Part 3, 26- 30 June, 2006 weekly-roundup for poker, gambling and casino news

UK BINGO DEMOGRAPHICS MAKE FOR INTERESTING READING

OnlineBingo.co.uk study finds that 88 percent of online bingo players are aged around 47 and are female
 
An extensive industry-wide survey conducted by OnlineBingo.co.uk has been released, showcasing online bingo demographics.
 
The online Bingo portal and information site's survey found that 88 percent of online bingo players were female and that the average player was just over 45 years old. Interestingly the male players were younger than the females at an average age of 37 with the women coming in at an average of 47 years old.
 
The two most widely played forms of online bingo are 75 ball and 90 ball and the study found that 47 percent of players enjoy both types, 46 percent of people strongly prefer 90 ball and just 7 percent of users prefer 75 ball bingo.
 
The majority of players - 38 percent - play online bingo daily. 15 percent of players are playing 2-3 times a week and 8 percent of players are active once a month.
 
OnlineBingo.co.uk plans to continue to review the statistics with further studies that will subsequently provide more information regarding the industry.
 

MORE DETAILS ON THREAT TO SWEDISH MEDIA

Online gambling advertising in Sweden is a no-no...unless it happens to be for the government monopoly
 
Details of a reported threat to Swedish media for carrying online gambling advertisements were sketchy as InfoPowa went to press last week, but a full report has now appeared in Interactive Gaming News.

Last week Sweden's National Gaming Board reported four of the country's print-based editors to police for the violation of running advertisements for foreign gambling companies.

Two newspapers, Expressen and Metro , and two magazines, Slitz and Spray , ran ads for non-Swedish gambling companies in the weeks leading up to the World Cup. Expressen's sports section alone reportedly had seven advertisements for foreign gambling companies last week.

Sweden's Lotteries Act of 1994 expressly prohibits the promotion of unlawful gambling that originates outside of the country. According to chapter 38 of the Act, it is illegal for foreign gambling companies to solicit customers through advertisements in the Swedish media, thus making it illegal for Swedish media outlets to accept such advertisements. It is legal, however, only for state-owned gambling companies such as Svenska Spel to advertise.

These aren't the first cases of illegal gambling advertising in Sweden. A number of district court rulings have upheld the law.

Among those already found in district court judgments to have broken the law are Expressen editor Otto Sjöberg and Nerikes Allehanda editor Krister Linnér , who was refused an appeal by the Swedish Supreme Court.

"This means that doubt is now eradicated," said the Gaming Board's chief legal officer Håkan Hallstedt . "The law applies and we can act more forcefully."

The editors in question are arguing that the Swedish law is inconsistent with EU law.

In recent months Sweden and six other EU states have been in the spotlight for upholding regulations that sustain monopolies for state-owned gambling operators. The European Commission in April sent official inquiries into the restrictions on sports betting services to seven Member States, including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, in order to determine whether the restrictions violate Article 49 of the EC Treaty, which guarantees the free movement of services.

EU law says that countries may prevent competition in the gambling space in order to maintain social safety but that they must otherwise uphold free and fair competition.

Ulf Isaksson , a partner at Danowsky and Partners in Stockholm, is representing Sjöberg, the editor of Expressen who awaits appeal in one of the earlier cases of illegal advertisement. While Isaksson could not give specifics about his client's case, he shared his opinion about the current state of affairs in Sweden regarding gambling and fair competition.

"As the Swedish National Gaming Board has launched a number of actions against editors and newspapers for advertising foreign lotteries, Swedish national lottery legislation is constantly being challenged from many directions," Isaksson said. "In January 2006, a Swedish legislative commission expressed doubts on Swedish laws' conformity with EC law. In addition, new gambling cases are currently pending before the European Court of Justice. The final outcome of these matters is not certain, but many are convinced that the current Swedish legislation infringes EC law and think that the national courts will eventually share this view, although such step may require a judgment by the European Court of Justice."

