Korean and Thai authorities cracked down on an illegal internet gambling operation this week, arresting three male Koreans in their twenties. Computers and other online gambling evidence were confiscated along with the arrests of Woo Lee, Soong Lee and Jim Cho in South Pattaya, Thailand. Authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of the …
Irish gambling firm Paddy Power has entered into a partnership deal with digital sports media business PERFORM’s football website Goal.com as its latest bookmaking partner. Along with a large selection of markets, Paddy Power offers in-play action on hundreds of games and free live streams of top European leagues such as Serie A and South …
It’s a slow and tortuous political path, but a proposal to legalise single game sports betting in Canada has been quietly making progress over the past few months, and this week passed a key committee stage that has forwarded the bill for a parliamentary third reading before going to the Canadian Senate. The bill in …
Top UK football club Manchester City has announced that it has teamed up with bookmaking firm Paddy Power as its official UK betting partner in a deal that will see Paddy Power and the club collaborate across a wide range of commercial activities. As part of the deal – running until the end of the …
Jason Drummond and Stephen Pettman have departed the board of directors at Media Corporation plc, the AIM quoted advertising network and online gaming group, which recently signed an agreement to provide online gambling content to the revamped Hippodrome Casino in London. Justin Drummond, who was appointed executive chairman to replace Jason Drummond at the agm, …
The European Court of Justice has again ruled that national regulators must not discriminate against foreign companies trying to enter their markets from other EU nations, warning that it is against EU law for national legislation to seek to protect the market position of incumbents. In an important preliminary ruling Thursday in the joint cases …
The major UK online and land gambling group Ladbrokes has posted its Q3-2011 results, showcasing a small increase in revenues, but a correspondingly small decline in operating profit. Highlights of the report, which details the company’s performance for the three months to September 30, include: * Group net revenue up 2.5 percent. * Group operating …
The eight year World Trade Organisation stand-off between the government of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States over internet gambling could be about to hit the headlines again. On Wednesday the island government’s Finance and Economy Minister Harold Lovell announced that the government is thinking about resurrecting the dispute in the WTO on the …
The recently launched Darts Web-Fans, a website designed for and run by fans of the professional sport of darts, has signed a sponsorship deal with UK betting and gaming firm William Hill. The website features content on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) formats of professional darts including player rankings and …
Media Corporation Plc, recently in the news with the announcement of a joint venture partnership agreement with Hippodrome Casino , has advised of a claim in excess of GBP 300 000 laid against it and a dormant subsidiary of the Company, Search Focus Limited. While little information has been released on the nature of the …
The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) is challenging Greece’s new online gambling taxation proposals in that Country’s courts. The current proposal requires licenced gambling operators who have historically been active in the Greek market to pay retrospective taxes on revenues earned from Greece-based customers from January 1, 2010 until new licences are awarded. Licenced gambling operators …
Social gaming giant Zynga acquired the rights to create a new version of Slingo Inc’s 15-year-old land slot and web game for launch on Facebook. Zynga Slingo, a combination of traditional Bingo and a slot machine, was reportedly launched on Facebook today (Wednesday) in 14 languages. Industry observers note that the game is perfectly aligned …
Sports betting community website OLBG.com has signed up as sponsor of the Cheltenham Festival’s Grade 2 National Hunt race “The David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle”. The race, to be renamed the OLBG Mares Hurdle (for The David Nicholson Trophy), is run over two miles and four furlongs and is open to mares aged four years and …
Italian gaming group Lottomatica Group S.p.A. has announced its full year unaudited preliminary results indicating a strong performance in 2011 with growth across all business segments. Group Key Performance Highlights include: – Consolidated Revenues of Euro 2.97 billion (2010: Euro 2.31 billion), up 28.5 percent – EBITDA of Euro 970 million (2010: Euro 812 million), …
The European internet gambling group Unibet plc has posted a strong Q4-2011 performance, with gross winnings revenue revenue up by 26 percent to GBP 44.7 million, continuing Unibet’s recovery from a weak H1-2011 and lifting revenues for the full year 5 percent to GBP 154.4 million (FY-2010 GBP147.5 million). Other highlights included: · Profit from …
The giant Austrian gambling equipment and games supply group Novomatic has acquired internet games software developer Mazooma along with the UK’s largest gaming machine operator Gamestec, Bell-Fruit Games and RLMS, according to a report on the Intergame website. Novomatic already owns the Greentube online games development company in its native Austria, and the latest moves …
In Australia, the joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform has submitted its report, calling for more research, a ban on promoting live odds at sporting venues and during event broadcasts and generally tighter controls. Chaired by independent MP and anti-online gambling politician Andrew Wilkie, the committee opined that betting on sport is proliferating and is …
The Serbian government, which late last years introduced an online gambling licensing regime, has started moving against foreign operators accessing the Serbian market. The local newspaper Blic reports that the Serbian Gaming Board has demanded that the eastern European nation’s main Internet Service Providers block 70 black listed foreign sites that includes Betfair, Bwin, Bet365, …
There have been a number of key online gambling operator and horse race sponsorship partnerships recently, and this week is no exception with no fewer than three announced in the past week alone. Online betting exchange Betfair has entered into a sponsorship deal with Sandown Park’s “The Brigadier Gerard Stakes horseracing event” to be held …
The police in Bangalore, India have reported the arrest of a Nigerian internet lottery fraudster and two local associates whose greed in trying for a second bite on a victim led to their downfall. Nigerian Paul Osagi (41) met his match last week when one of his scam text messages advising recipients that they had …
Reports late last week that Microgaming Poker Network had lowered the boom on Spanish players in compliance with that country’s new internet poker regulatory regime were clarified over the weekend by Richard Cunningham, head of poker at Stan James.com. Cunningham explained to the information website PokerUpdate that all Microgaming operators who are currently applying for …
The January numbers for Atlantic City casinos have been released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, but will hardly be comforting for operators. Casino revenue fell 7.2 percent in January, depriving the Atlantic City gaming industry of its first back-to-back monthly increase since late 2006, according to the Press of Atlantic City assessment. …
The Spanish gambling group Codere appears to be intent on whittling down potential competition in its newly liberalised and regulated home market, launching a series of legal actions seeking injunctions against prominent online gambling operators. Targets have included the Austrian publicly listed group Bwin, online poker giant Pokerstars and sports betting group Sportingbet. Codere’s take …
Police spokesman Datuk Hamza Taib told Malaysian mainstream media this week that in the first month of 2012 his officers have already conducted 167 anti-gambling raids – 52 of these against online gambling enterprises. Hamza said 92 people were detained in raids, chiefly on illegal 4-D lotteries, cockfighting and cyber gambling. He said that there …