Betfair and Sportingbet Australia have launched a challenge in the Federal Court of Australia to laws that prevent interstate-licensed operators from advertising or sponsoring racing or sporting events in New South Wales (NSW).
Commenting on the legal action, Andrew Twaits, director of corporate and business affairs for Betfair in Australia, said the ‘protectionist’ laws deprived racing clubs and other stakeholders of valuable advertising and sponsorship revenues.
“We think the legislation is invalid and, more importantly, is holding back the growth of the NSW racing industry through a misguided attempt at protecting the NSW TAB’s wagering monopoly,” he said.
Although gambling in Australia is traditionally the subject of the laws of individual states, relations between them are governed by the Australian constitution. The NSW laws banning advertising by betting companies licensed outside the state have been susceptible to challenge since March, when Tasmanian-licensed Betfair won a groundbreaking ruling in the High Court of Australia that government laws banning state residents from using a betting exchange were unconstitutional as they imposed protectionist barriers on interstate trade.
Twaits confirmed to eGaming Review that Sportingbet and Betfair’s joint action will proceed on the same basis as March’s landmark ruling. “The challenge is based on section 92 of the constitution, which is the same provision of the constitution on which we relied in challenging the validity of the Western Australian Government’s laws to ban betting exchanges in that state. We are seeking a declaration that the laws relating to the advertising restrictions in NSW are invalid,” he said.
Michael Sullivan, chief executive of Sportingbet Australia, added: “We believe this legislation is fundamentally flawed and it contradicts the spirit of business in Australia by restricting fair and open trade between the states.”
Sportingbet and Betfair’s action has been launched in the wake of the NSW government’s July 1 announcement that all interstate TABs, bookmakers and betting exchanges will be required to pay for the right to use NSW racing information under race fields legislation which comes into force on September 1.
Twaits explained that Betfair was happy to pay a fair fee to the state’s racing industry, but that the additional levy undermined their ability to compete on a level playing field.
“The two issues are unrelated in a legal sense. However, in a practical sense, the government’s failure to lift the interstate advertising regulations at the same time as they enacted race fields legislation – requiring all interstate wagering operators to pay product fees in NSW on top of what they pay in their local jurisdictions – finally put to rest any suggestion that the government was willing to embrace competition in the local wagering landscape.”
In a statement published the day following the initiation of legal proceedings, NSW Racing countered by saying that the fee still represents competitive value to interstate operators, and that its introduction is necessary to protect industry participants from mounting financial hardship. A spokesperson for NSW racing minister Graham West also said in a statement to Australian Associated Press: “The legislation being challenged is about protecting the NSW racing industry, a significant employer in this state. As the matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
July 17, 2008
EGBA raises the bar for responsible gaming
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has launched a new set of best practice standards aimed at ensuring consistent standards of player protection, fair gaming and responsible operator behaviour in the European online gaming and betting environment.
The EGBA Technical Standards will require all EGBA members to comply with over 170 technical points of best practice in all areas of their operations, ranging from the prevention of underage and problem gaming through to the implementation of responsible and ethical marketing practices.
Compliance with the new standards will be verified by a compulsory annual audit carried out by independent standards and player protection body eCOGRA, itself subject to a regular quality assurance review by auditing firm KPMG.
According to EGBA, this latest self-regulatory initiative on behalf of its members complements legal requirements already imposed by EU licensing jurisdictions.
EGBA chairman Norbert Teufelberger commented: “These standards are a sign of our commitment to an exemplary level of corporate and social responsibility. They could serve as a basis for reflection at a time when governments and regulators across Europe are trying to find ways to best protect consumers in the online gaming and betting environment.”
Andrew Beveridge, chief executive of eCOGRA, added: "Our goal is to ensure that EGBA has a meaningful professional review process for determining each member's compliance with agreed and consistently applied standards, which consumers and regulators have come to expect in the online gaming and betting industry.”
The EGBA Technical Standards will require all EGBA members to comply with over 170 technical points of best practice in all areas of their operations, ranging from the prevention of underage and problem gaming through to the implementation of responsible and ethical marketing practices.
Compliance with the new standards will be verified by a compulsory annual audit carried out by independent standards and player protection body eCOGRA, itself subject to a regular quality assurance review by auditing firm KPMG.
According to EGBA, this latest self-regulatory initiative on behalf of its members complements legal requirements already imposed by EU licensing jurisdictions.
