Of course, now that some companies are getting the official pat on the back, others are getting the official bitch-slap. As it was welcoming Stars into the fold, the BGC simultaneously published the first edition of its “blacklist” of non-licensed operators. The list features 10 names: 888.com, Everestpoker.be, Titanpoker.be, Chilipoker.com, Casino.com. Myglobalgames.com, Bingo-round.com, Jackpotcity.com, Casinoriva.com and Megacasino.com. The country’s major internet service providers will now be expected to block access to these sites.

The French Competition Authority has received yet another complaint about the ongoing stranglehold of the horse betting market by former monopoly Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) This latest complaint was filed by rival operator Betclic, following comments in French newspaper Les Echos attributed to Jean-Francois Vilotte, president of French regulator ARJEL. Vilotte was commenting on the latest gaming industry figures that were almost wholly negative, save for horseracing, which was up sharply. Vilotte noted that PMU’s chief competitor, ZeTurf, held only a 10% share of the horse betting market, and the combined rest of PMU’s competition was “marginal,” leaving PMU holding an 85% slice of the horse betting pie.

Business News

The latest set of ropey figures prompted ARJEL president Jean-Francois Vilotte to lead calls for the market to be reformed. The latest declines were “a cause for concern” due to the fact it could prompt players to return to unregulated or international sites. Many will say the regulators set themselves up for a fall by setting the taxes at such an anti-competitive level originally. One of the fiercest critics was former BetClic Everest chairman Stephane Courbit who commented that it “does not allow us to exist.” Certainly looks like the regulator’s starting to feel that way too.

Over the border in Italy, a strike in the country’s horseracing industry has seen revenues decrease by 50% at one firm, according to eGR. The stoppage, which began on January 1, was triggered by a cut in funding by the beleaguered government and has caused SNAI to hit the buffers. Since the strike they’ve been limited to take bets on foreign races and are unlikely to hit the ambitious earnings forecasts they posted last week, even though they included a warning over horseracing.

Business News

If you guys needed a logo idea...here ya go!

Pokerroom is back on the radar after bwin.party decided to bring the brand back after a three-year sojourn. Following the relaunch, a spokesperson told eGR: “We were using the Pokerroom.com name as an affiliate and it had started to pull in traffic so we then decided to switch it back on – it literally was a case of simply flicking the switch.

“It’s essentially a soft-launch at the moment and we will see what happens from there on in. We’re testing the waters to see what level of interest there is.”

The brand was a stalwart of early online poker and is added to the arsenal of brands under bwin.party’s offering and comes under the Ongame Network, despite the company trying to get rid of it

If the brand sways away from simply a dot.com venture one country it could look at is France, where the former monopoly Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) announced its latest set of results earlier today. For the full year turnover from online was up 45% as it tipped the scales of €1billion for the first time. €1.3billion of online turnover contributed to the group total of €10bn and was in addition to online gross gaming revenue increasing by 30% to €233m.

Neogames has released Go 777 as its newest scratchcard to fit into its portfolio of 3D next gen games. During each round the card features three slot machines with two scratch areas, the top area being the prize area and the bottom the reels area. A jackpot of up to £200,000 is up for grabs and it joins over 100 other games in the Neogames portfolio.

Business News

Sportingbet

Scientific Games owned MDI Entertainment has extended a licensing deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The deal, which has been signed for a further six years, allows the firm to offer branded content to lotteries featuring any number of NBA teams. Steve Saferin, president, properties group and chief creative officer for Scientific Games, told eGR: “There is an enormous demand for the NBA, and we are pleased to be able to offer a great assortment of NBA merchandise packages and licensed games featuring the team logos and player images for fans nationwide.”

Over the pond, Unibet has finally opened up its site for French customers at their dot.fr domain. Customers were able to use the site for the first time since the firm acquired Solfive, the owner of EurosportBet.

Business News

20minutes.fr report that ISPs will use “protocol blocking by domain name (DNS),” to ensure that users don’t get onto sites in a move that will see derision from firms on the outside looking in – and players won’t be pleased either. Good news for ISPs comes with the fact ARJEL is to foot the bill and as far preventing unregulated sites goes it’s the cheapest solution out there. Nothing like saving them pennies.

Trouble will come if the French failed to report the changes to the European Commission as Directive 98/48/EC stipulates you must report amendments on any draft text on services of the “Information Society.” There’s also the chance players will simply sidestep this ban by using IP spoofing services to get onto sites and it’s something that the country may find it hard to keep a handle on.

