Online Gambling Press

Betfair acquires TV Games Network, releases Russian poker client

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The UK-based online betting exchange Betfair Group Ltd. has completed its acquisition of the US-based TV Games Network from Macrovision for $50 million in cash.

TVG is among the most widely-distributed horseracing networks in the world and is also a leading provider of advance deposit wagering services in the U.S., and Betfair is a premier e-gaming betting community, with horseracing as its core product.

“The divestiture of the TVG Network marks another milestone in a set of objectives we set for ourselves when we acquired Gemstar-TV Guide in 2008, and helps to focus our company around the goal of powering a uniquely simple home entertainment experience,” said Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of Macrovision.

Gerard Cunningham, president of Betfair U.S., said: “We are tremendously excited to be the new owners of TVG and look forward to building upon the worldwide experience of Betfair to help grow the business. We believe TVG to be the premium product in the sector, with exceptional staff and loyal customers, and we look forward to working with the horseracing industry to help promote this great sport.”

David Yu, CEO of the Betfair Group Ltd, commented: “We have always been attracted by the operating strength of TVG together with its conservative and prudent regulatory approach. Its values are very much aligned with those of Betfair. We have waited to enter the U.S. market until we had a high quality, and above all, legal product offering, and we believe with this acquisition we have secured those goals.”

TVG covers racing from 70 tracks 16 U.S. states, including the key racing centres of Kentucky, California and New York. It also accepts bets from residents of those states, dividing the profits with the racecourses concerned.

Betfair has no plans at present to introduce its betting exchange model into the US market, but will use its cutting-edge technology to improve the pari-mutuel betting services offered to TVG clients, said Yu.

“We have waited to enter the US market until we had a high quality, and above all, legal product offering, and we believe with this acquisition we have secured those goals,” said Betfair’s chief executive.

The American venture follows news that Betfair is also involved in the Russian betting market

The betting exchange announced Wednesday that it has opened its online client to the Russian poker community.

“Up until now, our clients could only view information on the poker client and promotions in English, Spanish, German, and Italian,” said Bruce Stubbs Head of Betfair Poker. “However, we are now delighted to start offering updated information to our Russian clients.”

Russian poker players have become a respected force in international poker in recent years, featuring prominently in many of the major land tournaments and championships.

Stubbs said that the Russian market a fascinating one that continued to produce very talented individuals. “We saw a very strong showing from this region at this year’s WSOP Europe event which we currently sponsor. We hope that the new Russian client shows our commitment to developing and producing new offerings and hope to announce more in the coming year.”

Kentucky fried lawyers looking at million dollar contingency-fee loss

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The controversial attempt by the state of Kentucky to seize and ultimately confiscate or use 141 international domain names as leverage for “settlements” with online gambling firms failed in the Kentucky Court of Appeals recently but is still very much a live issue.

Governor Steve Beshear and his Justice Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown are taking the case to the state Supreme Court for further argument, a move that was not unexpected.

One of the main – and successful – opponents of Beshear’s unprecedented action, Joe Brennan of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), said this week that Beshear and Brown had invested a great deal of political capital in the state’s suit, and probably felt that they could not now back down.

“Their attorneys took this on a contingency fee-basis, and have reportedly sunk over a million dollars of their own money in this suit, and other suits like this that they reportedly prepared for other states,” Brennan opined: “Without a win in Kentucky, it will be hard to get those other suits off the ground, and they’ll have taken huge losses on their own gamble,” he added.

3D Casino Hands Out First Jackpot

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The online casino world has two types of gamblers; those who are loyal to one or two casinos and keep coming back and those who wander from casino to casino trying their luck at hundreds of different casinos and games hoping to hit it rich.  

It seems the latter has worked for one lucky individual. One fortunate gambler at WinADay.com won the casinos first ever progressive jackpot. Monica68, as the player goes by online, won a smooth $148, 724 playing Wheeler Dealer, a 3-reel 8-pay line slot machine based on the popular Golden 8 game seen at Slotland.com.  

But rest assured, the jackpot is climbing again and ready to be won any day now. After Monica68 cleared the money, the game was reset at $30, 000 and will be back up to six figures in no time.  

What really caught the winner’s eye were the 3D effects of WinADay.com and its unique design and layout. WinADay.com features a realistic customer service desk with an online attendant available 24/7 for any questions and/or concerns players may have. In addition, WinADay.com features a virtual casino lobby and game halls.

Launched one year ago this month, WinADay.com is a branch of Slotland.com and they have seen much success from their 3D casino.

Online Poker

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Playing online poker is easy, but one must know the rules and regulations and the difference between online and offline poker. All you need to play online poker is a computer and an internet connection. Then you download an online poker client program from one of the online poker rooms, sign-up, transfer your money to your newly created account and you are ready to start playing.

