Gambling Update

Payment processor Rubin pleads guilty to DoJ charges

2012-01-18T12:38:00.002Z

Payment processor Ira Rubin has pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to money laundering, bank and wire fraud, and gambling offenses in connection with a scheme to deceive U.S banks into processing hundreds of millions of dollars in online poker transactions.

Preet Bharara, the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Rubin helped process payments for three of the largest internet poker companies, Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, by disguising transactions so that they would appear to be on behalf of non-gambling merchants selling clothing, jewellery, sports equipment and other items.

Rubin, a U.S citizen who had been residing in Costa Rica since 2008, was detained in Guatemala on April 26th 2011, and then transferred to the U.S in connection with the indictment unsealed on April 15th that charged him and ten others with crimes relating to the illegal operation of three internet poker companies.

According to the indictment, Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker turned to third party payment processors following the enactment of the UIGEA as U.S banks were largely unwilling to process internet gambling payments. These third party payment processors, including Rubin, were willing to disguise the payments so they would appear to be unrelated to internet gambling.

The DoJ said that in mid-2008, Rubin, together with co-conspirators, created dozens of phony e-commerce websites purporting to sell everything from clothing and jewellery to golf clubs and bicycles. In reality, these sites were used to disguise Pokerstars’ online poker transactions.

Between 2008 and March 2011, Absolute Poker also used Rubin at various times to process echecks disguised as, among other things, payroll processing, affiliate marketing, and online electronics merchants.

Rubin committed the charged offenses while in Costa Rica where he has been living since 2008.

Rubin, 53, pled guilty yesterday before U.S Magistrate Judge Gabriel W Gorenstein to one count of conspiracy to violate the UIGEA, one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.

He faces a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S District Judge Lewis A Kaplan on May 17th 2012.

Four other defendants charged with Rubin have appeared in the U.S to date, including Bradley Franzen, Brent Beckley, Chad Elie, and John Campos. Franzen and Beckley pled guilty on May 23rd and December 20th of last year respectively, while Elie and Campos are scheduled to go to trial before Judge Kaplan on April 9th 2012.

The remaining six defendants charged in the superseding indictment remain at large.

888 launches new Big Brother branded online bingo site

2012-01-16T12:43:00.002Z

nline gaming operator 888.com has joined forces with Endemol and Channel 5 to launch a new online bingo site based on popular reality TV show Big Brother.

Coinciding with the new series of Celebrity Big Brother currently being broadcast in the UK on Channel 5, Bigbrotherbingo.com is a new interactive online bingo site offering players exclusive Big Brother prizes including behind the scenes access, task props and VIP passes to eviction nights.

“The opportunity to offer the Big Brother brand to our online bingo fans is a perfect match, we are building an offering that truly takes online entertainment to the next level,” said Maurice Karpes, 888.com’s vice president of bingo marketing.

Bigbrotherbingo.com offers games including 75 ball, 90 ball & 5 line bingo, free bingo, penny bingo, as well as daily guaranteed jackpots. The site also offers instant win games such as Bejeweled, Fluffy Favourites and Monopoly.

“Big Brother fans love to immerse themselves in the show via its many different platforms and this deal with 888 and Channel 5 offers another exciting and entertaining way for them to do so,” said Jurian Van Der Meer, managing director of Endemol Games UK.

Agostino di Falco, partnership director at Channel 5, added: “This deal with 888.com and Endemol enables Channel 5 to show how we can create strong partnership deals that offer incremental value to the advertiser.”

In the UK, Big Brother will launch its thirteenth series of the hit TV reality show later this year on Channel 5, having recently moved from Channel 4, while the ninth series of Celebrity Big Brother is currently running on the same channel.

bwin.party loses Portuguese court battle

2012-01-10T14:58:00.000Z

Gaming giant Bwin.party digital has been ordered to remove all advertising and sponsorship from Portuguese sports competitions after a court ruled its activities are illegal.

Bwin.party has a major presence in the country’s football market and Reuters reports that Monday's ruling, covering tax and regulatory issues, could set a precedent for sponsorship deals between other online gambling companies and sports clubs and associations. Betclic sponsors a range of Portuguese clubs including Sporting Braga, while Betfair is also present in the market.

Bwin.party currently sponsors the Taca da Liga competition to the tune of Eur4 million. The deal with the Portuguese Football League (LPFP) is now under threat, but the League has signalled its intention to appeal the decision by claiming the judgment could threaten the health of the national game. The LPFP said: “As of Monday, the Portuguese professional football league is obliged to remove all advertising that refers to Bwin.”

Monday’s ruling stems from a court battle which began in 2005. The Portuguese Casino Association joined forces with national lottery operator Santa Casa to complain that Bwin.party has an unfair advantage as it is not taxed or subject to Portuguese gambling legislation.

Bwin.party has stated the court’s decision goes against European law, with a spokesman adding: “One cannot aggressively advertise and expand games on the one hand and keep foreign competition out on the other hand.” Bwin's lawyer, Eduardo Serra Jorge, said: “It is time for the state to legislate and tax online gambling instead of banning it. Regulating it is in the interest of the consumer, the economy and the state budget.”

Ladbrokes in technology supply talks with Betdaq

2012-01-09T17:32:00.000Z

Following aborted acquisition talks with 888 and Sportingbet and a flirtation with Playtech, a spokesperson for Ladbrokes has confirmed to The Telegraph that the company has now begun discussions with Ireland’s Betdaq to buy in technology from the betting exchange operator.

Ladbrokes has set aside £50m to overhaul its underperforming online operations. The company has already improved its trading systems and a new Ladbrokes.com is scheduled for launch in February, but there is still much that it can do if it hopes to catch up to and overtake rivals such William Hill and Paddy Power.

According to The Telegraph, Ladbrokes believes that the betting exchange operator has “good up-to-the-minute pricing technology” which the company can benefit from.

