Online Casino News - July 2005 Week 3

VEGAS THRILLER

WSOP 2005 is building to a climactic finale today

It has dominated the gambling and mainstream media for the past two weeks or more, but as the 36th World Series of Poker runs up to the finals interest has reached a fever pitch.

With a prize fund of almost 53 million dollars, and the involvement of the biggest names and companies in poker, it's not hard to see why.

The beginning of this week saw 5619 hopefuls - experts and casual players alike - arriving in Vegas for the start of poker's biggest event, the World Series of Poker championships.

With a $10 000 buy-in, many of the players were sponsored through their fame in the game or by winning satellite tournaments online. Players begin with $10,000 in chips, then play for six days in marathon sessions that can last up to 12 hours a day.

So big was the field that Harrahs as owners of the event had to start by organising a massive area at the Rio to accommodate the scores of tables, and initially bring the players together in groups of 2 000.

By Thursday, when a now more manageable group of only 27 players were left standing the grand finale moved to Binions. Along the way many top names in poker had fallen among the thousands who crashed out, but there were still legendary names like Hung La, Kenna James, Greg Raymer, John Juanda, Lee Watkinson, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Tim Phan and Fred Bonyadi, and one woman - the UK's Tiffany Williamson.

In the past, Internet sponsored players, called "dead money" by Vegas pros who consider them amateurs, have stunned the poker world by coming away victorious. Chris Moneymaker won more than $3 million in 2003. Greg Raymer won more than $5 million in 2004. Both were Internet players.

With a first prize of $7.5 million to be won, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes for "in the money" players at this stage, the scene was set for some exciting and competitive poker.

Going into the final day of the 36th World Series of Poker the attrition rate among the professional players continued to be high with faves like Phil Ivey, Tim Phan and Greg Raymer falling by the wayside.

Minh Ly was at 19th position when he went out just ahead of Ivey at 20th, Phan 24th and Raymer 25th. They were preceded at the end of Day 5 by John Juanda (31) Farzad Bonyadi (41) Lee Watkinson (45) Pat Hayden and Rod Pardey.

With 23 players now left to battle it out to the final 9 at Friday's top table at Binions, Mike Matusow is still contending fiercely in the top spot, and a little known 27 year old US realtor called Aaron Kanter was impressing onlookers.

The UK's Tiffany Williamson was the lone woman left in the event on exactly 1,000,000 in chips heading to Binions after a bruising encounter with Greg Raymer. Her position was not strong.

STOP PRESS:

As InfoPowa went to press the field was down to 10 as follows (not in any particular order): The only woman left in the tournament, Tiffany Williamson was the 15th player to be eliminated, but will return to London $400 000 richer.

Aaron Kanter

Joseph Hachem

Brad Kondracki

Scott Lazar

Ayhan Alsanacak

Daniel Bergsdorf

Steven Danemann

Mike Matusow

Tex Barch

Andrew Black

Four nations are represented at the final table of 10: Ireland (Andrew Black), Australia (Joseph Hachem), Sweden (Oskar Silow) and the United States are all represented.

Of the final 27 players before the final cut, 11 qualified for their seats online. Tiffany Williamson won a freeroll at her local cardroom. John McGrane had a personal outlay of only $11. It cost Daniel Bergsdorf $33. With every player on this shortlist guaranteed at least $350,000 the online players had a stunning return on initial investment.

MULTIPLAYER TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS THE CASINO EXPERIENCE

Ambience and excitement in new online casino direction

Microgaming has again showed its flair for innovation and cutting edge online gambling technology with the launch of the first Multiplayer Casino software at Riverbelle Casino.com.

Based on the positive player response to online multiplayer poker, the use of the latest developments in this technology to create more exciting casino gaming and environments represents a significant step forward that will ultimately give players the ability to gamble with their contemporaries all over the world on a wide variety of games.

Although Riverbelle is pioneering this exciting new product, the Trident group expects to have it available on the King Neptune's and Trident Lounge casinos shortly, and other groups are expected to quickly follow suit, rapidly broadening the market penetration of the new concept.

Players are being encouraged to try out the new software amid initial reports that the gameplay is fast, fair, smooth, and the interaction outstanding.

Using chat facilities and high resolution graphics in conjunction with the advanced software, Multiplayer Casino (MPC) creates additional gaming ambience and boosts the overall gambling experience.