Online poker is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and you can always find someone to play against as thousands of real opponents are waiting for an online challenge. Again these are people playing for real money and thus similar to off line poker, only with better accessibility, ease and convenience. Moreover, the amount of people playing online poker is much more impressive than in casual poker. Since the advent of online poker in 1998, player traffic in online poker rooms has increased more than twenty times with a yearly turnover being more than one billion dollars, and growing.

Legalities – If you are a US citizen, laws on playing online poker are still a bit ambiguous. Although it is not legal to establish an online gaming company in the United States, no private individual has yet been charged for playing poker online. Since establishing online gambling companies is illegal in US, all poker rooms operate outside the United States. For non-US residents, there is no such problem since gambling online is allowed in most of the European countries.

Popularity – What makes online poker so popular? First of all, it is the saying that goes: “Any two cards can win”, which means that anybody can beat everyone, in a game of poker. Along with luck, skill and speed are important contributors to winning in poker. However, when, at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) in 2003, Chris Moneymaker, an amateur poker player, won the World Champion title, showed that luck remains almost as important as player’s skill.

Online Casinos might have some luck for you

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I’m sure like me you are fed up of hearing how bad the economy is getting, how badly our currency is falling against others across the world, or the dreaded R word.

They say in times like this people turn to gambling more than usual. Something I didn’t really understand until recently. Before I would have said, ‘surely if you have less money you would want to save it’.

However now I realise it’s not because people don’t want to save or that they lose all sense of reason and want to blow the money they do have. It’s simply the notion of hope, hope that they will be lucky enough to make their financial situation better.

Well I know something that we should all take comfort in, there are a lot of online casinos here that give away money just for joining up with them. A great way to exercise that hope without having to use your own, hard earned, money.

Just look at Ladbrokes Casino, Intercasino, 32 Red Casino and the others that you will find on our site review pages. All of which give you money when you sign up to play with them.

For all of you that hope to be lucky, surely you agree getting free money is a great start to being lucky. So why not try one of these amazing offers from even better operators, and see if you’re lucky.

Playtech PLC reports solid 2008 numbers

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The Isle of Man based Internet gambling software provider Playtech plc has reported a solid set of numbers for its full year and Q4 2008 activities.

Key Performance Indicators include:

• Revenue for the whole year of 2008 totalling €111.5 million, representing an increase of 70 percent on the €65.7 million in 2007;
• Revenues for the quarter totalling €31.5 million, representing an increase of 52 percent on the €20.8 million in Q4 2007 (Q3 2008: €28.4 million)
• Quarterly Casino revenues totalled €22.1 million, an increase of 52 percent from €14.6 million in Q4 2007 (Q3 2008: €20.5 million)
• Quarterly Poker revenues totalled €8.6 million, an increase of 43 percent from €6.0 million in Q4 2007 (Q3 2008: €7.6 million)
• Playtech’s share of players’ income from Asian facing licensees during the period grew by 26 percent from Q3 2008 whilst the share of income from European licensees grew by 11 percent.

Management reported that Playtech has closed the final quarter of 2008 with record revenues and has completed two major milestones that will take the software company into 2009 with an expanded business that will steer a course through the current economic conditions.

The first of these milestones was the successful finalisation of the series of transactions with William Hill plc and the affiliates of Playtech. The company announced on 2 January 2009 that in accordance with the agreements all assets and businesses purchased by Playtech from its affiliates and other third parties were successfully injected into William Hill Online, with Playtech as its gaming software provider. Following this milestone William Hill Online successfully launched its Casino and Poker products with Playtech’s software.

The second milestone of in Q4 2008 was achieved when Playtech entered the regulated Italian poker market at the end of December. Current results indicate that the Italian poker network has proven to be significantly revenue enhancing and above management’s expectations.

Commenting on the KPI’s Playtech’s Chief Executive, Mor Weizer, said: “Once again we have enjoyed a successful quarter both operationally and strategically as we continue to grow the business and make the most of the opportunities presenting themselves. We are particularly pleased with how smoothly the integration of the William Hill joint venture has progressed, which bodes well for this important strategic company development. The company has met management’s demanding expectations and we are confident that Playtech will meet its targets for the full year.”

Missi Casinos

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Along with everyone else another state added itself to the long list after reports Casino Revenue in Mississippi dropped by around 5.9 percent.

The drop was clearly not unexpected however, with industry insiders and regulators expecting this result after reduced numbers of customers spending. It is though, above the national average. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), casinos across the country had reported losses in profit averaging at 3.6 percent.

The State Tax Commission of Mississippi figures that were released on Wednesday, showed that coastal casinos racked in only $1.26 billion in comparison to $1.3 billion in 2007, while along the Mississippi river casinos reported revenue of $1.46 billion compared to $1.59 the year before.

Scoot King, director of research and policy at the Gulf Coast Business Council in Gulfport, “Notably overall numbers at the midway point (June 2008) were actually up slightly over 2007. This under scores what other indicators, such as sales tax diversions and employment levels are suggesting that our slowdown really started to impact us closer to September.”

