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Online gambling news from online casinos and poker rooms

We update this list with headline news from the online casinos, poker and gambling industry on a daily basis.

CONFERENCE CORNER (407) (7-September-2006)

6 Summits in one conference

Brave the December cold in London this year to attend Bullet Business Europe (London, Dec. 6-7, 2006) where industry leaders such as John Anderson (CEO, 888), Mark Blandford (CEO, Sportingbet), Phil Fraser (CEO, Which Bingo), Matthias Hein, (Treasurer, The European Casino Association) and John Shepherd (Director of Corporate Communications, PartyGaming) are already confirmed to speak.
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PARTY GAMING HALF YEAR PROFITS SOAR (406) (7-September-2006)

47 percent increase in profits...and less reliance on US business

Online gaming group PartyGaming reported a 47 percent increase in its first-half profit this week and revealed that recent acquisition, Gamebookers was exceeding expectations.
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SPORTINGBET EYES WORLD GAMING FOR TAKEOVER (405) (7-September-2006)

Discussions in "...a very preliminary stage"

The corporate site at Sportingbet plc today (Thursday) carries an announcement indicating that an all share offer may be in the wind for gambling software developer World Gaming plc.
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CRYPTOLOGIC'S ONLINE POKER UPS THE ANTE (404) (7-September-2006)

New "Distributed Poker" system provides licensees seamless mobility

Canadian online gambling software developer CryptoLogic Inc. has announced the completion of a major upgrade to its poker platform.

The company's new "Distributed Poker" system provides licensees seamless mobility to locate their shared online poker room in markets that offer the best growth opportunities, without any interruption to games or players.
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SPORTINGBET CHAIRMAN DETAINED IN U.S. (403) (7-September-2006)

Details still sparse, but executive was not travelling on Sportingbet business when arrested

Details are still coming in, but Sportingbet plc has asked for the temporary suspension of its shares on the London stock exchange following the detention in the United States of non-executive chairman Peter Dicks (64)
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BLUFF MAGAZINE'S READER'S CHOICE VOTING ENDS NEXT MONTH (402) (7-September-2006)

Now's your chance - place your vote for the best of the best in online gambling

Voting in the inaugural Bluff Magazine's Annual Readers Choice Awards has been open for some months now but will close on October 20, and readers are being urged to make their choices count whilst there is still time.
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MANNA FROM HEAVEN (401) (7-September-2006)

The strange tale of the billboard vault and how it rained money in Vegas

Police in Las Vegas were this week investigating a bizarre theft from an even more bizarre location - a giant Las Vegas billboard.
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MACAU AND SINGAPORE TO SCREEN WPT ACTION (400) (7-September-2006)

154 countries now show the World Poker Tour games

Asian poker fans will get to see the World Poker Tour action following a deal signed this week between World Poker Tour Enterprises and Macau Cable in Macau and MediaCorp in  Singapore.
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GBP 1 MILLION PRIZE POOL FOR EUROPEAN POKER MASTERS TOUR (399) (7-September-2006)

Inaugural event being publicised as the biggest European tour yet

There are now only days left before the start of the inaugural European Poker Masters poker tour, which is set to launch September 9 and is being marketed as the largest pan-European poker tour yet. The organisers, All In Sport promise that the tour will feature some of poker's top pros battling for a GBP 1 million prize pool.
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FULL TIME FOR HAMMERS ONLINE CASINO (398) (7-September-2006)

Partners agree to call it a day on disappointing business

Online casino players and affiliates alike were receiving bad news from the one year old Hammer's Casino this week as the partnership between Imperial E-Club and the West Ham United football club decided to call it a day after disappointing business results.
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A GOOD YEAR FOR THE IRISH (397) (7-September-2006)

Paddy Power reports first half profits up

Aided by good World Cup football returns, Ireland's top bookie group Paddy Power PLC reported an 11 percent gain in first-half net profit this week.  Growth in the group's Internet, telephone and over-the-counter gambling markets was also encouraging.
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LARGEST ONLINE GAMBLING PLAYER SURVEY GOES LIVE (396) (6-September-2006)

Players urged to have their say

eCOGRA ( eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance ) www.ecogra.org , the player protection and standards authority of online gambling, announced the launch of its much anticipated Global Online Gambler Survey this week.
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7 WORLD SERIES OF POKER SPONSORSHIPS FROM MILLERS (395) (6-September-2006)

New multi-week online poker promo announced for a claimed 65 million U.S. poker players - and it's legal!

