Australia to allow online Poker & Sportsbook?

Australian online gambling sites may soon be allowed to bet on live sporting matches and offer real cash poker games. The gaming sites could run trials of both sportsbook & Poker within a year as the Federal Government tries to combat unregulated overseas gaming sites.

Documents have revealed the Federal Government recently briefed the Australian gaming industry on measures enabling online in-play betting.

Live betting, currently offered only by telephone and in person, could be a boom online industry – worth $300 million a year – given its accessibility on smartphones and tablets.

However this is in sharp contrast to the Government’s tough stance on advertising betting during sports televised events.

Betting during horse races is already offered by at least one gaming site, but it is not a popular option, given the brevity of races.
A recent gambling reform committee report recommended against legalising online poker and in-play betting, but said the live sports betting rules could be loosened to allow betting on end results live.

MP Andrew Wilkie supports legalising local casino-style gaming such as poker, roulette or blackjack on the basis of it being a lesser risk, as it would help punters avoid problems with overseas sites not paying Corporate teaxes.

Bwin.Party awarded Schleswig-Holstein license

Bwin.party has announce it has been awarded a licence to operate online sports betting by the Ministry of Interior in Schleswig-Holstein.

The license is effective immediately and is valid for six years. Revenues generated under the license will be taxed at the rate of 20% of gross gaming revenue. In 2011, the group generated total pro forma gross sports betting revenue of approximately 96.1m from Germany. Co-chief executive Rorbert Teufelberger said: “Schleswig-Holstein’s regulatory regime represents an important step in building a vibrant and competitive German online gaming market. “This EU-compliant regime is a fundamentally important step to protect consumers and keep out black market operators in Germany.” bwin.party has submitted separate applications to offer online poker and casino games and anticipates receiving the requisite licenses from Schleswig-Holstein in due course.

Russia plans Vegas in Vladivostok

Russia is planning to build a gambling and entertainment zone near the port city of Vladivostok will lure investors who have spent big money on casinos for Asian gamblers in Macau and Singapore.

It will, however, also face competition from Asian nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines, which are setting up similar tourism and entertainment zones.

Russia’s state-owned Nash Dom Primorye is set to announce at the Global Gaming Expo in Macau on Wednesday that it is seeking private investors and/or companies to build casino resorts in a six square kilometre area near Vladivostok.

Vladivostok is one of four official Russian government zones where casino gambling is legal but is the only one that has formally initiated plans to lure foreign investors.

Known as the Integrated Entertainment Zone, the project has space for roughly five large resorts.

A report from Gaming Market Advisors, which conducts casino market research, estimates the zone could rake in revenues of $2 to $7 billion when completed. By comparison, Singapore’s casino area which is similar in size, took in more than $5 billion in 2011.

Nash Dom Primorye has appointed Las Vegas-based Galaviz & Co as lead strategic adviser for the tender.

The tender will be initiated in June, giving potential international operators 60 days to send in a pitch and budget estimates. The government will then enter into discussions with potential investors by the end of October.

Marina Lomakina, general director of Nash Dom, said in a recent interview she hoped the zone would be fully completed within five years.

“We want companies who are well known and will help create amenities that are more than just casino gaming,” she said, adding that the zone would require a total minimum investment of $2 billion from private investors looking to develop properties.

The master plan includes luxury hotels, a yacht club, shopping malls as well as outdoor sports such as golf. As it stands now, the zone is 2.6 square kilometers, but can be extended to six square kilometers.

The project, which will focus on drawing in Asian money, comes at a time when China’s economy is slowing and Macau’s once turbo-charged monthly growth rate is falling to near single digits.

Russians would also contribute to the total revenue spent in the Vladivostok zone, Lomakina said. Unlike Asian countries such as Vietnam where it is illegal for citizens to gamble, Russians are allowed to gamble in designated local zones.

“We hope most of the customers will be from China, as well as Korea, Japan and the United States. We have very strong ties with these countries and expect to have their interest in the project.”

Vladivostok is two hours by plane from Seoul and Tokyo.