Mr King was also quoted as saying, “Our year-on-year data for earth month wll continue to see slight declines leading up to the summer months.”

New Titan Casino Offers Great Slot Options – 01-20-09

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January 20 – Riding on the wave of the success of its much sought after Titan Poker brand, a new casino has been launched in the form of Titan Casino. The new site will work off the Playtech software network, a company synonymous with providing some of the best slot games in the industry.

Titan Poker players are no strangers to Playtech slots. The online poker room was able to offer its players a no-download, albeit smaller, version of the Playtech games package on the iPoker Network and all the progressive slot games that make Playtech so popular were offered to these players.

However, the new Titan Casino is a fully downloadable games package that includes all the games that we have come to love from this software provider.

Titan Casino runs absolutely separately from Titan Poker, although it is hoped that it will enjoy the same industry reputation as its sister site.

Online slots fans will find no less than 17 progressive jackpot slot games at the new Titan Casino, putting them in line to win real life changing amounts for relatively low wager limits.

In true Playtech form, the games are graphically stunning, with the highest level of sound and image features, the last word in bonuses and provide hours of entertainment.

To get players to try out this new site, Titan Casino is offering players a massive $4,000 welcome bonus which will definitely go a long way in bringing endless entertainment and rewards.

32 Red releases good results, receives industry accolade

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32 Red management had good cause for celebration this week; the company delivered a set of annual results that showed solid growth, and both management and casino received top awards from a major Internet gambling information portal.

The company’s trading update for the year ended December 31, 2008 showed growth of total gaming revenue by 27 percent year-on-year to £13 million, with online casino operations up by 30 percent, delivering a gross win of £11.7 million.

“The strong year-on-year growth in casino revenues has been driven by both increased active player numbers, up 15 percent, and an improved yield per player of £536, up 13 percent,” management reported.

“Performance for the year ended 31 December 2008 is expected to be in line with market expectations at PBT level, although ahead of expectations at EBITDA level.”

Bank debt at the end of the year was £250,000 in a report that included encouraging key indicator numbers:

• Gross win £13 million, up 27 percent on 2007
• Casino gross win £11.7 million, up 30 percent on 2007
• Active casino customers 21,808, up 15 percent on 2007
• Casino player yield £536 (2007: £474)
• New casino players 15,567, up 7 percent on 2007
• Casino cost per acquisition £118 (2007: £137)

“Our good performance in 2008 puts 32Red firmly back on its growth path with revenues from our core business, the 32Red casino, growing strongly,” said 32Red CEO Ed Ware. “We will continue to compete effectively against our larger peers through our existing platforms and the addition of new products to the 32Red portfolio including financial spread betting, due to go live later this month.”

Ware revealed that trading has been strong so far in 2009, with prospect of additional action when the company adds to its product portfolio by launching a financial spread betting platform later this (January) month.

Coinciding with the results announcement, 32Red was again awarded “Best Online Casino” by the player-influential Casinomeister online gambling information portal – the sixth consecutive year in which the operation has been given the accolade. Operations exec Pat Harrison was recognised as “Best Online Casino Manager” for the second year in succession.

2008 Nevada hotels income only one third of 2007 levels

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The news from Nevada continues to paint a bleak picture as the economic recession impacts visitor and hotel occupation rates in the gambling state.

Statistics released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show that major hotel-casinos suffered a huge drop in net income in fiscal 2008, bringing in $721.2 million, only a third of what they netted in the previous (2007) year.

The report reveals that 266 resorts grossed $25 billion but were hammered by increasing expenses during the fiscal year ending last June 30. The net income is just 2.9 percent of the gross, down from 9.1 percent in fiscal 2007.

While payroll totals were down slightly in fiscal 2008, there were big jumps in interest expenses and in a catchall “other” category that includes various legal expenses, insurance premiums and other items.

The gain in interest expenses reflects borrowing at higher interest rates and some debt-laden private equity buyouts of major resort properties.

The annual “Gaming Abstract” report also shows that casino departments at the big resorts had a total of $132.2 million in bad debt expenses and $2.2 billion in complimentary services to high-rolling gamblers.

The combined expenses of casino, rooms, food and beverage departments increased by 16.2 percent from year to year, while total revenue decreased 1 percent and net revenue decreased by 68.6 percent.

“This reflects both the national and global economy,” Control Board analyst Frank Streshley said. “During the first half of the fiscal year, revenues were still growing. But the second six months was the start of our current decline and we saw a material downturn.”

Streshley also noted that the slump in the January-June 2008 period wasn’t as bad as the decline since then.

The net income numbers include state, but not federal, taxes which will further impinge on profit. The clubs paid $913.2 million in state gambling tax and license fees. Federal taxes can take up to a third or more of the net revenues.

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