iGaming News all over the world 08.05.2010

08.05.2010, Lobbying Efforts for USA Online Gambling Over 5 Million / Unibet Moving Forward to Capture Online Bingo Market / China Vows to Strengthen It's Internet Firewall Against Gambling / Mexico offers big growth opportunities with Class III games

Lobbying Efforts for USA Online Gambling Over 5 Million
The Internet Gambling Federal Lobbying Report for the first quarter of the year 2010 has revealed that a considerable amount of money is being spent in Washington D.C. to reverse the current prohibition on online gambling activities in America. The BolaVerde Media Group compiled collected data that states 36 different parties spent a combined amount estimated to be around $5.16 million USD. Harrah's Entertainment Inc. spent the most at an estimated $1.22 million USD. The report went on to explain that Harrah's increased it expenditure on lobbying by 73% from the fourth quarter of 2009. Harrah's Interactive division, located in Montreal Canada operates an online casino and poker room for customers in the U.K. Contributions from the Poker Players Alliance was at $785,000, UC Group at $717,239, U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) at $664,442 with the Interactive Gaming Council at $412,580. The total for the first quarter of 2010 was reduced by 16% since the last quarter of 2009. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made a significant 66% cut in its lobby spending over last year's final quarter. The first quarter 2010 Internet Gambling Federal Lobbying Report is full of detailed information that ranks the amount of influence each organization is having on the Federal lawmakers in Washington.

Recently Nevada Representative Dina Titus came on board as a supporter of the Bill before the Senate to overturn the ban indicating the land based casinos in Nevada are looking at the possible benefits of online gambling regulations in the States. Commenting on the details of the report by the BolaVerde Media Group, Managing Director Mark Balestra, said, "Anyone interested in the global Internet gambling industry needs to take notice of the bigger picture in the United States, including who is plotting entry and who might be reconsidering their positions, as well as the financial weight being thrown around. In this sense, an evaluation of lobbying strategies and spending trends lends pretty good insight into how things could pan out in Washington."

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Unibet Moving Forward to Capture Online Bingo Market
Unibet's chief executive officer Petter Nylander announced recently that Unibet will acquire just over 25 percent of Bingo.com claiming this move is in anticipation of the opening up of the American online gambling market. Bingo.com is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is valued at somewhere around $10 million USD. The Unibet portion was said to be around $2.25million USD. Nylander said: “We believe in the power of the Bingo.com URL and believe that Bingo.com will be a leader in online bingo for years to come.” Unibet has established itself as an online gaming and online gambling company which offers poker, casino games, scratch cards, sports betting, and online bingo. The company is headquartered in Malta and is owned by the Nordic OMX listed public company Unibet Group plc. U

nibet ranks among the top 5 online gaming operators in Europe. The Bingo.com URL ranks at the top of major bingo related keywords today and has more than 1,975,000 registered users. CEO of Bingo.com, Tarrnie Williams, said, “Bingo.com is pleased to have secured a private placement from Unibet,” Unibet has been doing very well of late with a strong performance on it's year over year profits. Nylander said at the press conference in that the strong showing represented “the re-emergence of sports betting as the key product for customer acquisition, cross sell and loyalty.”

Live betting and the mobile channel were the main drivers of this growth said Nylander. The Swedish operator also confirmed its intention to apply for a licence in France where new rules for internet gambling are revamping the market possibilities. Henrik Tjarnstrom, chief financial officer for Unibet was realistic when he commented that if Unibet was successful in it's bid for a licence in France earnings would be, "only marginal in 2010. " Analysts say that the short term costs of operating in France will be offset by the longer term benefits of higher-quality earnings.

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China Vows to Strengthen It's Internet Firewall Against Gambling
China is a vast and growing nation that is desperate to maintain it's grip on the culture that has existed there for thousands of years. The advent of the internet pervades almost all cultures in countries around the globe with an almost unstoppable force that is bringing freedom and knowledge to anyone that has the technology. China has such a fast changing social environment that it is only normal they should want to exert some form of control over what the public is allowed to do or see on the internet.

Gambling in China is almost a religion and it is being kept in check by the authorities with an iron fist. The filtering of internet content is a common practice not only in China but in other countries as well. The Associated Press says that Beijing encourages Internet use for business and education yet it does make sure inappropriate content is blocked. China's chief of the Cabinet's Information Office, Wang Chen, has gone on the offensive with recent remarks like, "We will strengthen the blocking of harmful information from outside China to prevent harmful information from being disseminated in China and withstand online penetration by overseas hostile forces," The government has been constantly stepping up it's efforts to keep unwanted and considered social unaccepted content out the hands of it's netizens.

Even Google has announced that they will relocate their operations to Hong Kong because fundamentally Google doesn't agree with Chinese censorship policies. Online gambling is high on the list of banned activities as the Chinese government continues to isolate it's people from what the rest of the world can see and access. Money through online gambling is leaving China which the government needs for it's own economic well being. China's online population, at over 400 million may not sit still for the kind of censorship proposed by the government, time will tell how long the people will tolerate a system that keeps them back from the 21st century.

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Mexico offers big growth opportunities with Class III games
Mexico, exclusive Yogonet.com).- “Our main goal is to obtain a positive feedback by our customers towards our large catalogue of products, and turn positive impressions in sales,” pointed Carlos Engel, director of Sales and Operations of Bally for Mexico, with regards to ELA. The company is present at stand 34. This 2010 it will also assist to SAGSE Panama and Buenos Aires.

What are you presenting in ELA? What are your expectations? We will exhibit our latest investments. With regards to the portfolio of games, we brought titles such as Cash Spin y Vegas Hits that are part of the SpinNation series. Of the Digital Tower Series, we are exhibiting Fireball and 77777 Jackpot. In our V32 cabinet we have the new brand Magic Money, as well as popular titles Playboy Platinum and Quick Hit Platinum. Pro Series cabinet makes its debut in Mexico with two new games: Object of Desire of the Femme Felone serie and Mediterranean of the video slots Deep serie.

On the systems’ side, we are proud of presenting the best in their class. We will do live demonstrations of our slots administration system SDS Version 11, as well as iVIEW Display Manager, the Elite Bonusing Suite with Power Winners and Live Floor View.

ELA brings us the opportunity to strenghten our business relationships and societies with customers in this important market. We trust in our portfolio and we believe we have chosen the right mix between games and systems that will make Mexican customers increase their profitability.

Which is the main aim of Bally for ELA and for the following months? Our main goal is to obtain a positive answer by our customers towards our broad catalogue of products, and turn positive impressions in sales. For the rest of the year, we must continue being smart with regards to the way in which we manage our business and we have to invest wisely in key markets, on top of focusing in investigation and development, to continue providing the latest in games and systems.

To what other events in the industry will you assist this year? Out of North America, we plan to exhibit our latest products in G2E Asia, SAGSE Panama, AGE, SAGSE Argentina and ENADA.

What markets do you target? We are watching Brazil closely. We also see a great potential in the Italian VLT market, where we have also achieved several commercial agreements. Mexico is another country with great opportunities of growth with the class III commercialization, which is something extremely favourable for Bally and for Mexican operators.

Do you plan to release new products in the short term? We are constantly launching new products. Our aim is to increase our core gaming catalogue. We will keep at the forefront of the innovation and expanding the portfolio of games and system in order to assure a vast selection of technology available for all the customers. Our emphasys in innovation will not cease.

Exclusive interview Yogonet.com

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