There are three categories of slots:

Multiplayer Standard Slots is a global Slot Bank game where gamblers play with each other on slots in several slot rooms.

The slot rooms contain eight slots.

A player may only sit at one slot machine per room.

All slot machines are visible to all the players.

To take part in a game a player is required to place a bet. The slots will spin individually as each player activates.

Multiplayer Community Slots is a global Slot Bank game where gamblers play in company.

Community Slots have regular and community payouts.

Community payouts are payouts for community winning symbol combinations. Players are only paid out for community wins if they are seated at a slot machine and have placed a bet on the winning spin.

Each game is played on an individual basis, and wins are according to a standard pay table.

This does not apply to community payouts. These are the top three wins depending upon the game and the slot room. This payout is for each of the players present in the slot room, who took part in the spin where the payout was won.

Each win combination has a standard payout and may have a Community payout. The player with the winning combination receives the player payout and the balance of the players receive the Community payout.

Multi-Player Pot Slots is a global Slot Bank game where gamblers play against each other for a central pot. The player with the highest points at the end of the spin, wins the pot.

Points are awarded at the end of each spin. The number of points is dependent on the winning combination formed on the payline. The points awarded are re-set at the end of each spin.

Pot Slot is when the amount wagered is added to a common pot, less a small service fee. At the end of the spin, the player with the highest points, wins the pot.

The new technology is not confined to slots, and Blackjack players can also enjoy this new gambling experience.

There are many Multiplayer Blackjack tables to choose from with different betting limits and the most popular American and European rule variations.

Players can chat to each other during the game and can play together to try and beat the house.

Players can play at a table with chosen companions or simply join other Blackjack players from all around the world at the 3 and 5 seat tables.

PARADISE POKER WSOP MARKETING BACKFIRES

Hotel management less than happy at CD intrusion

Reports from the Rio hotel, where this year's World Series of Poker championships have attracted a large following are that hotel management have been less than impressed with a rather clumsy, if not irresponsible marketing effort by Paradise Poker.

Apparently a person or persons unknown but presumably deployed by the poker site slipped unwrapped CD's of the companys poker software under the doors of hotel guests, perhaps hoping to drum up business.

Regrettably, the hotel was apparently not consulted first, and the "posting" was not done in a discriminating way.

InfoPowa asked Paradise Poker for a comment on this story but after three days there had been no comment as we went to press.

PRIMA NOW THIRD MOST POPULAR POKER VENUE

Latest Poker Pulse survey shows solid gains for Prima Poker network

The online poker Bible, Poker Pulse.com has released its latest list of top sites showing some dramatic traffic gains by the Microgaming-powered Prima Poker Network which carries 35 leading brands.

PokerPulse rankings are based on observed total real money players and estimated ring game pots and the current list is for the period ending the second quarter 2005.

The giant Party Poker.com operation still maintains a significant lead in the industry at the top of the list and continues to benefit from the massive publicity surrounding its recent IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

The high profile and skilfully marketed Poker Stars.com is second, but Prima has moved up and supplanted longtime number 3 Paradise Poker.com, owned by the Sportingbet organisation.

Way back when, Paradise was the top online poker venue before being unseated by Party Poker. It has now dropped to seventh position.

The much publicised Bodog.com poker room is dead tied in 14th place with Full Tilt Poker and an interesting struggle is developing between the two highly visible rooms.

Boss Media's International Poker Network is doing well at number 12.

This is the Top Ten on Poker Pulse.

1 PartyPoker

2 PokerStars

3 Prima Poker Network

4 UltimateBet

5 Pacific Poker (888.com)

6 PokerRoom.com

7 Paradise Poker

8 Ladbrokes

9 CryptoLogic

10 Tribeca Poker Network

HOTEL CASINO NETWORK EXPANDS

Playtech powered network now targeting general gambling public too.

Hotel Casino Network.com, a group that originally aimed to leverage extensive land hotel experience and contacts to provide online casino gambling on hotel networks around the world, has expanded its marketing to the general Internet public.

The company has commissioned Income Access of Montreal to provide affiliate marketing programs capitalising on HCN's Playtech software, full Support and accounting facilities that promise a 1 - 4 day payout regime and Kahnawake licensing.

“Hotel Casino Network is a welcome addition to the community of gambling clients already using our programs,” said Income Access CEO, Nicky Senyard.

