Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Australian Gambling: Xenophon Says Ban; Legal Eagle Nettleton Says Regulate, by Greg Tingle - 31st May 2011

Australian news media is currently saturated with a bush tucker bag of casino, gambling and political fun and games news. Here's the latest tidal wave of news from the land down under. Media Man and Gambling911 from the front line of the action...

The anti-gambling campaigner Nick 'Mr X' (satire) Xenophon has been unimpressed by the Australian Federal Police for slow action on enforcing laws which prohibit online casino and poker websites from accepting bets from Australians.

Legal eagles tell the media that's there's lots of grey areas, and this appears so, as if there were not doubts arrests would have already been made.

Companies with any sort of connection into Australia, such as Media Man, have engaged professional legal guidance from legal eagles such as Jamie Nettleton, partner at law firm Addisons, and the word is that there's "grey areas" a plenty and no Australia's have ever been arrested for igaming, as long as the internet has been in existence. In addition that its starting to look like a bit of a media "beat up", fuelled along by anti gambling campaigners.

The world's leading igaming company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment is watching the Australian situation very closely, to put it mildly, but is not publicly commenting on their assessment of Australia at this stage of the game.

Aussies long used sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker even though the Interactive Gambling Act prohibits the provision of "an interactive gambling service to customers in Australia".

Many website portals that over games to a worldwide audience, that Australians can also accept, are based overseas, be it Canada, Gibraltar, Malta, the U.S or other.

The Australian Federal Police is currently investigating at the kind request of the FBI, out of the United States. No misprint!

The websites allegedly use Australian bank accounts to accept about $1 billion a year from an estimated 700,000 Australians and at least one, PokerStars, has an office in Sydney. Despite the sites openly flouting the law and bypassing advertising bans by sponsoring sporting teams such as the NRL teams and poker nights, police officers have yet to act and levy the $1.1 million a day fines outlined in the legislation. Media Man and other commentators don't believe many companies would be able to afford the $1 million + a day fine, and legal eagles have doubts over the apparent investigation.

Senator Xenophon said that following revelations in the press the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform inquiry would be expanded to include online casino sites. He said it was "very disturbing" that the AFP was not enforcing the law and the FBI and the AFP would be invited to make submissions to the inquiry.

"There could be a hidden epidemic of problem gambling from online gambling that we just don't know about," Senator Xenophon told the Herald.

The AFP has stated previously that it uses a model to determine which cases to devote its limited resources to. It would not comment on Xenophon's criticisms yesterday.

Legal eagle and Media Man friend, Jamie Nettleton, partner at law firm Addisons and high level expert in legal issues relating to the gambling industry, advised the government should liberalise gambling laws and regulate online casino sites. This view has been echoed by the Productivity Commission and Sports Bet executive chairman Matthew Tripp.

Our friend Nettleton, who is the ex-chair of the Sports and Gaming Committee of the International Bar Association, said there was strong demand for online poker and prohibition would only push people to unregulated sites.

"This is part of the reason why countries like Italy, Spain, France and Denmark have all had a prohibitionist stance and are now going down a regulated alternative," stated Nettleton.

The Australian Government last week announced a review of the Interactive Gambling Act and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday it would not be appropriate to pre-empt the findings of that review.

Asked to comment on the AFP's investigation into the casino and poker websites, Senator Conroy said he supports action being taken against anyone proven to be breaching Australian law.

Senator Xenophon does not support liberalising gambling laws, saying the more accessible online gambling is the greater the risk of gambling problems developing.

June 20 is the date has has earmarked to introduce amendments to laws which would allow Australians to reverse credit card transactions with international gambling sites as long as it has not already been processed. This would allow people to get their money back even after losing bets and is designed to push the sites to stop accepting Australian customers.

Some internet brands such as Casino News Media and Global Gaming Directory have invested in both .coms, .nets and .orgs to help safeguard their investment, having forecast some potential legal issues coming from the U.S, where various .com domain names were seized by the United States Department of Justice. Many Australian companies which have covered gaming continue to report on dozens of other industries such as technology, property and celebrity, to ensure they are not totally reliant on the gaming sector as a source of news or income.