EGBA chairman Norbert Teufelberger commented: “These standards are a sign of our commitment to an exemplary level of corporate and social responsibility. They could serve as a basis for reflection at a time when governments and regulators across Europe are trying to find ways to best protect consumers in the online gaming and betting environment.”
Andrew Beveridge, chief executive of eCOGRA, added: "Our goal is to ensure that EGBA has a meaningful professional review process for determining each member's compliance with agreed and consistently applied standards, which consumers and regulators have come to expect in the online gaming and betting industry.”
July 14, 2008
Battle of chips: Computer beats human experts at poker
Human pride took a hit 11 years ago when IBM's Big Blue computer beat world chess champion Gary Kasparov. Now it's poker players' turn to be humiliated by a machine.
A computer system called Polaris outperformed some of the world's top players last weekend at a human-vs.-machine competition in Las Vegas.
The score was computer 3, humans 2, with one draw.
If you think it should be easier for a computer to win at poker than at the highly intellectual game of chess, think again. The human element makes poker a much more complex challenge.
"Poker is a completely different game," said computer scientist Michael Bowling, the leader of a Computer Poker Research Group at the University of Alberta, Canada.
"In chess or checkers, you have perfect information. There are no secrets on the board," Bowling said. "But in poker you don't know the other person's cards. The basic computer techniques used in chess can't help you in poker."
The poker computer project may have practical applications beyond the card room. For example, Bowling said poker-like skills might be useful in bidding auctions where multiple companies are competing for government contracts or buyers are hunting deals on eBay.
"There is a lot of uncertainty there," he said. "Should you wait or bid? The same things apply in poker."
Bowling's team launched Polaris five years ago as a project in artificial intelligence. At first it did well against amateur players but couldn't beat professionals. Last year, it narrowly lost a match against two poker pros in Vancouver, British Columbia.
This year, a stronger version of Polaris — one that learns how to adapt to an opponent's strategy in midgame — triumphed over seven top-ranked humans drawn from the online poker-training site www.stoxpoker.com.
So far, the system plays a relatively simple game of two-person Texas Hold 'em. The next goal is to take on games of three or more players.
"That's very challenging," Bowling said. "There is no perfect strategy to play against multiple players."
Unlike Big Blue's IBM supercomputer, the Canadian team used a cluster of five small, off-the-shelf computers linked in a network to prepare its strategy before the game.
The system repeatedly played 8 billion games against itself to devise multiple strategies, each slightly different. Some strategies were more aggressive, others more passive.
When it came time for the match, a laptop was sufficient to manage the system. The laptop, of course, showed the perfect poker face.
During the game, Polaris analyzed its human opponent's style of play and adjusted its strategy to meet it. For example, the system plays more aggressively in order to get the human to give up and fold his cards.
"The computer pushes humans to make more decisions. More decisions mean more mistakes. Aggression raises errors," Bowling said.
Bowling conceded that it will take a few more competitions for human poker players to accept that a computer can outdo them.
"Now that we've lost, I'm itching for a rematch," said Jay Palansky, one of Polaris' opponents.
A computer system called Polaris outperformed some of the world's top players last weekend at a human-vs.-machine competition in Las Vegas.
The score was computer 3, humans 2, with one draw.
If you think it should be easier for a computer to win at poker than at the highly intellectual game of chess, think again. The human element makes poker a much more complex challenge.
"Poker is a completely different game," said computer scientist Michael Bowling, the leader of a Computer Poker Research Group at the University of Alberta, Canada.
"In chess or checkers, you have perfect information. There are no secrets on the board," Bowling said. "But in poker you don't know the other person's cards. The basic computer techniques used in chess can't help you in poker."
The poker computer project may have practical applications beyond the card room. For example, Bowling said poker-like skills might be useful in bidding auctions where multiple companies are competing for government contracts or buyers are hunting deals on eBay.
"There is a lot of uncertainty there," he said. "Should you wait or bid? The same things apply in poker."
Bowling's team launched Polaris five years ago as a project in artificial intelligence. At first it did well against amateur players but couldn't beat professionals. Last year, it narrowly lost a match against two poker pros in Vancouver, British Columbia.
This year, a stronger version of Polaris — one that learns how to adapt to an opponent's strategy in midgame — triumphed over seven top-ranked humans drawn from the online poker-training site www.stoxpoker.com.
So far, the system plays a relatively simple game of two-person Texas Hold 'em. The next goal is to take on games of three or more players.
"That's very challenging," Bowling said. "There is no perfect strategy to play against multiple players."