“We have designed the Hotel Casino Network affiliate program to offer online gambling affiliates attractive commission options, personalised affiliate support, detailed accurate tracking and reporting as well as many other features that affiliates need for success.”

POKER ROCKS!

Stars turn out in second edition of a popular Vegas tournament

The LV Convention and Visitors Authority have teamed with Clear Channel Entertainment (and a few wrinkly rockers) to organise a reprise of a popular poker tournament in the gambling city.

For a buy-in of $10,000, poker fans can sit at the same table with rockers Gene Simmons, Dave Navarro and Jerry Cantrell during the second annual Vegas Rock Star Poker Tournament and Sweepstakes.

The event takes place between August 25-27 at the Palms Casino Resort. Poker players who want in on this action should go to Vegas Rock Star Poker.com.

Readers will probably be hearing a lot more about this event - a series of promotions with radio station partners in New York, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco are planned.

BRUNSON AND THE WORLD POKER TOUR - WHAT HAPPENED?

US$700 million bid sends stock northwards...then south again.

Surprise news of the week came from Reuters, reporting that U.S. poker champion Doyle Brunson had bid $700 million cash for WPT Enterprises Inc. just days after the company known for its World Poker Tour television show launched an online gaming site.

Market rumors of the bid, which were later confirmed by WPT, sent its shares surging almost 59 percent last Friday to a new high of $28.20 on Nasdaq.

The bid offered a 100 percent premium over the Thursday closing price of $17.75 which valued WPT at about $357 million.

"This bid was unsolicited," Chief Financial Officer Todd Steele told Reuters. "We are going through the normal evaluation process for anything of this nature, and that will likely result in bringing it before the board."

WPT spokeswoman Jackie Lapin said the bid was made by Brunson with a team of unidentified financial backers. Later reports from CNBC suggested that the Binion (Vegas land casino operator) family was among those involved with Doyle Brunson.

Brunson, 71, a legendary U.S. professional poker players, was not immediately available for comment. He was otherwise occupied in Las Vegas playing in the World Series of Poker.

Analysts said the offer may seem high on the surface but was not necessarily so when looking at WPT's business model.

And that's when the wheels started coming off the offer, which had an expiry date of Tuesday this week. WPT CEO Steve Lipscomb couldn't seem to get the information he needed for serious consideration of the offer from Brunson, and as the week wore on it was clear that frustration was setting in.

The shine had disappeared, and media reports were suggesting that WPT Enterprises Inc's shares had turned southward because the Brunson bid had crumpled, prompting speculation about the offer's veracity.

"At this point, without any further information, we would let it expire," said WPT's Chief Executive Steve Lipscomb. "When the offer arrived last Thursday we were not looking to sell the World Poker Tour and we are more than happy to just get back to business."

A company spokeswoman said WPT, which owns the popular World Poker Tour television series, spoke to Brunson late Monday who indicated he would provide no further information about the vague, cash offer that was received last Thursday. And on Tuesday the offer was allowed to lapse.

CASINO CAUTIONS

UK players beware

UK-based players should be taking note this week of the rather strange goings-on at Riverboat Casino.com, which has disqualified winnings and bonuses from UK players on the grounds that it is in the midst of a major *investigation* into fraud from that country.

The problem is that although this action has been ongoing for some six months according to casino reps, any ban on UK players is not displayed in the T&Cs or anywhere on the site. And judging by the tales of the aggrieved the casino has not been stopping UK players from registering and wagering....it even has the United Kingdom on a drop down menu!

The site information aspect is easily rectified by the casino management, but should they continue penalise UK players who went there in good faith and played within the T&Cs exhibited at the time of their wagering, when no ban was displayed?

The answer is of course not, and Riverboat management needs to reconsider these cases whilst it is putting the "No UK Players" sign up on the site.

ISW TO PROVIDE IN-GAME BETTING TO LITTLEWOODS

Another heavyweight client for SportXction system

Littlewoods subsidiary sportsbook BetDirect will be equipped with interactive in-run sports betting soon following an agreement with Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. signed this week.

The companies have agreed to work together to formalise plans in relation to ISW subsidiary Global Interactive Gaming (GIG) providing its SportXction interactive betting product to Littlewoods Betdirect, one of the UK's leading home gaming companies, across its existing Internet, mobile phone and interactive television platforms.