Betdaq, the trading arm of Global Betting Exchange, operates a peer-to-peer betting exchange and recently launched Betdaq 1Bet, a traditional bookmaker style betting product. The company had not responded to a request for comment at the time publication.

Justice Department ruling allows for possibility of online gambling in New York

2012-01-09T13:54:00.000Z

Imagine super-sized online poker games with seven-figure jackpots. Gambling apps on your smart phone that let you pull the lever on a virtual slot machine while your boss isn’t looking.

The U.S. Justice Department last month cracked open the doors for these options and many more. Quietly, with a legal opinion, the federal government cleared the way for online gambling Dec. 23. And they began a race between states to create games and generate billions in revenue, gambling experts and legal scholars say.

For decades, the Justice Department has opposed online gambling in all its forms. But when New York and Illinois asked the federal government to clarify the rules for online lottery ticket sales, the opinion went farther: The only thing illegal under federal law was sports betting over state and federal lines.

Now states are starting to sort out what to do with a new freedom that could give them the potential to make billions.

Some states are already poised to go. Washington, D.C., has already legalized Internet poker to be run by the lottery there. Nevada has legalized Internet poker. Three other states: California, Iowa and New Jersey will likely approve online poker and other games this year, said I. Nelson Rose, a lawyer and expert on gambling law at Whittier College of Law in California.

At first, states will likely limit the games so only state residents can play. But it won’t take long for states to develop compacts, as they have with Powerball lotteries, to form multi-state games and larger jackpots, Rose said.

In some cases, the states will run the games. In others, casinos will. Either way, states will be taking a cut of the money.

When New York Lottery Director Gordon Medenica received the opinion letter from the Department of Justice the Friday before Christmas, he said, he was happily surprised. It had taken two years to get an answer to his question: Can the state sell single lottery tickets online without violating federal law.

Now the state offers online subscription sales of Lotto and Mega Millions tickets. The lottery wanted to add single-ticket online sales of Sweet Millions and Powerball. The opinion was that yes, the state could do this, and much more.

“It is really up to the states and the policy makers within those states to decide what they can do,” Medenica said.

In New York, the plan is to be cautious and watch the market, he said.

Medenica said the state plans to add the single ticket sales of Sweet Millions and Powerball in the next few months. He said the state asked its longtime games vendor, GTECH Corp. of Rhode Island, to develop a computer system to sell those tickets several years ago, but GTECH and the lottery wanted to be sure it was legal. The state asked the feds for guidance in 2009 and have been letting that system sit idle since then.

Medenica said the governor, legislature and customers will dictate what the lottery does with its new freedom.

State law clearly allows the lottery to sell tickets online. But whether it allows instant online games is unclear. Poker and Quick Draw would require the legislature to act, Medenica said. Quick Draw is an online, instant game that is played in bars and other outlets licensed by the lottery. Patrons buy tickets and the winning numbers pop up on a TV screen every few minutes. Online games could transfer that game to laptops and smart phones.

None of those options has been ruled out by the lottery, Medenica said.

“It’s something we need to study and stay open to the possibility and see where the marketplace goes,” he said.

Fran Fiorito, whose Euclid restaurant in Clay does more than $500,000 in Quick Draw business a year, said he doesn’t worry that online games would cut into his business. People play Quick Draw as part of an evening out with friends, he said.

“Those people are not going to sit home and play online,” Fiorito said.

He thinks the state would be smart to offer online games. “We need the money,” Fiorito said.

The legislators who oversee the lottery and other gambling are less sure.

State Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, chairman of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, prefers developing “brick and mortar” casinos. In his State of the State Address, the governor asked lawmakers to consider an amendment to the state Constitution that would legalize gambling and allow new casinos off of Indian land.

Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the same committee in the Assembly, said he opposes online gambling.

“It’s too easy to cheat,” Pretlow said. He said he’d like to see other states legalize online games such as poker and watch the scandals unfold.

Poker is likely the first game to go online, said Bill Eadington, a gambling expert at the University of Nevada. It’s seen as a game of skill, unlike simpler casino games and slot machines. And it has a nostalgia that people like.

“Every president has played it. It’s the game of the Old West,” Eadington said.

Not to mention that it’s worth a lot of money. A study in California said legalizing online poker would generate $1.5 billion for the state government over the next decade. And once federal authorities shut down several popular online poker sites in March, that number went up to $2.5 billion, said Rose, the California gambling expert.

Eadington said slot machine games will be the most politically difficult for states to get online. They’re perceived as skill-free and highly addictive.

But Eadington also said that with the economy struggling, states will follow the pattern of the past three decades. When they have money, “gambling is an evil thing. They won’t consider it,” he said. “But when times are tough, morality takes a backseat.”

As the states begin to make their decisions, the casino industry is trying to move Congress to create federal regulations to bind states. That way, the casino operators wouldn’t have to deal with 50 different sets of laws. Or lobby 50 different legislatures. Under one congressional bill proposed in 2009, a single state would act as the regulator for the entire country. The bill was set up so a state that already has gambling, like Nevada or New Jersey, would be in charge of regulating everyone, Eadington said.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Vernon Downs and Tioga Downs racetracks, doesn’t want to see New York legalize online gambling. He watches his teenage grandchildren text and play games on their smart phones. He worries what would happen if gambling were readily available there, too.

“We’ll open a Pandora’s box,” Gural said. The casinos’ jobs will erode, he said, and people will become more addicted to gambling.

“I’d like to see it tried in another state,” he said.

William Hill agree England and FA Cup deals with the Football Assocation

2012-01-09T08:47:00.002Z

Bookmakers William Hill have agreed a two-and-a-half year deal with The Football Association to become an ‘Official Supporter’ of the England football team, and ‘Official Supporter’ and ‘Official Betting Partner’ of the FA Cup.

