INTERNET BLACKMAIL
29 August 2003 Sunny Group Press release
A most unusual dispute between Mapau www.mapau.com
, an Internet and Land based Casino , and portal, Gonegambling.com has resulted in a charge by the famous Casino that it has been subjected to Internet Blackmail. Sunny Group Chairman, Dr.Waldron-Ramsay said:
" For several years Mapau casino has been advertising with the portal run by John Abbott. Thousands of customers came to Mapau from the portal and Mapau has had the most incredible amount of complimentary letters from so many of the customers. Many times the portal complimented Mapau on the incredible service and experience given. Mapau has also been voted most Honest Casino on the Internet by gamblers at www.gambling.com.
The Board of Directors is absolutely shocked at the recent demand by John Abbott that unless we pay Mr.Booth $5000 the portal will run the following article (http://www.gonegambling.com/problem...lems-sunny.html) which we deem to be libelous, unfair , untrue and blackmail by Mr.Abbott . Mapau Casino denies the allegations of Mr.Abbott and refuses to pay him or his associate $5000 or any amount. We believe any dispute belongs in a court of law and have repeatedly asked both Mr.Abbott and Mr.Booth to direct their hostility to such. We do not subject ourselves to the jurisdiction nor the blackmail of Mr.Abbott and immediately sever any contacts with him or his portal. "
In the past couple of years Internet Casinos have been under pressure from the US and Australian authorities. As a result advertising spend has been estimated to have been cut by over 70%, hurting many portals and driving many to closure. Mapau Marketing Director , Natasha Singh said, " Mapau used to spend over one million dollars a month on advertising. This is now down to just a quarter of this. Campaigns have to be monitored very closely. The campaign with Mr.Abbotts' portal has been very enjoyable to us because of the relationship developed with the resultant customers over a period of time. Profits have to talk however, and when it came for renewal we were going to quit but stayed on for another quarter at the insistence of Mr.Abbott. This also did not work out and we gave notice that we would not be continuing. I believe the actions of Mr.Abbott are based on this."
In essence Sunny is alleged to have plagiarised a page from Bet2Gamble and used it twice in a 'zine ad without payment or permission. Bet2Gamble published emails from Sunny personnel which strongly indicated that they were aware after the first ad appeared that they were at fault. Bet2Gamble claims it protested and was ignored, compelling the webmaster 'CM' Booth to send a lawyer's letter to Sunny requesting compensation of a one time advertising payment of $500.
When this approach proved unsuccessful, Bet2Gamble asked Gone Gambling's John Abbot to mediate in the matter due to his close business association of many years with Sunny.
It is claimed that several top people at Sunny simply ignored Abbot's repeated emails and attempts to help resolve the issue in a sensible fashion, creating tension between Gone Gambling and Sunny and ultimately causing Abbot to threaten to pull their advertising at a cost to himself of some $7 000 a month.
Abbot has received wide player approbation for his principled stand on the issue.
Sunny eventually responded with the excuse that they had been following legal advice in ignoring Gone Gambling's approaches. However they did not initially answer the accusations or offer to settle the matter.
GG's 8 000-some members have now been advised of the Sunny position, and there is no doubt that the message boards and online media will be buzzing with this story in the days ahead.
As we went to press Sunny had issued an extraordinary press release denying culpability and claiming that they were being blackmailed by Gone Gambling and Bet2Gamble, describing the affair as "libelous, unfair , untrue and blackmail by Mr.Abbott".
The release also claimed that despite a hitherto successful relationship the casino group had cut its marketing budget by 75 percent and had decided not to renew with GoneGambling, implying that this was the motive for Abbot's involvement on Bet2Gamble's behalf.
Abbot has always vigorously guarded the good reputation and credibility of the Gone Gambling portal, which he claims to be his motivation for severing business relationships with John Wallis at Sunny and pulling their advertising.
The new casino site Vegascasino1.com had us guessing this week when we were intrigued to find that although it was clearly using the Interactive Gaming Software gambling software package, the supplier was identified as "World Wide Net Solutions"
However, on registering and entering the casino we were immediately rerouted to another Interactive Gaming-powered site branded Gambling Saloon.com, confirming our original identification of the software.
So we asked Vegascasino1 and Gambling Saloon, what their relationship was and who was the real software provider - an innocuous enough question and one to which we have yet to receive a reply.
Global Interactive Gaming Ltd (GIG) pulled off another interactive TV coup by agreeing this week with BSkyB giant's subsidiary Sky Bet to amend the launch schedule for its patented SportXction(TM) wagering software on BSkyB's digital television platform.
The revised schedule is favorably regarded because the number of sporting events that can now be offered for wagering can expand significantly beyond soccer, the only sport which would have been available under the previous schedule. SportXction(TM) currently offers live play-by-play wagering for soccer, cricket, golf and tennis.
Under the new schedule, the order of implementation for the three delivery modes for the SportXction(TM) system will be revised. The Internet service will now be accelerated and lead the group. This will be followed by the 1/4 screen offering. The "Sky Bet Live" offering previously scheduled to be introduced first will now be third. The first launch, the Internet offering and the 1/4 screen interactive service are now scheduled for introduction by Q1 2004. "Sky Bet Live" service launch will subsequently take place early in 2004.
The 1/4 screen offering allows subscribers of BSkyB's digital television platform, a potential market of 6.8 million households, to make interactive wagers using their remote control while watching a sporting event. While using this product, the TV video is reduced to approximately 1/4 screen size to allow the display of the wagering propositions and odds information. The 1/4 screen offering will be made available during the current football (soccer) season. Utilizing both the 1/4 screen and Sky Bet's Internet websites, the SportXction(TM) System will provide viewers with new and innovative betting opportunities.
According to reports this week in the UK Independent broadsheet, the sale of Stanley Leisure may not necessarily involve a management buy-out.
Stanley Leisure has apparently received two bid approaches, one from William Hill and the other from an unidentifed US rival, and it is understood that the gambling group is currently weighing up both approaches.
The Independent says that it has long been rumoured that Stanley Leisure's days as a London listed company are numbered. Gossips have for some time suggested that Leonard Steinberg, the group's chairman and largest shareholder with about 20 per cent of the equity, is unhappy with the company's stock market rating. However, speculation that corporate action is in the offing really took off last month when Mr Steinberg stepped back from his post as executive chairman to take his first non-executive role at the casino and betting shop operator in almost 50 years.
The immediate talk was of an MBO backed by him, but analysts have since played down this suggestion, noting that Mr Steinberg is now 66 and more likely to be looking to reduce his stake in Stanley Leisure given his age rather than increase it. Market professionals have also argued that he was more likely to take the group private two years ago, when it was on a significantly lower rating.
Cirrus Casino.com had everyone guessing this week when it suddenly became unavailable, with the following notice occupying its usual url position on the Internet:
"The URL (website) you have requested is associated with a domain name registered with TotalNIC, the original half-price registration service.
Unfortunately the domain has expired or is subject to a billing dispute. If this is your domain please click here to renew your domain"
Both players and affiliates experienced contact difficulties over the next few days, raising speculation regarding the future of the casino, but the site was back up by mid-week and visitors were informed that the downtime had been for "technical reasons".
Avi Goldman (understood to be an Israeli businessman and the head honcho at the ADLM Got2bet public company) is apparently being sued by Microsoft on a brand infringement over the RTG-powered Windows Casino.com.
The conventional wisdom was that the elusive and East European based Tony Friedman (who is reported to have business links with Goldman) was the owner of the domain.
There's a ton of reading here, but for the curious it is interesting and informative:
ANTIGUA AND U.S. DISAGREE ON DISPUTE PANEL
29 August2003
Stalemate at World Trade Organisation
Antigua's attempt to bring the United States before a dispute panel over its anti-internet gambling activities has been halted for a period of up to thirty days by a procedural issue - the parties cannot agree on the composition of a WTO panel to hear the issue.
The warring parties travelled to Geneva and a meeting chaired by the WTO secretariat last week to debate an Antiguan complaint against the States which was lodged in June this year. The islanders claim that American policies attacking the delivery of funds for offshore Got2bet transactions constitute a violation of the General Agreement on Trade and Services and are hamstringing the Antigua and Barbuda economy which is largely dependent on this source of revenue.
In response, the U.S. is reported to have successfully blocked the island request to the WTO that an arbitration panel be commissioned. The case then went to dispute settlement in July, and the establishment of a panel to resolve the dispute was ordered, effective at the current meetings in Geneva.
When this route was foiled by an inability to agree on the composition of the panel, Antigua lead negotiator Sir Ronald Sanders accused the Americans for being responsible for the lack of progress, saying ""We were provided with two lists of people by the WTO secretariat, most of whom were rejected by the U.S. on the basis that they didn’t like what someone said about them or wrote about them or whatever."
Sanders then took an alternative procedural route by asking the director general of the WTO to appoint a panel, which has apparently now been done, enabling the arguing parties to present their cases and abide by the resultant findings.
"It has to happen within 30 days," Sanders says. "There are very clear rules laid down on all of this, you know; there is no hemming and hawing about it. They just have to proceed on the basis of the rules."
Antigua's Prime Minister Lester Bird claims that American policies on internet gambling have cost the Antiguan economy some $30 million. It is understood that Antigua licensed and drew revenues from over a hundred Got2bet operators a mere two years ago, creating employment for some 5 000 islanders. The situation has changed radically since then, with an estimated 40 operators remaining in the Caribbean jurisdiction.
This was not a good week for Florida legal eagle David Tedder (56) who has been found guilty on felony charges arising from his activities in an offshore gambling venture operating out of Wisconsin and the Dutch Antilles off the coast of Latin America.
The US District Court in Madison, Wisconsin handed down a stiff sentence of five years imprisonment and a fine of over a million US dollars on four felony charges, ordering that he forfeit $2.8 million in profits and serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term.
Tedder was one of eight accuseds involved in the failed Gold Medal Sportsbook, which processed $402.7 million in bets from American gamblers over the internet between the years 1996 and 2000.
Hype press releases this week indicated that the Angelciti group is climbing on the poker bandwagon, using the Empire Poker software as the vehicle. This is effectively a website front for Empire Poker, with the download coming direct from empirepoker.com.
"Poker is hotter than ever. Thanks to The Travel Channel's 13-week World Poker Tour and its top-rated Poker shows, Poker fever has never been more popular amongst America’s 50 million plus poker enthusiasts." the release boasts.
AngelCiti Entertainment's wholly owned subsidiary Worldwide Management has branded their Empire operation SharkPoker.com, with a new website that will have a live multi-player environment. The site will compete with established operations like the Prima Poker Network and PokerStars.com where it is claimed $2.5 million was won by a player who qualified by winning an online tournament of this year's World Series of Poker that attracted a record 839 players.