The companies intend to complete a formal agreement and launch SportXction(R) on the Internet during the third calendar quarter of 2005.

During this time, the companies will also evaluate the deployment of SportXction(R) across Littlewoods Betdirect's existing mobile phone and interactive television platforms.

CHARTWELL LANDS ANOTHER EUROPEAN CONTRACT

Interwetten to use casino and soft games suite

Canadian turnkey provider Chartwell Technology Inc has won a five-year contract to provide Flash-based casino and soft gaming products to Interwetten Gaming Ltd.

Interwetten managing director Hartwig Zimmerl says that the agreement calls for Chartwell to launch casino and soft games for Interwetten’s site, Interwetten.com in the near future.

U.S.CUSTOMS SEQUEL

But no denouement.

Last week's story on the US Customs confiscation of allegedly counterfeit cheques sent by Fedex from a casino group (see InfoPowa report) had a sequel early this week. Unfortunately it doesn't clarify these strange happenings any further.

As we went to press last week, the reputable casino group involved continued to assert that the $25 000 worth of cheques were definitely not counterfeit, and the player involved had engaged a lawyer to find out from US Customs why they thought there was counterfeiting going on, and why they had opened her private mail.

This week the player reported that the casino group had successfully cancelled the cheques, again confirming through their bank that there were no counterfeits. An alternative payment method had been found to speedily pay the player, along with an inconvenience bonus, and the player was happy with the casino (although as we reported last week the casino needed to learn a communication lesson from this issue)

On the Customs front no evidence had yet been produced to back up officialdom's claim that the cheques had been counterfeit. Nevertheless, the cheques remained impounded by Customs in the "Penalty and Fines" department, and the player was asked to sign a letter agreeing to "...abandon her property seized by US Customs"

And that's as far as anyone would go.

The player's lawyer advised her to simply accept the status quo; the player was happy that she had been paid anyway and everyone else intrigued by this story was left with the frustration of only being able to speculate on how and what had really happened!

WATCHDOG SITE HACKED

Someone with a thing about auctions?

Popular portal and watchdog site Casinomeister.com was hacked at the weekend by a person or persons unknown who, according to Zone-H attacked several other sites in the same timeframe, mainly those that had carried auctions.

In Casinomeister's case, a script in the Casinomeister Auction section was found to have a security hole which the hacker exploited. Auctions are not a regular Casinomeister feature, but one had been held earlier this year to raise funds for the Asian Tsunami victims.

Fortunately, in this case not too much damage was done. The home page was defaced, necessitating a site shutdown whilst webmaster and owner Bryan Bailey sorted the mess out.

"I shut the site down and had it removed from the server, and I am now in the process of uploading the entire site with nice clean files from my harddrive," Bailey told his members. "I don't want to have any hidden trojans or worms stashed any place. All databases went untouched since they are located elsewhere."

The site was soon back up again.

eGAMING REVIEW NAMES MOST POWERFUL ONLINE GAMBLING COMPANIES

2005 Top Fifty makes interesting reading.

eGaming Review has released its assessment of this year's 50 most powerful online gambling companies:

1. Sportingbet
2. PartyGaming
3. Cassava Enterprises (Casino On Net)
4. William Hill
5. BetandWin
6. Ladbrokes
7. Bodog
8. BetonSports
9. Carmen Media
10. BetFair
11. Victor Chandler
12. OIGE
13. Coral Eurobet
14. Unibet
15. VIPsports
16. Pinnacle Sports
17. Rational Enterprises (PokerStars)
18. BetCorp (BetWWTS)
19. BetCRIS
20. Ongame
21. Interwetten
22. SportsInteraction
23. Golden Palace
24. Empire Online
25. Gaming VC
26. Fun Technologies
27. eWorld Holdings
28. Mr. Bookmaker
29. Fortune Lounge
30. Skybet
31. St. Minver
32. Bet365
33. GameBookers
34. Rank
35. Sportech
36. Imperial E-Club
37. Profitable Play
38. IAS (Canbet)
39. Virgin Games
40. Paddy Power
41. Intercontinental Online
42. Sunny Group
43. Trident Group
44. Ritz Interactive
45. Expekt
46. English Harbour
47. UKBetting
48. BetDaq
49. Midas Player
50. Betcom

SKILLJAM TO SUPPLY GAMES TO eBAY

New community gaming area

Internet auction site eBay has signed up FUN Technology subsidiary SkillJam to develop and provide a series of co-branded skill games for its new community gaming area due for launch later this year.