Poker Creations has announced a multi-week, online poker promotion with Milwaukee's Best Light Beer and Casino Media Group , a multi-media agency with offices in Toronto, New York and Las Vegas.
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CASINO CAUTIONS (394) (6-September-2006)

A case of slow-pay that will not go away

Club Player Casino.com remains under the microscope (see previous InfoPowa reports) as one of the worst cases of slow-paying a player yet seen in the industry....and as we went to press this week the case was still unresolved and the player unpaid.
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CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP AT SPORTING NEWS (393) (6-September-2006)

Vulcan Sports Media prepared to sell but no price disclosed

Sporting News , a weekly sports oriented publication that agreed to pay $7.2 million to settle Department of Justice allegations that it promoted illegal wagering by publishing ads for Internet gambling sites, could be changing hands soon.
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SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER STILL GOING FOR ONLINE GAMBLING BAN (392) (6-September-2006)

But no guarantees that the proposal will be debated before Congress adjourns late September

Fresh from his rather one-sided field examination of the proposed U.S. online gambling ban in Iowa, Senate Republican leader Bill Frist remains keen to push the proposal through the Senate. But the politician offers no guarantee that it will succeed.
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ALL IN IS ALL OUT (391) (5-September-2006)

Online poker site closing its doors

Hot on the heels of the Pokertropolis closure comes news this week that All In Poker , an online poker room which attracted hundreds of players via it's controversial multi-level marketing program, is to close. Members were informed of the action by email last week.
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ECOGRA APPEALS TO PORTALS TO ASSIST IN SPREADING ONLINE GAMBLING SURVEY NEWS TO PLAYERS (390) (5-September-2006)

The biggest online gambling players study ever attempted kicks off this week

The CEO at player protection and standards body eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) is clearly determined to spread the eCOGRA survey response net as widely as possible.  This week Andrew Beveridge appealed to portal owners to help assemble the survey's target of at least 20 000 respondents by spreading the word.
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A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY (389) (5-September-2006)

Law professor asks valid questions on US banning attempts

Respected online gambling legal authority, university professor I. Nelson Rose published an interesting article this week, starting with the provocative view that the United States Congress has lost sight of a fundamental fact about gambling: It is up to the states, not the federal government, to decide what forms of gambling should be legal.
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JUNIPER REPORT SHOWS MAJOR GROWTH AHEAD FOR MOBILE GAMBLING (388) (5-September-2006)

Asia Pacific and Europe will fuel increase in business to 2011

Another bullish assessment of the mobile gambling market has been published by the respected research house Juniper Research this week, predicting that revenues in the Asia-Pacific region could rise from $966 million in 2006 to $8.8 billion by 2011.
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TEXAS HOLD 'EM REVS UP XBOX LIVE ARCADE (387) (2-September-2006)

100 downloads a minute on day of launch

Last week InfoPowa reported on the imminent debut of the new Microsoft Texas Hold Em game for Xbox Live Arcade , and the event proved to be every bit as popular as predicted, breaking records for Microsoft as the most in-demand download yet on the Xbox Live Arcade.
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SKY TV TO SCREEN MAJOR MILLION DOLLAR POKER TOURNEY (386) (2-September-2006)

Big names scheduled to play in Fifty Casino competition

All In Sports , formerly known as The Poker Channel, will be bringing another game of high-stakes poker to television screens in the U.K. next year with the "Million Dollar Cash Game."
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SCREEN DIGEST STUDY HAS ALL THE ANSWERS (385) (2-September-2006)

The UK future of online gaming is bright, with revenues and customers doubling by 2010

The Screen Digest.com site reports that the companys recently completed online gambling study looked at 30 operators , including the global market leaders in key sectors such as sports betting, poker, gaming, exchange and spread betting.
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ONLINE POKER SITE POKERTROPOLIS CLOSING (384) (2-September-2006)

But this group's sportsbook operations apparently continue to prosper

The online poker room Pokertropolis.com advised players this week that it would close with effect from  September 1. Fortunately the owners, Horizon 20 Group out of Costa Rica appear to be carrying this exercise out in a professional manner, communicating with their players and advising them that support facilities would remain open until September 7.
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LEE RAID WAS RESULT OF INTENSE INVESTIGATION AND STING OPERATION (383) (2-September-2006)

Trash analysed, cars followed, banks and phone records inspected in major police action against poker star's activities