Reports have been surfacing for the past two weeks of players discovering unauthorised charges to their credit cards from Roman Casino.com - some after prolonged absences from the casino. The posters involve claim that Roman Casino's support staff are less than helpful and in fact have been downright impudent on occasions. There have been other reports recently of certain questionable casinos putting in unauthorised and unjustified charges, reminding players yet again that it is essential to carefully check bank and card accounts as soon as they come in, and promptly challenge any discrepancies.
Editor's note: For more information, please check our Rogue Casino section.
Betting through interactive television is proving a success, judging by satellite broadcaster Sky TV’s latest financial results, which show that the TV group made more than half its total iTV revenues from betting in the last 12 months.
£117 million ($187 million) of a total £218 million ($348 million) of interactive revenues came from Sky Bet, Sky's wholly-owned bookmaking operation. 12 million bets of Sky Bet’s wagers were made via the red button on the handset and 3 million over the telephone, which will please Sky as its preferred betting mechanism is iTV.
The £218 ($348 million) million figure represented an overall year-on-year increase in interactive revenues of 17% in the 12 months ending 30 June 2003. Revenues from iTV advertising were up a very significant 54%. Interactive ARPU (average revenue per user) stood at £17 for the fourth quarter, up from £15 figure quoted at the half-year stage in February.
Ladbrokes is still in there punching on its EU argument against sovereign States that seek to keep their gambling markets to themselves.
In their latest action the inernational betting group has laid a complaint with the Finnish Chancellor of Justice on grounds that the Ministry of the Interior is interfering with Internet gambling in that country.
Helsingin Sanomat reports that the Ladbroke complaint claims that there is no offence under Finnish law applicable to the group marketing its Internet gambling service in Finland.
Ladbrokes suggests that because it is a member of the European Union, Finland, like Greece and Italy, has no legal foundation that justifies action against Internet gambling.
The Ministry has argued against the complaint and a decision is awaited.
It looks as if Poker.com Inc has fallen behind schedule on its launch of the Poker Skills technology and is still in Beta mode. This week the company issued yet another press release detailing the granting of a second Poker Skills licence (the first one was to the Blue Diamond Swiss firm from which Poker.com Inc originally obtained the Poker Skills license)
The latest licensee, Syzygy Enterprises Inc looks to be more of a "deal" than an actual commercial sale of a license.
Observers noted, too that unusually no mention of the Poker.com brand litigation is made in this release and speculated that perhaps they are allowing that one to drop off the radar!
The release announces that Poker.com Inc has finalized an agreement for the launch and operation of a second poker license using the patent pending Skill Poker system. The license will be used at the URL Poker.cc which was acquired by Poker.com Inc. in 2002. Under the terms and conditions of the original agreement to acquire this URL, the company was required to sub license both casino and poker software systems to Syzygy Enterprises Inc. The current agreement supercedes any previous contracts among the parties and provides for a Skill Poker sub license for operation at the site.
Yes, it's time to head Vegas-wards again for this year's Interactive Gaming Pavilion at the Global Gaming Expo.
Business conditions are tough, but the competition in gaming is even fiercer this year, so you can't afford to miss the new products, technologies and trends showcased at G2E which opens September 16 and runs through to 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
If you would like to register to attend G2E, please visit here
Take your raincoat...
This is the last week for the early registration discounts of $200 for the ASROC conference, which end on August 31, so get into gear of you plan on going and save some of your hanrd-earned cash.
The event takes place October 8-9, 2003 in London and focuses on alternative online payment systems.
U.S.A. Department of the Treasury
U.K. Department of the Treasury
European Commission
AOL
Mastercard
First Data
Gartner G2
British Airways
One for the lawyers and tax accountants
The Council for International Tax Education and The River City Group are teaming up again to bring you the Second Annual Conference on Emerging Issues in Online Entertainment and Interactive Gaming. Now how's that for a really catchy title?
This two-day seminar is aimed at updating attorneys, accountants and corporate executives responsible for developing and operating global online entertainment and I-gaming businesses with information they need to stay current with the latest legal and tax developments that affect those businesses.
Global Interactive Gaming Limited (GIG) has signed an agreement with Sportingbet plc, one of the world's largest Internet sports wagering groups for the use of the SportXction play-by-play sports betting system, which has been incorporated into Sportingbet's UK and European sports wagering web sites, providing first level customer support and processing for customer financial transactions.
Integration of the system into Sportingbet's websites is complete and the service is now "live" following a "soft" launch for this week's Croatia v England International Football match.
The Agreement is an interim arrangement that covers a period of approximately 10 weeks, while Sportingbet completes work on its next generation back end software. GIG programmers have been working on multi-currency and multi- language enhancements to the system, which are well advanced.
Matt Jellicoe, Head of Marketing at Sportingbet, said, "We have been looking at the SportXction(TM) System for some time now and will be implementing an extensive marketing campaign to bring this product to our customer base as quickly as possible. We very much look forward to seeing the multi-language and multi-currency versions of the system which may enable us to offer this product to a much greater global audience."
Sportingbet will operate the SportXction(TM) system for all of the currently available sports of football, cricket, golf and tennis with rugby due to follow shortly.
SportXction is a patented, real-time, software system, which allows a player to make play-by-play wagers on a sporting event while the event is in progress. Wagering may be conducted while viewing a live or televised sporting event, or listening to it on the radio. The wagers offered are mostly oriented to short-term action, for example, is the penalty kick successful, is the next play a run or a pass, is the next pitch a ball or a strike, does the shooter make two foul shots, and many more. The wagers have odds associated with them, which relate to the probable outcome of the proposition being wagered upon, and the odds are adjusted in real time to balance the pool using proprietary artificial intelligence software to reflect player sentiment, as derived from the betting patterns. The system can be used with virtually any sport.
Return to Top HUNDRED MILLION MILESTONE
22 August 2003
A new internet record for Jackpot Madness
The Jackpot Madness progressive jackpot network has achieved another remarkable industry milestone: the site has paid out over $100,000,000 to 3,112 winners in cash since its founding in 1999. This mind-boggling sum includes three cash payments, each of more than $1,500,000 to three Major Millions instant millionaires.
With a track record of establishing benchmarks for the industry, and then setting and breaking its own records time and again Jackpot Madness has awarded the three biggest online jackpots ever on its Major Millions game. Each of those jackpots of over $1,500,000 broke the previous industry best. The latest record was set on July 18th this year, when Jim L. scooped a life-changing, single payment win of $1,683,524.64 .
The overwhelming success of Jackpot Madness can perhaps be attributed to a winning combination of the top 11 progressives on the internet, the respected Microgaming name and a significant and loyal player base. Many of the Jackpot Madness winners have won multiple times, proving their loyalty to these high-win games.
The definitive and certainly luckiest progressives player is surely Marka H, an eight-time Jackpot Madness winner who says, "I am still shooting for win number nine, and I would really love to hit all of the games once. That leaves Cash Splash, LotsaLoot and Major Millions that I haven't yet won. My largest land casino win doesn't even come close to the big jackpots I have won online."
Swedish turnkey to concentrate on its core business
Swedish turnkey provider Boss Media released its six month financial report to end June 2003 this week, taking the opportunity to reveal its intentions in the online gaming industry.
Reporting that consolidation in the industry had resulted in a reduction in small licensees, the report says, "A dozen or so smaller and less profitable (Boss) casinos have been driven out of business this year and more will fold before the year ends."
The report comes amid recent news that the Women's Vegas, Mens Vegas, Camelot, Magic and California casinos, all powered by Boss have closed.
Boss intends to split its own gambling operations from its core business, and is currently negotiating with unnamed parties with a view to selling off Gold Club Casino.com and the marketing portal Casino.com.
Despite tight business conditions the company boosted royalty incomes by 55 percent to Swedish Kroner 39.7 million, and pushed net sales up 6 percent to SEK 66.2 million. The second quarter was better than the first, mainly due to business from established European and UK gaming companies.
Net profit was up at SEK 10 million, or around US$1.2 million.
The report carries news on the progress of various new products. These include poker, which is still at the growth stage and is generating only small revenues through a strategy where partners send all players to a single poker community. The lottery business also appears slow, with the Svenska Spel launch scheduled for the thrid quarter but low demand or revenue contributions. Interactive video terminals (IVT) looks promising and Boss has teamed with fellow Swede EssNetAB to develop program code for physical gaming machines.
The 2002 and 2003 editions of the Bear Stearns North American Gaming Almanac are now available on CD exclusively from Casino City Press.
Formerly available only for the private use of the world's top institutional investors, these complete one-stop references contain every fact, figure, and statistic a gaming executive could possibly need, with in-depth company profiles, revenue summaries and projections, economic outlooks, region-by-region demographic breakdowns, and more. There are over 600 pages of in-depth analysis and data, and each edition of the Almanac provides a comprehensive look at the gaming industry from leading analyst Jason Ader.
The CD includes:
Hundreds of charts and graphs put the data at your fingertips.
Dozens of maps draw clear pictures of casino locations and area gaming density.
Extended appendices cover three hot industry topics: gaming accounting, e-gaming, and horse racing.
Sophisticated research from the prestigious Bear Stearns group breaks down each market and jurisdiction.
Ader is widely regarded as one of the top gaming and lodging authorities on Wall Street.
Return to Top
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
22 August 2003
Plenty of potential for English Got2bet
A snap telephonic survey commissioned by the Brit newspaper The Guardian and carried out by ICM on a random sample of 1001 adults over age 18 this week produced some interesting results and held out the promise of room for development as far as Got2bet is concerned. In the lifestyle survey different types of gambling were tested for popularity with the participants, with the following results: 65% of respondents had gambled on a lottery at least once within the past year, 38% took part in a raffle, 17% laid bets on the horses,
Bingo and dogs ranked a very low percentile in the AB social class group, compared with 17% and 3% respectively in DE social class. Football pools gambling declined to 6% in popularity from an all-time high of 47% in the 'Fifties Perhaps the most startling stat for industry followers was that for gambling - all types - online. Despite massive connectionfacilities and thousands of online gaming sites just a click away - only 2% gambled online.
Clearly there is great potential for marketing and growth.
The improved but hardly stellar business performance last year has not stopped Austrian public company Betandwin.com Interactive Entertainment from taking over the platform Beteurope.com, which specialises in the Turkish betting market.
The sports betting products offered will concentrate on Turkish regional football leagues and an extensive selection of live bets on matches in the first and second Turkish leagues is also in preparation.
Both parties have agreed that the commercial details of the acquisition will not be revealed, though the purchase price will be financed in the form of shares, cash, and success oriented "earn out" payments from operations during the first two years.
What is claimed to be the first Panamanian licensed gambling site - a sportsbook - debuted this week.