France first looked at IP blocking in August 2010; a short time after the country had decided to strictly regulate the industry. Back then they were going through the dirty laundry of non-approved international gaming industry firms as well as ordering the ISPs to do the hard bit and block sites. It’s unclear right now whether the new approach extends to sifting through drawers but their time may be put to better use providing the consumer with a more competitive offering by overhauling the gaming taxation system. It was over a year ago that leading French gaming industry voice Stephane Courbit called for the market to be radically changed and progress since then has been slow to say the least.

Legal News

In a report by AFP, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, said the 37-year-old man from the city of Reims is suing after he registered with the interior ministry last year to be voluntarily banned from casinos and online gambling sites, but was still able to access them. He added that the ministry registered the man, whose identity was not released, under the wrong address when he asked to be banned, “which allowed him to continue playing”. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for your own actions. We don’t tell the government to put us on a list to ban us from eating cake when we’re on a diet – if we’re fat that’s out own fault.

The interior ministry refused to comment on the case because legal proceedings were under way. But is suing the government for making your own mistakes acceptable?

Over the English Channel, there’s news that an amended plan to convert a former National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) headquarters in Sheffield city centre into a 24-hour casino with bars and restaurants is set to be approved by council officials next week.

In a report by the Yorkshire Post, the proposals for the ’80s block next to Sheffield City Hall in Barker’s Pool have been put forward by Brook Leisure – who already operates a nightclub in the area – which says the new complex could create 130 jobs.

A meeting next Monday regarding planning permission will decide the final outcome. In the report set to go before the meeting, city planners described the NUM site as a “substantial and striking post-modern building, which makes reference to the neighbouring City Hall with its extensive use of stone and angular pillars.” Sounds pretty arty – any guesses what it might be called?

Speaking of new casino openings, across the pond in Cleveland, US, the new Horseshoe Casino Cleveland is scheduled to open come January and has begun accepting applications for over 750 new casino jobs.

In a report by ABC Channel 5 News Gina Morris of Downtown Cleveland Alliance, said: “A lot of the opportunities with the casino are administrative, which means people are going to be there from 9 to 5.”

The full-fledged Las Vegas-style casino will be located downtown on four floors of the former Higbee Department Store, the place where Ralphie asked Santa for a Red Ryder BB gun in the movie “A Christmas Story.” Remember that? Nah, neither do we.

Casino News

Unibet

The agreement states following a transitional period that ends on January 1^st, they lose the use of Eurosportbet and Eurosportpoker acquired from Solfive.

Intralot is bidding the French market adieu with ARJEL accepting their request to repeal a sports betting license with four years left to run. The Greek firm was awarded a five-year license with the option of an extension and it was a widely held thought they’d apply for further licenses. It comes after a disappointing set of Q3 figures that they blamed on having to raise payouts in order to attract punters.

Online sports betting purveyor France Pari is taking struggling horse wagering site BetNet.fr under its wing. Customers of the site, which was declared bankrupt, will transfer over to a new platform launching on Thursday. Patrick Barbe, president of BetNet.fr told Les Echos that “overwhelming competition” was to blame and the fact they’re not allowed to advertise at tracks hurt them a great deal.

Business News

Wilshere and Frimpong

England prodigy Jack Wilshere is in hot water with UEFA looking into claims that he may have put money on a colleague to score. The TWouble arose after Tweets sent by Wilshere during Arsenal’s midweek fixture at Olympiakos suggested that he had been having a flutter on teammate Emmanuel Frimpong. Wilshere’s first tweet read: “Champions league tonight come on the Arsenal! @Frimpong26AFC 1st goal is 150-1… worth a cheeky £10 right?”

Further suspicion arose with Wilshere tweeting: “Frimmy nearly won me some money there!” after the midfielder had hit the side netting. Wilshere since deleted the updates and tweeted: “I didn’t actually bet on the game. I know we’re not allowed to! I was only messing #justtobeclear.”

Betting on games as a player is against the rules and a UEFA spokesperson 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 is currently out with an injury for much of the season and it goes some way to explain why he’s constantly on Twitter. Not wanting to band all footballers in the same boat or anything but if there’s one sport where they’d blatantly flout the rules and post it on a social network then this is it. Putting a wager on a match while you’re injured is hardly the crime of the century but the rules are there for a reason and put in place to prevent any type of corruption infiltrating European sport’s highest level

It’s true what they say though – too many tweets make a tw@t.