A Media Man insider said "If they grey areas continue around igaming and web publishing to get too blurred we might sell up and work for another mob, maybe in the pay television or video games industry, which are fully regulated and the grey areas just don't really exist. Maybe even the Australian communications watchdog. If you can't beat them, joint them".

Independent Andrew Wilkie, who chairs the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, said there "clearly" was a problem in Australia with online and interactive gambling. He said the committee's inquiry would examine the issues and provide recommendations to government.

"In the interim I fully support AFP efforts to crack down on illegal operations," Wilkie said.

Many Australian media and commentators continue to call Australia's the biggest gamblers in the world. Hope the Aussies are taking the title as a compliment.

Friends, good punting, know your limits and bet with your head, not over it.

Punters, er readers, stay glued to Media Man and Gambling911 reports for more "can't miss" information on Australian pokies, gaming and casino wars.

*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. They cover a dozen industry sectors including gaming. Media Man also publishes Media Man News

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Monday, April 25, 2011

European Poker Websites Sites Boom; Australian Looking Up, by Greg Tingle - 25th April 2011

Online poker websites traffic; Shares Boom - Players Triggered By UIGEA charges

European poker websites, pretty much immune to the issues in the United States, have reported a boom in player activity following the indictment by American authorities of the owners of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.

American land based casino and resort tycoon Steve Wynn, a long time detractor of online casinos, had overseen a deal with PokerStars inked on approx 25th March, but only two weeks took the option to get out of the deal after PokerStars got named in what is now known in gambling circles as 'Black Friday'. Wynn's press release read:

LAS VEGAS, April 15, 2011—Wynn Resorts, Limited announced today thаt іt terminated іtѕ alliance wіth PokerStars, thе online poker company. Thе сhοісе wаѕ reached аѕ a result οf thе indictment unsealed bу thе U.S. Attorney fοr thе Southern District οf Nеw York.

Online casino websites such as bwin.party digital entertainment's PartyCasino are also understood to be up following the announcement.

Since the US Attorney's Office announced last Friday that it was pressing charges against 11 people over alleged fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling, PKR has seen a rise of around 21% in weekly traffic, while PartyPoker has risen 9%, 888Poker 5% and the iPoker network 4%. In contrast, Full Tilt dropped 48%. The data comes from our friends at Pokerscout.

Several business-savvy poker rooms have launched major promos to capitalize on the unique situation.

Shares in several British online gambling companies have soared in the last week. Bwin shares rose by 30%, 888 was up 18% and online gaming software provider Playtech saw its stocks climb by 8%.

Many media companies including Forbes, Reuters, Bloomberg, Gambling911 and EGR indicate that bwin.party digital entertainment may be the igaming company that ends up doing best out of the situation, given their recent successful merger, settlement with the US Department of Justice in April 2009, and government b2b dealings in a number of countries. Party is also looking to expand is b2b and news media deals with its World Poker Tour brand, currently broadcast in Australia on Rupert Murdoch's Fox Sports via Foxtel subscriber television.

Richard Branson's Virgin Games is watching the situation closely, however as of print Virgin Games are not available to Australians, New Zealanders or Canadians, whereas Party is.

Australian land based casino, Crown Casino in Melbourne, has accepted numerous PartyGaming - PartyPoker satellite poker players over the past few years, a trend that looks to continue. Party and NetGen Gaming are strongly rumoured to want to release a Kerry Packer, Underbelly and Andre The Giant online slot game, but have not publicly commented. Party has existing b2b deals with Marvel Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Infinity Ward, StudioCanal, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and Edgar Rice Burroughs, so don't bet against them.

Crown Limited top brass James Packer is yet to publicly comment specifically about online casino or online poker, but he did however sign off an investment deal with online retailing giant DealsDirect.