Managed by Richard Long (formerly with Betmaker and Sportingbet.com), Marty Monroe (formerly with Galaxy and Royal Sports) and Scotty King (formerly of Pinnacle Sports) BetPanAm.com is the first officially licensed and government regulated sportsbook in Panama.
'Our license was three years in the making and has teeth in it to protect players. Regulatory due diligence is strict and goes over the past history of those applying for a license with a fine tooth comb, so dead beats and other bad elements are screened out before they get very far in the process,' Monroe said.
Panama is a G-7 nation, which means it shares banking regulations with the U.S. It is also an industrialized country in which English is the primary language. Every gaming licensee must post a $500,000 bond with the government to insure payment in any disputed claim that is upheld.
Betting limits will be: online $5 minimum, $2,000 max on sides, $1,000 max on totals; phones, $5 minimum, $5,000 max sides/$2,000 max totals. Vig will be competitive and payouts 'will be done at the speed of light,' said Marty. 'That is only a mild exaggeration as our banking services here are fast, efficient and highly confidential.'
In order to honor its claims, BetPanAm 'has a technology infrastructure with cutting edge accessibility not generally available in the Caribbean region. We're one step off two worldwide central fiber-optic cables,' Monroe explained, adding, 'We have totally redundant communications on both Internet and phone through dual fiber cables from two separate switches on the fiber ring throughout Panama City.'
The book will open with a world class betting menu for sports enthusiasts, and will soon be followed with Pari-mutuel horse betting, poker tournaments and soccer from around the world.
Boss Media-powered California Casino.com was the latest casino casualty this week, with players advised in an onsite notice that the operation was closing and that any monies remaining in playing accounts on 10 September would be forfeit to the casino.
As we have commented before, this is hardly a professional way to deal with closing player accounts, but it seems to be a Boss-inspired standard procedure because it was used when Womens Vegas and Mens Vegas casinos made similar announcements recently.
We are reliably informed that Odds On-powered Magic Lamp Casino has closed, too.
Twst.com carried an interesting interview with William Hill CEO David Harding this week on the UK betting scene, and his comments on regulating gambling are words to the not-so-wise.
Asked about the large scale review of gambling in the UK at present. Harding replied:
"There is and it's with a view to further deregulation. Its certainly not a moral issue, nor is it party political, and the debate now centers on the extent to which the government needs to protect some people from themselves, versus giving everyone individual freedom. The UK government knows well that decriminalizing gambling cuts organized crime out of it. Having realized that and having seen the benefits of a well-run and deregulated gambling industry for forty years, they’re now looking to further deregulation so that the industry can become an even greater tax earner for them."
The Prism and Virtual RTG-powered group of casinos and their numerous clones do not have a great reputation for good customer relations, fairness or responsive communications, according to many players on the main message boards.
So it was all the more surprising this week when a character called Joe Black started approaching the more significant portal sites with the news that he is a new appointee and that the Virtual group are anxious to repair their image. He asked for details of outstanding complaints so that he could address same, and informed that he was the new affiliate manager.
In the same timeframe, a Prism Pitboss signing himself as *John* started posting, apparently trying to repair the damage that has accrued to the casinos reputation. Understandably, players weary of unrealised promises in the past treated these events with a degree of cynicism.
We now have a new affiliate program press release from this group, and it is tempting to position these events together as the real motivation for this sudden rush of player concern. Or is that weak reputation starting to sting in a tough market?
No payments from Gamblers Lobby
Previous reviews have reported on the bad casino practice at Gamblers Lobby group, where manager Kent Spaulding and his staff seem to take a rather casual view of their players' right to fair and courteous treatment and prompt payouts. GL has a history of payout problems which have been previously explained as due to weak cash flow following dilatory investor contributions. This time around there were unexplained lockouts with cash still in accounts, and evidence that certain winners were asked to make favourable posts in return for receiving their long overdue payouts...in instalments! Some of them went for the deal, hoping that this casino manager would keep his word, but unfortunately it has not proved to be the case and seriously miffed players are now starting to come forward with complaints that even their instalments have dried up. Last we heard from Spaulding in answer to a list of reasonable questions was a rather flippant "Everything's great!" and "Players will always complain when they're losing" Hello? These players are winners and it is your obligation to pay them.
Futurebet payouts still a problem
Reports of slow pay are still appearing about Futurebet in general and Maxi and TopBet in particular.
Betting through interactive television is proving a success, judging by satellite broadcaster Sky TV’s latest financial results, which show that the TV group made more than half its total iTV revenues from betting in the last 12 months.
£117 million ($187 million) of a total £218 million ($348 million) of interactive revenues came from Sky Bet, Sky's wholly-owned bookmaking operation. 12 million bets of Sky Bet’s wagers were made via the red button on the handset and 3 million over the telephone, which will please Sky as its preferred betting mechanism is iTV.
The £218 ($348 million) million figure represented an overall year-on-year increase in interactive revenues of 17% in the 12 months ending 30 June 2003. Revenues from iTV advertising were up a very significant 54%. Interactive ARPU (average revenue per user) stood at £17 for the fourth quarter, up from £15 figure quoted at the half-year stage in February.
Ladbrokes is still in there punching on its EU argument against sovereign States that seek to keep their gambling markets to themselves.
In their latest action the inernational betting group has laid a complaint with the Finnish Chancellor of Justice on grounds that the Ministry of the Interior is interfering with Internet gambling in that country.
Helsingin Sanomat reports that the Ladbroke complaint claims that there is no offence under Finnish law applicable to the group marketing its Internet gambling service in Finland.
Ladbrokes suggests that because it is a member of the European Union, Finland, like Greece and Italy, has no legal foundation that justifies action against Internet gambling.
The Ministry has argued against the complaint and a decision is awaited.
It looks as if Poker.com Inc has fallen behind schedule on its launch of the Poker Skills technology and is still in Beta mode. This week the company issued yet another press release detailing the granting of a second Poker Skills licence (the first one was to the Blue Diamond Swiss firm from which Poker.com Inc originally obtained the Poker Skills license)
The latest licensee, Syzygy Enterprises Inc looks to be more of a "deal" than an actual commercial sale of a license.
Observers noted, too that unusually no mention of the Poker.com brand litigation is made in this release and speculated that perhaps they are allowing that one to drop off the radar!
The release announces that Poker.com Inc has finalized an agreement for the launch and operation of a second poker license using the patent pending Skill Poker system. The license will be used at the URL Poker.cc which was acquired by Poker.com Inc. in 2002. Under the terms and conditions of the original agreement to acquire this URL, the company was required to sub license both casino and poker software systems to Syzygy Enterprises Inc. The current agreement supercedes any previous contracts among the parties and provides for a Skill Poker sub license for operation at the site.
Yes, it's time to head Vegas-wards again for this year's Interactive Gaming Pavilion at the Global Gaming Expo.
Business conditions are tough, but the competition in gaming is even fiercer this year, so you can't afford to miss the new products, technologies and trends showcased at G2E which opens September 16 and runs through to 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
If you would like to register to attend G2E, please visit here
Take your raincoat...
This is the last week for the early registration discounts of $200 for the ASROC conference, which end on August 31, so get into gear of you plan on going and save some of your hanrd-earned cash.
The event takes place October 8-9, 2003 in London and focuses on alternative online payment systems.
U.S.A. Department of the Treasury
U.K. Department of the Treasury
European Commission
AOL
Mastercard
First Data
Gartner G2
British Airways
One for the lawyers and tax accountants
The Council for International Tax Education and The River City Group are teaming up again to bring you the Second Annual Conference on Emerging Issues in Online Entertainment and Interactive Gaming. Now how's that for a really catchy title?
This two-day seminar is aimed at updating attorneys, accountants and corporate executives responsible for developing and operating global online entertainment and I-gaming businesses with information they need to stay current with the latest legal and tax developments that affect those businesses.
Global Interactive Gaming Limited (GIG) has signed an agreement with Sportingbet plc, one of the world's largest Internet sports wagering groups for the use of the SportXction play-by-play sports betting system, which has been incorporated into Sportingbet's UK and European sports wagering web sites, providing first level customer support and processing for customer financial transactions.
Integration of the system into Sportingbet's websites is complete and the service is now "live" following a "soft" launch for this week's Croatia v England International Football match.
The Agreement is an interim arrangement that covers a period of approximately 10 weeks, while Sportingbet completes work on its next generation back end software. GIG programmers have been working on multi-currency and multi- language enhancements to the system, which are well advanced.
Matt Jellicoe, Head of Marketing at Sportingbet, said, "We have been looking at the SportXction(TM) System for some time now and will be implementing an extensive marketing campaign to bring this product to our customer base as quickly as possible. We very much look forward to seeing the multi-language and multi-currency versions of the system which may enable us to offer this product to a much greater global audience."
Sportingbet will operate the SportXction(TM) system for all of the currently available sports of football, cricket, golf and tennis with rugby due to follow shortly.
SportXction is a patented, real-time, software system, which allows a player to make play-by-play wagers on a sporting event while the event is in progress. Wagering may be conducted while viewing a live or televised sporting event, or listening to it on the radio. The wagers offered are mostly oriented to short-term action, for example, is the penalty kick successful, is the next play a run or a pass, is the next pitch a ball or a strike, does the shooter make two foul shots, and many more. The wagers have odds associated with them, which relate to the probable outcome of the proposition being wagered upon, and the odds are adjusted in real time to balance the pool using proprietary artificial intelligence software to reflect player sentiment, as derived from the betting patterns. The system can be used with virtually any sport.
Return to Top TRUE GAMBLER'S OCA RESULTS DUE
15 August 2003
New date for release of independent gaming stats
It's been some time since Chris Hughes of True Gambler.com released the first controversial set of gambling software test statistics, but the many online gamblers who are waiting for the next release will soon have their patience rewarded.
Hughes has posted on several message boards that the results, which apparently cover blackjack software from several major providers will be made public on 1st September this year.
Online Casino Analyser is an ingenious software suite that enables hundreds or even thousands of online gamblers who register with True Gambler to have their routine play recorded and analysed for randomness over time on a dedicated server. It thus makes possible very high volume (millions of hands) and totally independent testing of a variety of standard casino game products.
Feds reported worried about offshore gambling transactions
Got2bet news site Sports911 carried a report this week indicating that Western Union is "under tight scrutiny" by US law enforcement officials and could call an end to money transmissions to offshore gambling operations.
The company had not replied to an email asking for comment as we went to press.
Western Union's Curacao office was recently the victim of a million dollar plus employee fraud which caused several sportsbooks to suspend WU dealings for a number of weeks. 911 sources claim that the guilty employee is still at large and is currently in either Surinam or South Africa. Surinam attorneys hired by the DMIV, a facilitator for the Western Union transactions, reportedly will have all the man's assets tied up by this weekend.