The deal with the FA, the first of its type for the betting industry, comes into effect on January 7th and continues through to the end of the FA and FIFA World Cups in 2014.

The agreement features a wide and unique range of image rights, advertising and promotional opportunities.

Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill told Crunchsports.com: “We have been looking for sponsorship opportunities from which we can reward and engage with our customers for the events they most enjoy.

“This deal with The FA will help us to achieve our objectives of developing the prominence of our brand and increasing market share in all our business channels.

“Our ‘Official Betting Partner’ status of The FA Cup complements our existing partnership with the Scottish Football Association and our sponsorship of the Scottish Cup with which we are already extremely delighted and it becomes a welcome addition to our quality range of sponsorships within darts, snooker and racing.

“The next two and a half years are an exciting time for UK football and we’re delighted to now be part of all of those events.”

Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer for William Hill, added: “This is an excellent deal for both parties and it gives us some very good opportunities to develop our brand across a wide variety of channels.

“The England and FA Cup branding and imagery will enable William Hill (including via williamhill.com) to promote its services and products that we can offer to our Casino, Games, Sportsbook, Bingo and Poker customers.

Henry Birch, Chief Executive Officer of williamhill.com said the deal with the FA is an provided the company with “a strong platform for our brands and products both in the UK and internationally.”

Peter Daire, the FA’s Head of Sponsorship said William Hill will benefit from an association with two of the highest-profile football sponsorship properties in the world.

“We are delighted to have William Hill on board,” he said.

“They have a strong track record in sports sponsorship and a considerable online and high street presence that will enable us to strengthen our communication platforms for England and The FA Cup.”

Paddy Power rapped by ASA over Luis Suarez ad

2012-01-04T20:23:00.002Z

The press ad, featuring an action shot of Suarez, promised Paddy Power customers would get their money back, if Suarez scored in the Liverpool v Manchester United match towards the end of last year.

The ad, which appeared in The Sun on 15 October, received one complaint on the grounds it was socially irresponsible for featuring Suarez, who was under 25 at the time.

Paddy Power and News International confirmed Suarez was 24-years-old when the ad appeared, but said they did not believe the ad would have particular appeal to young or vulnerable people, or would encourage young people to gamble on the basis of his image.

They said he appeared in the ad because he was the subject of the bet and featured in his role as a professional footballer, rather than in connection with the act of gambling.

The ASA said Suarez was likely to be seen by consumers as playing a significant role in the campaign as he was pictured individually and was the focus of the ad.

It ruled the ad had breached the CAP Code rule, which states gambling ads should not feature people under 25-years-old gambling or playing a significant role in the ad.

The watchdog ruled the ad must not appear again in its current form and Paddy Power was not to use under 25-year-olds in its advertising in this way again.

Suarez was recently handed an eight-match ban by the FA for racially abusing Manchester United footballer Patrice Evra.

London Olympics: UK to target betting syndicates

2012-01-04T13:02:00.000Z

With the fear of betting syndicates looming large over the upcoming Olympics, Britain will set up a dedicated intelligence unit to target fixers, especially from Asia, to counter the menace which has overtaken doping as the biggest threat to the Games.

The specialist team will monitor suspicious betting patterns and share intelligence on those who attempt to bribe athletes into fixing events.

The new intelligence unit will target syndicates who may try to "spot fix" events or outcomes within matches. It will comprise the International Olympic Committee, Gambling Commission and if required, the police.

Explaining how the unit would operate, UK's Olympic Minister Hugh Robertson said: "We have a very sophisticated information sharing system, so the moment there is any spike in betting activities that is recorded and investigated.

"We're reasonably clear that we can police the UK end of it. The much more difficult element is how you police illegal syndicates probably operating a long way away from these shores," he told the BBC.

He said fixing had overtaken doping as the biggest threat to the July 27 to August 12 London Olympic Games.

Robertson believes the minutiae of competition is where betting scams are most likely to occur, given the growth in spread betting.

Gamblers can now stake money on the smallest detail in an event rather than the overall outcome, making illegal acts of fixing potentially difficult to detect, the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

Is Gambling More Addictive Online?

2012-01-03T13:02:00.000Z

Before the advent of online gambling, a person with gambling addiction usually had to leave their house and go somewhere to indulge their habit.

But when gambling becomes accessible online, simply passing the computer at home can trigger the impulse to place a bet, said Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the nonprofit group Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling.

Earlier this week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that he was exploring the possibility of legalizing various forms of online gambling in Connecticut. The announcement drew mixed reactions, some wary of the state getting involved in anything that could foster more problem gambling.

Researchers have studied the psychology of gambling for decades. The field of online gambling research, though, is still new, and researchers say there are a number of questions about its potential dangers and whether online gambling poses psychological problems different from those related to traditional forms of gambling.

Nancy Petry, a psychologist at the University of Connecticut, said a few patterns have so far emerged.

"We're finding that only a small proportion of gamblers do so online, but of these people, the vast majority do have gambling problems," said Petry.

She said one of the main questions is whether online gambling is creating more gambling addiction or simply serving as another outlet for addicts. Petry, one of the first researchers to study online gambling, said gambling addicts may have problems that parallel those of problem drinkers.

"It's similar to drinking — when you're developing a drinking problem you're doing it socially," she said, but many alcoholics eventually turn to drinking alone at home. When gambling at home on a computer, "there are none of the social sanctions" of real-world settings, she said, and that makes it easier to go overboard.

One of her studies looked specifically at online gambling and adolescents. She and fellow researchers found a strong parallel between the young gamblers and binge-drinking among teenagers. While those who did partake in online betting had a higher rate of gambling addiction — just as young drinkers have a higher rate of binge drinking — those problems didn't necessarily lead into adulthood.