Unlike Big Blue's IBM supercomputer, the Canadian team used a cluster of five small, off-the-shelf computers linked in a network to prepare its strategy before the game.
The system repeatedly played 8 billion games against itself to devise multiple strategies, each slightly different. Some strategies were more aggressive, others more passive.
When it came time for the match, a laptop was sufficient to manage the system. The laptop, of course, showed the perfect poker face.
During the game, Polaris analyzed its human opponent's style of play and adjusted its strategy to meet it. For example, the system plays more aggressively in order to get the human to give up and fold his cards.
"The computer pushes humans to make more decisions. More decisions mean more mistakes. Aggression raises errors," Bowling said.
Bowling conceded that it will take a few more competitions for human poker players to accept that a computer can outdo them.
"Now that we've lost, I'm itching for a rematch," said Jay Palansky, one of Polaris' opponents.
Playtech signs up with Paramount for classic titles
Playtech has signed a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures to produce games based on two of the studio’s classic releases, Gladiator and The Untouchables.
Under the terms of the four-year deal, Playtech licensees will have the right to offer a number of games based on the two titles. The games will be offered online, as part of Playtech's market leading casino game portfolio, and via server-based gaming terminals operated by Playtech subsidiary Videobet.
Mor Weizer, chief executive of Playtech, said: "We are pleased to have secured this important deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment, which will enable our licensees to offer games featuring two very well-known brands, Gladiator and The Untouchables. We are confident that this exclusive material supplied to our licensees will support their marketing efforts by increasing the profile of their games portfolio and enhancing the gaming experience for customers."
Under the terms of the four-year deal, Playtech licensees will have the right to offer a number of games based on the two titles. The games will be offered online, as part of Playtech's market leading casino game portfolio, and via server-based gaming terminals operated by Playtech subsidiary Videobet.
Mor Weizer, chief executive of Playtech, said: "We are pleased to have secured this important deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment, which will enable our licensees to offer games featuring two very well-known brands, Gladiator and The Untouchables. We are confident that this exclusive material supplied to our licensees will support their marketing efforts by increasing the profile of their games portfolio and enhancing the gaming experience for customers."
July 06, 2008
Littlewoods set to revamp Pools
Betting firm Sportech has appointed Branded Moments of Truth to relaunch its Littlewoods Football Pools brand ahead of next month's start of the 2008/09 season.Its rebrand as The New Football Pools follows its merger with rival pools firms Vernons, which Sportech acquired last year, and Zetters, which it bought in 2002. The offering, is aimed at the modern football fan, with bigger jackpots to compete with the National Lottery. Consumers will be able to play online, by mobile phone and in betting shops.
The relaunch will be supported by a £5m promotional campaign created by direct specialist Stephen Francis Whitson.
Littlewoods Pools attracted up to 10m players a week at its peak in the 80s, but business slumped when gamblers were lured away by the bigger prizes offered by the Lottery, which launched in 1994.
June 20, 2008
Spain to license egaming operators by 2009
Spain is on course to have a system in place for regulating online betting and gaming by the spring of 2009, according to legal observers.
Discussion of the various conditions the eventual regulation would need to fulfil dominated the agenda at the most recent quarterly meeting between federal and regional betting and gaming authorities in Barcelona on Tuesday. Senior representatives from the LAE (the National Gaming Commission), the Spanish tax authorities, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and the gaming offices of each of Spain’s 17 regions were in attendance.
In addition to arrangements for distributing the tax income collected by central government among the 17 regional governments according to the origin of the bets placed or games played, the importance of developing a system which was 100% compatible with EC law, but which also offered full protection to consumer and sensitive groups, such as minors and problem gamblers; was debated in detail, according to Xavier Munoz, betting and gaming law specialist at Spanish firm Legal Link.
Also raised was the possibility of creating a registry of self-excluded players, which all operators authorised to do business in Spain would be required to access, to ensure bets originating from those on the registry would not be accepted. Finally, the Spanish authorities declared their intent at the meeting to be much more aggressive towards non-authorised operators than at present, following the introduction of the new regime.
Referring to conversations he has had with LAE officials since the meeting, Albert Agustinoy, betting and gaming lawyer at Barcelona firm Cuatrecasas, said: “Adverts, promotion or sponsorship by non-authorised operators in Spain will lead to a tougher approach by the Spanish authorities and quite likely to enforcement action.”