Commenting on Western Union and its legal standing in the offshore gambling world, some sports book owners have told 911 that they contemplated turning their backs on the payment transfer company, though it is by far the most popular method for payment and receiving of funds by sports bettors.
FBI agents investigating Western Union are said to be very concerned over the large sums of money moving overseas to and from gambling operations.
Meanwhile, NETeller has decided to cut most of their promotional activity on gambling related websites including Sports911.com. Although adhering fully with the Patriot Act, they were advised by US government officials not to actively promote their product to the US market.
The company has no plans to dismantle its online payment solutions service for North American clients.
Here's an interesting US legal development - a story from the States on an online gambler who has been successfully prosecuted.
ForumComm.com reports that a former Harwood, North Dakota man who pleaded guilty this week in Cass County District Court to placing sports bets over the Internet is believed to be the first person in the United States to be convicted of the crime.
Jeffrey Trauman, a former car salesman who began betting full time three years ago, authorized Fargo attorney John Goff to plead guilty to a misdemeanor gambling charge. Trauman now lives with his wife and three children in Kentucky, where he can legally continue his betting career, Goff said.
Though about half the states still have laws against gambling, only a handful of people have been convicted solely for placing bets, said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in California, who has studied gambling law for 23 years.
“He is the first and only person I know of who has actually both been arrested and convicted for Got2bet,” said Rose, whom Trauman e-mailed for advice.
Following a joint recommendation by Goff and a state prosecutor, East Central Judicial District Judge Norman Backes gave Trauman a one-year deferred sentence and a mandatory $500 fine.
Although Trauman declared his winnings for tax purposes, a state investigation initiated by the attorney general’s office began looking into his betting affairs this spring. When agents searched his home in April, they found $43,000 in cash in a basement office. But Trauman said he did not know what he was doing was illegal and pointed out that he had declared his winnings to the tax authorities, a report by Gaming Division Auditor Greg Schlosser said.
A spokeswoman for Schlosser said a tip from an outside source led to the investigation but would not be more specific. Any further details might jeopardize future cases, she said.
Though Trauman listed professional gambler as his job on tax returns, Rose said it is highly unlikely that IRS agents tipped off investigators. U.S. Supreme Court rulings against self-incrimination restrict such collaboration.
After receiving his client’s sentence Monday, Goff said the case could have made an interesting trial. The state‘s jurisdiction over online bets to offshore casinos is not clear, Goff said, and an argument could be made that there is none.
A trial would have probably garnered strong public support for Trauman and reflected unfavorably upon the state, Rose said. With tribal casinos, horse racing, charity gambling in bars and an upcoming lottery, North Dakota sanctions more forms of gambling than Nevada.
“Publicly, there’s the whole hypocrisy argument,” Rose said.
While the crime is often not prosecuted, Trauman’s case stood out because of the amount he was waging, said Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Bud Myers. State law makes any bet over $500 a misdemeanor offense.
“He went a little beyond that,” Myers said.
Rose, who plans to discuss Trauman’s case in an upcoming book, “Gambling and the Law,” said the Cass County conviction shouldn’t worry others who bet online.
“I guess now we have one in the United States out of at least 100 million people who are gambling illegally,” Rose said. “So the odds are you’re not going to get in trouble.”
Turnkey provider dotcom Entertainment Group was cracking open the champagne this week on the news that the company has been recognized as one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Canada by Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte & Touche's Fast 50 rankings are based on percentage of growth in fiscal year revenues over five years, from 1998-2002.
A delighted Chief Executive Officer David Outhwaite said, "This prestigious award recognizes the strength of our strategy and the outstanding contribution of each of our employees in achieving that goal."
"In an era where technology companies come and go, making the Deloitte & Touche Canadian Technology Fast 50 is a testament to a company's vision that allows growth over five years," said Garry Foster, National Director, Technology, Media & Communications, Deloitte && Touche. "DCEG's leadership have the right stuff for growth, and we salute their accomplishments."
Winners of the 20 regional Fast 50 programs in Canada and the United States are automatically entered in the Deloitte && Touche Technology Fast 500 program, which ranks North America's 500 fastest growing technology companies.
Deloitte && Touche is one of Canada's leading professional services firms, providing a full range of assurance and advisory, financial advisory, tax and consulting services and is part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a global leader in professional services with more than 119,000 people in over 140 countries.
Every online gambler we know is daily inundated with unwanted emails touting all manner of services, including gambling sites.
Current statistics show that more than 2 trillion junk e-mails or spam are expected to hit inboxes by the end of this year - that’s a hundred times more than the total amount of mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service last year.
The mail-filtering firm Clearswift reports that although pornographic spam is on the decline, that for online gaming and healthcare is growing.
Statistics filtered from Clearswift's 16 million users reveal that porn constitutes a reduced 15.2 per cent of all spam, and online gaming, casinos, betting and the like is on the increase and has reached a record 7.2 per cent of worldwide spam.
Revenue up 22%, net profit up 27%; strong growth momentum continues through global and product expansion. These are the sort of results investors love to hear, and this week's release of Cryptologic's second quarter and six month numbers provided it.
Strong second quarter results exceeded expectations and showcase a solid, debt-free, cash-rich business with successful strategies. And as part of those strategies to diversify to geographic markets other than the USA, the company is making moves to list on the prestigious London Stock Exchange.
"CryptoLogic continues to execute well, and the seasonably strong second quarter was our best performance in the last year and a half," said Lewis Rose, CryptoLogic's President and CEO. "We're making meaningful strides in what continues to be a challenging market. At CryptoLogic, we've been focusing on the fundamentals, and diversifying both our products and our geographic markets. Our strategy is paying off with revenue up more than 20% and earnings up more than 25% over last year."
CryptoLogic's second quarter highlights included:
Strong revenue and earnings performance resulted in diluted earnings per share of $0.21 that surpassed analysts' consensus of $0.15;
Continued favourable growth in overseas markets with licensees' revenue from international sources rising to approximately 55% in the first half of 2003, up from almost 50% in the first quarter;
Steady growth in poker and bingo revenue, together on track to exceed 10% of 2003 revenue, up from nil in the second quarter last year; and
Commenced the application process for listing and trading on the London Stock Exchange to leverage CryptoLogic's strong roster of UK-based customers and operations, and to extend its reach into this favourable international market for online gaming.
In the second quarter, CryptoLogic surpassed expectations by recording $10.8 million in revenue, net income of $2.6 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.21. This also compared strongly to second quarter results in 2002, in which the company posted revenue of $8.9 million and net income of $2.0 million or $0.16 per diluted share before a non-recurring special charge, and a net loss of $7.8 million or $0.65 per diluted share after the special charge.
Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2003, increased 12% to $19.7 million compared with $17.6 million in first six months of 2002. In the first six months of 2003, net income improved to $4.4 million or $0.36 per diluted share, versus $4.2 million before the non-recurring special charge or $0.32 per diluted share in the first six months of 2002. After the non-recurring special charge, the company had a net loss of $5.6 million or $0.46 per diluted share in the corresponding 2002 period.
The company continued to strengthen its balance sheet. At June 30, 2003, CryptoLogic had no debt, and a cash position of $58.3 million or $4.74 per diluted share (comprising cash and cash equivalents, and including restricted cash of $7.1 million). The company's working capital was $39.8 million or $3.23 per diluted share. For the second quarter, cash flow from earnings was $3.0 million, compared with negative cash flow of $0.7 million in the comparable 2002 period. Operating cash flow for the second quarter of $15.5 million (2002: $1.3 million) was atypically high due to temporary changes in working capital items, much of which is expected to reverse over the balance of the year.
In keeping with its market-driven product strategy, CryptoLogic expanded its game suite with more than 10 new choices of the most popular casino games to help licensees attract and retain players and drive organic growth. This brand new bonus pack introduced Single-Deck and Multi-Split Blackjack, an enhanced European Roulette, and an exciting series of new slots including 9-Line slots to give players more chances to win.
CryptoLogic-developed poker and bingo products continued to exceed expectations in the quarter. The company's newest customers, ukbetting plc and Bingo Entertainment, have launched online poker sites, extending live poker action to millions of Europeans. CryptoLogic's expanding list of brand name poker licensees, through its WagerLogic licensing subsidiary, is enhancing financial results, and extends the company's leading position into the burgeoning online poker market.
Recently-introduced single and private tournament options are further enhancing the marketing draw of its poker solution. The proven performance of the company's centralized poker technology enables CryptoLogic to offer new customers participation in one of the highest traffic and most profitable poker rooms on the Internet.
CryptoLogic works with some of the most prominent international names in land-based and online gaming, and continues to pursue attractive global growth prospects that offer immediate revenue-generating opportunities. As a result, revenue generated in the first half of 2003 from licensees' international players has reached approximately 55% of total revenue, up from almost 50% in the first quarter.
After a brief period offline, Cabaret Club Casino.com was back up and operating this week with a curious player community asking why it was "down".
The answer is a commercial deal whereby the Microgaming powered casino has been taken over by another MGS operator. The new owner is the Palace group, and we have been told that ambitious plans are in hand for CC as it joins new stablemates Ruby Fortune and Spin Palace. It is expected that players will shortly be emailed with the details, and the assurance that their deposits are safe and obligations will be honoured.
It appeared that the Pair of Dice group of notoriously slow-paying, Playtech-powered casinos was taking an unannounced break towards the end of the week, giving rise to speculation amongst a number of patiently awaiting payout players.
The Black Widow, Sterlinghouse and Grand Banks casino sites were all offline, and the Support telephone number went unanswered.
One of this group's executives came in for some ridicule recently when he was reported as dismissing the concept of truth in advertising, and boasted that his group had a policy of deliberately delaying the payments of repeat bonus earners.
As we went to press no explanation was available, and in fairness it should be pointed out that this could be a technical problem and not necessarily a business failure.
Malicious post
One of the worst examples of malicious and fraudulent posting we have yet seen occurred at the Winneronline portal this week. The webmaster and his technical staff were closing in on the perpetrator as we went to press, and it is to be hoped that this malevolent spirit will be identified and exposed as an example to others who might display this twisted frame of mind. ic53672 claimed to be a former employee of the reputable Intercasino online casino and in a rather rambling post he or she tried to convince readers that the casino and its manager Ryan Hartley were colluding and cheating the gambling public on a grand scale. Intercasino responded immediately by denying the charges, and a spirited discussion was soon underway. The WOL webmaster observed that the identity of the poster was being investigated due to the gravity of the accusations and this seemed to strike sufficient fear into ic53672 that he or she then posted again, trying to irrationally pass off the entire event as some sort of prank or test, admitting that there was no previous employment with the casino. The webmaster gave ic53672 an opportunity to identify him or her self and apologise or face the consequences when investigations were complete. Predictably this fraudster did not take this opportunity and will now face public exposure.
