German politicians meet gambling industry to discuss new State Treaty
September 29, 2010
In what could turn out to be a milestone event, politicians and a diversity of interested parties met in Kiel, Germany recently to exchange ideas on a new State Treaty which might permit the existing monopolies to hold on to lucrative lotteries but also benefit from the rewards of a liberalised and strictly regulated market.
Among the 80 delegates involved in the discussions were politicians, lottery and betting companies, sports associations, academia, media and advertising industry representatives.
The publication isa-guide.de reports that the consultation was organised as a hearing for the formulation of a Schleswig-Holstein draft for a new State Treaty to replace the former exclusive agreement between German states, which expires in 2011.
The CDU parliamentary leader Christian von Boetticher and his colleague Wolfgang Kubicki FDP observed that it was not too early to commence a serious debate on the next treaty, and that such a discussion should be open-minded in order to effectively examine all the possibilities, including the repeal of the present internet gambling bans.
Recent rulings by the European Court of Justice and developments in other European nations, together with a Deloitte survey that showed government revenues from gambling have been declining, were seen as motivation for a new approach to the legislation and future treaties.
A representative from Pokerstars said there was significant potential for online poker in Germany, which he estimated could be as high as €7.8 billion in revenues, given time and a sensible regulatory environment.
Taking a more current view, Dr. Michael Schmid, a consultant with Gold Media, said that a study by his company put the value of the unregulated, foreign-based online casino market in Germany at €1.5 billion – a quarter of the total market.
Norman Faber, a German lottery executive, warned that if the current monopolistic system was allowed to continue it could ultimately put at risk tens of thousands of jobs and the survival of many businesses in Germany.
Canadian player lands $107,064 Slotland jackpot
September 27, 2010
A Canadian player with the screen name Winnipegleg became internet gambling’s latest big winner this week when he hit the jackpot on Slotland’s progressive Wild Heart, a recently upgraded game in the online casino’s proprietary software games suite.
The latest major win comes only five weeks after the last $147,711 big hit at the casino.
Slotland manager Michael Hilary said, “We don’t usually have to wait very long between wins but we were pretty surprised to have another big jackpot winner again so soon!”
To win the jackpot on Wild Heart, Winnipegleg achieved a Royal Flush on all three lines when he had a max bet on each line.
“Believe me, I’ve often daydreamed about what I’d do if I won a jackpot,” said the winner. “Now that it’s happened I can’t remember any of the wonderful things I wanted to do! I’ll probably donate some to a good cause and invest some of it. But I’m also going to buy a few treats for my wife and myself!”
Wild Heart is a multi-hand video poker game with an exotic jungle theme, and is based on a Double Joker format. It’s a triple play video poker game where players have a chance to win on several lines at a time. The object is to get the best possible five card poker hand on one or all three lines. There are three 54-card decks, each with two wild cards. The same cards are dealt to all three lines. Players can hold one or more cards and, on the next spin, receive up to five new cards on each line.
Online fantasy sports business booms
September 25, 2010
Good weekend reading came from Associated Press this week in an article on the growing popularity of online fantasy sports gambling, a pastime sanctioned in all but 6 states by US law despite the banning of other internet forms of gambling.
In fantasy sports, participants pick a team of real-life players in baseball, football or other sports and compete based on their real-life statistics. Such competitions typically last a season, but more websites are springing up that offer prize money for teams that last only one night.
The AP report notes that rivalries among friends or co-workers are building new nightly online betting into a hit for the $800 million fantasy sports industry, with over a dozen websites managing daily fantasy sports wagers, earning a percentage for doing so.
Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, which represents 120 companies, revealed to the AP that commissions amount to $35 per player per month at one of the largest new sites, FanDuel.com, and that nearly 7 million Americans and Canadians were already playing fantasy sports for money by 2008, with the total expected to soar.
One of the market pioneers, Fanball.com, launched a daily game in late 2008 called Snapdraft, and quickly attracted players; another was FantasySportsLive.com, which launched daily games with gambling in mid-2007.
Charchian observed that fantasy sports betting is not considered sports gambling because gamblers can’t wager on scores or team wins or losses, and they can’t create fantasy teams that mirror real-world teams. These are what-if teams, where individual performance is the most important factor.
Newer arrivals in the sector include FanDuel, which launched in the spring with $1.8 million in venture capital funding and now averages 20,000 users per month who have placed more than 65,000 bets, according to CEO Nigel Eccles.
Eccles said the site’s use increased 10-fold with the start of the NFL season this month.
“Whereas season-long drafts have already had their single bite … our daily draft model enables us and our partners to continue to add players throughout the NFL season,” he said. FanDuel has expanded into Canada and now has deals with seven major U.S. newspapers to attract players. The two businesses evenly split the commission FanDuel collects on each bet.
