Online Gambling News all over the world 19.8.2009

19.08.2009, Australian Online Gambling Sites Compromised / Online Casino Mangas Gaming Goes With Net Ent. / U.K. Firms Lobby for Online Gambling in USA / Cryptologic Online Gambling Software Profits Rising

Australian Online Gambling Sites Compromised
The New South Wales Australia Gaming and Racing Minister, Kevin Greene recently called on four of Australia’s largest online gambling websites to end any association with a deceptive advertising website that uses unsavoury methods to gain internet attention.

Greene said the website www.bookmaker.com.au has been found to use bogus websites that redirect visitors to a gambling web page.

The bogus internet addresses are named to suggest they are places for the gambler to search for help with a gambling addiction or problems. Greene said,“This is an appalling tactic that appears to be intentionally designed to prey on vulnerable people in our society looking for help,” Green added,“Not only do these websites seem to be places offering assistance to those with gambling problems, they immediately redirected people to a website promoting gambling services.

“This appears to be a disgusting attempt to cash in on the problems of others.”

Greene contacted all of the Australian internet gambling firms advertising on the redirected website.

“I have asked these companies to have themselves removed from this website which they may not even be aware links to their own websites,” “Each of these Australian companies are based in the Northern Territory and the websites that link to them clearly contravene advertising standards under the Northern Territory’s Responsible Gambling Code.

“It is clear the quickest thing that these gambling companies can do is voluntarily remove themselves from the appalling site.

“Gambling problems are a serious issue for people and their families across Australia.

“The NSW Government’s Responsible Gambling Fund invests more than $12 million a year on high-quality problem gambling counselling services, important research and education and awareness activities,”.Mr.Green said.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper broke the story with the headline,"Website preys on hooked punters" The bookmakers told the paper that the legit gambling web sites had either stopped any link or were looking into the matter.

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Online Casino Mangas Gaming Goes With Net Ent.
Some major European online gambling operator brands such as Expekt.com, Bet at Home and BetClick, are part of the French based online gambling group, Mangas Gaming Group. They are now preparing to launch their offerings on the proven and tested software platform CasinoModule. The Swedish based company Net Entertainment supplies the CasinoModule system. Mangas Gaming Group confirmed it will be extending the existing deal with Net Entertainment to supply its product to a greater number of its sites, bringing all Mangas Gaming brands into the Net Entertainment program.

The Chief Executive Officer of Net Entertainment, Johan Ohman, said: "I am proud to announce the extension of our partnership with the Mangas Gaming Group for a number of years to include all brands within that group. The extension of the deal partnership with Bet at Home and Bet Click is great news as together our business has thrived." adding, "The addition of Expekt.com to this partnership will provide Expekt and now the Mangas Gaming Group generally with the tools and content required to gain more ground and further grow its operation," continued Ohman. "We look forward to working with the Mangas Gaming Group and jointly achieving great results."

Expekt's one a half million customers will be able to use the product offering by the beginning of 2010. The Chief Executive Officer of Mangas, Nicolas Beraud, stated, "The partnership with Net Entertainment has been impeccable and the decision to make them our long term casino partner was therefore natural," he expalined further, "Expekt.com is a major European sportsbook with over 1.5 million registered players. The partnership with Net Entertainment will contribute to increasing Expekt's business and the further extension of the partnership with Net Entertainment for BetClick and Bet at Home made perfect business sense for us."

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U.K. Firms Lobby for Online Gambling in USA
A major British newspaper, The Telegraph, has recently reported that some online gambling operators in the U.K. have hired high end lobbying companies in the USA to work for them to influence and present their case before Congress. Sportingbet, Pokerstars, and PartyGaming are a few of the operators named, who have joined forces with other British based special interest groups who seek changes in certain US economic policies. It was reported that UC Group a major online payment services firm has spent millions of GBP lobbying the US politicians. The company has spent an estimated 5,23 million USD on efforts to change gambling legislation in the States.

U.K. firms have also spent significant sums lobbying British politicians, however there is no law in Britain requiring disclosure of the spending amounts. In the USA ther is a law that says lobbying funding must be revealed every fiscal quarter. Other ancillary costs do not have to be accounted for bringing the real cost of lobbying to a higher value experts contend.

The UC Group acts for 10 gambling companies and hopes to benefit from any opening of the gambling market in the USA. The group has supported efforts to overturn the prohibition on online gambling in the States. The UC Group's chief executive officer, Kobus Paulsen, speaking to the Telegraph, suggested it was a long-term strategy, "We are certain that our efforts will yield an open market for non-US based gaming operators," Ruth Parasol and Russell De Leon,

The founders of PartyGaming, Ruth Parasol and Russell De Leon, reportedly put GBP 929 000 into lobbying fees since last September in an effort to promote online gaming legislation in the USA. Sportingbet's, records show the company has spent as much as $60 000 USD over the last year relating to the "settlement of potential criminal charges related to online gambling in the USA."

The Camelot Group, operator of the National Lottery in the U.K., registered as a lobbying company in the USA last November 2008. The group paid $20,000 USD in fees to lobby the issue of "federal regulations regarding private companies managing state lottery systems," before it terminated its contract with the lobbying firm O'Neill and Associates, in April of 2009.

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Cryptologic Online Gambling Software Profits Rising
Setting a fine example in Ireland the online gambling software provider and innovator Cryptologic has posted vastly improved earnings in the year's second quarter. Revenues for the company are up 21 percent, and branded game revenue up 70 percent over the first quarter of 2009.

The firm said its new business strategy delivered reduced operating costs, a solid quarter-on-quarter improvement in its Internet casino hosting business, and growth from branded games launched by major web gaming operators.

Brian Hadfield, President and CEO of Cryptologic, stated, "The second quarter of 2009 marked a turning point for CryptoLogic, with significant growth in our two core businesses," adding, "With a larger customer base and an aggressive rollout schedule for our new games, CryptoLogic now has the people, the products and the partners to deliver improved performance for our shareholders, in 2009 and beyond."

The Internet poker network and the GTech Corporation's International Poker Network, were successfully blended eliminating the cost of operating a standalone poker platform, with improved poker room liquidity for customers, making for a more profitable poker business.

Profits in this quarter are definitely helping to offset the loss of more than $1 million in revenue from William Hill Poker, which has moved it's operation. With 24 licencees including the four of the largest international online gambling operators SportingBet, PartyGaming, 888.com and Betfair the company is now at the top of it's form with more licencees than ever before in it's history. Thirteen new branded games were introduced this quarter with an expected one hundred and ten new games to be launched by the end of the year. Cryptologic wants to report a net profit for the full year, and see it's cash flow in the black by the end of 2009.

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