David Hodgins, a professor of psychology at the University of Calgary, said one of the next questions to tackle is what role online gambling has in a developing an addiction. "It's not clear where the chicken or the egg is," he said.

More online gambling, he said, will likely complicate the treatment of those with a gambling addiction.

"It makes [gambling] more accessible, and when people are struggling to overcome gambling, putting distance between you and gambling online makes that difficult," he said.

Steinberg said online gambling tends to attract the same personality type who gravitate toward slot machines in casinos — a subset of gamblers particularly susceptible to gambling problems.

"Problem gamblers are people who like to escape and isolate themselves," he said. "When they get into casinos, they go to slot machines where they're in their own world and don't get interrupted. Online gambling is pretty much you and the machine and you're alone. People don't have parties to gamble online — psychologically, it's more isolated."

Department of Justice: Wire Act Only Applies to Sports Betting

2011-12-28T22:24:00.000Z

In an opinion handed down in September, but not made public until two days before Christmas, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Virginia Seitz found that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting. Many in the industry, including state and Federal lawmakers, have been awaiting word on the applicability of the Wire Act as it relates to online poker. Now, we apparently have our answer.

In a press release sent out at the close of business on Friday, as many in the poker community were traveling to be with loved ones for Christmas, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas commented, “This is a much needed clarification of an antiquated and often confusing law. For years, legal scholars and even the courts have debated whether the Wire Act applies to non-sporting activity. Today’s announcement validates the fact that internet poker does not violate this law.”

The Wire Act became law in 1961. Online poker being green-lit under the Wire Act would also seem to hinge on whether poker is defined as a "non-sporting activity."

Friday’s DOJ announcement could pave the way for a bustling online poker business at the state level, where jurisdictions like Nevada and New Jersey have been concerned, at least in part, that legalized online poker could violate the Wire Act and the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Remember, the Black Friday indictments rested on the UIGEA and Illegal Gambling Business Act.

The opinion, which centered on online lottery sales, asserted, “Because the proposed New York and Illinois lottery proposals do not involve wagering on sporting events or contests, the Wire Act does not prohibit them.” It added, “Interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside of the reach of the Wire Act.” You can read the full opinion by clicking here.

So what does this mean for online poker players in the United States? Could we see legalized online poker in 2012? As states like Nevada are already approving online poker regulations, Pappas detailed, “This will provide policymakers at both the state and Federal level with the legal confidence to move forward with licensing and regulation of online poker and other non-sporting activity within their respective jurisdictions.”

Pappas continued, “However, it is our hope that our Federal policymakers see this as an incentive to move quickly to enact Federal licensing and regulation before various states produce a mix of individual state schemes that may not be the best model to serve consumers.”

According to the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets, Nevada could unleash legalized online poker rooms in 2012, as casino giants like Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming have already applied for licenses. The court clarified relevant language by asserting, “In our view, the references to ‘bets or wagers’… are best read as shorthand references to the ‘bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest.’”

The same opinion contended that the original intention of the Wire Act was to combat phone wagering on sporting events: “The Wire Act’s legislative history reveals that Congress’ overriding goal in the Act was to stop the use of wire communications for sports gambling in particular.”

The clock could be ticking for Federal legalization of online poker. With 2012 being an election year, members of Congress could overlook the revenue potential of legalized online poker and internet gaming in general. Urging lawmakers to act on online poker soon after the New Year was PPA Chairman and former three-term Senator from New York Alfonse D’Amato, who charged, “We urge members of Congress to act quickly based on today’s announcement and pass legislation like HR 2366 to license and regulate online poker at the Federal level.”

Betfair face backlash as punters miss out on millions after in-play betting error

2011-12-28T17:22:00.000Z

Betfair face a backlash from punters after the bookmakers declared all bets are void following an incredible in-play betting error.

The gambling firm faced an unprecedented multi-million pay-out after odds of 28-1 were offered in-play on a runaway 13-8 favourite at Leopardstown.

There were bizarre scenes in the in-running betting world with a freakish amount traded on Betfair in the 2pm woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle.

A total of £1,642,094 was matched at 28-1 on Voler La Vedette, who went off the 13-8 favourite on-course and won very easily.

Even more strangely, the Betfair graph showed over £21million was offered to back Colm Murphy's mare at those odds, even though she was always in contention and looked the obvious winner even before the final flight.

This meant one layer could potentially have lost £600million in only a few minutes if all of the money had been matched.

Betfair suspended the market in order to investigate, with many of the exchange's members in a state of shock on the website's forum.

After lengthy discussions, it was revealed this was due to a technical error, and that all bets on the event would be cancelled.

A statement from Betfair customer services read: 'Customers betting in-play on this race will have seen that Voler La Vedette was available to back at 29 when the in-running market was suspended, and that a considerable sum was matched on the clear winner at that price.

'An investigation has revealed that this was due to an obvious technical failure which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit.

'In accordance with our terms and conditions, all in running bets on this race, both win and place, will be made void.

'We fully appreciate the dissatisfaction this will cause many customers, and apologise for a very poor customer and betting experience.'

Betfair gambles on faster website to challenge rivals

2011-12-15T15:13:00.002Z

The company, whose shares have tanked since last year's £13-a-share float, showed signs of improvement yesterday as it unveiled a maiden 3.2p interim dividend and confirmed the earlier than expected exit of chief executive David Yu, who is stepping down at the year end.

He is handing over on an interim basis to finance director Stephen Morana, who will hold the reins until August's arrival of Breon Corcoran from rival Paddy Power.

"Once that appointment was made I became a lame duck. It's better to have clarity," said Mr Yu, who will still have his £515,000-a-year contract paid up to October next year.

Asked if he should not have waived that given the performance of the shares, Mr Yu said: "We have a contract in place. We will respect that."

He has already been criticised for the 125pc rise in his total pay last year to £824,676, though that was boosted by a short-term incentive plan.