Processor caution
The Sports911 information site has issued a warning regarding processor GPX, alleging that the company will not return calls and have owed an as yet unidentified sportsbook $34,000 for the last 4 months. Fortunately the book concerned only used GPX in a limited capacity but apparently other books deal with GPX too, and it appears that the service is marketed under different identities. 911 says that the company owners are Glen Geller, Don Beavers, David Beavers, and Joe Senter, working out of Las Vegas and Costa Rica and allegedly making moves to open an office in Panama under a different identity.
Another Boss Media-powered online casino is closing, according to an announcement this week.
Formerly owned by the Cybercroupier group, which has had its share of player disputes, Mens Vegas Casino.com joins sister casino Womens Vegas Casino.com on the scrapheap. The announcement rather brutally tells any players with credits in their casino accounts that unless these are claimed by September 10 they will be forfeit, presumably to the owners. This is not the most honest or professional way of closing up shop that we have seen.
Investors and industry observers alike were this week scratching their heads and wondering whether a major sale of Sportingbet stock by a top company executive was a good or bad omen.
Deputy chairman Mark Blandford, the articulate driving force and business strategist behind Sportingbet.com, cut his stake in the international online sportsbook by nearly one-third in a £2.48m sell-off.
The sale was disclosed in a company announcement that revealed that Blandford sold 8 million shares at 31p each, cutting his stake in the Channel Islands based international group to 17.1m shares, reducing his shareholding from more than 16% of the issued stock to just over 11%.
The AIM-listed shares fell nearly 8% to 29p. They peaked at 167p soon after joining AIM in 2001 but last year took a hammering at the hands of bear raider Simon Cawkwell and as a result of now resolved financial worries arising from the expensive takeover of a major US sportsbook.
ZD Net has reported another high profile gambling debt legal issue in the making, following the issue of a counter-suit this week.
A California couple that lost more than $100,000 gambling online is suing several credit card companies and banks, claiming the businesses shouldn't have processed the wagers.
Lisa and Andrew Harding racked up tens of thousands of dollars in Got2bet debt during 2002 and 2003, prompting a lawsuit from credit card company Retailers National Bank, which accused Lisa Harding of failing to pay the bills.
Last week, the pair filed a countersuit against several credit card companies, including Visa International and its USA division, MasterCard International and Discover Financial Services. The court date has yet to be scheduled.
After a tough 2002, Austrian betting group Bet and Win seems to have successfully applied cost-cutting measures that, bolstered by increased revenue have sharply reduced losses.
BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment AG has announced that in the first half of 2003 it has achieved a considerable improvement in sales and earnings thanks to strict cost cutting measures.
Operating profit was EUR 648,000 after a loss of EUR 8.120 million in 2002 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization were also positive at EUR 3.017 million after a loss of EUR 6.03 million in 2002.
The company said it has achieved a pretax profit of EUR 558,000 after a loss of EUR 8.402 million in the same period last year.
Net loss in the first half narrowed to EUR 494,000 from EUR 7.955 million in 2002.
Betting sales in the period under review rose to EUR 187.28 million compared with EUR 110.22 million.
Rob Hines, the chief executive of Australia's Jupiters Ltd. , says that net proceeds from the planned sale of the company's Centrebet sports betting division is likely to be A$40 million to A$50 million.
The company is in final sale negotiations, and expects to achieve a A$60 million-A$70 million price tag. But capital gains tax and expenses will have to be deducted from that before net proceeds are issued to shareholders.
Hines said Centrebet was a black spot in Jupiters' financial performance in the year to June 30, with increasing competition from betting exchanges and the distraction of the sales negotiations into its future hurting its results. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell 35% in the year to June 30.
Jupiters aims to complete the sale of Centrebet by the end of October.
Asked about his personal plans should the planned merger of Jupiters with Tabcorp Holdings Ltd. go through, Hines confirmed his intention to leave a few days after shareholders vote on the merger this Oct. 24.
However, he was coy about what he would do next, saying only "I will keep my plans to myself until around that time." There has been media speculation that Hines might be a candidate for the CEO role at gaming machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.
Return to Top KYL BILL BUILDS OPPOSITION
8 August 2003
Carve outs and stomping on State rights have not been well received
Last week's reports on the Kyl Bill being forwarded for vote by the Senate Banking Committee were soon followed by more considered opinions throughout the industry, and many concluded that the proposal as pushed through will almost certainly create powerful opposition both in conference and at the vote.
Prominent among this opposition could be States that are seeing their right to govern activities like gambling trampled by the Federal government's insistence on jumping into the driver's seat on this Bill, diminishing State rights. And the usual carve-outs - the bill would not apply to horse racing, dog racing or other remote-betting operations already approved by American Indian tribes for example - are firmly in place in this latest Kyl proposal, almost guaranteeing as in the past to generate resistance.
That last-minute change to the Kyl Bill that removed language that would allow States to legalize the practice within its boundaries, made through an amendment by Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, already has Nevada senators and the casino industry concerned.
"The bill is unbalanced and unfair," said Frank Fahrenkopf, American Gaming Association president, adding that it could even expand online gaming as it stands now since Indian casinos and horse and dog racing could still participate in online betting.
Fahrenkopf noted that AGA uses a three-prong test to determine if it will support legislation. This bill failed two parts, since it does not treat all forms of gaming the same and does not preserve states' rights. He noted that this was not a factor in Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl's original bill or in the House version of the bill passed last month.
Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, were quick to say that they could not support the bill, based on the state language removal. A Reid aide said the senator wants to make sure there is nothing in the bill that could limit Nevada from regulating itself, should the state opt to allow Internet gaming in the future. As the bill stands now, it is not clear if that is the case.
The bill approved last Thursday must still pass the Senate floor before it goes to conference with House negotiators. There selected members of each chamber will iron out differences between the two versions to form one new bill to be voted on again and sent to the president, if approved.
The Senate is expected to adjourn today for its August recess, so any action would take place after Sept. 3 and the political season is due to officially end early in October, adding time constraints.
Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said online casinos evade the reach of U.S. states that typically have regulated "bricks and mortar" gambling operations, requiring the federal government to step in. And he trotted out the old and still unproved allegation that Internet casinos encourage pathological gambling and enable children to participate.
"While gambling has always been subject to state regulation and should remain so, there is no way for the states to effectively control the reach of the Internet at this time," Shelby said.
The Kyl Bill seeks to prevent credit-card companies and other US payment systems to block money transfers to Got2bet sites. Credit-card issuers, stung by disputed charges, are reported to already voluntarily block roughly four out of five Got2bet payments.
Unlike the similar Backus-Leach Bill in the House of Representatives, the Kyl Bill suggests stiff penalties - violators would face fines and up to 5 years in prison.
Cryptologic casino operator Peak Entertainment published the results of a survey carried out last year amongst its players this week. The group includes well-established casinos like Omni, 49er, 1on1, 3 Diamonds and others, and the survey paints an portrait of the typical online casino player that's strikingly free of the negative images that, until now, have been freely attributed to this fledgling industry and relatively unchallenged.
Among the revelations included in the report are:
Regardless of gender, the typical online casino player is most likely to be a mature, well-educated and solidly middle class head of household. Most online gamblers are aged between 40 and 49 years, come from households with an income under $100 000 a year and rank "entertainment" as their main reason for gambling.
The vast majority of both men and women online casino players say they do so for "entertainment / fun," on their "free" time from their own computers.
While men say they prefer to play blackjack and women prefer slots, neither feel their favorite online activity is illegal or unethical and are highly aware of the time and money they spend online.
Rick Smith, Executive Director of the Interactive Gaming Council, a nonprofit global trade association that supports responsible online gaming practices and government regulation of the industry, said, "This research offers a valuable insight for policy makers and gaming regulators as to the demographics of consumers who are participating in online casino games. Opponents of interactive gaming use scare tactics to suggest that the industry feeds on minors and addicted gamblers, and this is not true for the responsible component of the industry. Problem gamblers and minors gambling are of absolutely no benefit to the gambling industry, whether land-based or online.
"We trust that data like this, and from other studies that may be done in the future, will persuade more governments to consider how they can regulate online gaming, rather than undertaking futile efforts at prohibition," Smith concluded.
"The Online Casino Player: A Comprehensive Profile" was undertaken by Gongos and Associates -- an independent, full-service marketing research company based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on behalf of Peak Entertainment. Data for the profile was collected by means of a customer survey administered via the Internet using Gongos' customized software during November of 2002. Initial data tabulations were prepared in December 2002, with additional analyses and the report completed in March 2003.
Complete copies of the report are now available for purchase at a cost of $795.00 each.
The survey indicates that at 33 percent most online gamblers are aged between 40 and 49 years, with the group 30 to 39 next in numbers at 27.5 percent. 21.7 percent are aged 50 to 59.
Most online casino gamers come from households making less than $100,000 annually. Nearly 23% are from households making between $50,000 and $74,999, while 19.8% are from households in the $35,000 to $49,999 income bracket and 16.1% fall into the $75,000 to $99,999 bracket.
Many respondents cited the entertainment factor (23.4%) and the ability to relieve stress by playing online (14.7%). Still others noted online gaming graphics and set-up (11.7%) and the variety of online games (11.4%). Of course a handful cited the typical reasons for doing anything online instead of off -- 7.4% say they like the privacy of playing at home and 2.3% say they like it because they don't have to drive or get dressed.
Dispelling a popular misconception, the results showed that in 2002, Got2bet represented roughly 60% of the paid online content market, with spending totaling $2.5 billion. Contrary to popular belief, Got2bet garnered way more consumer dollars last year than online pornography did at a mere $4 million.
A flippant response
Last week we reported on the unacceptable situation at the Gambler's Lobby group of casinos following posts by a number of players at WOL outlining casino malpractice in terms of locking accounts and not paying out players - allegedly without explanation or reason. Casino manager Kent Spaulding was accused of prejudicing honest and genuine players in this manner and then deliberately ignoring their emails seeking an explanation. InfoPowa joined the fray by emailing various Gambler's Lobby addresses in an attempt to find out what the situation was regarding the aggrieved players, and while we were about it, we asked a few media questions of our own. The wall of silence remained, but early this week an email came in from Spaulding professing ignorance regarding our previous mails and asking us to repeat our questions. We did so immediately and received what can only be termed a superficial response that made no effort to address the serious questions that were posed regarding GL's apparent behaviour. Spaulding's reply assured us that everything at GL was "great" and that "Players will always complain, especially those that lose." We have received information that selected players to whom the casinos owe substantial sums of money have been approached with offers of payments in instalments if they make favourable posts about GL. That sounds ominously like cashflow problems, but with this type of offhand response from Spaulding one can only speculate. Checking the sites this week we found Gamble A Million and Gamblers Lobby Casino.com down, but You Go Girl operational but ignoring emails. The Fairmont and Bankroll casinos appear to be "doorway" sites for this group.