The Russian port city has invested $7 billion over the past five years to develop infrastructure, including a new airport, bridges that resemble San Franscisco’s Golden Gate and a new university ahead of the APEC summit. It is constructing more roads and transport links for the resort zone.

PokerStars break records

With the main completed & the final registration numbers in, Pokerstars announced on Monday that this year’s Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has broken new records & can be classed as a major success.

The amazing performance was achieved despite the difficult economic situation and the absence of the US market following Black Friday.

Pokerstars claimed a new record, with funds paid out to players across 40 events, each with three levels of stakes, totaling $65,332,179, besting the previous SCOOP record of $64,230,010 set in 2010.

SCOOP 2012 also broke the record for the highest participation ever in a PokerStars Championship of Online Poker series (SCOOP, WCOOP, TCOOP), with a total of 526,154 entries, easily surpassing the previous best of 461,936 in SCOOP 2010.

The inaugural PokerStars MicroMillions tournament festival, which took place in March this year, holds the all-time record with a total of 1,294,883 entries, and still no US players.

“The fact that this year’s figures have now eclipsed the amount of participants & prize money awarded from before the US market exit, shows the continued growth of poker throughout the world, with 156 countries represented in SCOOP 2012,” a Pokerstars spokesman declared.

Social gambling a $100 billion industry by 2017?

According to new research by Juniper, they estimates that mobile gambling could reach a global figure of US$100bn by 2017, driven by social gaming and the development of mobile wallets.

The new report from Juniper, ‘Mobile Gambling: Casinos, Lotteries & Betting’, has found that, in five short years, the global figure for wagers made via mobile devices annually could rise from just under US$20bn (2011) to US$100bn.

This increase is expected to stem from a surge in social gambling activity, which has seen some companies adapt to capitalise on this growing market. “Social gaming companies such as Zynga are seeking to move from play-for-fun casino games into real money gambling, while pure-play mobile casinos, including Probability, have begun to integrate with the Facebook mobile platform,” said Dr Windsor Holden, author of the report. “In this way, consumers will be able to use their social networks to register for casino games, substantially increasing both the reach and engagement of such services.”

Several UK-facing sportsbooks are already seeing around 20pc of online wagers coming from mobile devices, like smartphones or tablets. While sports betting currently accounts for the largest share of mobile gambling, the report predicts that casino gaming will catch up by 2017.

Social media integration and the rise of social gaming has helped these figures along thus far, and the future holds more potential with the increasing deployment of mobile wallets, offering a viable alternative payment method for mobile gamblers.

Germany’s Mario Gomez favored to win Euro 2012 Golden Boot

Now that the European soccer season has come and gone, the continent turns its attention to the UEFA Euro 2012. A lot of people will say that this tournament isn’t as prestigious as the World Cup – rightfully so because the South American powers won’t be competing – but it’s another thing entirely to mistake it as a B-level tournament.

The best of the best from Europe will be locked, stocked, and ready to roll when the opening ceremony takes place on the 8th of June at the two host nations, Poland and the Ukraine. We already touched on the championship odds for all the participating teams, not to mention a shot-at-the-moon €25,000 wager at 66/1 odds by a BetVictor customer for Sweden to win the whole enchilada.

In this space, we’re going to take a good look at the lines for arguably the most popular prop bet heading into the tournament: the Golden Boot Winner.

Four years ago, Spain’s David Villa won the Golden Boot after scoring four goals in the tournament. Those who backed the Spanish striker cashed in handsomely, too, thanks to the 15/1 pre-tournament odds given to him. This year, Villa’s status for tournament is still up in the air after tearing his ACL in the La Liga season. With the defending Golden Boot winner out of the picture, a new crop of football studs and some old favorites have taken his place to make up the top of the 2012 Golden Boot list.

On top of that list is German striker Mario Gomez, checking in at 7/1 odds. Gomez is just coming off of a devastating Champions League tournament after his squad, Bayern Munich, lost to EPL club Chelsea in the Finals. The question now is how much effect will that have on the same man that scored a total of 41 club goals for the season leading up to Euro 2012?