This isn't the first time the Swedish gambling monopoly and advertising law has been challenged. British bookmaker Ladbrokes in 2004 launched an Internet scratch card called Trippel to compete with Svenska Spel's identical product, Triss . Ladbrokes placed an ad for Trippel in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet , and the Gaming Board promptly reported it to the police.

In April of this year, Ladbrokes further challenged the law by applying for a license to operate Ladbrokes Poker in Sweden.

NOT A TRIVIAL MATTER FOR THIS MILLIONAIRE WINNER

The ultimate frustration - winning a million and then losing it when an online casino goes out of business

There can be few online gambling events sadder than the story of New Yorker Susanne Uebler which came to light this week and will stir sympathy in the toughest player heart.

Ms. Uebler won herself a million dollars some six years ago in a trivia contest at Cybercroupier group's Oriental Casino.com , and received only a small percentage of this live-changing bonanza before the company went out of business around 2003.

She is now involved in a costly and protracted legal battle for the prize she has so far been denied, and the software company that licensed Oriental Casino, Boss Media is in the firing line.  

BACKGAMMON LAUNCH AT PARTY

A 5 000 year old game gets a 21st century lift-off

Earlier InfoPowa reports that the Gibraltar-based Party Gaming group is about to launch an online backgammon site came to fruition this week with the appearance on the Internet of PartyGammon.com .

Known as "the game of kings" and requiring skills of timing and calculation, backgammon is one of the world's most popular games and one of its oldest, claims PG, with variants dating back more than 5 000 years. PartyGaming has now brought this history to the modern world of the internet, enabling new and existing customers to play backgammon, poker and casino all from a single PartyAccount.

"The launch of backgammon, a truly international game of skill, is a natural evolutionary step in our strategy to become the global gaming portal of choice," said Mitch Garber , CEO of PartyGaming. "We are very pleased to add it to our portfolio of games."

Using proprietary software certified by the I-Tech laboratories, PartyGammon.com offers games to play for free or for cash for a variety of gammon versions, including Hypergammon and Nackgammon. Customers can access PartyGaming's 24/7 customer support for any questions about getting started or using the product.

Like poker, tournaments feature high on the list of activities at the new site, and since the duration of each match is limited, any player can take on a world class player on a lucky day and win. PartyGaming has followed its winning formula of many tournaments and massive prize pools.

Tournaments will be of either static length (match lengths are fixed and remain constant until the final round) or progressive length (the matches become longer as a player advances). There are presently two types of tournaments:

Regular tournaments - these are pre-arranged, with a fixed starting time, which is announced on the site.
Sit&Go tournaments - these are available 24/7, and just need the required number of players to register in order to begin.

In addition, PartyGammon.com is to sponsor a number of the world's most prestigious backgammon events, starting with the Belgian Open last week and including events in Estoril, Portugal in September and in Paris in October.

LINDGREN BEATS 'THE MOUTH' IN PRO POKER SHOWDOWN

One hand between victory and defeat in final heads-up

It took nearly four hours for Erick 'E-Dog' Lindgren and Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow to get heads up at the FullTiltPoker.Net Pro Showdown at Red Rock Casino, but just one hand for Lindgren to claim the victory and the $600 000 first-place prize last week.

Lindgren and Matusow outlasted five other Team Full Tilt members, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, and Clonie Gowen who each paid $120 000 to enter this invitational poker tournament broadcast live on FOX Sports Network.

'E-Dog' and 'The Mouth' went head-to-head after Lindgren knocked Clonie Gowen out of the tournament. On their first hand of heads-up play, Matusow moved all in after picking up Ace-Jack against Lindgren's Ace-King. Matusow couldn't improve, and Lindgren walked away from the table with the title and a $600 000 cheque.

There was a none-too-shabby consolation prize for The Mouth, who collected an impressive $280 000 for second place, while Gowen recouped her $120 000 buy-in for her third-place finish.

The FullTiltPoker.Net Pro Showdown at Red Rock Casino was the latest in a string of live televised poker tournaments created by Full Tilt Poker, and continued the tradition of exciting play and large prize pools established by their other events: The FullTiltPoker.Net Championship at Wynn Las Vegas and the FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational from Monaco.

"It was a privilege to be able to call the action live as these great pros all brought their "A" games to the table" said Team Full Tilt member Howard Lederer . "Erick Lindgren played beautifully and is a deserving champion."

POLAND TOPS IN INTERNATIONAL POKER CONTEST

Pokerstars competition brings home the bacon for Polish team.

In last week's "forthcoming attractions" InfoPowa reported on the upcoming clash of top poker players from 8 nations around the world at the third annual PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker in Barcelona, Spain. 

Ultimately, it was Team Poland that defeated Team United States to take the top prize as the Polish team battled their American opponents heads-up to collect the $100 000 first place payout. Team USA did not go home empty handed - it was awarded $50 000 in total for its second place finish, while Team Canada received $30 000 and Team Israel split $20 000. Other teams in the competition included Brazil, England, Ireland, and Iceland.

The World Cup of Poker was a freeroll event that began in April with players from 39 nations around the globe battling online at PokerStars.com for the right to represent their countries in the televised eight-team finale. Winners were awarded flights to Barcelona to compete in the no-buy in event.

Each national team featured five players: two Frequent Player Point (FPP) PokerStars.com qualifiers, two top-ranking PokerStars.com players, and one "celebrity" player chosen by the team. These included Tom McEvoy for the U.S. and Isabelle Mercier for Canada, among others.

The live tournament format for the Barcelona final involved five qualifying heats, with each team member playing in a single-table mini-tournament heat where they were awarded points. After the fifth and final heat, the top four teams went through to a four-handed knock-out to decide the World Cup winners.

The PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker was taped for TV by production company Sunset+Vine, and will be broadcast in six episodes on Challenge TV (Sky Digital) and other channels throughout Europe starting in September.

THE COMICAL FACE OF ONLINE POKER

If you're a funny writer, Suited pocket rocket wants to talk to you...

Internet message boards often carry interesting, not to mention intriguing tidbits of information and business offers, and this was the case on the popular Winneronline.com forum this week.

Using the eye-catching *handle* "Suited Pocket Rocket" an American poster revealed that he or she was about to start up a really innovative venture - a daily webcomic that will have online poker as its background theme.

If you are a writer with a sense of fun, you can make contact with SPJ at stj@charter.net and provide a link to material you have written.

The as yet untitled webcomic will be a blend of humour and melodrama, promises SPJ - not unlike the game at times! A solid understanding of poker and specifically online poker is a must, as is a professional attitude towards writing and aggressively building up a store of scripts for the artist to execute.

The bottom line is that a cut of net profits will be on offer.

MORE FLAK FOR WASHINGTON

Ban on internet gambling continues to draw acid comment

The online gambling ban imposed on June 7 in a Washington state law signed off by Governor Christine Gregoire has been taking media flak throughout the week. The mainstream media is clearly not happy with the idea that online gambling and advertising for online gambling is banned, whilst citizens are actively encouraged to gamble in that state's various Indian land based casinos, state lotteries and on horseracing online.

The harsh provisions of the new law make it a felony with the same punishmentas that reserved for child molesters, second offense drunk drivers and drug dealers.

Successful ACLU actions in New Mexico, which attempted unsuccessfully to block its citizens from accessing online gambling websites via internet service providers could set the scene for more action than Gregoire bargained for, according to some industry observers.

Typical of media criticism on the new law was an editorial in the Seattle Post Intelligencer , which opined: "Washington legislators would do well to retool their new Internet gambling law before the courts do it for them."

Legal opinion has also been divided (see earlier InfoPowa reports) on the provisions in the law that make it a felony for anyone who "....knowingly transmits or receives gambling information" online." This is seen by many as way too broad a prohibition.

Other critics have speculated that the state's real purpose is not to protect its citizens from *some* parts of online gambling but not others, but rather lies in shielding its own state revenue-raising games, such as the lottery, or in protecting vested interests such as the home-grown tribal gambling industry and the influential horseracing sector.

A survey conducted by a Seattle newspaper showed that nearly 78 percent of respondents believe Washington State should not outlaw online gambling.

CARELESS COMMENT COSTLY FOR PARTY GAMING

An analyst's view of "cack-handed" management actions and the impact on share price

The Daily Telegraph this week pointed out that Party Gaming does not have much to celebrate a year on from its GBP 5 billion market debut, with shares that have barely budged from their 116p float price, and a stock that has lagged the FTSE100 index by almost 10 percent, while its closest listed rival, Sportingbet , has outperformed the index by the same amount.

In an insightful op-ed article, the newspaper asks the rhetorical question: "Why have PartyGaming's shares fizzled?" and explains that ill-considered talk and actions by management may be at the root of its problems in the recent past.

The fall in popularity is not because poker is a risky business. That was well priced in from the outset. Nor is there much wrong with the operational side of the business, which is doing better than forecast. And fears that online gaming will be outlawed in the US, where PartyGaming gets the bulk of its revenues, still look wide of the mark, observes the article.

The real reason, the Telegraph writer claims, is that PartyGaming's "...cack-handed management spooked investors with a series of blunders. Richard Segal, the chief executive, alarmed the market just three months after the float by suggesting that growth was slowing. That wiped a third off the share price. Then, six months later, Segal suddenly quit. To cap it all, two of the founders decided to leave the board and sold a large tranche of shares."

Pointing out that gaming stocks are volatile at the best of times, the writer suggests that perceived management chaos made PartyGaming even more so. The sale of such a large stake by the founders was a particular problem for PartyGaming, given its small free float - and the fact that few institutions are willing to hold big stakes.

Ending on a positive note, the Telegraph piece underlines the fact that PartyGaming still has plenty of chips on the table, and concludes that ".....if only it can reassure the market it is a grown-up company. It is the market leader in a sector forecast to enjoy a decade of 10 percent [annual] growth. And online gaming still makes up only around 5 per cent of the world's gambling market.

"The arrival of a new chief executive [ Mitch Garber ] is a start. If he can deliver a year without nasty surprises, PartyGaming's second birthday may be a happier affair."

WORLD SERIES OF POKER FEVER

You ain't seen nothing yet....!

The excitement and anticipation attending the big-time nature of the World Series of Poker in Vegas is already almost tangible as the media machine behind poker's most globally watched event goes up a gear with the tournament date now visible on the horizon.

Last year's WSOP recorded the most successful run in its history with almost 30,000 players participating in 45 events for a record total prize pool of more than $103 million.

In the $10 000 buy-in World Championship No-limit Texas Hold'em event, a record 5 619 players entered with all nine players at the final table winning at least $1 million.

But you ain't seen nothing yet - the 2006 series will be better and bigger, say official sources.

Harrah's Entertainment executives are projecting that some 41 000 participants will enter this year's 45-event competition. The world championship event is likely to draw a small army of more than 8 000 players who will pay, or be sponsored at $10 000 an entry. Due to the sheer size of the field, the opening round will be staggered over four days while the second round will take place over two days, paring down to 1 400 players.

While the final two days of the 2005 World Series of Poker championship were held at Binion's, home to the World Series during its first 35 years, the 37th World Series of Poker will not leave its permanent location at the Rio.

"Thank God. If we have to pull another all-nighter, at least it will be at the Rio," said Howard Greenbaum , Harrah's vice president of speciality games for the Las Vegas region. Last year's final table took almost 14 hours to complete with competition ending about 6:30 in the morning.

Greenbaum said it was a logistical nightmare moving the gaming operation and television production equipment for the final event.

With everything now taking place at the Rio, Greenbaum said some changes were made to the temporary poker room inside the Rio's spacious convention center.