Although formal drafting of the bill has yet to commence, Agustinoy said Tuesday’s meeting represented something of a landmark for the egaming industry. “It was the formal launching of the legitimate process, which will lead to a system that will allow operators throughout the EU to legally develop their activities in Spain,” he said.
Agustinoy predicted the Spanish authorities would likely follow a similar schedule to that recently set out by the French authorities, with licences to be issued to operators by the end of 2009.
The drafting of formal guidelines should be underway by the time the state and regional betting authorities meet again in the autumn.
Discussion of the various conditions the eventual regulation would need to fulfil dominated the agenda at the most recent quarterly meeting between federal and regional betting and gaming authorities in Barcelona on Tuesday. Senior representatives from the LAE (the National Gaming Commission), the Spanish tax authorities, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and the gaming offices of each of Spain’s 17 regions were in attendance.
In addition to arrangements for distributing the tax income collected by central government among the 17 regional governments according to the origin of the bets placed or games played, the importance of developing a system which was 100% compatible with EC law, but which also offered full protection to consumer and sensitive groups, such as minors and problem gamblers; was debated in detail, according to Xavier Munoz, betting and gaming law specialist at Spanish firm Legal Link.
Also raised was the possibility of creating a registry of self-excluded players, which all operators authorised to do business in Spain would be required to access, to ensure bets originating from those on the registry would not be accepted. Finally, the Spanish authorities declared their intent at the meeting to be much more aggressive towards non-authorised operators than at present, following the introduction of the new regime.
Referring to conversations he has had with LAE officials since the meeting, Albert Agustinoy, betting and gaming lawyer at Barcelona firm Cuatrecasas, said: “Adverts, promotion or sponsorship by non-authorised operators in Spain will lead to a tougher approach by the Spanish authorities and quite likely to enforcement action.”
Although formal drafting of the bill has yet to commence, Agustinoy said Tuesday’s meeting represented something of a landmark for the egaming industry. “It was the formal launching of the legitimate process, which will lead to a system that will allow operators throughout the EU to legally develop their activities in Spain,” he said.
Agustinoy predicted the Spanish authorities would likely follow a similar schedule to that recently set out by the French authorities, with licences to be issued to operators by the end of 2009.
The drafting of formal guidelines should be underway by the time the state and regional betting authorities meet again in the autumn.
June 12, 2008
William Hill aims for 50% contribution from online division
William Hill emphasised its renewed focus on online betting and gaming on Tuesday as chief executive Ralph Topping provided an update of the company’s development of its new internet gaming platform, which is set to launch on November 27.
Topping admitted the company had lost its focus in relation to internet gaming over the past two years and would aim to generate up to 50% of group revenues from its online offering once the new platform had been launched.
“William Hill has decided to work with established experts rather than operate the technology ourselves,” Topping said in reference to its current online sports betting platform, which will be replaced by the Orbis sportsbook technology in November.
Topping added that he had been chief executive for nearly three months and while “William Hill was not broken, it needed a new sense of direction”, he said. “William Hill is a betting and gaming company, for too long we have been bookmakers with a bolt-on gaming product range. Gaming now represents 50% of our online revenue and everyone at Hill’s now knows that it is as important as betting,” Topping added.
William Hill currently generates around 20% of its group revenue from online betting and gaming and would aim to increase that to 25% to 30% shortly after it had launched the new platform. Although Topping did not want to make predictions or tie himself down to revenue forecasts, he said the longer term objective of the company was for its online gaming and betting division to provide up to 50% of group revenues.
Topping added that William Hill was an open-minded firm and was now recruiting the best staff it could find in order to grow its remote gaming division. The company has recently increased its marketing effort for its online betting and bingo products and will raise its advertising and promotional spend in the coming months.
“William Hill is known as a conservative company that doesn’t like spending, but we don’t mind spending if we see the benefits from our investment. We will spend more on clever, targeted marketing that is designed to increase profits,” Topping said.
“We were still the biggest online operator only two years ago, but we stopped playing to our strengths, took some wrong decisions and gave up the lead we had acquired. We have been lucky the competition hasn’t taken full advantage of this in the meantime and we are confident our online offerings will provide us with strong growth in the UK and internationally,” he added.
The sportsbook interface will focus on in-running and providing punters with live price and market updates and will have an emphasis on being easy to use and navigate. “Online punters are more demanding and sophisticated (than retail punters), so it’s vital that we make the site easy to use and bet on,” Topping said.