Next up is the Netherlands’ Robin Van Persie at 9/1 odds, followed by Portugal’s Christiano Ronaldo at 12/1 odds. These two have been stalwarts for their respective national teams and their recent club forms – Van Persie had 37 club goals for Arsenal this season whereas Ronaldo scored an astonishing 60 goals for Real Madrid – suggest that they’re going to find the back of the net a whole lot more than they did during Euro 2008, where they combined for a total of 1 goal, coming from Ronaldo.

After Ronaldo are three names that we’re also all familiar with: Germany’s Miroslav Klose and Spain’s “Fernan-duo” of Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente. All three have been given 14/1 odds to win Euro 2012′s Golden Boot Award, around the same line that Villa had when he won the award four years ago.

Rounding out the top 10 favorites for the award are France’s Karim Benzema (16/1), the Netherland’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (16/1), and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (20/1).

Noticeable names that are not in the top 10 but could give a good showing at the tournament include Germany’s Lukas Podolski (22/1), England’s Wayne Rooney (25/1), Italy’s Mario Balotelli (25/1), Spain’s Cesc Fabregas (33/1), and the Netherland’s Wesley Sneijder (33/1).

Sportingbet to pay up to €17.2m to settle Spanish tax

Following yesterday’s slump in the value its share price caused by the company’s announcement concerning discussions with the Spanish tax authorities, Sportingbet has confirmed that it is making a €17.2m (US$22m) payment in settlement of past tax liabilities.

The company said Tuesday that it has completed self-assessment tax returns and will make a payment of €14m plus surcharges and interest of up to €3.2m for its previous activities in the Spanish market.

Shares in Sportingbet fell by more than 7 per cent on Monday after the company disclosed that it was in talks with the Spanish tax authorities, but failed to give details of its potential tax liability.

The company, along with all other major operators in the Spanish market, has recently learnt that its previous activities in the market are liable to taxation under laws dating from 1966 and 1977, although the laws have previously not been applied to offshore online gaming operators.

In order to meet the tax liability, Sportingbet has completed the sale of 7 per cent convertible bonds due in 2016 totalling £15m. The bonds will be issued on May 25th and will be convertible into ordinary shares at a conversion price of £0.4775.

Sportingbet said that payment of its tax liability “maximises the likelihood of securing a Spanish eGaming licence”, with the issuance of licences scheduled to begin on June 1st. The company added that upon receipt of licence, it would immediately apply to Commercial Court no.10 in Madrid to cancel the current injunction over its Spanish facing business.

Rank deal will not cannibalize the UK casino biz

Following Rank’s deal to acquire a number of Gala’s casinos last weekend it was interesting to try and work out why the deal was being done.

It was talking to my grandmother I discovered Rank’s entertainment business career started far away from the casino in the salubrious surroundings of the local cinema. Post-war times were obviously very different and back then the cinema was likely a lucrative way to make some money through entertainment. Rank’s latest deal shows they mean business in an industry that, although the critics don’t like to say so, is just as deserving of the “entertainment” tag as any other. Big changes have been afoot in the U.K. based casino industry for some time and last weekend the straw broke the camel’s back as Rank decided to enough was enough and they wanted the market all for themselves.

Things have hotted up ever since Aspers spent big to open the continent’s largest casino and there will be some that think Rank’s hand was forced by the opening of such a lavish venue. The £250 million deal means Rank has another 23 venues in their vast catalogue of casinos, taking them to a total 58 venues in the UK. There haven’t been alarm bells ringing around this deal and even the analysts have kept quiet so why is this the case?

In a lot of industries this would be seen as a prime opportunity to consolidate. Casino companies see it completely the other way though and you only have to look at Rank’s future plans. Organic growth was already proposed with 25 new locations earmarked to see a Rank casino by 2015. This remains unaffected and there is no sense that expansion is simply being done to put others off. There’s a general feeling at Rank that if one casino firm sees visitors go up the others will also see the benefits.

While the above is definitely the case in an urban centre like London, Birmingham or Manchester, it’s when you look further afield that you start to think this isn’t the case everywhere. The best way to illustrate this is to look at Wales’ second city Swansea where Aspers have just this week started a consultation that could eventually see the shuttering of the venue. It’s no coincidence that a Grosvenor Casino is already there and demand in a place like this has seen to its demise.

