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Go Dog
Following a dispute and subsequent legal order over the ownership of the Bodog.com domain poker site, Bodog has been forced to open a new website, replacing its old URL with www.newbodog.com.
On the Ball
Premiership football teams Liverpool and Newcastle United have struck betting-partner deals with overseas companies. Unibet, which is registered in Malta, will launch Liverpool's gaming site later this year, offering sports betting, poker, and a casino. Jaxx, a German-owned lottery, betting, and gaming operator, has signed a two-year deal with Newcastle that will coincide with its UK launch this month.
Party Loss
Online gambling group PartyGaming recorded a $47 million (£23 million) half-year loss as it continued to rebuild in the wake of U.S. legislation last October that forced it to close operations across the Atlantic, wiping out 75 percent of its revenue.
Chief Executive Mitch Garber said the first six months of this year had seen an 83 percent increase in customer sign-ups outside the U.S., taking the total to 403,700. Nevertheless, even excluding the U.S., losses for the half-year were $32 million. Pretax profit 12 months ago had been $320 million.
Trading figures did meet City expectations, however, with revenues averaging $1.4 million a day in July and August when the firm signed up an average of 1,192 new poker players a day.
PartyGaming stated that it is keen to expand through acquisitions and joint ventures in China and Russia, and hinted that it was close to clinching several deals. The company's share price surged 23 percent when the figures were announced, closing at 28 pence. At their peak, shares in the company were £1.70 apiece.
End Svenska's Monopoly
Sweden's Liberal People's Party has called for the sell-off of state-owned gaming operator Svenska Spel, which currently monopolises all forms of gambling in the Swedish market, including its own poker site, using Boss software.
The government has long refused to meet ongoing European Union calls to open the country's lucrative gambling market to non-Swedish companies, and in an official response to the EU Commission, the Swedish government says that while it intends to consider the demands, no changes to Swedish law will be implemented.
The government goes on to say that it sees the lone Swedish exception to EU gambling laws as acceptable. In June, the Commission demanded that Sweden scrap rules forbidding foreign firms from entering the Swedish betting market - an industry forecast to be worth more than $5 billion a year.
The Commission also is seeking the removal of a ban on foreign gambling companies advertising in Sweden.
The Swedish government's refusal to meet Commission demands could result in legal action against Sweden for violation of the EU's Treaty of Rome.
Professor a Pro
Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson has announced an international effort to organize "poker strategic thinking societies" at universities and secondary schools around the world that will use poker as an educational tool to teach everything from basic life skills to war games at military colleges.
Nesson and his "Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society" view poker as: "A game of skill that can be used as a teaching tool at all levels of academia and in secondary education. The concept is to use poker to teach basic life skills, strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management.
"The goal is to create an open online curriculum centered on poker that will draw the brightest minds together, both within and outside the conventional university setting, to promote open education and Internet democracy."
Alea at the Axis
At a cost of £9.5 million, London Clubs International has opened its latest casino in one of Nottingham's architectural gems, the Axis building in Upper Parliament Street. The new venue is called "Alea," the Latin name for the game of dice, but, as yet, poker is not amongst its attractions.
Aspers in Place
Casino chain Aspers has invested £13 million in Swansea's city centre's Salubrious Place, developing a 120-seat restaurant, three bars, an iPod lounge, a beauty parlour, 28 multimedia screens, a stage for live music and entertainment, plus gaming facilities.
The casino, which can cater to 1,600 customers, cost £5 million for the fit-out, making it one of the most expensive interior-design projects the city has seen.
Damian Aspinall, chief executive of the Aspers chain, said, "The main gaming floor at Aspers, Swansea holds 40 electronic roulette terminals, 20 gaming tables, and 20 slot machines. There is a poker area, which can be hired out, and a room for social gaming - such as poker, mahjong, and backgammon."
Grosvenor Go-Ahead
Grosvenor has been granted permission to convert the former Mecca bingo hall in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh into a new casino complex that will include a plush cafe, sports bar, and poker room at a cost of £17 million.
Blazin' Full Tilt Cash Game
Emblaze Productions has announced a three-year event-sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker for series II, III, and IV of the
Million Dollar Cash Game, Europe's most prestigious high-stakes poker event and television series.
This year's
Million Dollar Cash Game took place in London during September, by Full Tilt invitation only. Players included top-class pros Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Tony G, Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham, and John Juanda. The UK's Marc Goodwin also took part. This series is scheduled to broadcast on
Sky Sports during January 2008.
James Hopkins, founder and managing director of Emblaze Productions, said: "We are delighted that Full Tilt Poker has continued to sponsor this unique high-stakes cash game. With hundreds of thousands of dollars being staked over two days of filming, viewers will be in for a thrilling second series."
Wet Quote From the Fish
The [poker] quote of the year must surely go to Dave Ulliott, who was talking to the
Independent newspaper on the eve of the
World Series of Poker Europe.
In that paper, he claimed that "marathon sex sessions" are all the preparation he needs to stay awake during tournaments, and then, gesturing to his young girlfriend, said: "I can make love for four or five hours. I like to get a woman and ring her out like a flannel."
Stars on the Move?
PokerStars may be forced to move its servers from their current base in Canada, or else pull coverage of the European Poker Tour from English TV screens, following the UK government's ban on the advertising of gambling websites that operate outside of the European Economic Area, or so-called "white-listed" territories such as Malta and Gibraltar.
888 Amounts to Less Than 444 Post-Bush Ban
Not alone in being affected by the U.S. online gaming ban brought on by George Bush's government to combat terrorism late last year, 888 has announced that is first-half earnings have more than halved.
Net income for the six months ending June 30 dropped to £13.5 million, compared with £42.7 million in the same period a year earlier.
On the Cards
PokerTek, makers of electronic arcade-style poker machines, has placed its Chief Financial Officer Christopher Daniels on administrative leave after becoming aware that he may have inappropriately used the company's corporate credit card for personal purchases.
Party on ITV's Friends
ITV has struck a deal with PartyGaming to provide online poker on Friends Reunited, the social networking website that it acquired for £120 million two years ago. PartyGaming said it was the first of a series of "white label" deals with household brands in the UK and overseas.
The Gibraltar-based gambling group also provides ITV's Emmerdale and Coronation Street-branded bingo websites and backgammon and casino sites tied to ITV Play, the broadcaster's call-in quiz division.
Playful Time of It
Software provider Playtech has reported an 80 percent increase in total non-U.S. revenue, and says that income is almost back to where it was before last year's ban on Internet gambling in the U.S.
The firm said revenue for the six months ending June 30, 2007, jumped to $44 million (£21.8 million) from $24.5 million, only $2.2 million away from the $46.2 million reported a year ago, which included U.S. revenue.
Casino revenue was up 53 percent to $32.6 million, while poker revenue leapt to $10.5 million from $2.8 million in the same period last year, boosted by the migration of the Tribeca licensees onto Playtech's platform.
UK Open Returns
The fourth 888
UK Poker Open is being filmed during late October. Confined to 108 players, using Matchroom Sport's favoured six-seat format, the winner will receive $250,000 of the $648,000 prize pool.
Northern Ireland Excluded
An expected wave of television advertising campaigns from online gambling firms has been delayed by restrictions in Northern Ireland, where the government's liberalising Gambling Act does not apply.