In 2008, an Ipsos survey showed that fantasy sports gamblers were spending an average of $134 per year on their leagues as the daily gambling sites were just starting to take off. The research firm found that of the 27 million Americans and nearly 3 million Canadians who play fantasy sports each year, about three-quarters do it just for bragging rights.
Media owners like the fantasy sports concept because it gives their readers comething new and different, Yoni Greenbaum of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, told AP. “It’s a niche that fits into a larger strategy,” he said, adding that the hope is that links like this will get readers to make Philly.com part of their daily routine; already some players have complained that they can’t bet enough each night, he said.
Online Casino Site Sportingbet Settles With US
September 23, 2010
Sportingbet Sportingbet has seen its stock rise in the past couple of days after announcing that they have reached a settlement with the US that will keep the gaming company out of court in the country. The settlement stems from illegal activity before 2006.
When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was created back in 2006, many of the foreign gaming companies pulled out of the US market. The law did not take affect until this past June, but companies with listings on the London Stock Exchange pulled out when the law was signed just over three years ago.
Sportingbet, however, had trouble with the US before 2006. The settlement allows Sportingbet to avoid prosecution and possibly opens the door to the company re-entering the US market in the future should the laws change.
The US Justice Department has been negotiating with Sportingbet for the past couple of years. The violations stem from Sportingbet taking bets on casino games from US citizens. The company has agreed to pay the US $33 million.
The $33 million may seem like a get out of jail free card for Sportingbet. The company has had the threat of US prosecution hanging over it for years, and it has caused investors to stay away. Now, the company may see a similar jump in price as what PartyGaming saw last year.
PartyGaming also settled with the US involving the processing of bets in the country. PartyGaming agreed to a much stiffer penalty because of its PartyPoker site that was once the most popular online poker room in the world.
Online casino launches freeroll slots tournament – Online Casino News
September 12, 2010
Microgaming-powered online casino GoldenRivieraCasino.com has launched a series of free slot tournaments that are offering players the chance to take home a share of €100 in cash every day.
A member of Vegas Partner Lounge, which is the same firm behind sites including CrazyVegas.com, SunVegasCasino.com and 777DragonCasino.com, GoldenRivieraCasino.com revealed that its new €100 Daily Freeroll Slots promotion begins every day from eight o’clock in the evening London time before closing 24 hours later.
Registration opens twelve hours before the start of each event with a maximum of two add-ons costing three Euros each. A minimum of six players is required for each event while one re-buy is available for one Euro.
Malta-licensed GoldenRivieraCasino.com stated that it will reward the top five players in each daily tournament with a portion of the €100 with the best placed competitor taking home €40. Second spot will walk away with €25 followed by €15 for third and ten Euros each for fourth and fifth.
“This is a way of providing players with a rip-roaring adrenaline rush of a tournament every day of the week,” said Austin Green, Brand Manager for GoldenRivieraCasino.com.
“And, with daily cash prizes to be won, we guarantee that players will be completely filling up their schedules.”
GoldenRivieraCasino.com revealed that its €100 Daily Freeroll Slots promotion is being hosted on six of its most popular games, Avalon, Hitman, Loaded, Thunderstruck, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Ladies Night, on a daily rotation.
All Slots Casino releases Andoid app
September 10, 2010
Online casinos are great, because you can play your favorite casino games without having to visit a brick and mortar casino. If you’re away from home or a laptop computer, though, you may not be able to access your favorite site. Some smartphones are able to run online casino software, but that is often not the case. For that reason, many online casinos are developing mobile casino apps. Most of the gambling apps that have been released, though, have been for the iPhone and iPad. That makes sense, due to Apple’s dominance of the market, but what if you have an Android cell phone? All Slots Casino has you covered, now releasing a mobile gambling app for the Android.
All Slots Casino has released two different Android apps, bringing some of the best All Slots games directly to your cell phone. One is a free blackjack app, which allows you to play online blackjack using play money. It is a good way to play some carefree blackjack games while on the go without worrying about your bankroll. The downside is that you can’t win money. That’s where the other gambling app comes in.
The other new Android app from All Slots is a real-money casino app. That app requires you to download casino software and it then allows you to play casino games for real cash. There are nine games currently available on the Android app, though more should be on the way soon. The games currently available are the progressive slots Major Millions and Mega Moolah, the traditional video slot Tomb Raider, Classic Blackjack, Bingo Bonanza and Roulette.