So while it’s all well and good there being multiple casinos in some cities others just can’t sustain more than one and it goes to dispel the myth that they’re all there to help each other. What the move won’t do is close Gala venues and jobs wise that is definitely some good news for a country that is still deep in recession.

For Rank this eliminates the one large-scale competitor they had and gives them a free run at the industry. The only problem that will come for them is the larger Aspers casinos in a small number of locations and independent casino that will still be a staple of some towns. Then they could find themselves in same place that Aspers found itself in Swansea although the amount of venues they possess would offset it.

Rank deciding to acquire Gala Casinos is a good thing. No jobs are likely to be lost, no venues are being shut and it will only give the casino industry a better reputation as an entertainment venue to trust.

Betfair to launch fixed-odds betting website

Betfair is set to launch a new fixed-odds betting website to compete traditional bookies, The Telegraph newspaper reported Sunday. Nick Hagen, Betfair’s sports operations director, said: “We know from our own research that we lose 30pc of our customers’ sports betting wallet to the competition. Why should customers have to go elsewhere and why would we willingly let this large chunk of business walk out the door?”

David Loveday, OpenBet’s chief executive, said: “We think this will help Betfair penetrate new markets. There are certain markets that don’t really know what an exchange is. Offering fixed-odds will give them a way in.” Ivor Jones, an analyst at Numis, said Betfair’s new service would “dramatically expand the range of bets available”.

The new site will apparently be ready for action in time for the Euro 2012 football championship, & will widen the internet betting company’s offering into an area where it perceived itself to be at a disadvantage.

White House leaves Online Poker to US States

The Obama administration has finally responded Friday to the American people’s online petition to license and regulate Internet poker.

Brian Deese, deputy director of the National Economic Council and a special assistant to the president on economic policy, issued a four-paragraph response on the issue. The first paragraph was introductory and the final paragraph a short conclusion, leaving only two paragraphs with any real content for people.

The second paragraph acknowledged that many Americans play online poker and that there is no federal law preventing them from doing so. It goes on to say that it’s up to each state to determine whether it wishes to authorize online poker. That’s an agreement on what the Justice Department in December said for states to move ahead on the issue alone, without Federal backing.

The third paragraph lists the areas of concern for online gambling, that the administration has, such as preventing minors from playing, fraud and money laundering. To that end, the response states:”The Administration will continue to examine this issue and is open to solutions that would help guard against the use of online gambling sites as tools for conducting illegal activities or preying on unsuspecting individuals to the extent that online gambling is permitted.”

So it is quite clear that The White House is not going to push this on a Federal level, but the US States can go for online poker.

Below is the statement in full:

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the “We the People” petition process. We launched this online tool as a way of hearing directly from you, and are pleased to see that it has been effective in soliciting your feedback. We understand your interest in the petition to support the legalization of online poker, and appreciate the opportunity to share President Obama’s concerns about this issue.

The Administration understands that many Americans engage in paid online poker games for entertainment purposes. Online gambling on sporting events or contests violates federal law. The legality of other forms of online gambling is dependent upon the law of the states where the bettor or gambling business is located. It is left to each state to determine whether it wishes to permit such activity between its residents and an online poker business authorized by that state to accept such wagers, but online gambling that is not authorized by state law may also violate federal statutes.

The rapid and anonymous nature of the internet distinguishes online games from onsite games, such as those in casinos, and creates distinct challenges. For example, there are many means of technologically circumventing restrictions on online gambling that can allow individuals from countries where gambling is illegal — or even minors — to play using real currency. Online games also have greater potential for fraud because gambling websites are much cheaper and easier to establish than on-site locations, and like telemarketing scams, can appear and disappear overnight. Finally, online gambling can be used in money laundering schemes because of the volume, speed, anonymity, and international reach made possible by internet transactions. The Administration will continue to examine this issue and is open to solutions that would help guard against the use of online gambling sites as tools for conducting illegal activities or preying on unsuspecting individuals to the extent that online gambling is permitted.

Thank you once again for signing the online petition. We appreciate hearing your opinions and look forward to hearing from you again soon.