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RotoPlay Inc., a Pennsylvania based games company, has filed a lawsuit against its competitor, the British listed gambling operator Sportingbet plc. The press release reporting the case stated alleged copyright infringement and unfair competition with connection to several of RotoPlay's unique games, "Football Lottery" and "Baseball Lottery." RotoPlay allege that Sportingbet have copied these games and displayed them on their website as their own original games. The games involve participants picking their fantasy team of six athletes from a list of 54. Points are accumulated on the real performance of those athletes in their respected real-life teams that week. "Sportingbet copied all of our lottery games, unique scoring system, game rules, HTML code and tie-breaker information verbatim," said President of RotoPlay. "It's very shocking and disappointing to see a billion dollar, publicly traded company such as Sportingbet, so blatantly and willfully steal our games. What is most puzzling to us is that Sportingbet decided to steal the games even after talking with us for months about licensing our games and using them legally." The fantasy sports industry has approximately 16 million players and brings in more than $1.5 billion per year in North America. The industry is growing at a rate of 7-10 percent annually. There is definitely beef to quarrel over in this case.
Suing your high-street burger chain for getting fat; suing your cigarette brand for getting ill; and now suing your local bookmaker for letting you bet too much. Where does it all end? Graham Calvert a compulsive gambler from the UK is filing damages against William Hill to the value of 2 million pounds for money he lost while betting. He's also claiming further damages as he claims he has also lost his health, his wife and his livelihood. The court case will define the path of who should bear responsibility in cases where the gambling habit gets out of control; the gambler himself or the gambling operator. The bookmaker claims it shouldn't be held responsible for any of Calvert's losses incurred through gambling. Calvert though, a greyhound trainer from near Sunderland, says that he asked William Hill to disallow him the ability to bet any more in a self-exclusion scheme they run. With all sympathy, and as a person involved in gambling and familiar with wins and losses first hand, this is fishy by all accounts. Who should be held responsible here. While I incline to say the player, I imagine myself in his shoes and stop short of saying so. Fortunately, it is not my call, but rather the court has to decide. You too can have your say on the matter and are invited to voice it at the comments below.
A Swiss chap struck it lucky three times in a row when he won a total of $96,890 while playing the slots. The triple whammy took place at the River Belle Online Casino on Saturday night and has received considerable attention across the online gambling world. Heiniger J. was over the moon when he won $21,600 on the Boogie Monster Bonus Slot. Then he moved on to The Grand Circus Bonus Slot and… you guessed right, won again to more than double his winnings up to $54,040. Then just a few hours later he spread his tentacles across to the Jellyfish Jaunt Slot where he hit the jackpot yet again. He had now amassed an awesome $96,890. So does our Swiss friend have any tips or strategies to share with us? It seems he believes in "keeping enough credits to play bigger bets and sticking to the games you love but not playing on a single game for too long." Note taken. "My luck must have been written in the stars. I've won in the past, but to score three such big wins in less than 48 hours was simply amazing," said the delighted Heiniger. For the current, highest jackpots and other recommended casinos and promotions, visit our Services. There you can find an up to the moment list of the highest progressive jackpots, which we call Money Train. Leave it to us to track them, and we will leave it to you to play and win them.
The leading online casino software provider Cryptologic has announced a new appointment within the company top. Brian Hadfield will be joining as the new President and CEO and he will take over from Javaid Aziz who is retiring. Previously, Hadfield has managed Unisys Ltd. Interests in the UK, Middle East, Africa and India. He has joined Cryptologic a year ago as a Director. Cryptologic's Chairman, Bob Stikeman, said, "Brian knows Cryptologic, he knows how to grow a global business, and he knows how to motivate and lead a team. His experience will ensure we continue to develop innovative new software, and innovative new commercial alliances around the world." Emphasizing the smooth transition that the change of personnel is supposed to ensure, he added that "Brian Hadfield brings Cryptologic important skills at an exciting time in our growth, and he is perfectly suited to build on the strategy set by Javaid Aziz." In the last quarter of 2007, Cryptologic said it expects the fourth-quarter net earnings to be somewhere between $2 million and $3 million, and sales between $17.5 million and $18.5 million. Hadfield is expected to build on these positive numbers, achieve similar feats and exceed them. Casino Kings In other industry news, King Solomons Group have decided to now operate from two platforms: Playtech, which they have been using for a while, and now through RTG as well. The reason they have chosen this unusual path is undisclosed but a spokesperson from King Solomons Group said: "With regard to not communicating this to players - we tread a fine line when doing things of this nature. If we don't email our players we get asked why we didn't email them and if we do we could be accused of trying to switch our players to a new software and thus decimate the earnings of our marketing partners- so it’s a no win situation that we find ourselves in."
The Weekly Edition, an OCR Live! production in which Kate brings you the headlines for the past week, including a contentious arrest of poker players, a lawsuit filed against a bookie for one bettor's losses, and prop bets at the Oscars. Police Arrests Texas Hold 'em Players What is the message that the police is trying to convey when it breaks into a house and breaks up a game of poker among friends? Paying the Price of a Bad Betting Habit Should a bookmaker be held responsible when the gambler himself is not? A pending lawsuit in the UK will answer this question. Oscar Betting Odds Online gambling sites thrive on days like these. They offer betting odds for the event, its winners and just as they did for the Super Bowl a month ago, offer betting odds on quirky categories.
