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 …
Belgian gambling regulators are taking some heavy-handed moves to shut down unlicensed internet operators following the recent launch of the European nation’s regulatory regime. In addition to blacklists of operators sent to ISPs from the Belgian Gaming Commission with a blocking demand, and threats of action against financial channels, it has now emerged that the …
Swedish gaming group, Betsson, reported on its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 performance, presenting another set of strong results. Fourth Quarter Results and KPI’s include: – Revenues amounted to SEK 515.2 million (Q4/2010: SEK 484.3 million) and the operating margin amounted to 33.4 percent (Q4/2010: 26.4 percent) – Operating income amounted to SEK 172.3 …
Betfair will embark on a seven-figure European campaign that for the first time will directly name its competitors. The campaign, which was created by Betfair’s creative team and features the strapline “Don’t Settle for Less”, will appear across TV, print and online and directly compares its prices against competitors that include William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet …
GigaMedia Limited has regained its NASDAQ Stock Market minimum bid price listing requirements allowing the company to maintain its listing. The online entertainment software and services provider who develops and operates a suite of online games in Asia and retains a 40 percent equity interest in Mangas Everest (“Everest Gaming”), delivered weak results in its …
Golden Nugget has selected Chiligaming as its online gaming partner in the US. The partnership will kick-off with the launch of a free-to-play website due for launch within the next quarter. Chiligaming’s proprietary iGaming platform enables connection with any poker platform or gaming content provider and forms the central feature of the US proposition. The …
Online betting exchange Betfair is experimenting with a new format of TV advertising in partnership with Channel 4 Racing. A 30-second Betfair “in vision” advert will appear with editorial content ‘pushed’ to the corner of the television screen prior to a race featuring on Channel 5 Racing, a first in this style of advertising in …
An unidentified source from the Portuguese ministry of economy is quoted as confirming that the Government expects to collect up to Euro 250 million from online gambling concessions this year, an activity currently illegal in that country. The proposal allegedly arose in an internal Government document towards the end of last year according to The …
Andrew Beveridge, chief executive of eCOGRA, is among the nine executives named in the legal and regulatory section of the latest Hot 50 list published annually by the business publication Gaming Intelligence. The list honours “the most talented, innovative and inspired people working in online gambling” and was this year compiled by a judging panel …
The name Spencer Bachus has become synonymous with often outrageous anti-online gambling statements, but just lately the Republican Party representative for Alabama and House financial services committee chair perhaps has other things on his mind. Our readers will remember the furore last year when it was alleged that some politicians were personally benefitting from inside …