Chess and golf style games will be among the offerings, which users pay a fee to play for the chance of winning cash prizes. eBay will also integrate the games with content on its auction pages.

"If someone is looking at a Web page with a relevant item, such as golf clubs or a chess board, a pop-up will appear on screen inviting them to go to the community section of the site and play a related game," a spokesman for SkillJam revealed.

FUN Technologies also leases its white-label online games software to Virgin, AOL, Microsoft and Disney.

GAMBLING DRUGS

A side effect the drug manufacturer didn't plan

Associated Press reported an intriguing story this week of an unusual side-effect from a drug normally prescribed for sufferers of Parkinson's Disease.

The story records that a Californian man using the drug Mirapex for Parkinson's Disease is suing the drug manufacturer, Boehringer-Ingelheim after losing thousands of dollars playing slot machines in a nearby casino several times a day for almost two years.

Then he came across an Internet report that linked the drug with compulsive gambling. He stopped taking Mirapex, and within three days found that his compulsion to gamble vanished.

A Mayo Clinic study published in July’s Archives of Neurology describes 11 other Parkinson’s patients who developed the same unusual problem while taking Mirapex or similar drugs between 2002 and 2004. Doctors have since identified 14 additional Mayo patients with the problem, said lead author Dr. M. Leann Dodd, a Mayo psychiatrist.

“It’s certainly enough for us to be cautious as we are using it,” Dodd said. “We wouldn’t want them to have some kind of financial ruin or difficulties that could be prevented.”

Dr. Leo Verhagen, a Parkinson’s specialist at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center who was not involved in the study, says he and some colleagues all have a few patients who developed compulsive gambling while taking Mirapex, a drug that relieves tremors and stiffness. The behavior usually disappears when the drug dose is lowered, Verhagen said. He praised the Mayo article for raising awareness for doctors and patients.

The 54 year old Californian was not treated at Mayo or involved in the study. He said the problem is underreported “...because of the embarrassment factor” and is one of several patients suing the manufacturer, accusing the company of failing to adequately warn patients about the potential side effects.

California attorney Daniel Kodam, who filed the lawsuit last year, said he’s spoken with more than 200 Mirapex patients who developed compulsive behaviors, including excessive gambling, sex and shopping. He is seeking to have the complaint certified as a nationwide class-action lawsuit. A similar suit has been filed in Canada, Kodam said.

Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects more than 1 million Americans.

It is alleged that the Food and Drug Administration was contacted but failed to act on numerous adverse reaction reports about Mirapex. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency is examining the reports to determine if there’s any connection to the drug but declined to say how many it has received.

Katherine King O’Connor, a spokeswoman for the Ridgefield, Conn.-based Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, said there’s no scientific evidence that Mirapex causes the problem. Still, the company revised Mirapex’s package insert earlier this year to include compulsive behavior among potential side effects after receiving “rare” reports — all after the drug was approved for U.S. use in 1997, O’Connor said.

Mirapex was among top-selling Parkinson’s drugs last year, with more than $200 million in U.S. sales, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting firm.

Though a few of the Mayo patients took related drugs, Dodd said most used Mirapex. They included a 68-year-old man who lost more than $200,000 at casinos over six months and a 41-year-old computer programmer who became “consumed” with Internet gambling, losing $5,000 within a few months.

Dodd said Mayo doctors now ask patients using the drugs if they have suddenly taken up gambling. Affected patients are usually switched to different drugs or doses, and the result is often dramatic, “like a light switch being turned off when they stopped the drug,” she said.

BETONSPORTS POKER ARM TO SPONSOR MAJOR TV SHOW

"Winning Edge" show starts September 2005

BetonSports (BOS) subsidiary BOS Poker.net is to sponsor the "Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge" TV show due for launch in the USA in September this year in a deal that whilst not quantified in dollar terms was claimed to be signficant.

BOS Poker.net is an informational poker site for fun, entertainment and prizes only, and is the newest venture by BOS into the world of poker. The agreement includes sponsorship of both "Wayne Allyn Root's WinningEDGE" national TV and radio properties.