Arjel has concluded that there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding Lyon’s 7-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb. A statement from the regulator confirmed that there had been no questionable happenings in terms of betting that went on around the match, and added: “No irregularity has been detected concerning the total amount of stakes or the number of bets.”

UEFA added: “For the time being this system hasn’t shown any irregular betting patterns around [Wednesday’s] games or their outcome that would justify any enquiry on that front.”

The game was investigated after Lyon scored six second-half goals to swing goal difference in their favor and qualify for the knockout stages ahead an Ajax side that are now screaming conspiracy. If any fraud had taken place UEFA’s Betting Fraud Detection system, which monitors 29,000 game a season and data from 400 betting firms, would have caught it in their extensive net.

Sports News

Capello upon hearing the draw

England’s Euro 2012 winning bandwagon officially sprang into action earlier today as the home nation got a favorable draw for next year’s tournament. Fabio Capello’s Rooney-less charges face former champions France, Sweden and hosts Ukraine with all group games taking place in Ukraine – the only problem being that they’re based in Poland.

The country’s optimism would appear to be well placed. Don Fabio’s first game against France will evoke memories of Euro 2004 when Zinedine Zidane chucked his guts up all over the penalty spot before firing Les Bleus to a 2-1 victory. This time there’s no Zidane but the lowest seeded team in the group hasn’t lost in 17 games.

After that comes Sweden, a side that Capello’s men labored to a win over under a month ago. A lot will depend on whether the opposing manger persists with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and this time we don’t have Sven to hand them a cheeky draw so that he gets a bit of nookie with Ulrika. Does anyone else think we always seem to play the Swedes in tournaments? Maybe it’s just me…

Wayne Rooney’s return to the squad could take place in the final group game with hosts Ukraine, in Donetsk. The country has had a good record against the home of Andriy Shevchenko. Host nations are not who you want to face in these tournaments and without sounding too cockney “they ain’t no mugs.”

If England manages to negotiate the group stage, they’ll be met in the quarters by the runner up from “Group of Death v2” featuring Croatia, Spain, Italy and Ireland. Should Capello’s lads make the semi’s they could face the winner of “Group of Death v1” featuring Holland, Portugal, Germany and Denmark. The remaining group sounds positively simple compared to the rest with Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Russia battling it out.

The great thing about tournaments is their unknown quantity and after the draw, England has already been shortened to 9/1 with some bookies to win it. We’d err on the side of caution and stick with some kind of novelty bet on the first England team member to be involved in a drinkin’ or sex scandal. Poland’s beer is mightily cheap and with Andy Carroll on the plane anything could happen. If you thought the dentist’s chair was bad back in the day then just wait for big Andy after 17.5 jagerbombs!

Sports News

Is this refinancing?

Ladbrokes has agreed to a deal that will refinance its debt to a more manageable level. The new five-deal deal is worth £540million and replaces the £560million facility that was set to mature in 2013. The new blended rate of interest for the group will be 7.5% in 2012 and chief financial officer Ian Bull commented: “We are pleased to have extended the maturity profile of our debt with these new facilities and welcome the support our lenders have shown in the business. The new arrangements, together with our proven track record for strong cash generation, mean the business is on a strong footing as we continue to invest in our plan to reinvigorate Ladbrokes.”

Sportingbet has announced that both three non-executive directors will stand down from their positions. eGR reports that former CEO Nigel Payne and Sean O’Connor will both stand down at the December 16 AGM with Brian Harris to stand down next year. Payne guided the company as CEO from 2001 to 2006 before handing over the role to Andy McIver after helping to put the firm up on London’s Stock Exchange. Marketing man Chris Moss and former investment banker Rory Macnamara will replace Payne and O’Connor.

Betclic Everest is set to release a woeful set of figures for the past six months. The losses, which, according iGaming France, could be up to €66.2m, are down to the treacherous conditions that the French market presents to anyone that relies on it. The news came after La Societe des Bains de Mer, which owns 50% of the group, saw losses increase to €33.1, in the first half of the current financial year. Former Betclic chairman Stephane Courbit, who loudly heckled France’s iGaming market last year, is being proved right and it shows the country’s market is in dire need of a change.

Business News

Poker News

ARJEL

It’s the second time that the sports betting market has shown a decline and has led key figures to fear that unregulated operators will come back to the fore. Jean-Francois Vilotte, president of ARJEL, told Le Figaro the current system “Is near certain to lead to a decrease in tax revenues for the State in the medium to long term and the illegal operators getting back to taking market share, which would be a concern for the regulator and the Treasury.”