Mr Yu is bowing out after a half in which core betting exchange revenues reached £170m, boosted by second-quarter growth of 12pc. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 36pc to £42.4m, with pre-tax profits up from £7.45m to £20.9m – though last time's were hit by £14.7m of exceptional charges, mainly due to the float. The third quarter has started well with core revenues up 13pc.

Betfair is increasing its fixed-odds betting to compete with bookies that can offer instant in-play bets on such things as the outcome of a penalty. "The exchange is always going to be the vast majority of the business but we accept there are some things it can't do," Mr Yu said.

Mr Morana said Betfair punters were currently going to rivals for 30pc of their bets: "We need to give them no reason to go anywhere else." Betfair is testing a faster website that can download pages in 3 seconds compared to 18. Mr Yu said this had "not been driven" by recent site outages, punters failing to get on bets for the Tote jackpot or a cyber theft of customers' account details. "Betfair is more than 10 years old. When we built the system, we didn't envisage all these products," he said. The shares fell 17.5 to 795.5p.

Bovada – The US Version of Bodog Has Arrived

2011-12-14T19:05:00.002Z

The Bodog name brand has left the US market (kind of) and is now using the URL of Bovada.lv. As explained earlier this is merely a name change to separate the Bodog.com brand from anything the United Kingdom or other licensed countries may not like, such as opposing the US government. Gamblers from the US can do so fully at Bovada.

The website will run and operate exactly like Bodog did with the exact same games and promotions. There really is no difference for online gamblers. If you are from the United States and try to access Bodog, you will be detected by an IP check, which will tell the system that you are from the United States and send you to Bovada.lv. A redirect message as to why you are being re-directed will also appear.

Why Bodog chose the .lv extension which stands for Latvia is not known. A more suitable extension would have been .ag or .co in which the United States gamblers are already accustomed to after “Black Friday”. During that period gaming sites who serviced the United States had to redirect their names for fear of losing their sites to the DOJ. The DOJ had authority to seize dot com domain names, but they did not have the authority to seize many other extensions, which is also why Bodog.com is now hosted on Bodog.eu.

This is now the fourth time Bodog has had to change their domain name because of the United States attack on gambling sites who take bets from the USA. Their first encounter of a name change was because of a legal battle in which Bodog was suspected to be using proprietary software without payment. This lead to the ‘newbodog.com’ domain. After that they decided to rebrand to ‘bodoglife.com’ and after eventually getting their domain back, it was again to Bodog.com. Now because of US attacks it went from Bodog.com, to Bodog.eu, to now Bovada.lv. Confused yet?

Anyway, if you want to play on what we here at Compatible Poker believe to be the most reputable gaming site online, you can do so from Bovada.lv if you are from the USA.

bwin.party prepares for Spanish & Danish markets

2011-12-13T19:33:00.000Z

bwin.party digital entertainment plc said Tuesday that it expects to be among the first wave of operators to be awarded gaming licences in Spain and Denmark ahead of their respective market openings in 2012.

In a pre-close trading update to the London Stock Exchange this morning, bwin.party said that revenues since the end of September were in line with management expectations, with full year continuing clean EBITDA margins expected to be in the range of 22 – 24 per cent.

The company submitted licence applications for Spain at the end of last month, with bwin.party expecting approvals for sports betting, casino, poker and bingo products to be issued in the first wave of licences ahead of the market opening in 2012.

In Denmark, bwin.party also expects to be among the first wave of operators to become licensed to offer online poker, casino and sports betting at the beginning of January 2012, having submitted licence applications in October.

Since launching its €75m share buy-back programme in September, bwin.party has purchased 13,970,335 shares at a total purchase price of £17.6m (€20.8m), with an average price of approximately 126 pence per share. These purchased shares have been cancelled.

The company re-affirmed that it remains on-track to deliver approximately €40m of synergies in 2012 and the full €65m of annualised synergies in 2013 as previously announced, despite the postponement of certain integration projects in order for the company to be ready to launch into Spain and Denmark at the beginning of 2012.

bwin.party added that the sale process for Ongame's B2B business is currently at an advanced stage, having attracted a number of interested parties, but is unlikely to be finalised before the end of the year.

Biggest Betting Boss in the World, Does Not Want Online Gambling

2011-12-09T19:33:00.000Z

One of the wealthiest pit-bosses in the world is casino executive Sheldon Adelson; he holds the personal viewpoint that young people should not gamble. While he is right that underage people should not gamble; he may be wrong about the fact that technology in online gambling has not advanced sufficiently to prevent the under-aged from accessing casino websites. He is in opposition to online gambling as he believes it could allow young people to gamble.

Adelson is at the head of the land casino industry’s biggest publicly traded company – Las Vegas Sands Corporation. He is also 78 years old, ranked in Forbes as the world’s 16th richest man, and believes that when he dies, if his body is cryogenically frozen, he can be re-animated when a cure for old-age is found! If that is not narcissistic, then we don’t know what is? So, while Caesars Entertainment Corp, MGM Resorts International, and others are now backing the online industry, and even giving it push for legalization, he comes out with this controversial ideology.

While this is very much a personal stance; “a personal observation regarding technology”, it does not bode well for the online gambling industry in the USA. Adelson has told the head of the American Gaming Association that he will oppose legislation. The Board of Las Vegas Sands Corporation has re-iterated that this is not a formal strategy on the part of the company. However, it goes without saying that a man with the wealth and leverage of Adelson, could put some cats amongst the pigeons.

The land casino industry in the USA has hummed and ha-ad regarding whether they wanted the online industry legalized or not; but now they are actively pursing the legal route. Whether Adelson will ‘rout’ these plans or not, we suppose now remains to be seen?

Gambling Patterns Indicate that 2011 Gold Cup Was Fixed?