Chairman & CEO Wayne Allyn Root said of the partnership, "This deal with BOS Poker.net is the largest sponsorship deal in our history. It comes on the heels of our announcement that we plan to become heavily involved in poker - the most high profile and fastest growing form of gaming in the world today."

KIWI SKILL GAMES DEBUT

Land and online casino company launches new venture

Christchurch Casinos E-Gaming is a company familiar to online gamblers as the parent of Playtech-powered Kiwi Casino.com, Kiwi Bingo and Tiki Bingo but this week the company included the latest gambling fave in its offerings with the launch of KiwiSkill.

KiwiSkill is a New Zealand online gambling site where players bet against one another in a selection of skill-based games.

Instead of providing traditional online casino games such as poker and bingo, KiwiSkill enables players to compete in a selection of close to 100 games of skill.

"This is a very exciting time for us" commented a CCE spokesman. "Kiwi Skill has a diverse range of games such as Bejeweled, Trivia, Solitaire, Dynomite and many other popular titles which enable players to pit their skills against other players in real time tournaments or head to head play."

Skill gaming is a relatively new online gaming market that is seeing massive growth the world over. Its unprecedented popularity stems from its ease of use and ability for people to challenge their colleagues to a friendly game of skill online. Kiwi Skill players can play their favorite game in tournaments, head to head competitions or challenge other players from all over the world for cash prizes.

Kiwi Skill has a comprehensive 'Community' element were players can challenge each other to games, check out leader boards, post on the message forums, join VIP Tournaments or invite friends to play. Every time a player takes part in a game, whether they loose or win, they are awarded loyalty points which can be cashed in or swapped for prizes such as DVD players, TV's, notebook computers or gift certificates to name a few.

Cross marketing opportunities with both Christchurch's land and online casinos would appear to be a definite possibility.

NEW SPORTS NEWSPAPER

New UK publication attracts several media men

British gamblers will soon have a brand new newspaper to keep them abreast of sporting and gaming affairs if Ben and Zac Goldsmith, sons of the charismatic late billionaire Sir James Goldsmith have their way.

The two have put up some GBP 500 000 to start the ball rolling on the publication, branded "The Sportsman" which is aimed at the growing number of people who bet via the Internet on everything from poker to sports and financial markets. Targeted on the British gaming industry, worth GBP44 billion in bets taken last year, it will be published seven days a week and cover sport, the City and politics.

Charlie Methven, a former Daily Telegraph journalist, and Max Aitken, great-grandson of the legendary Express Newspapers proprietor Lord Beaverbrook, are behind the paper, with Jeremy Deedes, former chief executive of the Telegraph Group, who is chairman.

Compton Hellyer, chairman and founder of the spread-betting company Sporting Index, is a non-executive director.

The paper is seeking further investment of GBP12 million before it can launch.

FANTASY GAMES DEAL FOR FUN TECH

Another major skill gaming deal

Delegates to this year's GIGSE conference in June may recall that one of the speakers on skill gaming, FUN Technologies Lorne Abonie had to cancel due to an urgent business deal - this week the details of that deal were announced.

Fanball Interactive, an Internet venture that offers online fantasy sports leagues for the National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball, out of Minneapolis was the prize, acquired by FUN for a cool $12 million and the prospect of a share in future profits based on earnings targets over the next two years.

The total value of the deal could rise to $22 million.

Fanball president and co-founder Rob Phythian and other managers will stay on in their current roles.

Fanball has seen some tough times. It filed for bankruptcy protection during the 2001 dot-com bust, listing assets of $524,388 and liabilities of about $5 million. A private investment group bought the company out of bankruptcy, keeping Phythian at the business.

Fanball made the most of its second chance: Fun Technologies said that Fanball recorded $1 million in net income in 2004 on turnover of $4.6 million.

Lorne Abony, CEO of Fun Technologies, said that Fanball's site was receiving 1.5 million visitors per month.

AND A DEAL WITH VIRGIN, TOO

FUN Tech has a busy quarter....

FUN Technologies is making the most of the burgeoning skill gaming sector, following its acquisition of Fanball with a significant deal between subsidiary SkillJam and Virgin Games.

The exclusive, multi-year agreement with Virgin Games means that SkillJam becomes Virgin’s supplier of skill-game products and services.

SkillJam will provide a library of skill-based games available, including single-player branded games such as Zuma, Bejeweled, Collapse, Solitaire and Name that Tune, as well as multi-player games like Pool, Chess, Checkers and Hearts.