If you have an Android smartphone and are a fan of the games offered at All Slots Casino, these new gambling apps are a great way to enjoy your casino games on your phone. If you don’t, then sorry, but I guess this blog doesn’t really concern you (on the other hand, maybe you should get an Android phone).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Favored Over Cleveland Browns In Week One NFL Match Up
September 6, 2010
Defensively for the Browns, it’s all about pressure, pressure, pressure, on Freeman. The Browns have made strides to try and improve their defense from a year ago. This includes the first round selections of defensive back Joe Haden. Haden was a stand out at Florida last season, and will look to make an immediate impact in that Browns secondary.
Offensively for the Browns, they were equally as poor. But, looking at the bright side, they made moves to bring in the players that new GM Mike Holmgren believes will be the right pieces to help produce wins. This includes completely reshaping the quarterback position.
Jake Delhomme will begin his reign in Cleveland on Sunday, as a veteran quarterback who is known as a solid game manager. Delhomme won’t wow anyone with his statistics, but he has a history of winning, and that is something that Cleveland is desperately searching for. Combining Delhomme, with running back Jerome Harrison, and the Browns might have something that can compete potentially in the AFC North, or at the very least throw together more wins early in the season.
On defense for the Buccaneers, heralded rookie Gerald McCoy,the third overall selection in April’s draft, will get his first taste of regular season NFL football on the line. The Buccaneers defense against the Browns offense is the better storyline in this one, as many questions on both sides will be answered here. Whether or not Tampa Bay can stop anyone on defense, and if Cleveland can move the ball at all on offense.
USA Online Sportsbooks and NFL Weekly betting lines favor the Buccaneers in this one. Tampa Bay has been set as a two-point favorite to win the first game of the year, with the over/under currently sitting at 37 points. The line opened at two and has held constant. Barring any injuries or other story lines, the line will likely settle right here.
The weather forecast for the game shows that it will be a hot one in Tampa, with the ever-possible chance for afternoon showers in Florida, as per the usual this time of the year.
$900,000 in shares paid for bingo.com domain
September 4, 2010
Toronto-listed online bingo provider Bingo.com has come to the conclusion that buying its distinctive domain is a better bet than renting it, paying shares to the value of $900,000 for ownership to the former owner Bingo Inc.
Bingo Inc., allowed Bingo.com to use the domain for some ten years in return for a payment equal to 4% of gross profits since January 18, 1999.
The companies agreed on the acquisition value of the domain after an assessment by an independent third party, which suggested that the value could be as high as $1.4 to $1.6 million.
Bingo.com chief executive Tarnie Williams said: “The successful acquisition of the remaining domain name payments owing to Bingo, Inc., at a substantial discount to the independent valuation, is another step in simplifying the operations of Bingo.com and a further strengthening our balance sheet.”
Slots.com recently sold (it is believed to the Bodog group) for $5.5 million.
Unibet holds a 25.9% in Bingo.com, which it bought earlier this year for $2.5 million.
Spin3 launches native Android casino games app
September 2, 2010
Mobile gambling specialised technology provider Spin3, has announced that its award winning games are available as native Android applications for the first time.
Analyst house Gartner predicts Android will increase its market share to 14% of the global smartphone market in 2012 – surpassing Windows Mobile, Blackberry and iPhone smartphone devices. Android is the operating system behind some of the market’s most popular mobile phones including the Google Nexus One, HTC Desire and Motorola Droid.
Spin3’s games have been developed to work across all versions of Android, enabling its clients to bring its cutting-edge games to the growing number of customers using Android powered devices. Blackjack is now available as a native Android app, and will soon be followed by the Spin³’s entire, award-winning games portfolio.
“The buzz around Android is staggering,” says Matti Zinder, Head of Spin3. “The phones and experience is comparable to that of the iPhone, and the platform is rapidly growing in popularity with developers and consumers. Our games will work on any Android phone and will be future-proofed to support all upcoming versions of the operating system. Android has more momentum than any other platform and is driving the increased sales of smartphones.”
“We are committed to developing the most advanced games for the best and most popular platforms in the market, Zinder added. “That is why we were the first to launch play-for-real games for the Apple iPhone, and now we have developed our games as native apps for Android powered devices. We’re really pleased with how we’ve adapted some of our most popular games, and are sure our clients’ mobile customers will enjoy them too.”
All Slots Mobile Casino will be the first client to launch the games as both play-for-fun and play-for-real native apps. The games can be downloaded for free from the Android Market by searching for All Slots Mobile Casino. The native Android apps will be rolled out to other Spin³ clients in the coming weeks.
David Brickman, VP Player Affairs at All Slots Casino, says, “Our strong partnership with Spin3 enables us to offer our customers the most dynamic and entertaining casino games on the market’s latest platforms. It’s a winning combination that has helped us grow our customer base and mobile casino business. A successful mobile casino business needs to support Android – and we are delighted to be able to meet this demand.”