The number of poker tables has increased to 208. Two additional specially equipped final tables, which include cameras that reveal a player's hole cards to a television audience, have been included.

"We'll have a lot of carry-over action going on and this will allow us to run two events at the same time," Greenbaum said.

The entry process has been streamlined, Greenbaum said, and the number of cashier windows has tripled to 15.

Other new aspects include a special break room for dealers, a designated smoking area, expanded menu options in the dining facility and, through the use of trailer-sized port-a-toilets, increased restroom facilities.

Based on the expected number of entries, the world champion could take home a top prize of $12.5 million, Greenbaum said, easily eclipsing last year's record $7.5 million win by Australian Joseph Hachem .

With the growth of Internet poker and entrants qualifying from the online poker community, the last three world poker champions have been relative unknowns.

One special event that was added at the request of the long-time poker community was HORSE, a three-day challenge where players compete in five different poker games; hold'em, Omaha, razz, seven card stud, and seven card stud high-low split/eight or better for low. Buy-in for the event is $50 000 and Greenbaum only expects about 100 players to compete.

UK MOBILE CASINO PLAYERS RACK UP 100 000 TRANSACTIONS

Mobile casino gaming is now a commercial reality in the United Kingdom

PlayWizard Co. Ltd ., a developer of solo and multiplayer mobile gaming systems, today launched its 3rd generation CasinoPhone2004 mobile casino technology, claiming that British cell phone users have taken mobile gambling to their hearts.

Nader Rahimizad , Chief Technical Officer,said: "Mobile casino gaming is finally a commercial reality in the United Kingdom with a sustainable 100 000 transactions reached on mobiles."

PlayWizard's online GPRS casino games portfolio is offered as a mature suite for mobile devices today, with the CasinoPhone2004 launch providing what the company describes as a new level of excitement and sophistication with superb graphics and multimedia action.

Launched in 2003, PlayWizard has commercialised its secure mobile gaming technology in the United Kingdom in partnership with YooMedia PLC on its Sky Interactive Channel 841 TV casino service. The company reveals that its experience so far indicates that on average mobile gamblers enjoy playing a surprising 4 hours a day!

The company has a portfolio of 16 casino games designed and developed on 22 different screen sizes in both C++ and Java platforms and its unique dynamic web and WAP content delivery system supports over 95 percent of Contract and Pay-As-U-Go mobile devices in the United Kingdom. The OEM games suite can be previewed at m-Gambling sites like AVAGO.TV , Mobile2Bet.com and Mad4Vegas.com .

GOOGLE HAS NEW PLANS FOR CHINA

Interest in top Chinese search site Baidu sold

Google is apparently reassessing its Chinese ambitions after making a significant profit on the disposal of its 2.6 percent interest in major Chinese search site Baidu .  The local search engine outpunches Google in the Chinese market.

Analysts suggest that Google is instead intending to focus on its own Chinese business, targeting the world's second largest Internet market, with more than 100 million users.

Google and other foreign firms see huge potential for growth in China but their alleged willingness to censor access to politically sensitive material in order to comply with Chinese government demands, has attracted fierce criticism.

According to US regulatory documents, Google made a substantial profit on its investment in Baidu. It sold its holding for more than $60 million, having acquired the shares for just $5 million last year. Baidu shares are currently trading at about $80 each.

"It has always been our goal to grow our own successful business in China and we are very focused on that," Google spokesperson Debbie Frost said, confirming the share sale.

Google was also busy this week on the run-up to its launch of a new online payments product, dubbed Gbuy by the media. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is set to introduce a test version of its online-payment service as early as this week.  To attract customers, the search engine giant plans to offer an unspecified rebate to people who make online purchases using the service, known as Gbuy, the Journal said.

The service, which would challenge payment options by Ebay Inc.'s PayPal and others, has been expected since early this year.

CENTREBET IPO OVER-SUBSCRIBED

$70 million public offering attracts a strong response

The management at Australian sportsbook Centrebet.com will be pleased with the strong response to the companys $70 million public offering, which has been over-subscribed following strong demand from retail and institution investors, and is now closed.