SkillJam will develop, operate and support customised, Virgin-branded skill gaming websites for the US, UK, and European markets.

“This partnership is a major step in our ambition to build a destination gaming site for the mainstream market. The marriage of our brand, distribution and marketing muscle with SkillJam’s world-class technology and content will be a potent force in the market,” Oscar Nieboer, Managing Director of Virgin Games, said.

GIN RUMMY DOING WELL FOR GAME ACCOUNT

Good business through an old favourite on a thoroughly modern platform

Skill gaming provider Game Account reports that its online Gin Rummy is showing the potential to generate significant player numbers and cash wagering tournaments.

The company claimed this week that its Gin Rummy game is mimicking the growth so commonly associated with the poker phenomenon.

Sophisticated turn-based multiplayer games are helping to increase skill player value. Gin Rummy players are now spending double the amount of GameAccount’s casual games player, with an average Gin Rummy player generating $50+ revenue per month compared to $25+ spent by an average skill gamer.

According to GameAccount Marketing Director Kevin O’Neal, peer-to-peer (P2P) games like Gin Rummy are proving to be very popular with recreational gamblers as well as traditional game players, attracting an even broader audience than poker.

The increasing popularity of Gin Rummy may be attributed to the high numbers of players from the United States. Gin Rummy is a skill game, and skill games are legal in the US.

“Because skill gaming is legal in many US states, it can advertise its presence to a US audience. So traditional skill games like Gin Rummy are instantly recognisable and have become popular in this new sector. Ultimately, skill gaming is a way to introduce soft gamers to gambling online,” O’Neal added.

Game Account says the online skill games market is currently worth $269 million per annum and has demonstrated such a substantial rate of growth that it is expected to reach $526 million by 2007.

GETTING ROUND THE REGULATIONS

South Koreans play cyber games

Korean news site Donga.com reports that some innovative thinking is being applied by South Koreans to get around gambling regulations.

The activities are centred on four main venues, HanGame, Netmarble, Pmang and Mgame. These effectively online gambling sites recorded 234.3 billion won in revenues last year, up from a mere 82.4 billion won in 2002.

Traditional gambling industry revenues from horseracing, motorboat-racing, Kangwon Land Casino, on the other hand, saw decreases in revenue last year by 25 percent to record 7.92 trillion won.

The growth of Internet gambling has been spurred by the explosive increase of users in their 20s and 30s and female users, reports Donga. It claims that the number of registered users for the four major sites has risen to upwards of 15 million, an increase of 1-2 million per year. Sixty percent of users are in their 20s and 30s, and female users account for 40 percent of total users.

The Korean Game Development Institute (KGDI) expects the online game market to grow by 20 percent annually until 2007.

The gaming sites' main source of income is from selling cyber money or avatars (one`s characterised self on the Internet) which deposit cyber money. Users can win as much as one billion won in cyber money for online games like Go-stop, a traditional Korean card gambling game, if buying an avatar worth 70,000 won.

Cyber money worth one billion won for Go-stop is being traded at 13,000 to 15,000 won in the online game market. The actual price fluctuates in similar fashion to share price movements, and is controlled by supply and demand.

Sellers, after completing the transaction, play a game with the buyers, in which sellers intentionally lose money to the buyers. This activity is called "transfusion." Some sellers go further and hand over the ID and password of the account containing the cyber money.

The total monetary amount of items exchanged across 100 Internet sites reached 500 billion won last year. The lack of relevant regulation keeps this transaction within the legal boundaries.

According to the Korea Media Rating Board, 196 games with varying degrees of gambling involved were newly released last year, twice that of the number released in 2003.

The committee is not eligible for regulating these games unless cyber money is directly charged by using cash, or cyber money is transferred to gift certificates, letting gaming companies sell items with cyber money as a form of bonus to avoid regulation.

According to a spokesperson for Dandobak, a group that seeks to limit or discourage the spread of gambling, "It is nonsense to think of this as non-gambling because only cyber money is used, and it can still lead to problems.”

Lee Jin-oh, the general executive of the Korean Network to Regulate and Improve Gambling Industry, said that online games could lead to real gambling such as horse racing or casino games.

"Internet games can clearly lead to gambling addiction and should be heavily regulated along with the more traditional gambling industry," he added.