The comments could point to the market seeking a change to the taxation system so that it’s based on gross gaming revenue and not amounts staked. Criticism of the current regime has been around for some time with Stephane Courbit commenting that “the worst online gambling laws in Europe” were killing his company’s business. It seems that continual declines in the market may finally force France’s hand. It’s what happens when the regime in place is originally laid out so much in favor of the former duopoly the FDJ and PMU held so that other firms find it neigh-on impossible to turn a profit.

Legal News

First up was Quirino Mancini who spoke about the market in Italy. After promising to tell us something new and exciting that we didn’t really know before, hetold us quite a lot of stuff that we already knew. He did add, “The market is very crowded but from the numbers it looks like the market is responding, especially cash games.”

Tatjana Klaesar, lawyer at ULYS, gave all those listening a briefing on the French and Belgian markets. After outlining the current situation in France she explained “voices are getting louder” over changes that are needed to set the taxation system in place. All sides of the political spectrum agree that it needs to be different and she added they might not take place until after the next election in 2012. France’s taxation system has been lambasted from the start and managed to survive Stephane Courbit’s diatribe late last year. It won’t be lasting much longer though. Klaesar also didn’t rule out land-based operators arguing that this system shows differentiation between the two mediums thus kicking off an argument at EU level. Woof.

The panelist explained this could also be the case in the Belgian market as well. Their new Gambling Act, which was published on 1 January this year, covers all gambling bases and works on a gross revenue taxation system. In addition, regional governments have favorable rates for firms setting up remotely. These favorable rates may lead to the land-based operators to allege state aid in much the same way the land-based operators did in Denmark. One difference is land-based operators are the only ones permitted to allow remote gaming. As such, joint ventures are commonplace and it means that a state aid challenge is unlikely. If you ask us, they’d much rather be eating a waffle and smoking a bong.

Spanish gaming expert Santiago Asensi explained what is coming up next in the country’s gaming market with the public tender expected to be announced as 14th, 15th and 16th November in the next few days. The deadline to apply for the license will be a month after this with the market expected to open in 1 January and around 40 companies are expected to apply.

2012 – ONE HELL OF A YEAR

The big one was Germany where we had Wulf Hambach comparing the partition between the two different models as “a bit like a wall” but NOT like the Berlin one. Phew!

On one side of the ring, you have the 15 states other than Schleswig-Holstein with their draft law. It has been thrown out by the European Commission gaming companies and has been through more alterations than a larger-then-life girl’s dress. The amendments aside, it was supposed to be in place by 1 January and this is something that’s now unlikely. Although the leaders of the 15 other states are meeting on 26 October where they hope the new draft, which reportedly includes 22 sports betting licenses and will now be taxed at 5-7% on turnover, will be signed.

On the other side are proposals in Schleswig-Holstein that are widely favored by…everyone. The first draft law has been approved and now the secondary legislation including technical requirements are on the table and ready to roll. It’s expected that’ll be ready by next month ahead of licenses being handed out in January and then the market opening up in March. Online lotteries can begin in January and it will be the first time Germany has seen one since 2008. Looking forwards, Hambach expects there will be “fights” between the two systems and that the Schleswig-Holstein won’t be stopped from operating in other regions as it’s too hard to do so. In Hambach’s words, “It’s going to be one hell of a year.”

REGULATOR NO LONGER A FAIRY TALE

Finishing off the webinar was Justin Franssen talking about the Dutch market. “We may have a real regulator by January,” was said in reference to a meeting that took place in early September.

Two political parties with a socialist agenda hijacked the government ministerial meeting and a number of motions were filed. It was wrongly reported that these were amendments. They simply amounted to suggestions by MPs that can are easily neglected by the council, according to Franssen.

The speaker seemed genuinely rather perturbed by all three of the motions with the first an attempt to copy the Belgian model. It would mean licenses only being granted for casinos that have a physical presence, something he described as an “insane suggestion.” This is because it wouldn’t abolish the monopolies that the gaming act sets out to do, as there’s only one land-based operator in the country. You tell ‘em Jussie!

Second was the immediate enforcement of the gaming act so that companies operating are prosecuted. Lastly, he moved onto the motion to exclude current operators who are offering services from hosting any future business. “It could be disastrous,” was how Franssen summed it up, before adding that the consumer, operators and taxman lose out.

The webinar just goes to back the comments made by John Penrose that the market is way too fragmented for them to even start to think about EU-wide harmonization. For now there’s a lot to be sorted and the start of 2012 is going to be a pivotal time for many of the gaming industry’s public gaming firms. As for the private firms…they just told us to call 1-800-ASIA.

Legal News

Speaking of France, while online gambling companies love nothing better than to publish glowing stats on their expanding mobile markets, an Ipsos MediaCT study of French internet users paints a dimmer picture. The favorite apps of French smartphone and tablet users are social networks, practical info, e-mail, streaming video, news, live events and online radio broadcasts. The least favorite? E-commerce and gambling. The war ain’t quite won just yet, people…

It is if you’re slot machine maker International Game Technology (IGT), which just declared victory in a patent-infringement appeal involving Bally Technologies. A lower court had ruled that Bally infringed on two of IGT’s patents for how gaming machines pay out bonuses, and on Oct. 6, a US federal court of appeals agreed. A district court will now decide how much Bally will have to ante up to make things right. It was only last week that IGT announced it had settled a similar patent dispute with Aristocrat Leisure Ltd., however that deal resulted in an agreement to cross license the two companies’ respective patents.

Bwin.party (Pwin) has won two separate battles with cybersquatters. In June and July, Pwin filed complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) after discovering that a Swiss company, Interagentur AG, and a Ukrainian company, Cifagro Enterprises, had registered domain names similar to Bwin.com. Pwin claimed that these domains (bwion.com, bwlin.com, bwsin.com) were intentionally similar to its own, and thus qualified as bad faith ‘typosquatting’ (intended to garner traffic to pay-per-click pages from fumble-fingered gamblers). The WIPO Panels assembled to judge the issue concluded that Pwin had a case and the domains were ordered transferred into Pwin’s control. (Wait until they learn Pwin.com is an actual functioning site!)

Business News

After being given the President hat, Galer said, “France is an incredibly vibrant, creative and important market in the international television landscape. FremantleMedia France is responsible for creating and producing some of the country’s most popular entertainment, and I am looking forward to the opportunity of working exclusively with the French team as we expand upon our considerable creative and commercial success.”

Galer has been working in France for some time now as CEO of FremantleMedia’s operations in Northern and Southern Europe. Her role now concentrates solely on Fremantle’s tasks in France and will oversee overall management, strategy and the business development of FremantleMedia France.

Tony Cohen, CEO, FremantleMedia said: “Monica Galer is one of the architects of the European format and production industry, with formidable experience and a significant track record of success across Europe. Her creative leadership has resulted in substantial renewal across our Northern and Southern European businesses, and I am very confident that her renewed and exclusive focus on France will assure us of further success and growth in this key territory.”Monica’s appointment to this role is an indication of the strategic focus we are placing on maintaining momentum in France.”

The news comes after only last month they announced some stark changes to the company in Australia. This all since they started to become more visible in the online gaming industry thanks to a number of branding deals they signed.

Business News

This would no doubt infuriate the European Commission, which has already expressed concerns that certain aspects of the Greek draft law – such as requiring licensees to set up a Greek subsidiary, install servers within Greece, rely exclusively on Greek banks to process transactions, and observe a ‘blackout’ period during which OPAP would continue to take Greek punters’ wagers – “appear to restrict the freedom to provide services.” Given that it was only last month that Greece accepted its second €100b+ bailout from the EU and the IMF, such ‘gratitude’ must really stick in the EC’s craw.

In what amounts to a reversal of French case law dating back to 1877, the French Criminal first instance Court of Toulouse has ruled that poker is a game of skill. The case started when French citizen Jean-Pierre Gleizes was accused of running private Texas Hold’Em poker events in public venues. Under existing French law, poker is considered a game in which chance outweighs skill in determining a monetary winner, making such games illegal without the proper licensing. But in 2009, the Court of Appeal of Versailles acknowledged that the element of chance dissipated with the number of poker hands played, leading them to conclude that poker was “a reasoned game of chance.” (A Swedish court made roughly the same ruling this April, as did a London court way back in 1921.)

Gleizes’ attorneys saw an opportunity to stick a wedge into this judicial crack, so they chose a defense centered on the argument that poker was a game of skill, which would render the illegal gambling charges moot. The defense called three ‘experts’: a pro poker player, a mathematics professor, and a top-ranked bridge and chess player. Their testimony was cited in the Court’s July 20 ruling as a determining factor in the judges’ decision that poker was indeed a game of skill, and thus Gleizes was found not guilty of illegal gambling. (There’s still the issue of Gleizes not having paid the state the necessary taxes, but we’ll ignore that for the moment.) Unimpressed by the Toulouse court’s ruling, the prosecution has already filed an appeal, at which it may well present its own experts (perhaps even our own resident skeptic, Alfred Denning). So nobody should break out the really good champagne just yet, but if you have a bottle of plonk lying around, knock yourselves out.

Legal News

“We are very excited to add Watch&Bet to our online sports service in France,” said Thomas Lamaury, head of Research & Development – Sport at FDJ. “Watch&Bet effectively turns into an online sports broadcaster and allow us to combine the best in live sports video with in-play markets, providing an enhanced service to our French customers.”

The agreement means that football from Europe’s top leagues, tennis, basketball and a whole host of other sports will be streamed via the site.

Watch&Bet marketing director Ross MacEacharn, added, “We are very much looking forward to working with FDJ. Watch&Bet provides a unique service that enables our partners to drive in-play revenues by combining great content, a 24/7 optimised schedule and streaming that is faster than TV.”

It brings the number of licensees for Watch&Bet’s service to 31, including BetClic, Sportingbet, Bet365 and many more.

Microgaming has announced the launch of four new games including a number of new slots games with different ways to get hold of them all. Multi-Player Isis is a slot with an Egyptian theme based on the popular Isis video slot games. Triangulation is also a slot, giving a new spin on the traditional slot game. Mount Olympus: The Revenge of Medusa is the final slot amongst the four released with Spingo the latest table game to join Microgaming’s cabinet of games.

Business News

The exact terms of the merger are yet to be released and it comes after the two have worked together since 2008. Both run on the Ongame network that is one of the assets that Pwin is looking to dispense.

Philippe Carli, Amaury Group’s CEO added, “This merger creates a new force in the French market, one that we expect will prosper over the months and years to come. We remain optimistic that the current review of the existing regulatory framework being conducted by the French Government will result in significant improvements to the legal and regulatory framework. In this context, Amaury group is strengthening its involvement with bwin France, one of the sector’s leading operators.”

Across the border in Belgium, Casino770 has partnered with Casino de Spa to launch an all-new site. Available in French, English, German and Dutch the site takes advantage of new laws on the Internet gambling industry in the country. Until recently, the government had full control over the gaming industry. Since January this has changed and land-based casino business owners are able to apply for a license to operate an online site.

Business News

Miha Travnik has won the 2011 World Poker Tour Slovenia. The Slovenian homeboy earned €84,500 for outlasting 140 opponents who took to the felt at Grand Casino Portoroz, but the 20-year-old was reportedly so overwhelmed by triumphing at his first major live tournament that he avoided the post-event media scrum by calling his mother to come pick him up and take him home. Italy’s Vincenzo Natale was the runner-up, earning €70,700, while Sweden’s Johanne Korsar took home €48,500 for placing third.

It’s likely that Travnik employed the occasional bluff along his road to victory, but he might not have been able to fool the boffins at Buffalo University. According to a study published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (seriously, is there a Journal of Verbal Behavior?), while accomplished liars can do a pretty good at masking their facial responses (“expression suppression”) while telling a whopper, frame-by-frame analysis of facial movement proved that they can’t do it completely, and they can’t do it always. Despite this, the majority of the 60 volunteer fibbers in the study believed they had successfully masked all signs of their deceitful ways. Or so they claimed…

Poker News

Ian Penrose, Chief Executive of Sportech PLC commented, “We are pleased with the Company’s first half performance as we strengthen Sportech’s position as one of the world’s leading suppliers and operators of pools and tote gaming. The Group has produced a strong improvement in EBITDA performance and generated strong cash flow, which we believe reflects the current and longer term growth potential of the business.”

Sportech also delivered an update on a number of deals that they’ve been working on over the past few months. This includes securing a 550 unit terminal sale to Fintoto, the Finnish sports betting operator. In addition their contract to operate interactive products and services for the Illinois lottery goes live on 1st August. Also in North America the company’s $1.5m initial refurbishment plan to improve Sportech Racing’s retail betting venues in Connecticut is completed and they are already seeing improvements in the number of bets placed. Looks like Alan Hansen’s job is safe after all!

Staying with sports betting, ARJEL has reported that the amount bet has dropped off by more than a third in the past six months. According to their annual review, €741m has been bet on sports over the past year with only €293m of the figure staked since January. Horse betting, however, has no such woes with €496m of the year’s figure of €955m bet since January.

Business News