Scheduled for listing on July 12, the offer consisted of 35.111 million shares, or around 40 percent of the company at $2 a share.

Proceeds of the initial public offering will be used to pay down debt and position the company for future expansion in both domestic and international gaming markets, say the owners. Centrebet will probably have a market capitalisation of $174 million when it lists on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Centrebet Pty Ltd was founded in 1992, and claims it was the first licensed bookmaker in the Southern Hemisphere to offer online sports betting. Since then the company has grown significantly and now offers up to 4 000 international sports and horse racing events a week, and a growing list of online games.

With a client base of over 300 000 customers from 110 countries, Centrebet has become an international online betting and gaming company with fixed-odds betting on sports, entertainment and horse racing events, as well as online poker rooms.
 
The company was purchased by the SportOdds group owned by Sydney-based Con and Peter Kafataris in late 2003. As one of the top licensed Australian gambling groups, SportOdds currently employs 220 staff and has over 190 000 registered clients.

SPORTSBOOK AMBITIONS FROM PARTY GAMING

GBP 500 million bond issue for acquisitions

PartyGaming again dominated the UK mainstream business news this week with the announcement of a GBP 500 million acquisition plan to expand its influence into the sportsbook sector.

The announcement followed the launch of the group's new backgammon site at PartyGammon.com, and its major (believed to be GBP 20 million) sponsorship of the 2006 WSOP.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Party is on the brink of an expansion into sports betting via a series of acquisitions to be funded with the proceeds of a bond issue that could raise as much as GBP 500 million.

It is understood that the first purchase will be of a privately-owned but as yet unidentified European operator, and will be relatively small in the context of the fund-raising. Talks are at an advanced stage and could be unveiled within the next fortnight. More deals are then planned, according to bond market sources who have been briefed on PartyGaming's plans.

The size of the fund-raising reflects the scale of a commitment by new chief executive, Mitch Garber , and the group's controlling shareholders to "de-risk" by diversifying earnings. PartyGaming's share price has been consistently battered by attempts by conservative senators in Washington to ban, or at least restrict, online gambling in the US, where about 80 percent of the group's customers live.

It is understood that the company has decided not to accept sports bets from the US in an effort to limit confrontations with the anti-online gambling lobby. That is the same stance taken by established sports betting companies such as Ladbrokes, although rival Sportingbet does do so.

PartyGaming has paid a reported GBP 20 million to gain wall-to-wall exposure for its brand during televised World Series of Poker events in Las Vegas next month.

The strategic sense of expansion into sport betting has been demonstrated during the World Cup. Most online poker operators admit privately that June has seen a fall in activity on their sites as European online poker players have tuned in to the football.

In contrast, the World Cup - despite being less profitable than bookmakers had hoped because of the lack of surprise results - has been a huge marketing boost for sports betting companies, especially in continental Europe.

It is thought Garber has ruled out an acquisition of a traditional "bricks and mortar" casino business, which was regarded as an alternative for PartyGaming to achieve diversification. Instead, it will retain a commitment to being a Web-only business.

Sports betting is seen as complementary to its existing operations. The group has enjoyed success in encouraging poker players to play blackjack and has just launched a backgammon site. These efforts have relied upon so-called "shared purse" technology, which allows players to channel their gambling on all games through one account. Any new sports betting facility is likely to be put onto the same platform.

Betting over the internet on sport is a relatively fragmented market in continental Europe, where PartyGaming's first acquisitions are likely to be directed.

Industry sources report that a number of privately-owned companies have been offering themselves for sale in anticipation of a move onto their territory by poker-based sites.

888 Holdings , operator of the Pacific Poker site, has already revealed ambitions to acquire a non-US sports book.

Gamebookers , which claims customers in 150 countries, is seen as a possible target for PartyGaming. The company claims to have some of the most advanced betting technology and 145 000 customers.

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