Over the weekend more news emerged on the police raid on poker personality Richard Lee's home in San Antonio last week (see previous InfoPowa and 20topcasinos.com reports) which indicated that the raid was the culmination of an intense police investigation that has been running since February this year.
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NEW POKER MAGAZINE ARRIVES AT NEWSTANDS (382) (2-September-2006)

Poker Pro Europe on sale at 8 000 outlets

The first issue of Poker Pro Europe magazine was on the shelves at over 8000 retail outlets, bookstores, airports, casinos, card rooms and newsstands throughout English-speaking Europe this week. The new publication is backed by a rich media website in both .com and .co.uk domains launched on August 24.
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U.S. COURT ORDER ON BETONSPORTS EXTENDED (381) (2-September-2006)

Prosecution asks for more time to assemble tax evasion case against gambling group

The U.S. court order restraining beleaguered online gambling group BetonSports.com from taking bets from US citizens is to remain in place for a further 30 days following an extension granted this week by U.S. District Court Judge Carol E Jackson.
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BETFAIR AND CRYPTOLOGIC REACH THE PARTING OF THE WAYS (380) (2-September-2006)

New poker software will be supplied by in-house technology

The parting of the ways of Betfair Poker and Canadian software provider Cryptologic is not expected to have an...
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"JJ" IS THE LADY CHAMP (379) (2-September-2006)

WPT Ladies Night IV another success

Joanne "JJ" Liu took the winner's prize in this weeks World Poker Tour Ladies Night IV tournament held at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, earning herself a $25,000 seat into the WPT's Championship Event and a WPT ring.
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32 RED.COM DISAPPOINTS (378) (2-September-2006)

Interim results lower

32Red , the Gibraltar-based casino, sportsbook and poker operator, reported disappointing interim results to the end of June.
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REVENUES AND CUSTOM UP AT BLUE SQUARE (377) (2-September-2006)

Blue Square revenues up 50 percent and active customer numbers rise 12.5 percent to 261 000.

The UK gambling group Rank can be proud of the performance of subsidiary Blue Square this week following the release of its interim results, which saw the company achieving ambitious targets.
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MOBILE GAMES PROVIDER JOINS LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (376) (2-September-2006)

GBP 4.1 million raised in AIM placing

Mobile gambling technology company Probability Games was successfully floated on the AIM section of the London Stock Exchange this week - the first mobile gaming operator to do so.
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CUSTOM BUILT CHOPPER BIKE FOR LUCKY NUGGET PLAYER (375) (2-September-2006)

Everything about this promotion was VIP

Lucky Nugget Casino.com player MarcC will probably be cruising along the US highways this week on a custom built Orange County Choppers dream machine he won this week in a promotion that was First Class all the way for the seven finalists.
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CALIFORNIAN WINS WORLD POKER TOUR LEGENDS OF POKER (374) (2-September-2006)

Newport Beach's Joe Pelton beats starting field of 460 over 4 days of play

Newport Beach, California player Joe Pelton is the new champ in the 2006 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker ,  beating a starting field of 460 players in a 4 day tournament to take to the $1 577 170 first prize this week.
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HABLA PACIFIC POKER.COM (373) (2-September-2006)

Spanish language facility introduced for poker players

Pacific Poker.com , the poker arm of Gibraltar based gambling group 888.com has launched a Spanish language version of the popular sites and its games.
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U.S. TAXMAN INTERESTED IN POKER TOURNEY WINNINGS (372) (31-August-2006)

Treasury publishes guidance plan for poker

If you were worrying about the tax implications of that big poker tournament win you enjoyed in the United States, the U.S. Treasury has a plan for you according to a report carried in Card Player magazine this week.
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CENTREBET BEATS THE FORECAST (371) (31-August-2006)

Remarkable turnround by Aussie betting group, and expansive plans for the future

Australian online gambling group Centrebet International Limited has turned a loss of $2 million in 2004-2005 into a net profit for the year of $2.798 million in its latest financial results.
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WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION PANEL MEETS NEXT WEEK ON U.S. INTERNET GAMBLING ISSUE (370) (31-August-2006)

Geneva panel to decide whether the U.S. is compliant with earlier WTO rulings

Next Monday could be crunch day for the United States in its long-running World Trade Organisation dispute with Antigua and Barbuda over internet gambling bans (see previous InfoPowa bulletins)
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WSOP FINALIST'S HOME RAIDED FOR ALLEGED ILLEGAL ONLINE GAMBLING ACTIVITIES (369) (31-August-2006)

Luxury goods and cash receipts impounded.