The State of Israel is in the process of trying to ban online gaming websites as well as porn sites and others that are considered "too violent" for public consumption. The sites that come under this umbrella will be automatically blocked by Israeli Internet Service Providers. If the law is passed then the Providers will have 60 days to remove these sites from their services and search engines will have the same amount of time to remove them from their results altogether, at the risk of having to pay huge fines. The bill which passed its first reading in the Israeli Government or Knesset last week means that unless a consumer directly asks to be allowed access to these sites they will be automatically banned. The bill, which was raised by MK Amnon Cohen of the religious party Shas, received 46 votes in favor, and 20 against. There is a fair amount of resentment against the proposal by freedom of speech proponent and anti-censorship protesters. The Knesset Economic Committee chairman Gilad Erdan said the action would "turn Israel into a kind of Iran." The people in Iran, however, are able to access gaming sites...
Party Poker provides a good example for the motions an online gambling site goes through to reach the top of the competition. The poker room in question has recently declared a new promotional campaign for new members. The days in which a promotion was simple and straightforward, one promotion and one way to get it, are behind us. Nowadays, Party Poker and other sites have prerequisites, though such $25 gift certificates are easily obtainable. Then there are minimum deposits and codes to enter, and sometimes even more. Party Poker offers a tournament for new members, open for them on the day they sign up, with their first deposit and lasting six days. In developing features to excel over competition and attract users, Party Poker has also added a feature allowing users to manage their real and "play" money, keep track of any bonuses, or check their standings in tournaments and other competitions. Oh, and then there is the option to qualify to WSOP and even receive spending money through the site. We will follow the success of this marketing plan by the already famous and popular poker room. In fact, Party Poker already appears on the Poker Fever service, where the best poker rooms are listed, their promotions ranked in order and a link to the sites, and reviews of the sites, are readily available.
The Casino Affiliate Convention is already the largest event for online gambling affiliates. Six years in, with the sixth convention taking place in early April, it is expected to be even bigger. With Europe taking center stage and online gambling (poker, bingo, and all casino games) striking roots in the UK and Europe at large, the Amsterdam location might just draw a record number of participating affiliates. The Facts The CAC will be held on April 3-5, 2008 at the NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam, Holland. The affiliate conference and trade show will provide a stage for industry insiders to discuss affiliate marketing and advertising for the Internet betting industry. Set up as a forum for the online casino industry and an arena for conducting business, CAC's goals are to assist delegates in attaining high levels of traffic, conversions and increase of customer retention. 2008 CAC Over 500 gaming affiliates are expected at the event this year, more than last year's event, already reaching the half-millennium mark. The CAC has attracted such impressive numbers since 2003, when it was first held. The participants include online gaming owners, software companies, marketing executives and payment processors. There they can negotiate with affiliate managers and find the best revenue structures. There will also be an opportunity for software executives, marketing companies and payment processors to hear constructive comments directly from affiliates.
Professional tennis player Federico Luzzi, 28, of Italy, has become the fifth Italian on the professional circuit to be charged with betting on matches. Giorgio Galimberti was the most recent Italian charged with illegal gambling before Luzzi. Luzzi was suspended for 200 days and fined $52,000. In total, he has placed 273 small online wagers on 836 matches over the past 4 years. The ATP investigation has also found that one of his bets, for the amount of three Euros, was placed by the player on his own match. Ironically, he bet a measly sum on himself. Somewhat bringing the gravity of the situation down, it seems that Luzzi bet for the pleasure of gambling and not for the benefits of winning. Although Luzzi betted in favor of himself in at least one match, the investigation stated that no evidence to affect the outcome of any of the matches was found. "The ATP's tennis anti-corruption program is clear that gambling on tennis matches by ATP players, player associates or staff will not be tolerated," said Gayle Bradshaw, The ATP’s executive vice-president. "The ATP is committed to ensuring the integrity of our sport." Since the tennis betting scandals have begun, several players have said they have been offered money to throw matches. Online Casino Reports has followed and reported the scandals as they were revealed and the investigations as they have developed. Luzzi has been suspected three times in the past for illegal betting by the ATP. He was suspected following a game against the Italian player Filippo Volandri, who himself is named 11 times in a secret dossier of suspect tennis matches, more than any other player.
The nature of progressive jackpots is such that they climb and climb. Mega Moolah, one such game, which can be found at Microgaming powered online casinos, has reached the $5 million mark. Mega Moolah now stands atop the list of largest jackpots, in history and on our own Money Train service, a real-time jackpot tracker for gamblers. In fact, over the time it has taken you to read up to this point that figure has grown some more. Yes, the service does update with every click on Refresh on your browser. Ladbrokes, River Belle Casino, and other gaming sites that operate on the Microgaming software platform, have been doing extraordinarily well this past week or so with attracting new players who would very much like to win this prize. The Other Side of the Coin Meanwhile, Microgaming has chosen to cancel its license with Tusk Investment Corporation after hearing that it was experiencing debt problems. A spokesman for Microgaming stated that "Microgaming announces that it has terminated its software license with Tusk Investment Corporation - with immediate effect, after having received Tusk's notification of its plans to put the company into liquidation." Microgaming is trying whether to set up a Players' Trust Arrangement which protects the player's money in his or her account even if the casino goes into debt or closes down. The eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance eCOGRA has also refused acceptance to Tusk after a routine review.
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