Not the right way
The IPI Media group ran afoul of the respected Gambling Grumbles site this week as a series of questionable disqualifications came to light. The group, managed by Paul Jergens and comprising Golden Comps, Five Roses, Onluck, Riviera Gold and Fortune Towers casinos has apparently been arbitrarily classifying players as bonus abusers and confiscating their winnings and bonuses whilst locking accounts, and then exacerbating the bad feelings by refusing to communicate with the aggrieved players. Jergens seems to define bonus abusers as players who play to the minimum T&Cs and then cash out! It has been pointed out ad nauseum and can hardly have escaped Jergen's attention that the right way to handle these affairs is for the casino to pay out all amounts earned by the player in terms of the T&Cs at the time of wagering when locking the account, and then remove him or her from the promo list. Noone contests the casinos' right of admission. But confiscating monies already earned by a player who has been accepted and has played to the T&Cs set by the casino is a very definite no-no, as GG has explained unsuccessfully to IPI.
Unauthorised charges no joke
Complaints against the notorious RTG-powered Virtual and Prism casinos...and the many clones, continue to hit the message boards, and the latest are shocking to say the least. There are claims that numerous unauthorised charges are being made against player credit and debit cards sometimes months after they are alleged to have occurred. And careful players who take the precaution of keeping detailed records and screen shots are reporting significant numbers of totally false charges from these operations or their processor eztp.net. At least one complainant is so alarmed that she has reported the issue to Federal authorities, which should be a good enough reason for RTG, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia to bestir itself into finding out exactly what is going on. As we went to press Prism casino had taken the unusual step of appearing on the Casinomeister message board, ostensibly to assist a particularly aggrieved player posting there. The issue is a reminder that there is a need to keep detailed and careful records these days, when strange practices seem to be surfacing more frequently.
Casino Sur was regarded as a biggie with major potential when it was launched several years ago. It was powered by Cryptologic and owned by a South American land-based casino group. But this week players were told that the casino is closing down in the following announcement:
"Already you have enjoyed the great experience of playing casino games with us.
We are now proud to announce a fantastic new partnership with a great casino - InterCasino.
InterCasino has been voted Gambling Online Magazine’s 'Top Casino Of the Year’ in 2001 and 2002 and is home of the ‘Every Player, Every Month’ Match Deposit Bonus – InterCasino gives you the chance to get a Match Deposit Bonus each and every month.
This exciting new partnership with InterCasino will sadly also see the closure of CasinoSur.
The final day of the Casino Sur will be September 1st 2003. However, do not worry, feel rest assured that any outstanding funds owed to you by CasinoSur, will be safe in your account. Plus you will still be able to play and withdraw your funds until September 1st. After that time you should contact ECash Direct (details below) to arrange to withdraw any remaining funds you have in your account. You can reach ECash Direct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone or by email at:
ECash Direct (www.ecashdirect.net)
Email: accounts@ecashdirect.net
North America: 1-877-874-0274
Internationally: 00-800-0874-0274 (Please check your outbound country code prior to dialling)
Best Regards,
Casino Manager
CasinoSur www.casinosur.com"
We asked for a comment from Cryptologic early this week, but as at going to press no response had been made.
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the operators of Carib Sports. Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have seized gold coins, a silver block and more than $1.6 million in cash from three men accused of running an illegal offshore gambling business in Antigua, Belize and the United States.
According to a report in Sports 911 and forfeiture documents filed in the U.S. District Court, the Internal Revenue Service is investigating Carib Sportsbook & Casino, Carib International and other corporate entities controlled by Jon R. Rogers of Toronto, Ohio; John A. Thorne of Tampa, Fla.; and another man identified as Peter T. Mowad.
The men, along with others not named, are under investigation for alleged unlawful transmission of wagering information, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Since at least 1993 until this year, court papers indicate, the three men and others operated an offshore gambling business known as Carib in Antigua, Belize and the United States. From locations in the Caribbean, they or their employees are alleged to have accepted millions of dollars in wagers on sports events from bettors in the United States, either online or by phone.
The men are also accused of diverting millions of dollars of illegal income from Carib and a gambling supply company they established in Florida, Draycott, for their own benefit.
In early June, the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS executed a series of search warrants at Rogers' home and his warehouse in Ohio, Thorne's home in Tampa and several safe deposit boxes in Ohio and Pittsburgh.
In the Pittsburgh search on June 4, agents seized $700,000 from a safe deposit box controlled by Rogers at Citizens Bank on Steubenville Pike, in addition to 360 gold coins worth $122,400.
In Ohio, agents seized another $400,000 in cash from a safe deposit box controlled by Rogers at Sky Bank and another $400,000 from his box at National City bank.
The June 3 search of Rogers' warehouse turned up $45,000 in cash and a 100-ounce block of silver. Another $112,100 was taken from the Thorne home in Florida.
Perhaps GP marketers have gone too far down this road
Golden Palace casino marketers have achieved tremendous publicity coverage with their disruptive but eye-catching marketing tactic of turning logo-adorned streakers loose at major sporting events, but this week there were signs that this has now gone far enough.
The target this time was the Women's British Open as streaker Ron Simon ran onto the course displaying the GP web address on his naked torso. And the spectators and competitors didn't appreciate it at all.
Swedish favorite Annika Sorenstam and chief rival Korean Se Ri Pak were at the 15th hole when the self-proclaimed "World's Best Drummer" tore off his Velcro clothes and leaped onto the course wearing nothing but hot rod boxer shorts and a huge smile on his face.
Initially taken aback by his appearance, the crowd quickly became angry at the interruption. It was apparent that many of the spectators were both disgusted and angry at the disruption, booing as the streaker was escorted off the course by security, and Sorenstam's caddie Terry McNamara even went so far as to give him a solid kick in the backside. The incident did not adversely affect Sorenstam, who went on to win the coveted tournament.
Simon was surprisingly upbeat after a short stint in custody, and mockingly challenged McNamara to a GoldenPalace.com-sponsored boxing match to settle the score.
Things are apparently getting a little tense on the Isle of Man following reports that Littlewoods Gaming may be the next to leave a jurisdiction already reeling from several key departures.
The trade magazine Coinslot International sparked interest with a story that reported "strong rumours" that Littlewoods, a major British gambling group may move its online operations away from the IOM until the "Island's regulatory framework is considered more conducive to doing business".
Littlewoods spokeswoman Suzanne Judge responded by saying, "We are in the process of reviewing the casino after one year in operation. We're pleased with how it has gone so far. This will be an assessment of how we will be moving the facility forward and how we will offer the best choice to our customers." She did not rule out the possibility of the casino relocating.
Will Greenhow, acting chief executive officer of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said: “The industry is still in its infancy; we must accept that we may face further setbacks as well as advances as it evolves over the next few years.”
Greenhow said the DHA, which has responsibility for the legislation and licensing of this industry, is in “active discussions with a number of high-quality” potential online casino licenceholders.
The IOM’s Gaming Inspector Derek Cannon was recently quoted as saying that the Isle is looking to appoint an igaming ambassador to promote the jurisdiction. Two new online bookmaker licensees - Chronicle and Paddy Power - have recently been announced, but the IOM will not relish losing Littlewoods, its sole remaining online casino licensee.
It sounds as if there has been some internal strife at HavenCo, the safe haven company located at the Sealand ex-World War Two gun platform in the North Sea six miles off the English coast.
Former chief technology officer Ryan Lackey addressed the DefCon hacker convention in Las Vegas last week and revealed that he was moving on, having experienced management and technical hassles at the company. He has plenty leeway for such moves, having just reached his twenty-fourth birthday, and he claims that HavenCo owes him over $220,000 in cash and stock.
"My business partners had become nervous about hosting objectionable material and were leading the company toward financial ruin, with only about six customers remaining." opined Lackey. "The key lesson on this is if you're going to put a co-location or virtual site-hosting facilities somewhere, political and contract stability in that jurisdiction is very important."
Asked for comment, a HavenCo official had a contrary view of the situation and said that Lackey was no longer in a position to know details on the company's inner workings. "We have a moderate-sized installation which is growing monthly, very many more than the alleged six customers and their servers in operation, and in the last eight months or so we have been able completely to reengineer our network and its international connectivity arrangements".
HavenCo is an ambitious project to create a ‘safe haven’ on a sea-platform in international waters, and was launched in June 2000 with major coverage from magazines like Wired. Its goal is to provide a ‘safe haven’ to companies involved in commercial areas that do not enjoy widespread official approval such as gambling, porn, providing free movies and free audio.
The facility is home to virtual companies and claims to be an independent nation with its own currency, stamps and even a flag, although international recognition is proving elusive.
A new international online gaming firm is expected to commence operations in Gibraltar this week according to reports from the local media.
The name of the company has not yet been released, but the firm has been actively recruiting in the area over the last few weeks, and sources have revealed to the local media that the Gibraltar operation is being dubbed a representative office.
It is anticipated that the company will take on up to ten local employees to complement an existing team of specialists who will soon move in.
INTERNET GAMBLING A POSSIBILITY FOR BAHAMAS
8 August 2003
Gaming chief wants regulation for Internet gambling
The head honcho of the Bahamas Gaming Board, Kenyatta Gibson says his nation is interested in exploiting any worthwhile gaming opportunity including Internet gambling licensing.
Opening the Sixth Annual International Symposium on Wireless and Internet Gambling Law and Management the gaming chief called for sensible regulation to control and stabilise the fast-growing world of Internet gaming.
Gibson said that although the Bahamas did not presently regulate Internet gambling it was keen to learn about the possibilities, particularly in view of proposed changes to the nation's Gaming Act that were under discussion.
"Let there be no doubt that The Bahamas is poised and ready to take advantage of every opportunity and trend in the gaming industry." he concluded.
The alarm bells have been ringing and the rumours of cash problems spreading for some weeks now regarding processor company Securebuxx - and by the looks of an email to merchants this week, the end of the road has been reached.
From President Anthony Varvaro, the email reveals that Securebuxx has decided immediately to "...suspend all transfers to and from merchant sites for North American customers. This decision was made on the advice of our legal counsel because of the nature and jurisdiction of our business. Due to recent events, it is the strong belief of our legal counsel that SecureBuxx is currently operating in an area that places it and its customers at risk."
The communication does on to tell merchants that they will shortly be receiving a statement of account which they are asked to sign off as correct. Once (this is) returned, checks will be issued for the full balance of the account. Permanent reserve amounts will be returned within 30 days of account balances being paid, and rolling reserves will be returned after 90 days instead of the stipulated 180 days.
SecureBuxx will apparently continue to offer merchant services to other countries from its new offices in Panama City, Panama. These services include, non-coded credit card merchant accounts, mass-payments solutions, Electronic Funds Transfers, and alternative collection services such as MoneyGram. These merchant-direct products currently account for over 80% of total SecureBuxx
volume.
