who leaves early in 2009 to take up a new appointment in London

25.11.2008
Slots with a difference
Japanese police are pondering what charges might be possible against online games developer Famista, which created a unique slot machine that features the features of fugitives from Japanese justice.

25.11.2008
Korea continues to fight online gambling
The South Korean newspaper Korea Times claims in an editorial this week that online gambling sites are "mushrooming" in the region despite the illegal nature of the practice...and it's at least in part due to insufficient official surveillance.

25.11.2008
AGA statements on internet gambling draw attention
American Gaming Association CEO Frank Fahrenkopf's recent comments on the possible regulation of online gambling (see previous InfoPowa reports) have ignited renewed and widespread US media interest in the idea of major land gambling groups supporting the legalisation of Internet gambling in the tough economic conditions currently presenting so many problems to the industry.

25.11.2008
Cautious Asianlogic prepares for economic slowdown
The Asian-facing online and land betting group AsianLogic plc is battening down the hatches to prepare for the global economic slowdown, according to a trading report published this week. The report moves away from earlier and more positive forecasts to advise that it will not meet 2008 market forecasts and expects 2008 full year pre-tax profits to be only marginally higher than the $7.05 million (before tax and adjustment for share-based awards), achieved at the 30 June 2008 interim stage and reported on 30 September 2008. On this basis, the 2008 results will be significantly below current market expectations.

25.11.2008
Harmonised EU regulation for egaming
The Reuters news agency reports that European Union member nations are to consider the possibilitities for harmonised egaming regulation within the trade bloc in meetings scheduled for December 1st 2008.

25.11.2008
New finance chief for Betsson
Pontus Lindwall, CEO and President of the Swedish and Malta based online gambling group Betsson AB, has announced the appointment of Fredrik Rüdén as Chief Financial Officer of the company with effect from November 24.

25.11.2008
E-Gambling could be Good business for Poland
Zbigniew Macioszek, a member of the board of Casinos Poland, gave an interesting interview this week to the Warsaw Business Journal, in which he commented on the state of e-gambling in the European Union and opined that there may be good opportunities for Poland in the jurisdictional milieu.

24.11.2008
Jackpots all the way
All Jackpots.co.uk player AlexandrosP is celebrating bigtime this week after making five consecutive hits on the same number on the Roulette Royale progressive table game, winning himself a jackpot worth a cool $1 330 165 (Euro 977 405) only eleven days after signing up at the online casino.

24.11.2008
UIGEA does not address responsible gambling
Commercial protectionism and political cynicism aside for a moment, what does the much-maligned Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act actually do to address the problem of addictive gambling? Not a lot, it appears from comments this week by the Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gaming, Keith Whyte.

23.11.2008
Grand Prive group´s US exit
Earlier information that the Microgaming-powered Grand Prive online casino group is to depart the US market entirely (see previous InfoPowa reports) has been confirmed by recent emails to the group's affiliate marketers making the move official.

23.11.2008
Bring it on
Latest arrival on the shoot 'em up gamer scene, Bringit.com, is providing online gambling on the results of video games....and because video gaming is classified as "skill gaming" it is legal.

21.11.2008
Hotspot on the spot - again
Alleged online gambling activities have reslted in the business license for the HotSpot Internet Cafe being suspended for the second time this year, and for the same reasons - a debate on whether the cafe's "sweepstakes" business model is illegal or not.

21.11.2008
Dutch bankers against UIGEA-style proposal
Dutch Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin is locking horns with the country's bankers again regarding his impractical proposal to coerce the banking industry into enforcing a Dutch-style UIGEA - an initiative which involves the banks refusing to process financial transactions with online gambling companies.

21.11.2008
Swedish provider heads east
Fresh from its successful acquisition of a sub-licensor imprimatur from the Isle Of Man jurisdiction (see previous InfoPowa reports) the Swedish online gambling software provider NYX Interactive has announced a sales initiative into Asia.

21.11.2008
A ridiculous row
In what appears to be a ridiculously bureaucratic ruling, an Australian football side touring close neighbours New Zealand has been threatened with heavy fines if it runs on in football strip carrying the logo of Australian betting website Centrebet.

20.11.2008
CAP enters the video sector
Casino Affiliate Programs.com ("CAP"), the online marketing resource and community website for Internet casino affiliates, has announced the launch of CAP TV, a new online video channel to be integrated into its family of Internet-based marketing and communications resources.

20.11.2008
Bwin has big plans for French market
The major Vienna-listed online gambling group Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG has joined other public companies reporting a relatively quiet third quarter, but the trading update included interesting news of a joint venture designed to make the most of the anticipated liberation of the French online gambling market.

20.11.2008
Is internet gambling more addictive?
Rather controversially catching the attention of industry observers this week is the reported opinion of a Swiss academic, who told a South African conference on addiction that Internet gamblers are "much more likely" to become pathological gamblers than those who frequent land casinos, and that the Internet does not provide problem gambling help.

20.11.2008
Moneybookers to issue Visa Card?
Moneybookers VIP clients in growing numbers are reporting the imminent arrival of a new VISA card facility from the e-cash processing company, which is based in the UK and regulated by the FSA.

20.11.2008
Affiliate alliance announced
Affiliate forums in the online gambling marketing sector are to band together in a new collaborative venture called the Affiliate Forum Alliance. The Alliance will be initially formed by four affiliate marketing forums: the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association owned by the Casino City group; the Association of Players, Casinos, and Webmasters owned by J. Todd, which recently joined the Casino City group; Affiliate Guard Dog.com and Poker Affiliate Listings owned by Jeremy Enke.

19.11.2008
8 years in jail for Hong Kong gambling webmaster
Sentence on the alleged ringleader of an online gambling operation which provided gambling services to Chinese punters from a Myanmar-based centre has been confirmed by a superior court, sending the defendant to jail for 8 years, and fining him 20 million yuan (about $3 million US) reports the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

19.11.2008
Bookie loses constitutinal court challenge
A licensed bookmaker in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa who challenged a law prohibiting the issue of bookmaking licenses to "juristic entities" - companies - whilst permitting the licensing of "natural," or individual bookmakers, has lost his case, reports IOL.

19.11.2008
Isle of Man licenses for Fastbet and NYX Interactive
Negotiations commenced in January this year (see previous InfoPowa reports) came to fruition this week when the Isle of Man jurisdiction announced the award of licenses to Swedish games developer NYX Interactive and to the betting exchange Fastbet.

19.11.2008
Gigamedia Q3 net profit up 24-percent to $12 mill
Gigamedia, the Asian business group that owns online gambling software provider Everest Gaming (formerly Grand Virtual) and the popular Everest Poker website, has posted its third quarter results, showing an increase in net profits of 24 percent to $12 million.

19.11.2008
Internet gambling the AGA´s priority next year?
American Gaming Association President and CEO Frank Fahrenkopf addressed the prickly question of legalised and taxed U.S. Internet gambling when he spoke to the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas Tuesday this week. On the heels of the last minute stampede by the Bush administration to rush supporting regulations for the UIGEA through, Fahrenkopf told delegates that the online industry could provide taxes for state governments feeling the pinch of declining casino revenues which lowered tax income.

18.11.2008
Netplay TV enters Swedish bingo market
London-listed NetPlay TV plc, an interactive gambling company, has announced the launch of a Swedish version of its popular bingo product, Bingos.com. The Swedish site will initially launch via the Internet but the company plans to follow this by integrating its TV and mobile products. Bingos.com currently operates as an Internet site in the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland.