ESPN fires mysterious sports gambling columnist after fraud and extortion allegations surface online

ESPN has unexpectedly ended its relationship with freelance sports gambling columnist Sarah Phillips on Tuesday, just hours after a story surfaced online alleging that Phillips was involved in a fraud and extortion scheme.

Phillips, a self-described hard-core gambler, was hired by ESPN in August of 2011 to write for its Page 2, now known as Playbook, after getting exposure for her work at the gambling site Covers.com.

According to the website Deadspin, no one at either Covers or ESPN ever met Phillips personally, and it is not clear whether ESPN conducted a background check before taking her on as a freelancer.

The report published by Deadspin claims that Phillips and her partner, Nilesh 'Nick' Prasad, received thousands of dollars from two men identified as 'Ben' and 'Matt.' The article also raised the possibility that the name 'Sarah Phillips' may be an alias.

According to the story, 19-year-old 'Ben' was the founder of the Facebook page NBA Memes. Phillips recruited him for a business partnership, promising major returns, but then she and Prasad allegedly scammed 'Ben' into giving them the administrator rights to his page.

Within days, the duo deleted 'Ben's' name from the list of administrators and took over the memes page, turning it into a getaway page to their own site, according to Deadspin.

Deadspin also claims that Prasad misrepresented himself to 'Ben,' falsely claiming that he was the managing director of ESPN.com.

Meanwhile, 'Matt,' a Covers reader in his 30s who corresponded with Phillips, told Deadspin that he began working with the writer on her proposed start-up site and agreed to give her $2,100 to help her buy ad space.

Later, 'Matt' said, Phillips began harassing him and demanding more money. At one point, Phillips allegedly threatened to have the Los Angeles Police Department 'rob' him to recoup $3,000 she said she lost on a bet she placed on 'Matt's' advice.

'I told her I don't carry cash and kept a hunting knife by my bed for three weeks,' 'Matt' told Deadspin.

Phillips' meteoric ascent to online sports reporting stardom has long been raising doubts about her identity and credentials among readers, doubts which were only exacerbated by the wide variety of photos Phillips posted of herself.

According to Deadspin, Phillips used images of other women which she claimed depicted her.
The photo of a blonde woman Phillips used in her Covers debut article has later been identified by some as Ivy Smith, a hairdresser from Eugene, Oregon.

The Ivy Smith MySpace profile shows a girl who went to Sheldon High School in Oregon between 2001 and 2005. However, it appears that the 'real' Phillips also has a link to Oregon.

According to the site the Sports Brewery, Phillips is a 2007 graduate of Sheldon High School, where she played soccer and basketball. Some online reports have suggested that Phillips' alleged accomplice, Prasad, also graduated from the same school, but three years earlier.

The photos of a young Sarah Phillips from Oregon also appear to match the photos that accompany the Sarah Phillips Twitter and ESPN Page 2 profiles.

On Tuesday, after ESPN released a brief statement announcement that it had ended its relationship with Phillips, the woman wrote a series of posts on her Twitter account, saying that she made poor choices and concealed her identity.

Phillips, however, declined to directly address the allegations against her or shed light on her true identity.

'I need to get back to being a 22-year-old,' she wrote.

William Hill signs in-play betting deal with Score Media

Canada’s Score Media Inc. has signed a partnership with UK bookmaker William Hill, which will allow UK-based users of the company’s ScoreMobile FC app to bet on live football matches at the touch of a button.

The ScoreMobile FC free-to-download app allows customers to access information such as live scores, stats and standings from over one hundred football leagues and competitions across the world.

The deal with William Hill will enable ScoreMobile FC users to place bets with their iPhone or BlackBerry smartphones via an integrated William Hill mobile tab. In addition, Windows Phone users will soon be able to access the service.

“The ScoreMobile FC app allows our users to keep right up-to-date with the scores in more than 100 leagues across the globe – and now they can place a seamless bet via the UK’s number one bookmaker, William Hill,” said Benjie Levy, executive vice president and chief operating pfficer of Score Media Inc. “We’re really excited about this new partnership – and we believe the integration of betting into our app makes ScoreMobile FC a must have for all football fans across the UK.”

Score Media’s core business is the Score Television Network, a national television service providing sports news, information, highlights and live event programming in more than 6.8m homes across Canada. ScoreMobile FC is one of three mobile apps from Score Media, alongside ScoreMobile and SportsTap, which together receive some 3.6m unique visitors every month.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with ScoreMobile FC, an innovative product with huge relevance for our own customer base,” said William Hill’s head of UK affiliation David Bazak. “Being able to stay up-to-date with the latest news, statistics and scores is crucial during live in-play betting, which makes ScoreMobile FC a perfect companion for William Hill and our customers.”

Intralot introduces Tap’n’Play solution for lotteries

Greece’s Intralot has introduced a new integrated solution for lotteries which utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to allow customers to take part in interactive lottery games through a single touch from their smartphone or tablet devices.

NFC technology has been developed to allow customers to make transactions, exchange digital content, and connect electronic devices with a single touch from their smartphone or tablet devices.

Intralot has incorporated the technology into its newest solution, Tap’n’Play, which the company claims will be the “next big step for a paperless lottery.”

Tap’n’Play uses any surface as a portal to an interactive gaming experience, with customers able to access games through their NFC-enabled smartphones or tablets.

“I am excited to introduce “Tap’n’Play” as a prime example of what the Universal Gaming Experience means to us at Intralot,” said Vali Bouligaraki, general director of games & marketing at Intralot. “Lottery games and entertainment convergence are realized within a gaming community that connects players, games, mobile devices and brick ‘n’ mortar retail in a natural and seamless way.

“We are offering exciting games to build relationships with those players that seek multi-channel experiences at any given time where technology enables but does not interfere.”

Intralot said that Tap’n’Play will enrich land-based lotteries’ existing game portfolios with interactive games currently inaccessible to the land network, and reduces the lotteries’ dependence on paper.

The solution will also allow the lottery to “connect with a younger demographic by tapping into their needs for interactivity and fast paced connectivity at the places they frequent to meet and socialize”, the company said.

Intralot’s Tap’n’Play solution will initially be available on two lottery games, GameTrails and GameSpot, and is expected to be unveiled later today at the European Lotteries’ Industry Days event in Amsterdam.

Leaked Tapie e-mail talks of new poker site

An email reportedly leaked by Diamond Flush Poker appears to show Laurent Tapie of Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) talking about setting up a new poker site, with the help of the FTP employees, claiming he has the money to do so.The e-mail also defends his tactics for player repayment, in the aftermath of last week’s PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker HUGE revelations. The e-mail was apparently sent to 6 upper-level employees of Full Tilt Poker.

The leaked e-mail reads:

Dear All,

Considering the work we have been doing together to relaunch FTP over the last 7 months, I feel it is my duty to inform you on the current situation, and my plan, before I release a press statement in the coming hours.

The deal with DOJ is off, and the negotiations are terminated. Ultimately, DOJ refused to accept GBT’s proposal for repayment of the ROW players – a proposal that we thought had been accepted – and, on 14 April 2012, informed my lawyer that they could only agree on an agreement where GBT would repay 100% of the 184M$ value of ROW players balance in a maximum of 90 days.

That clearly made the deal unworkable. And I believe no one would accept such terms.

I continue to believe that our plan for repayment was fair. We would have made all ROW players’ balances available for play on the relaunched site immediately. Furthermore, we would have repaid (allowed withdrawal of funds for) 94.9% of ROW players day 1, 4.9% of ROW players in 18 months and only 0.2% of these players in more than 18 months, with a maximum of 5 years for the very large balances. In addition, we agreed to a DOJ proposal to allow ROW players to submit petitions to the DOJ for compensation as well, and agreed both to reimburse DOJ for those players and to compensate those players for any amounts DOJ did not reimburse.

According to (finance employee’s name redacted by diamondflushpoker) last report, PK has enough funds to pay the april salaries but not May. Therefore, as an alternative to the purchase, I offered Ray Bitar to license the assets on a temporary basis, in order to relaunch the site, preserve the value of the assets and participate in an eventual auction as a bidder in the future.

Ray required DOJ’s aproval to do this. My own understanding of the situation was different : I thought that since the companies were clearly in insolvency, as a legal representative Ray should have immediately accepted this licensing offer which was the only concrete offer to preserve the jobs, the cash, and the value of the assets of the companies. Futhermore the DOJ is not the owner of the assets until it decides (if it ever decides) to forfeit them.

But Ray stayed on its position that DOJ’s aproval was necessary.

So we made the offer to DOJ but despite our best efforts, and with no surprise on my side, DOJ was unmoved and, on 20 April 2012, reaffirmed that its decision was final, that no licensing agreement of any kind would be accepted by them, and that our negotiations were ended.

I met Ray last friday and suggested him to place the companies into insolvency in each of the countries where they are (my understanding of the situation is that he legally should), and inform the staff that he can no longer guarantee their jobs.

Considering he has always required US DOJ’s aproval before taking any decision for the last 7 months I have been observing him, I don’t know if he has or if he will.

But on my side, I am unwilling to allow 7 months of effort to go to waste, to see 200 employees lose their jobs and to witness former FTP players around the world go unpaid.

For that reason, I have decided to devote a significant portion of the funds that I was planning to use for the acquisition of the FTP assets instead to launch my own company, under the auspices of Game Cubed, the company I have created in Ireland. I will do this only if I can attract ALL OF the Pocket Kings KEY STAFF to join me. With your help and know-how, we will launch a new website that will be best of breed in 6-7 months.

I know that any such step requires a leap of faith, so here is my offer: as of May 1, I will hire the entire Pocket Kings key staff – every single one of you – at your current salaries and with your accumulated benefits intact. I also will include stock options in the new company, so that weall will share in what I believe to be the exciting upside this opportunity represents.

We will write a new poker software platform based on your knowledge and relaunch using a new brand, with an offer to former FTP ROW players that will allow them to recover their lost balances if they come to our new site, just as we had planned in our agreement with DOJ.

I have the money to make this happen and am working with the Alderney licensing authorities on obtaining a license and getting their help on the repayment plan.

I am also negotiating with Poker Strategy to resurrect an affiliate arrangement similar to that which I was negotiating with FTP.

In order to make this work, I need commitments from you all very quickly. I am sorry to put this pressure on you, but timing is critical if this is to work. I need to know whether I have sufficient critical mass to move forward no later than the end of THIS WEEK.

If I do, I will schedule a meeting in Paris with the top 5-10 key peopleat the end of this week. We will take care of your travel and accomodation.

I look forward to partnering with each of you to help build the best poker site in the business.

Laurent Tapie
Directeur Général
BLT Développement

In response to this, PokerStrategy said:

“Due to the recent publication of an allegedly leaked email from Laurent Tapie to key Pocket Kings stakeholders and employees, PokerStrategy.com can confirm that representatives of our company previously visited with GBT and the Full Tilt Poker staff in Dublin to discuss potential partnership, consulting, and liquidity building initiatives for a re-launched Full Tilt Poker brand.

Prior to its closure in June 2011, Full Tilt Poker had been a major business partner of PokerStrategy.com, with over 30% of Full Tilt Poker’s active players having originated from our website. As such, a large number of our community members are currently unable to access the bankrolls they held with Full Tilt Poker. Although we were only at the preliminary stages of our discussions, we hoped to be instrumental in ensuring that a re-launched Full Tilt Poker would allow for swift repayment of previous player balances, incorporation of an open and transparent approach to the segregation of player funds, and the elimination of possible future cash flow issues.

We at PokerStrategy.com frequently review partnership opportunities from a wide variety of poker rooms with the ultimate goal of adding value for our users. Since the news that their deal fell through, our conversations with GBT have been limited and we are unaware of their actual plans for establishing a standalone site.”

PETA: Pigeon Racing Is A "Blood Sport"

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is in a huff after the group's 15-month "investigation" revealed that pigeons often die during pigeon races. In most cases, however -- as even PETA admits -- the animals aren't killed by their handlers, but by things that would kill the birds if they were in the wild and not involved in racing.

There are, however, some sickos who intentionally kill the birds, as you can see in a video (provided by PETA) embedded below.

According to PETA, the birds are often raised in captivity and then taken hundreds of miles away and expected to race home. Along the way, many of them are killed by things like hawks, weather, or starvation. PETA argues that because the animals are raised in captivity they're not prepared for life in the wild.

The group says that only about 40-percent of the birds involved in pigeon racing finish the races. During a race in Queens, the group says only four of 213 birds made it to the finish line. Keep in mind, we're talking about pigeons -- perhaps a few just decided to head to Central Park rather than return to life in captivity. In other words, there's no way to know whether the missing birds died or just didn't return home.

Alleged animal abuse aside, PETA claims that pigeon racing generates $15 million a year in illegal gambling proceeds and involves felony violations of federal gambling, racketeering, and tax-evasion laws.

As we mentioned, there a few creeps who actually kill birds that perform poorly in the races. One man is caught on tape saying that "the first thing you have to learn [about pigeon racing] -- how to kill pigeons." He goes on to say drowning and suffocation are his two preferred methods for killing birds. See video below. Click here for more on PETA's investigation.

Hodgson appointment a bitter pill for sportsbooks

Roy Hodgson has been announced as the new England manager and will take over after his current side, Bodog-sponsored West Brom, have played their last two games of the Premier League season. Hodgson comes into the job as one of the only managers to be handed the poisoned chalice with significant experience at international level. He has guided both Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates with the former reaching a high of third on the FIFA world rankings whilst boss.

The bookies haven’t had the best of times since Fabio Capello was sacked back in February and needless to say, today’s appointment wasn’t a particularly good one as far as they were concerned. Picking long-time favorite ‘arry Redknapp would have been a winner for a number of firms with SkyBet one of those that were worried about Redknapp not being appointed back in February. Today Helen Jacob was in somber mood.

“Harry Redknapp would have been a brilliant result for us. As Redknapp had been such a short price for such a long time, customers had looked at bigger priced alternatives. The best backed and most realistic of which was Hodgson, who came in for consistent support at around the 16/1 mark in recent months.”

Stan James was in the same camp, with spokesperson Rory Jiwani telling us: “In the end, Roy Hodgson turned out to be a five-figure loser for StanJames.com. Immediately after Fabio Capello’s resignation, we decided to keep Harry Redknapp on our side, as he looked a certainty for the job. But in the last month, we were best price Redknapp and hardly took a bet as the uncertainty mounted.”

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe believed the FA took the easy option by picking Hodgson over Redknapp.

He said: “Harry was always favourite – largely because the media would not hear of anyone else getting the job and gave the impression they ‘knew’ it was a matter of when, not if. Personally, I always believed that the FA would probably revert to ‘Brian ‘Too Hot To Handle’ Clough-mode, and that even if they didn’t, Harry, a man who appears to love to be loved, might believe that a couple of England defeats may undo all the work he has done over the years making himself popular with pundits and punters alike.”

Sharpe also added that Hodgson wasn’t alone in receiving support from the punters, adding: “Roy Hodgson was not without punter support, however, so it was not one-way traffic in the market, with Stuart Pearce also coming in for a fair amount of betting support.”

Heading into the European Championships, the sportsbooks are split on what effect the appointment of Hodgson will have on the attitudes of bettors looking to get behind the team. Charlie McCann from BetVictor spoke to us earlier and was far from glowing of the new boss, his belief being that the “punter in the street” won’t be getting behind Roy.

He added: “Roy Hodgson has never captured the public’s imagination and I just wonder if punters will desert England as a result of what has generally been perceived as a conservative/unimaginative but safe appointment.”

Jiwani at Stan James commented that the former West Brom boss has his “work cut out to convince England fans that he is the right man for the job”.

Last hands dealt at O’Sheas 1989-2012

O’Sheas, on the Las Vegas strip, is to be demolished to make way for a $500 million Linq Project, an outdoor food and shopping resort. The last drinks were bought and punters placed their bets for the last time at the Irish themed casino. Massive, glitzy resorts have popped up all around it, but O’Sheas has remained largely the same for the past 23 years. O’Shea’s Casino closed at noon Monday after urging patrons to “drink us dry” over the weekend. In preparation for its big plan, Caesars have already placed 90% of their 300-strong staff at its other venues.

“We think now is a great time for this project,” says Rick Mazer, with Caesar Entertainment. “We are starting to see the economy rebound, and visitors return. It’s time to give people another reason to come to Las Vegas”.

Building the new Project Linq, is generating 3,000 construction jobs. It will also offer 1,800 permanent jobs once it opens. The new complex will feature a scaled-down version of O’Sheas.

William Hill on US track

Ralph Topping has continued to refute rumours of their delayed online gambling license. It was previously reported in the Guardian newspaper that there may be a delay in attaining a license. However, Ralph Topping, Chief Executive Officer of William Hill, said while discussing William Hills’ strong first 2012 financial results with analysts that the applied for application “to complete [our] US acquisitions is progressing well and remains within the timetable.”

Topping, also explained the company’s online gambling success, “Our investments in marketing and innovations continue to deliver benefits, with our Sportsbook exceeding £50m in turnover in a single week for the first time during the quarter and mobile turnover reaching almost £11m in a single week,” Topping continued, “Our mobile performance is now benefitting from our Sportsbook app being available in the Apple App Store, giving us access to thousands of new customers who have never bet with William Hill before, highlighting the growth potential of these new channels and their importance to our multi-channel offering.”

It’s thought that a licence may be awarded during summer 2012.

Betfred bets on online expansion

Fred Done is reportedly considering expanding into eastern Europe. It’s been speculated that Done is also looking to grow his online business in a bid to keep up with the rapidly evolving online sector. He won the North West Ambassador Award at The Business Desk’s North West Business Masters awards last week and said he’d want to move his online business from Gibraltar to the north west if taxation is changed.

The Business Desk reported that Done confirmed the company has been offered a business in eastern Europe, but that the big growth for story is going to be the online business. Over the last three years Betfred has grown 80 per cent, 85 per cent and 60 per cent, but Done said that the online business “should be in this country” rather than in Gibraltar and that taxation has to be changed to allow the company to bring jobs back to where it is based.

Betfred last year acquired The Tote for £265m, the integration for which was completed by January, two months before the initial target was set.

PurpleLounge closed

Online poker and casino website PurpleLounge.com has been pulled offline by parent company Media Corp. The short-notice move by the company happened when it became, “…clear that the Purple Lounge is trading materially behind the same period of the previous financial year which will result in increased losses for the division and, as a result, the Company as a whole,” according to a trading statement issued by the company on Friday.

Media Corp, which earlier this month announced its intention to explore taking over its parent company Gaming Media Group, also said, “The directors believe that Purple Lounge has suffered as a result of negative trade press (much of which the directors consider totally unfounded) particularly surrounding the litigation brought against one of the Company’s subsidiaries by CD Casino.com Limited.”

The reason for the litigation is unknown.

It has been reported that Media Corp loaned the online poker room £900,000 in the last few months; it also claimed it never received cash dividend from Purple Lounge.

PurpleLounge.com moved from the Microgaming poker network in January 2012 to Entraction (now International Game Technology).

Poker players with money on the site now have a nervous wait to find out what happens next.