Varvaro claims that over the past two years SecureBuxx has invested over $1,5 million developing a safe and secure online transfer system, with some 35,000 clients and a total of $88 million transferred. Credit card charge-backs, customer fraud, and NSF checks, etc, have made this business area of SecureBuxx non-viable.
Very little information was available as we went to press last week on JimL, who hit the Major Millions jackpot at Lucky Nugget Casino.com last weekend and added a healthy credit balance of some US $1,683,524.64 to his bank account almost overnight, but we now have a few more details about his life-changing experience.
Jim has been playing all the Jackpot Madness progressives for about a year. The day he won on Major Millions, he had deposited $100 and played for only about 20 minutes before he struck gold and became the world's biggest ever online jackpot winner.
Speaking from his home, a clearly still excited Jim said, "It was just a regular day. I came home from work, sat down to relax and play a little. Once the jackpot hit, I just sat there and stared at the screen for about 15 minutes. I was totally numb. Then I got up and danced around the house. I couldn't believe my eyes."
Jim is 53 years old and a Vietnam vet who loves life and golf; he worked for a railroad for 11 years and for the Department of Corrections for 13 years as a truck driver and an expediter. Elated by his amazing win, he has already given his notice and is looking forward to enjoying a future free of financial concerns.
Asked what his immediate plans were, he told us, "I would like to build a new house. I want to either remodel or rebuild the home we are living in now for my 81-year old mother and I will build my dream home. My 15-year-old son still doesn't know about this. He'll go bonkers! I am going to put some of the money away for his college education. I also plan on playing a lot of golf, some sound investments, donate some of the winnings to charity... and continue playing Major Millions. You never know, luck can strike twice in the same place!"
Jim became only the third winner of over a million and a half dollars cash on the Major Millions slot in a little over a year. To start off his life as a millionaire, he and his partner will be treated to an all expenses paid luxury trip to Barbados by Jackpot Madness. This luxury trip is an added value perk to the big win.
The idea of a trip to the tropics seems to sit well with the big winner, who said "I want to play golf and enjoy the atmosphere of the tropics. Of course I would love to play in a casino too. It's been a while since I played in a land casino. Once I found Lucky Nugget and Jackpot Madness, it was just more comfortable for me to play at home. And I seem to have better luck on line as well. I am really looking forward to the Barbados trip. Of course I have always wanted to go back to the South Pacific. I was in the navy and stopped in several ports, but never long enough to truly enjoy them. Now, I would love to take a luxury liner to Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, hitting every golf course and casino on the way there and back."
Jackpot Madness is the world's largest online progressive jackpot network. All the jackpots won on the casinos providing these games are offered through full direct cash payouts. The goal of the portal is to provide jackpot enthusiasts with a single destination offering a wide choice of progressives, featuring frequent payouts and record-breaking jackpots. The jackpot totals are "live" and Jackpot Madness provides constantly updated information together with links to over 70 casinos on the network. Total payouts are over $98,000,000 to date.
Bills in both the Senate and the House of Representatives up for voting
The week ended on a disappointing low for US gamblers as their politicians proved once again that the will of the people is not always their first concern. The Senate Banking Committee pushed Jon Kyl's anti-internet gambling bill forward for voting.
The committee spent all of five minutes debating the bill--just enough time for the chairman of the committee to introduce the bill and ask the committee to approve the amendments he already made to it.
The bill was voted unanimously to be reported to the full Senate.
Kyl's bill would block Got2bet merchants from taking credit cards or other bank instruments as payment from American online gamblers.
No amendments were offered on the bill during the session and it was not debated.
There are now two legislative proposals on the table, both of which seek to hamstring US internet gambling by imposing constraints on the financial instruments used by online gamblers. The Backus/Leech Bill in the House of Representatives was pushed through a committee earlier this year, and now the Kyl Bill is in contention too.
It is believed that where there are two Bills with similar content and objectives, a committee is convened to see if the Bills can be combined or which one should have precedence. That could lead to further delay and debate before either Bill is actually voted on by a full legislative body. Assuming such a vote passes the Bill, it must then be signed off by the President. And the 2003 political sessions will soon end, with a full schedule of work still backed up.
The Interactive Gaming Council was quick to criticize the Kyl Bill's passage through the Senate Banking Committee, referring to it in the same critical terms as Prohibition and opining that it would not work in cyberspace any better.
In a press release remarkable for its tough language, the IGC accused the Banking Committee of setting a bad precedent by eliminating the State governments' right to regulate Got2bet.
The industry body expressed disappointment that the course of prohibition rather than regulation had apparently been taken, saying “The IGC had hoped that Banking Committee members would recognize that legalization and strict regulation, rather than prohibition, is the only way to achieve important policy goals. More than ever, we believe that perceived problems associated with interactive gaming --- the potential for exacerbating the problems of compulsive gamblers, for underage betting and for money laundering --- can only be resolved through a combination of up-to-date technology, proper internal controls and stringent regulatory oversight."
"It’s a shame that Congress seems intent on making futile gestures at prohibition of interactive gaming, when regulation of traditional, land-based gaming has served our society so well." the press release continued.
“The IGC also believes that American citizens will not appreciate their financial institutions dictating how they can spend their money. That intrusive prospect has to worry anyone involved in e-commerce generally, let alone those concerned about a deprivation of their personal freedom.
“You don’t have to be a gambler to be wary of the ‘Big Brother’ implications of S.627 and H.R.2143. Americans treasure freedom of personal choice and the right to privacy, and do not want the government to force banks to monitor every transaction that is done online.”
Biggest story this week was the massive $10 million payment that PayPal Inc had to make in order to settle US government allegations that it aided illegal offshore and Got2bet by providing financial transaction services.
The penalty was severe but could have been worse according to several industry specialists, who pointed out that the online payment service took in hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions during its involvement with the industry.
According to the settlement, PayPal between mid-2000 and November 2002 transmitted money in violation of federal and state Got2bet laws. As part of the settlement, PayPal must maintain a corporate compliance program for at least two years.
The settlement ends the government's case against PayPal and its parent e-Bay.
"Offshore sportsbooks and on-line casino gambling operations which do business in the United States generally do so in violation of federal criminal laws," said U.S. Attorney Raymond Gruender. "Therefore, we will continue to investigate and pursue such activity."
Gruender commended the "cooperative, conciliatory approach of PayPal and eBay" in resolving the matter and their continued assistance to related investigations.
Got2bet accounted for about 8 percent, or $117 million, of the $1.46 billion processed through PayPal during the first three months of 2002 alone.
PayPal stopped accepting payments for gambling services when it was acquired by eBay later the same year.
Broadband internet technology is making a real difference to the overall gambling experience of British onliners, from finding the right casino to downloading software at speed.
Internet-gaming sites especially are taking advantage of recent improvements in Britain by adding specific products for broadband users following British Telecom's expansion of its broadband coverage to 71% of the UK population last week. Several leading UK gaming sites have been quick to reposition their services to take advantage of the new opportunities high-speed Internet access allows.
CasinoChoice.com, sister site to high-traffic provider of visitors to UK online casinos CasinoChoice.co.uk, has added streaming-video previews of popular Brit online casinos to its extensive selection of gambling tools. The streaming-videos mean that users can watch videos of casino play at real online casinos before committing to downloading the casino’s software.
“The videos make it much easier for online gamblers to decide where to play. Before we had preview videos on the site players literally had to download the casino and sign up before they could see what the inside of the casino was like. Our videos eliminate all that hassle,” says Richard Skelhorn of CasinoChoice.
Expanded broadband coverage has come at the right time, with expected changes in UK gaming regulation on the horizon. An estimated 90% of the population will have broadband access by the time online casinos are licensed to operate from the UK.
British onsumer broadband offers a 500kbps download stream, allowing players to download casino software 10 times faster than on dial-up access. But more importantly to casino players, broadband allows unlimited un-metered access so players can spend as much time online as they wish without having to pay the pricey per-minute fees that fettered early Internet usage by online gamblers.
The independent and non-profit e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance organisation (eCOGRA) was the topic of discussion on several message boards this week following its recent launch in Montreal.
Mixed views were exchanged, with some perhaps understandably cynical players pointing out that there had been little apparent interaction at player level, and that unproductive outfits like Safebet had disillusioned many gamblers with complaints in the past.
There are positive reports, however that the rigorous inspections that applicant casinos are having to go through make it clear that this is not just another useless, self-serving enterprise. These are serious integrity, efficiency and procedures checks that will be monitored by professionals on an ongoing basis, and that means that the casinos that manage to win the eCOGRA seal should be pretty efficient, fair and fast paying - all important values for the player community.
The actual control of the organisation does not rest in the hands of the founders, but in the hands of the independent directors - all executives of proven sound management calibre and integrity - that are on the Board.
What eCOGRA does need to do is get in tune and in touch with the players themselves, not just the operators. That means a fair and responsive complaint procedure for players (which we are told is on the way) and maybe even player representivity in their policy deliberations.
And this worthwhile outfit needs to tell the public what's happening and why - you can't expect support if folks don't know about you and what you are trying to achieve.
New online gaming and lottery sites to flow from partnership
In a joint venture agreement announced this week Vancouver-based gambling software provider Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment Inc (LVFH) and the Vegas-situated lottery and casino gaming group Win Win Gaming Inc have joined forces to provide a series of internet casino and lottery sites.
The sites will operate under Kahnawake licensing through LVFH's Antiguan subsidiary Action Poker Gaming Inc, which has several licensees including Atlantis World Poker.com, Viet-Casino.com and Platinum Gaming Club.com in addition to its main operating website Tiger Gaming.com.
LVFH specializes in creating multi-player entertainment featuring traditional games such as Texas Hold'em and Asian themed games such as Chinese Poker and Big 2. LVFH also became the first in the industry to recently introduce an online version of the popular California card room game Panguingue or Pan.
The joint venture with Win Win provides the opportunity to create a variety of lottery and gaming websites to be marketed throughout the world in jurisdictions where Internet gaming is legal. There will be particular focus on the Asian market. "We believe the addition of Internet lottery sites allows us to further expand our international land-based lottery operations and provide a greater range of options to potential customers, particularly in Southeast Asian markets," said WinWin President Patrick Rogers.
Scolding Spaulding
Veteran online gamblers will recall past troubles with the RTG-powered Gamblers Lobby group managed by Kent Spaulding and consisting of Gamble A Million.com, You Go Girl Casino.com and Gamblers Lobby.com. That seemed to emanate from cashflow problems due to a change of ownership and dilatory investors, but after some stress and delays most players were eventually paid. Spaulding was catching more flak this week as irate players claimed that his casinos ignored their late payment and unjustifed lockout complaints, with some of them concerned over 4 figure amounts of winnings and deposits locked up in their accounts. Unable to get any explanation or dialogue going with the casino, which ignored emails players started resorting to the message boards with their problems, and in some cases tried unsuccessfully to get Real Time Gaming as the software provider to lend a hand. Concern turned into alarm when the sites went down, still without any communication from either Gamblers Lobby or RTG. Late in the week InfoPowa conducted a check of the sites and found Gamblers Lobby static with a brief notice onsite that work was in progress. Gamble A Million was also not live, with a static splash page its only presence. However You Go Girl seemed to be operating. Emails asking why complaints were being ignored, accounts locked and sites were down were ignored.
Chew on this
Casino Cautions has featured the Lady Dream, Goldbetting and Lucky Dog Sports group of casinos before for a variety of sins including arbitrary and unexplained lockouts (especially where players have won big) management ducking and diving and ignoring complaints. Prominent among the portal lists that warn against this group is Casinomeister.com, where webmaster Bryan Bailey has added these operations to his Rogue List. Clearly the bad reputation has been impacting on business, because this week the elusive casino manager Robert Hamilton contacted Casinomeister to find out how he gets his casinos out of the Rogue's Gallery. He may have bitten off a little more than he can comfortably chew, because four figure resurrected complaints were soon flowing in to the 'Meister and the dollar amounts involved are up in the tens of thousands. As we went to press Hamilton was considering his options. Meanwhile information was posted at The Prescription suggesting that the guy who owns these
places, one Mark Eklund also runs their software provider Wager21.com. And the e-cash processor Directnetpay has a very close relationship with him too. InfoPowa sought confirmation on this from Wager 21, but at press time no response had been given.
The other side of the coin...
Players rightfully demand high standards of ethical conduct from casinos, but do they always apply those same criteria to themselves? Not apparently in Washington State where a large group of players, many thought to be college undergrads have been caught out trying to milk special personal bonuses offered by Real Time Gaming casinos. We're not going to disclose how they were identified because that would forewarn others, but we can tell you that some of these budding crooks have been stirring it up on the message boards, exacerbating their fraudulent conduct. Tune in to Casinomeister's webcast this week for the details.
The widespread gloomy predictions of two months back that turnkey provider IQ Ludorum's future was limited seem to have been a little premature...this week the company signed up BetonSports.com for a two year exclusive deal to provide a full suite of wagering software.
In their first deal for some months, IQL expressed delight in signing one of the largest offshore sportsbooks on the Internet, and early reports are that their share price spiked as an immediate result.
Under the agreement, IQ-L will supply a IQ-Sportstech call-center and Internet sportsbook software across all of BetonSports.com wagering operations. Key to the decision was Sportstech's proven ability over the past two years to provide industry leading functionality and performance to manage the huge volumes of wagering transactions handled by BetonSports.com. In addition, the call-center and internet based sportsbook solution will be deployed across multiple locations and multiple countries within the off shore wagering industry.
Integrated with Sportstech, IQ-L will also supply its Java and download IQ-Casino software to be deployed on the family of
BetonSports.com casinos. This includes a progressives games engine which will enable the growth of progressive jackpots across all of these casinos.
The agreement includes IQ-Racing software, which, driven by a live line feed, offers punters hundreds of thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing options every day. This suite of software has the added benefit of being fully integrated, allowing each player at BetonSports.com to wager on anything, from NFL, horse racing and golf to blackjack, progressive slots and multi-hand video poker, from a single wagering account.
Pro-Freedom urges US players to make their views on banning known
The anti-internet gambling ban organisation Pro-Freedom issued the following message this week to every American involved in the Got2bet industry:
"After nearly a month of quiet, those trying to ban Internet gambling have officially restarted their efforts, this time in the U.S. Senate. On Thursday, July 31st, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will vote on the bill, S. 627, the so-called Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act.
"We need your help. This is one of our last chances to keep the government's hands off the Internet. After the House of
Representatives passed this bill a month ago, we need to make our voices heard. We need to contact our Senators and tell them to vote against this bill.
"Please log on to http://www.profreedom.com to send a letter and be
sure to tell everyone you know to send one too!"
INTERNET GAMBLING A POSSIBILITY FOR BAHAMAS
1 August 2003
Gaming chief wants regulation for Internet gambling
The head honcho of the Bahamas Gaming Board, Kenyatta Gibson says his nation is interested in exploiting any worthwhile gaming opportunity including Internet gambling licensing.
Opening the Sixth Annual International Symposium on Wireless and Internet Gambling Law and Management the gaming chief called for sensible regulation to control and stabilise the fast-growing world of Internet gaming.
Gibson said that although the Bahamas did not presently regulate Internet gambling it was keen to learn about the possibilities, particularly in view of proposed changes to the nation's Gaming Act that were under discussion.
"Let there be no doubt that The Bahamas is poised and ready to take advantage of every opportunity and trend in the gaming industry." he concluded.
Here's a deal that had industry observers scratching their heads this week. Poker.com Inc. bought the Poker Skill concept from Blue Diamond in Switzerland and then spent months hyping it as the only legal way around US legislative obstacles. It then announced that it will be Beta testing this month after some delays, but still no licensees seem to be signed on.
Then a press release appeared this week announcing that the company has signed a letter of intent with Blue Diamond (the original Poker Skills owners) to purchase a license for a poker room using this now well travelled but underpatronised software.
The transaction is subject to the parties entering into a definitive license agreement covering the commercial and operational components of an online poker card room.
Blue Diamond International Capital Inc. is the company from which the patent pending Skill Poker technology was acquired earlier in 2003. In its new role as a poker room owner Blue Diamond intends to retain the services of Eclipsicom Media Inc., a Vancouver based international marketing agency which specializes in building, managing and marketing websites in the emerging markets of Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Canadians will both market and manage operations at the new Poker Visa.com site.
We reported on the upcoming retirement of Will Hill group chairman John Brown in a recent bulletin - and according to the London newspaper The Independent the hunt for his replacement is now on.
William Hill has appointed the headhunting firm Egon Zehnder to seek a new chairman following an announcement earlier this year that Brown will stay in the role until the end of the year to help the group see through a period of deregulation for the betting industry. He had previously been due to leave in May after 44 years with the group.
Brown raised a few eyebrows in July when he sold £5.7m of shares, which the stock market interpreted as a negative signal for the company's fortunes.
It is understood that there has been some concerns within William Hill over the pace of change within the gaming group and the company is anxious to find a new chairman to help oversee a more radical approach to the industry's opportunities. The company is trying to modernise its operations in order to take advantage of the changes deregulation will bring to the British gaming sector but is concerned it has not been moving fast enough.
The board's nominations committee consists of Charlie Scott, the former Cordiant chairman, Barry Gibson, the former Littlewoods chief executive, and David Allvery, a former finance director of Barclays Bank.
It is thought the headhunters are looking externally for a successor to Mr Brown. However, some analysts believe Mr Gibson would be a good internal candidate. If he decides to put himself forward he would have to step down from the nominations committee.
Israeli technology company Zone4Play was in the news again this week with the launch of a fun concept that has the potential to develop into a commercial success.
The company introduced an interactive, 3 fun-card games package through the TwoWayTv UK channel, broadcasting on UK cable platforms NTL and Telewest. The interactive games in the suite are Black Jack, Baccarat and Video Poker.
The games can be played using a point balance, in a risk-free environment; players may acquire "points-for-play" through the service and a dynamic Top 50 leader board is featured to give players a competitive element.
Two Way TV's Head of Business Development, Guy Templer said: "These games give a flavour of the most popular card games but are played on the television using your remote. They also neatly complement the challenges and quizzes that the Two Way TV channel is best known for, giving our players a schedule of games that's always full of surprises."
Recent Zone4Play Interactive TV games include UPC Casino games channel in Austria and The Netherlands, Fixed Odds games on the AVAGO channel (Sky EPG 235) and a Casino games portal (EPG 777) for YES Satellite in Israel.
Costa Rica is the official home for many online casinos who take advantage of its lack of Got2bet regulation, creating the impression that they are licensed for gambling when that is not in fact the case.
This week rumours were flying, fuelled by an interview with an influential Panamanian businessman in Sports911, that the Costa Rican government will later this year lower the boom on Got2bet from that country. Within days, the jitters were aggravated when a local newspaper reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) now considers Costa Rica to be among the "countries of primary concern" for money laundering.
That assessment was contained in an intelligence brief published by the agency in May and available on the Internet, claimed the writer.
The agency said that Costa Rica has a highly advanced financial system and the limited amount of safeguards in the banking sector make the country an attractive location for carrying out money laundering activities.
"DEA reporting indicates that Colombian traffickers are using couriers to bring millions of dollars in drug proceeds to Costa Rica and deposit those proceeds into banks," said the analysis. "The money is then wire transferred to bank accounts in the United States. Once this has been accomplished, associates of the Colombian traffickers utilize automatic teller machines and debit cards in Colombia to withdraw the funds from their U.S. accounts."
Large wire transfers do not have to be reported to authorities in Costa Rica the same way that large cash transfers do, said the DEA, adding that this loophole in the law allows launderers to use the Costa Rican system.
The DEA also said that narcotics traffickers are laundering drug proceeds through the purchase of real estate in Costa Rica, in addition to the movement of funds through Costa Rican bank accounts and offshore trusts.
And because there are no reporting requirements by traditional casinos, money launderers have an easy time representing the laundered funds as casino winnings.
The U.S. agency said that there are at least 50 online casinos and some 60 sportsbooks operating in Costa Rica and that an online casino can be set up for about $10,000, much less than is needed in other countries.
Drug proceeds are being laundered through investments in construction projects, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and product assembly plants, said the DEA, adding, "In fact, some of the largest malls in Costa Rica were built not through the use of bank loans, but rather through direct investments. Costa Rican law enforcement does not currently have the resources to uncover the origin of these investments."
The anti-drug agency faulted Costa Rica for a lack of international cooperation, a lack of funding, and a lack of anti-money laundering training especially for prosecutors.
The agency did say that the Instituto Costarricense Sobre Drogas and its financial intelligence unit has increased from one individual to five, but that is still not enough to investigate all the suspicious financial activity the law says it must.
The assessment was summarized this way:
"The money laundering laws in Costa Rica have changed in order to more effectively combat the concealment and laundering of illicit funds through Costa Rica’s financial sector. Changes must be made to banking regulations in order to ensure compliance with existing anti-money laundering laws.
"In addition, the anti-money laundering legislation that is in place now should be strengthened with the addition of a conspiracy law. Although the new antidrug law is a vast improvement over the legislation utilized by Costa Rica in the past, the commitment by Costa Rica of the funding and manpower needed to truly combat money laundering in the country has yet to be seen."
