Wager on Sports

January 28th General news ... Wager on Sports was created to assist the sports bettor in properly handicapping .

Wager on Sports was created to assist the sports bettor in properly handicapping .

In order to profit in from a complex game like baseball, the bettor must be as informed as possible on the ever changing statistics and trends.

Latest General News

GIBRALTAR THE VENUE FOR KPMG ONLINE GAMBLING SUMMIT
2012-01-13

The second in the series of executive get-togethers will discuss industry issues and Gibraltar as a jurisdiction

Professional business services provider KPMG Gibraltar has announced that its second eGaming Summit will take place in Gibraltar, focused on once again bringing the industry's major players and service providers together to discuss the jurisdiction’s potential and relevance in the global marketplace.

The Summit will be held on Thursday 19th April at the Caleta Hotel, and key stakeholders and decision makers will be invited to attend. Over 120 delegates attended last year’s Summit, both from Gibraltar and abroad, with interest expected to be even higher this year.

Mike Harvey, director of KPMG Gibraltar, says: “The eGaming sector has continued to show solid growth globally, despite economic uncertainty in the Euro zone and elsewhere. It is essential that Gibraltar remains at the forefront for the licensing and operation of these highly successful businesses, which is why we are running this summit again.

"It represents an opportunity to bring together all of the major stakeholders, both government and private, and to pool knowledge and understanding of the issues that might develop in the year to come.”

The morning session will look at the external factors that are likely to have an impact on the e-gaming community in Gibraltar, including key developments in the US, UK and elsewhere in Europe. In the afternoon speakers and delegates will consider how improvements in the way in which gaming companies provide services can reduce costs and maximise the customer experience.

FINNISH MONOPOLY DELIVERS GOOD H1 RESULTS
2011-08-01

Online players exceed 100 000 customers
Finland's state-run gambling monopoly Raha-automaattiyhditys (RAY) announced its half year 2011 results, for the period ending June 30 2011, reflecting a 10.5 percent increase in profit compared to the same period last year.
Profits from the company's online gaming operations, launched in November 2010 and powered by Playtech, were "a little under" Euro 14 million with a target of Euro 28 million set for the full year.
The company reports the number of registered online players exceeded 100 000 customers in June 2011.
"The players have received our new game ideas very well", said Janne Peräkylä, Deputy Managing Director, RAY.

VIRTUE FUSION BEST ONLINE BINGO SOFTWARE AWARD
2011-06-03

Voted the best by industry members
Playtech's internet bingo developer Virtue Fusion won Best Online Bingo Software for the third year in a row at the Online Bingo Industry Awards in recognition of its best-of-breed products.
Award winners were determined by votes from over three hundred industry delegates and attendees at the Sixth Online Bingo Summit held at the Victoria Park Plaza in London.
Rob Keown-Boyd, Commercial Director, Virtue Fusion said: “Virtue Fusion’s continued success at the Online Bingo Industry Awards further consolidates our reputation as the leading name in the market.
“It is extremely satisfying to have won this award for the third consecutive year, especially as the votes come from key members of the industry itself. We are pleased that once again our efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by our peers and will continue to build on this success in the year ahead.”

I.G.T. BIDDING FOR ENTRACTION
2011-05-06

Swedish online gambling company could go for $115.3 million
According to a report on the Dow Jones newswire service International Game Technology, which has machine manufacturing and online gambling software interests, has made an offer to purchase the Swedish internet gambling company Entraction for SEK700 million (about $115.3 million).
The board of Entraction has unanimously recommended to shareholders that the offer be accepted, and news of the possible sale pushed the share price up almost 30 percent.
In a statement, the Swedish-based company clarified that the offer is “...conditional upon IGT becoming owner of more than 90 percent of the share capital in Entraction and all necessary regulatory approvals being granted.”
IGT spokesmen said that the deal would be funded from available cash on IGT's balance sheet.
The proposal follows the news last week that IGT has agreed to sell its Barcrest subsidiary to Scientific Games for $54 million (see previous InfoPowa report).
Entraction’s poker network includes sites owned by Victor Chandler and Devilfish Poker, recently acqquired by the Weather Lottery. The network currently has a seven-day average of 1440 cash game players according to the independent online poker monitor PokerScout.
Entractions current financial results have been disappointing, with Q1 2011 profits sinking by almost 22 percent year-on-year to SEK8.1 million; profits declining by 26.5 percent to SEK7.84 million and net sales down 16 percent.

CYPRIOT POLITICIANS WRANGLE OVER ONLINE GAMBLING BAN (Update)
2011-03-21

Complaints from industry that proposed legislation enables a Greek monopoly
The determined efforts of the Cyprus government to prohibit online gambling despite being the home to many internet gambling companies (see previous InfoPowa reports) has caused a new uproar among politicians, with some claiming that such a ban sets the scene for a monopoly by the Greek state company OPAP.
Online gambling operators have joined the outcry, claiming they are being persecuted to the advantage of the massive Greek company, and that the ban had been drafted by un-named people connected with OPAP, which operates Joker, Proto, Kino and Lotto.
The Euroko Party’s Rikkos Erotokritou said OPAP and some subsidiaries would “benefit from the introduction and implementation of this bill’s provisions”, resulting in a monopoly.
DIKO representative Nicholas Papadopoulos said the bill would “legalise gambling for only one company, which would enjoy a monopoly,” adding that in 2009, OPAP made Euro 70 million, of which just over a million went to the state in taxes.
If this is true, then the terms under which the company is operating in Cyprus could be described as lucrative to say the least.
In an attempt to counter the growing political storm, OPAP took out full-page newspaper ads stating that in 2010 OPAP Cyprus paid out Euro 117,081,295 in prize money to Cypriots. The advert did not say how much had been spent by Cypriots on its games to generate these wins.
Attorney-general Petros Clerides entered the fray, insisting that OPAP games were completely different as they were legitimate and operated under an inter-state agreement. He added that OPAP games did not “cultivate criminality” as he claimed was the case with online gambling, and said that the proposed ban would help in the fight against crime and money laundering.
It was on these grounds that the European Commission had given its approval for the proposal, but opponents argue that by this logic, if the authorities passed a bill to regulate and control online gambling, it could also become a legitimate business and contribute significant amounts of money to state coffers.
Football betting is legitimate and does not cultivate crime; neither does horse-racing, they point out, claiming that there is a lack of consistency and fairness in the government’s approach.
Betting on horse racing or football matches and playing games of chance offered by OPAP is respectable gambling, and the state is happy to tax these, an editorial in the Cyprus Mail observed.
“Online casino gambling sprung up because of loop-holes in the law and appears to be controlled by the underworld. If it was made to operate within a legal framework and tightly state regulated, perhaps the criminal element would be eliminated,” the editorial suggested.
“Banning online gambling will not make it disappear, but rather [it will] go underground, under the total control of criminal organisations, without any protection offered to the gamblers. Deputies should take note of this when they finally vote on the bill,” the editor noted.