2011-12-09T13:11:00.000Z

The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup that eventually concluded with a thrilling 4-2 Mexico victory over the U.S. captivated soccer fans this past summer. It drew record attendance throughout the proceedings, and that record attendance was eventually capped off with a 93,420-person showing at the Rose Bowl for the final.

According to a new Sports Illustrated report, however, there were also apparently instances of match-fixing occurring throughout.

"There has been information that some matches in the Gold Cup were manipulated," FIFA head of security Chris Eaton confirmed to Grant Wahl of SI.com. "We worked with CONCACAF at the time, and CONCACAF have been very interested in following up any information that can be revealed in the future on that."

And what specifically led them to this conclusion? Irregular betting patterns over the course of the tournament were prevalent, it seems. Sports Illustrated approached a leading betting-industry expert while researching their report, and he admitted that strange patterns led him to be suspicious of every game featuring Cuba and Grenada, as well as El Salvador’s 5-0 defeat to Mexico in the Gold Cup.

SI noted:

The games involving Grenada (which lost three matches by a combined 15-1) and Cuba (which was outscored 16-1), the insider said, stood out: "It was the sort of thing where we sat around and said, 'Yeah, this looks like it's a 99 percent chance that it's bent.'"

Interestingly enough, the betting that reportedly took place in this instance wasn’t the kind that traditionally springs to mind when it comes to sports gambling. Rather, it was “in-running betting” in which wagers are placed over the course of the game on things that will happen from the point at which the bet was made, going forward.

"With Cuba and Grenada, yes, they're terrible, but there's lots of other teams that are also terrible, and generally those of us in soccer betting are used to pricing out these sorts of games, where you have very good against very bad," the expert told SI. "We see them a lot in the World Cup and European Championship qualifying. What I would say is that the odds movements for in-running betting [in Cuba and Grenada's Gold Cup games] were just incredibly, incredibly unusual and extreme. We're talking about five to 10 times what you would typically see. And these extreme odds movements would be subsequently vindicated by what was happening on the field."

Despite the murmurs of improprieties, though, nothing has been proven as of yet. If there was any wrongdoing, however, more investigations will no doubt chip away at the wall of secrecy that has been built around soccer-related gambling controversies over the last few decades.

Unibet stops all gaming activity in Spain

2011-12-09T01:32:00.000Z

In order to comply with the new Spanish Gambling regulations, Unibet will stop all gaming activity in Spain as of 20th of December 2011.

The majority of the Spanish banners/text links in your affiliate account will be de-activated on the 14th of December 2011. However, we will keep the best performing banners/text links active and re-direct these to the Brasilian website as of 14th of December 2011.

If you are currently promoting Unibet or Maria in Spain we would kindly ask that you substitute your Spanish banners/text links from your website to avoid dead links.

We have a wide range of geo targeted text links that you can use to promote Unibet and Maria. You will find these in the Media Gallery when searching for language English (International). We also have a range of geo targeted banners in the system that have proven very popular. You will find these in your Media Gallery under the tab Geo location media groups.

If you are already using existing geo targeted banners/text links you do not need to do anything as they will still function correctly.

Rest assured your acquired customers will remain under your affiliate account and you can login at any time as the affiliate account will still be open.

UEFA, ARJEL find no unusual betting in Lyon's 7-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League

2011-12-08T21:31:00.001Z

An investigation into Lyon's unlikely 7-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb failed to turn up any unusual betting patterns, and even UEFA said Thursday it found nothing suspicious about the outcome.

ARJEL, France's online gambling regulator, routinely looks into "atypical" scorelines, but said it found nothing out of the ordinary — either in the total amount gambled online with French operators, the number of bets, their spread, or in how odds evolved during the game.

The lopsided result helped Lyon advance to the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday. That, combined with the apparent ease with which it scored some of its goals, sparked talk that the match may have been fixed.

Ajax, the team that was eliminated on goal difference after losing to Real Madrid 3-0, asked for a UEFA investigation into Lyon's match.

"By asking a number of open questions, we at least expect to get a clear reaction from their side," Ajax interim director Martin Sturkenboom said. "Doing nothing is not an option. This way, we protect our position for the future should something irregular surface."

UEFA's gambling fraud detection system, which taps into information from more than 400 betting companies and monitors 29,000 games per season, is designed to spot telltale suspicious gambling patterns that could point to match-fixing.

"For the time being this system has not shown any irregular betting patterns around (Wednesday's) games or their outcome that would justify any enquiry on that front," UEFA said.

"UEFA also pays a lot of attention to the sporting behaviour on the pitch and we are currently waiting to receive the reports of the referee, referee observer and match delegate to see if, in their opinion, something suspicious might have happened. If there is anything in these reports that could raise a doubt, UEFA may then charge a disciplinary inspector to investigate the matter. But there is nothing at this stage that would justify doing so."

For some, suspicions were aroused by an apparent wink that Dinamo defender Domagoj Vida appeared to direct at Bafetimbi Gomis as he helped the Lyon forward pluck the ball out of the net after Lisandro scored the French team's fifth goal.

"I have no doubts whatsoever about the integrity of the match or the competition," UEFA President Michel Platini said after an executive committee meeting in Venice, Italy. "I believe in this competition and I believe in the integrity of the players in this competition."

ARJEL's regulatory powers over online gambling in France include combating fraud. The agency said probing matches that, for whatever reason, are deemed to be suspicious is one of its duties.

Lyon said in a statement on its website that ARJEL was simply following its procedures by carrying out postgame checks.

"The club totally approves of this action which is undertaken whenever a sporting result is considered atypical," Lyon said.

It also appeared to frown on suspicious mutterings about the result, saying it "regrets that comments are not being limited to the sporting aspect of an incredible exploit both for Olympique Lyonnais and for French football."

In Croatia, Dinamo issued a statement describing speculation about the result as "shameful, malicious and tendentious."

"(It's) a defeat that was hard to imagine," Dinamo said, noting that coach Krunoslav Jurcic was fired because of it. "A team that was more powerful, superior in numbers and had greater motivation ... won yesterday."

Dinamo midfielder Jerko Leko was sent off in the 28th minute for collecting two yellow cards in quick succession. Lyon failed to score before that and even trailed 1-0 in the first half before its unlikely comeback.

Gomis led the rout with four goals, including a seven-minute hat trick — the fastest ever in the Champions League. Besides Lisandro, Maxime Gonalons and Jimmy Briand also scored.

Because only a win and a deluge of goals would do it, Lyon looked extremely unlikely to qualify ahead of Ajax in Group D. Lyon coach Remi Garde was quoted as saying that qualification was "unimaginable."

The front-page headline of French sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday was "Miraculous!"
Ajax needed only a draw at home in the other Group D match against a below-strength Real Madrid to qualify ahead of Lyon. Instead, it lost 3-0. Ajax coach Frank de Boer said Dinamo could have made it harder for Lyon to pull off its stunning feat.

"I know that if you are down to 10 men, as they were after a half hour, I think, that if you play 4-4-1 and you are 1-0 up then you can make it very hard for your opponent," De Boer said. "I've heard that the goals were very easy. But we have to look to ourselves. We didn't do well enough. We should have got a minimum of a point and we didn't."

Wilshere denies betting claim over wager placed on Arsenal's Greek tragedy

2011-12-08T21:06:00.000Z

Jack Wilshere has denied betting on his own team - which is strictly prohibited by UEFA - during Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to Olympiakos.

The England midfielder, who is currently out of action with an ankle injury, could be in trouble with European football’s governing body after suggesting he had placed a bet on Emmanuel Frimpong to score the first goal in Tuesday night’s game.

Wilshere, 19, said Frimpong could be ‘worth a cheeky £10’ before posting ‘Frimmy nearly won me some money there!’ when the Ghanaian midfielder narrowly missed the target with the score at 0-0.

Olympiakos forward Rafik Djebbour eventually broke the deadlock in the Greek side’s 3-1 win, but Wilshere later insisted he had not put a wager on.
The Arsenal star said before the match: ‘Champions league tonight come on the Arsenal! @Frimpong26AFC 1st goal is 150-1... worth a cheeky £10 right?’

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny replied to Wilshere saying that a bet would be a waste of money, and Frimpong responded: ‘Cheers Guys U can put a tenner on a tackle? whats the odds:)’
UEFA is now looking into Wilshere’s tweets. The midfielder could face a fine or even a ban if found guilty of breaching the rules.

A spokesman said: ‘All persons bound by UEFA’s rules must refrain from any behaviour that could damage the integrity of matches and competitions.

‘A breach of these principles is committed by anyone who participates directly or indirectly in betting or who has a financial interest in such activities.’

Wilshere moved to defend himself after the game, insisting he had been joking. He said: ‘I didn’t actually bet on the game. I know we’re not allowed to! I was only messing #justtobeclear’
The tweets have since been deleted from Wilshere’s account.

AGCC launches external review of actions against Full Tilt

2011-12-07T15:41:00.002Z

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has launched an independent review of its actions and processes leading up to the suspension and eventual revocation of licences belonging to Full Tilt Poker, which will be conducted by the former chairman of the UK Gambling Commission, Peter Dean CBE.

The AGCC said the decision had been taken in order to provide full transparency of the actions taken by the commission against Full Tilt, focussing specifically on the appropriateness, timeliness and fairness of the actions undertaken.

The licences of Vantage Limited, Filco Limited, and Oxalic Limited (together trading as Full Tilt Poker) were suspended by the AGCC on June 29th 2011 and revoked by the AGCC Commissioners on September 29th.

“As soon as we became aware that there were possible irregularities in relation to FTP’s operational integrity AGCC acted to discharge fully our statutory obligations,” said André Wilsenach, AGCC’s executive director. “We believe we acted appropriately and fairly at all times but, following our own internal assessment and the inevitable questions that have been raised by third parties, the Commission decided that it is in the best interests of players, licence holders and AGCC itself to commission an independent review and to make the outcome public.”

The AGCC has appointed Peter dean CBE, the former chairman of the UK Gambling Commission, to conduct the review.

Dean was chairman of the Gaming Board for Great Britain, and subsequently the Gambling Commission from 1998 to 2007. Prior to this, he was deputy chairman of the UK’s Monopolies and Mergers Commission from 1990 to 1997 and from 1996 to 2001 served as the Investment Ombudsman appointed by the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation (IMRO) to handle complaints against IMRO regulated companies. He is also a former chairman of the International Association of Gaming Regulators

“I am delighted that Peter Dean has agreed to conduct the review,” continued Wilsenach. “He has many years of experience at the top of the British Gambling Commission and commands wide respect from operators and regulators alike. He has been asked to review fully the actions taken by AGCC in respect of FTP and to focus specifically on the appropriateness, timeliness and fairness of those actions.”

Dean will present a final report and recommendations to the Commission by the end of March 2012.

PokerStars buys Cara de Poker

2011-12-01T16:52:00.000Z

Ahead of early Spanish regulation in 2012, PokerStars has increased its presence with an acquisition of the Spanish iPoker skin Cara de Poker. According to the announcement on the CaraDePoker.com website posted yesterday, player accounts – including their funds and VIP points – are to being moved over the PokerStars platform.

“[Beginning next year] only license holders will be permitted to offer poker games and tournaments to Spanish players, significantly reducing the number of games available,” explains the official statement on the website, referring to the new regulatory system in Spain that will segregate the player pool and create a regulated dot.es market.

“Only the largest room in the world and in Spain will be able to offer the number of cash tables and tournaments needed to provide a superior experience,” continues the statement, titled “PokerStars, The Best Possible Choice.”

The Cara de Poker iPoker skin has closed, and customers who start the software are greeted with a message informing them that an account migration to PokerStars is in progress. It’s been reported that PokerStars is certainly well positioned to capitalize on a new Spanish regulated market, assuming regulation proceeds as planned and the poker room receives a license.

Forced into online black market gambling?

2011-12-01T15:52:00.002Z

A review of the £1.7 billion British online gambling market is set to be reviewed in early December. It’s been reported that a secondary licensing fee on offshore gaming companies operating in British markets could be on the cards. The shakeup means that the government could close tax loopholes taken advantage of by offshore online gambling operators. Most of the top 20 operators in the UK market operate from offshore locations and do not pay taxes or horseracing levies in Britain. William Hill, in particular has voiced themselves on the issue.

It’s been reported that William Hill is the gambling group most likely to be affected by the secondary license fee. It has more than 10% market share and operates offshore. It commissioned professional business services provider Deloittes to carry out a review.

Deloittes concludes that secondary taxation at the point of consumption could lead to an exodus of the more reputable online gambling operators, forcing an estimated 40% of the players to shift to unauthorized and untaxed operators. This would result in the growth of a black market in online gambling. A spokesman for William Hill told The Independent newspaper, “The question for the Government is, should it introduce policy which distorts markets?”

The drastic proposal was aired by Tory MP Matthew Hancock and would involve taking tax from where a bet is placed as opposed to the physical location of the company. It means companies that decided to buy up a money-saving sun-haven need a UK Gambling Commission license. An Independent article quotes the Deloitte report as saying “a 15 per cent tax could mean two-fifths of legitimate firms leaving the UK market.” Hancock wants to determine where online gambling is taking place in an annual Finance Bill.

Changes are expected to come into force this time next year. The UK remains one of the world’s best licensing regimes and companies – private or public – will always be attracted to a country that has the centre of the iGaming universe, London, at its core.

Playtech’s £100m plan

2011-11-24T13:26:00.000Z

Online gaming software company Playtech is aiming to raise £100m by issuing 46.5 million shares at a 2.5% discount on yesterday’s closing price in London. The world’s biggest provider of online gambling software said it would raise the money in the discounted offering to finance acquisition opportunities and investments in new joint ventures.

The placement of about 46.5 million shares would be priced at 215 pence each, representing a 2.5 percent discount to the stock’s closing market price on Tuesday, Playtech said.

Billionaire Israeli founder Teddy Sagi holds a massive 40% stake and said it had identified a number of acquisition opportunities in regards to expanding its existing technology and product offerings.

The Estonia-based company operates a joint venture with Britain’s biggest bookmaker William Hill and provides software to Paddy Power, PartyGaming and Gala Coral.

Scots punter wins £132k on £1 bet after correctly predicting 18 football results.. but he needed last minute Arbroath penalty to clinch it

2011-11-22T20:04:00.000Z

A punter has scooped £132,000 from a "miracle" £1 bet on football results.

The Scots gambler correctly predicted the winners of 18 matches in Scotland and England.

But his accumulator was only sealed by a 94th-minute penalty from Arbroath's Paul Sheerin.

It gave his side a 1-0 victory over Keith and completed the punter's dream line, which included another three Scottish matches and English teams such as West Ham, Leeds, Cardiff and Charlton.
The winner, who wants to remain anonymous, struck his bet at a Coral shop on Paisley Road West in Glasgow on Saturday.

And his payout capped a "devastating" weekend for bookies, who lost around £20million as a host of footie favourites won.

Last night, Coral spokesman David Stevens said: "In 10 years of working ... this is the most extraordinary tipping performance I have seen.

"It's hard enough finding one winner but to get 18 in one day is nothing short of miraculous. We're delighted that this customer has hit the jackpot in time for Christmas.

"It just goes to show you don't have to stake big money to win big money."

Stevens added: "We are still counting the cost of the weekend but we think the results have cost bookmakers about £20million.

"We also had a £48,000 winner south of the Border and lots of smaller wins of a few thousand.
"But the £132,000 winner was the biggest by far.

"And the difference between his win and the rest was that he didn't back top-flight teams - the big guns who people usually back first. That's what makes it so special."

The payout is a latest big-money win for Scots punters. In May, a Glasgow gambler scooped £353,000 on a £1 seven-horse accumulator.

And in August, Dumfries grandad Stuart Smith, 58, became Scotland's first betting shop millionaire, landing the jackpot on the 49's lottery game.

Bernard Tapie Signs Deal with DOJ to Acquire Full Tilt Poker

2011-11-18T10:44:00.002Z

Players holding out hope that their money on Full Tilt Poker would be returned to them sooner rather than later got some great news on Thursday. CNNMoney.com first broke the story that Groupe Bernard Tapie had signed a deal to purchase the assets of Full Tilt Poker for $80 million US.

As part of the deal Full Tilt Poker agreed to surrender its assets to the Department of Justice. The DOJ was then able to sell those assets to GBT. American players will be paid back by the Department of Justice while GBT assumes all debts for players outside the United States. Estimates put the the amount owed at $390 million with $150 million being owed to U.S. players.

The deal still needs approval of 2/3 of Full Tilt Poker shareholders.

The deal between GBT and the DOJ is expected to be officially announced by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, on Friday. The story which ran on CNNMoney and Yahoo! Finance was done so ahead of an embargo which should have seen the story made public Friday morning at 6:45 ET.

According to CNN Money, “the government plans to dismiss the civil forfeiture proceedings. This will have no impact on individual proceedings, but it removes a potential liability for shareholders, as it removes all pending proceeding against Full Tilt”. In August, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst were added to the forfeiture and civil money laundering complaint brought by Bharara’s office that originally only named Ray Bitar. All four are members of the board of directors for Full Tilt Poker.