Reports in the San Antonio press this week claim that local police searched a home owned by Richard Lee , the recent winner of nearly $3 million at the World Series of Poker , for evidence of an extensive illegal Internet gambling operation.
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'WE'RE NOT VIOLATING EU RULES WITH OUR MONOPOLY' SAYS DUTCH MINISTER (368) (31-August-2006)

European Commission assured that Dutch government is playing it by the book

The Dutch government has reiterated its view that its policy on gambling does not violate EU rules, according to a report this week in NIS News. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner briefed the Dutch parliamentary Lower House on his response this week.
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TRY OUT THE VEGAS HANDHELDS GAMES (367) (31-August-2006)

Wireless developer issues an open invitation to play on new promotional website

Diamond I, Inc ., a developer of wireless gaming products, including the WifiCasino wireless hand-held gaming system, announced this week that it has launched a new, interactive website to offer visitors a chance to try out the same slots, roulette, blackjack and poker as will be available on the company's GS2 wireless gambling device. The trials will be "for entertainment purposes only" the company emphasises.
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4 TOP BLACKJACK VARIATIONS, 4-OF-A-KIND BONUS POKER AND SEAFARING FUN AT TRIDENT GROUP (366) (31-August-2006)

Hours of online casino fun and great opportunities for reward in latest game releases

Blackjack fans at King Neptune's Casino ( www.kingneptunescasino.com ) and Trident Lounge Casino ( www.tridentloungecasino.com )  will surely greet Trident's just released Gold Series Volume 2 games with enthusiasm. With 4 variations of the popular blackjack genre, all brilliantly crafted with imagination, cutting edge technology and gambling tradition, the Gold Series is set to define new quality levels in online gambling table games.
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POKER PLAYERS' ALLIANCE RENEWS ATTACK ON INTERNET GAMING BAN (365) (31-August-2006)

As Rep. Leach embarks on a field hearing in Iowa, the PPA lets rip at online gambling ban proposal

The 100 000 strong Poker Players' Alliance is pretty smart at choosing the right timeframes for its attacks on the proposed bans on Internet gambling in the USA.  This week it synchronised its latest blast to precede a field hearing scheduled for Iowa by one of the bans proposers, Rep. Jim Leach .
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MORE ONLINE CASINO CONSOLIDATION (364) (31-August-2006)

Chartwell Technology and Parlay Entertainment agree to merge

Two gambling software developers and providers in Canada have agreed to the latest industry merger this week. Chartwell Technology Inc. and Parlay Entertainment Inc. intend to combine their businesses and talents as agreed in a binding letter of intent (LOI) executed on Aug. 30, 2006.
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TRIBECA LANDS SPORTING INDEX ONLINE POKER DEAL (363) (30-August-2006)

Leading UK spread betting group to join network

Sporting Index , a major spread betting company that holds some 70 percent of the UK market has chosen Tribeca Tables as its online poker software and network provider of choice, signing a deal this week.
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CBS TO SCREEN THE ULTIMATE BLACKJACK TOUR (362) (30-August-2006)

Two seasons of coverage for top blackjack players and ordinary joes vying for a million dollars

Move over, poker here comes blackjack could be the cry from US television broadcaster CBS which this week announced a two season commitment to screening a major blackjack oriented TV show titled Ultimate Blackjack Tour.
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$500 000 PRIZEPOOL IN ONLINE POKER ROOM TOURNAMENT (361) (30-August-2006)

This year's 888.com UK Poker Open to be broadcast daily on Challenge TV

Online poker players looking for a sponsored seat in the 2006 UK Poker Open championships can still qualify through 888.com satellite tournaments on the Internet every Sunday, the gambling group announced this week.
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RELIGIOUS RIGHT PRESSING FOR SENATE VOTE ON INTERNET GAMBLING (360) (30-August-2006)

Baptist spokesman in the U.S. wants to see "a more moral, healthy, God-honoring nation"

The Baptist Press focused on the legislation facing a reconvened U.S. Congress this week, looking toward the resumption of legislative activity on September 5 and describing legislation supported by pro-life and pro-family Americans as "...hanging in the balance."  The prohibition of Internet gambling is one of the legislative items that the religious right wants to see banned, apparently.
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