Ian Chuter, director of gaming at William Hill, said the firm’s current poker liquidity was “not big enough to provide massive prize offers” for players and it could not compete with other sites in terms of prize pools. “For William Hill to compete, we will either change or merge with other networks that are facing the same problems as us,” Chuter said. William Hill is on the CryptoLogic network, and Chuter added: “Our supplier contracts are up for renewal at the end of the year and we will look at the situation then. Overall, we plan to make more use of affiliates and will focus on CRM to understand our customer base better. This is nothing revolutionary but we will deliver on these targets and they are achievable.”
Topping said William Hill would look at consolidation and acquisition opportunities if they were of benefit to the company’s shareholders and investors and if the regulatory landscape allowed them, in reference to potential action by the US authorities against operators that were taking bets there prior to the internet gambling ban in 2006.
Dresdner Kleinwort issued a ‘Buy’ note on the back of William Hill’s presentation and said the Orbis platform should provide it with the technology for online growth in the medium term.
“Ralph Topping was clear that William Hill sees online as the major growth driver, both on a national and international scale. The new sportsbook launch is a medium term catalyst, however it is the change in culture at William Hill that we believe will provide incremental gains, with a marked improvement in communication with investors - the previous lack of which has been reflected in William Hill's discount to Ladbrokes,” the note said.
Topping admitted the company had lost its focus in relation to internet gaming over the past two years and would aim to generate up to 50% of group revenues from its online offering once the new platform had been launched.
“William Hill has decided to work with established experts rather than operate the technology ourselves,” Topping said in reference to its current online sports betting platform, which will be replaced by the Orbis sportsbook technology in November.
Topping added that he had been chief executive for nearly three months and while “William Hill was not broken, it needed a new sense of direction”, he said. “William Hill is a betting and gaming company, for too long we have been bookmakers with a bolt-on gaming product range. Gaming now represents 50% of our online revenue and everyone at Hill’s now knows that it is as important as betting,” Topping added.
William Hill currently generates around 20% of its group revenue from online betting and gaming and would aim to increase that to 25% to 30% shortly after it had launched the new platform. Although Topping did not want to make predictions or tie himself down to revenue forecasts, he said the longer term objective of the company was for its online gaming and betting division to provide up to 50% of group revenues.
Topping added that William Hill was an open-minded firm and was now recruiting the best staff it could find in order to grow its remote gaming division. The company has recently increased its marketing effort for its online betting and bingo products and will raise its advertising and promotional spend in the coming months.
“William Hill is known as a conservative company that doesn’t like spending, but we don’t mind spending if we see the benefits from our investment. We will spend more on clever, targeted marketing that is designed to increase profits,” Topping said.
“We were still the biggest online operator only two years ago, but we stopped playing to our strengths, took some wrong decisions and gave up the lead we had acquired. We have been lucky the competition hasn’t taken full advantage of this in the meantime and we are confident our online offerings will provide us with strong growth in the UK and internationally,” he added.
The sportsbook interface will focus on in-running and providing punters with live price and market updates and will have an emphasis on being easy to use and navigate. “Online punters are more demanding and sophisticated (than retail punters), so it’s vital that we make the site easy to use and bet on,” Topping said.
Ian Chuter, director of gaming at William Hill, said the firm’s current poker liquidity was “not big enough to provide massive prize offers” for players and it could not compete with other sites in terms of prize pools. “For William Hill to compete, we will either change or merge with other networks that are facing the same problems as us,” Chuter said. William Hill is on the CryptoLogic network, and Chuter added: “Our supplier contracts are up for renewal at the end of the year and we will look at the situation then. Overall, we plan to make more use of affiliates and will focus on CRM to understand our customer base better. This is nothing revolutionary but we will deliver on these targets and they are achievable.”
Topping said William Hill would look at consolidation and acquisition opportunities if they were of benefit to the company’s shareholders and investors and if the regulatory landscape allowed them, in reference to potential action by the US authorities against operators that were taking bets there prior to the internet gambling ban in 2006.
Dresdner Kleinwort issued a ‘Buy’ note on the back of William Hill’s presentation and said the Orbis platform should provide it with the technology for online growth in the medium term.
“Ralph Topping was clear that William Hill sees online as the major growth driver, both on a national and international scale. The new sportsbook launch is a medium term catalyst, however it is the change in culture at William Hill that we believe will provide incremental gains, with a marked improvement in communication with investors - the previous lack of which has been reflected in William Hill's discount to Ladbrokes,” the note said.
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