WINGED HORSE GEARING UP MULTI-TABLE ONLINE POKER

Pegasus Gaming subbing Chimera Tech software

The latest online poker room to enter this competitive space is likely to be via Pegasus Gaming, which this week announced the successful testing and integration of a P2P multi-table suite of poker card games.

The games offered include Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud and several games which are offered in Asian markets.

These products are to be added to a suite of Internet casino platforms and offered as an optional addition to all licensees, who will be able to run tournaments and offer specific incentives to players as part of the customisation of all products.

Pegasus has just clinched a deal with Chimera Technology for exclusive license distribution rights to a suite of Internet casino platforms and applications. With the acquisition completed, the company is ready to market the system to operators.

The Pegasus business plan calls for operators to be provided with a complete turn key solution for sports betting, a suite of casino games and thoroughbred horse racing, all backed up with complete backend management services.

Management is rather ambitiously projecting that up to 5 licensees could be on board by year end.

President and CEO David Cheng says the company has been appointing sales agents to aggressively market the product in Europe and Africa. In their third press release of the week, Pegasus announced that they were negotiating for a mobile gaming technology package to license, presumably also from Chimera who are known to be working on this technology.

RUSSIA REDUCES ACCESS TO GAMBLING ADS

Restricted broadcasting and public viewing

Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, has endorsed amendments to the Law on Advertising that effectively limit the advertising of casinos and gambling activities, reports Tass.

The revised law aims to restrict the involvement of underage Russians in any form of gambling.

Effective immediately, casinos and other gambling venues may no longer place outdoor advertising or promotions.

Radio and TV channels may not air gambling promotional material from 07h00 to 22h00 hours, and the new law also introduces a ban on advertising in airports, at railway stations and metro stations.

Gambling advertisements may only be placed inside gambling venues or in specialised gambling printed media.

The content of advertising material is controlled, too. The contents of gambling ads of any type may not contain promises of a sure win, cannot target underage citizens or (quaintly) "...use the images of people and animals."

Companies violating the law may face penalties up to 500,000 roubles (around US $ 1800).

MASS ARRESTS IN CONTINUING CHINESE PURGE

And what does "re-education through labour" involve?

Police carrying out a nationwide crackdown on gambling in China have detained or arrested more than 702,000 people, including 1,617 government officials, since the beginning of the year, the government has said.

The report by the official Xinhua news agency was the latest in a series of updates on the crackdown. Communist leaders say that gambling is aiding official corruption and organised crime.

According to the ministry of public security, 3,874 of the suspects were prosecuted, 1,479 were given prison sentences, 5,115 were being "....re-educated through labour" and 105,000 remained in detention, Xinhua said.

CONFERENCE CORNER

One for the ladies

Poker players who keep abreast of what's happening in this exciting game will know that a growing number of women players are competing, many rising to the top ratings at the tables.

Reflecting this important player demographic is the upcoming Women's Poker Convention which is to take place at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from August 12-14 this year.

Hosted by poker author Lou Krieger and featuring addresses by leading exponents of the art, the aim of this event is to provide women players with all the information they need to succeed in the field and overcome the challenges of competition.

The keynote speaker is Jennifer Harman, a frequent top drawer player in some the biggest cash games in the world, World Poker Tour champion, and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner.

Presenters include WSOP champion Barbara Enright, two-time WSOP champion Susie Issacs, noted poker writer Amy Calistri, and professional players Roxci Rhodes, Cat Hulbert, and Lacey Jones.

Supporting the presentations will be a panel discussion and a women's poker tournament will be the grand finale.

Ladies can register for the tournament and learn more at Womens Poker Convention.com

In depth conferences

River City Group is looking for sponsors for an exciting new series of conferences branded "InDepth".

These events are designed to focus the networking and educational spotlight on issues surrounding important I-gaming industry sectors.

The first two events are scheduled as follows:

I-Gaming InDepth: Skill Games - September 8-9, 2005 in Lake Las Vegas, NV. The beautiful Hyatt Lake Las Vegas venue will welcome discussions on the Skill Games segment of I-gaming.

I-Gaming InDepth: Poker - December 8-9, 2005 in Nassau, Bahamas. Travel to the warm Bahamas for an in-depth discussion about online poker and the specific issues surrounding this lucrative I-gaming segment.

Potential sponsors or delegates interested in attending can obtain further detail at the River City website.