Ellerston Capital, a fund management company owned by the Packer family's Consolidated Press Holdings, took a “minority cornerstone” investment in the online retailing site DealsDirect yesterday.

“It signals a real coming of age for online retail, with businesses like Ellerston getting into the game, it is well and truly 'game on',” said DealsDirect's co-founder Paul Greenberg.

The transaction, estimated by the Australian Financial Review to be worth $10 million, underscores the deeper embrace of online retail by the media sector and the investment community.

A Media Man spokesperson said of the Packer - Deals Direct deal "James Packer's recent investment into the online retail space shows just how keen he is on the online business. Crown Limited have an impressive portfolio of websites for their properties, however that did not do the man or company justice. Crown Casino Aussie Millions also accepts poker players from a number of online poker brands. Packer also has the 50% investment in Betfair, and rumours persist of a Crown online casino, a venture with a strong possibility of Packer mate Shane Warne getting in on the action. Packer is also keen to see more interaction between Australian television broadcasts of poker on Fox Sports and his traditional media ventures. Mr Packer famously went on recent a few years ago with 'Internet is like electricity', something this very news reports proves correct".

*The writer owns shares in Crown Limited and has conducted b2b with a number of companies cited in this article.

*Greg Tingle is a regular contributor for Gambling911

*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. They cover over a dozen different business sectors, including gaming

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Poker News Media - Casino News Media - Media Man: Broker snap: bwin.party has potential post merger

Press Release

5th April 2011

Broker snap: bwin.party has potential post merger


Panmure Gordon ups its target price for PartyGaming following its merger with bwin, saying that the newly-formed bwin.party Digital Entertainment has the potential to deliver above-average earnings growth, underpinned by €55m of merger synergies.

“Recent regulatory developments have been overwhelmingly positive for eGaming operators, in our view and we think eGaming stocks are well placed for a period of sustained outperformance,” said the broker.

Panmure estimates that bwin.party will be almost twice the size of its closest peers in 2012, and its scale benefits give it a significant advantage in the French and Italian poker markets, where the broker thinks it will be among the top three poker liquidity providers.

The broker keeps its ‘buy’ rating, but increases the target price from 275p to 288p.

Press Release

1st April 2011

Beyond the Deal Selected to Support Merger Integration of PartyGaming and bwin


Beating stiff competition, Beyond the Deal LLP has been chosen to support the integration of PartyGaming and bwin, following their announced transformational merger inJuly 2010 to form bwin.party digital entertainment plc (Ticker: BPTY). The deal, completed today, makes bwin.party, the world's largest listed online gaming company.

Conducted across key bwin and PartyGaming locations across Europe, and working with senior executives and management in the merged entity, Beyond the Deal's work is focused on supporting integration planning, internal communications and cultural alignment.

Kathy Swindley, Group HR Director for bwin.party digital entertainment, said:

"We have chosen to work with Beyond the Deal due to its skills and understanding of the complex challenges that arise from merging different international cultures."

Carlos Keener, Managing Partner, Beyond the Deal LLP, stated:

"Our appointment by bwin.party continues to highlight our ability to support the largest multi-national deals in a way that is responsive, flexible, and makes the best use of clients' own capabilities and experience in merger integration. We look forward to working with many other companies as M&A activity resumes in the coming months."

Notes to Editors

1. Established by Carlos Keener in 2001, Beyond the Deal (http://www.beyondthedeal.com) is an advisory and resources firm specialising in post merger integration, based in the UK & US.

2. The company focuses on acquisition and integration strategy, business model design, integration planning and management, and other post-acquisition areas such as business process change, organisational design, HR, IT, branding, culture, communications, and risk management.

3. Beyond the Deal's Cultural Snapshot Survey helps businesses address the need for cultural assessment alongside more commonplace pre-deal processes, and certainly as part of acquisition target assessment and integration planning. The survey considers both organisational and national culture, links it to post-deal business models and integration planning, and provides practical ways forward for cultural alignment post-deal.

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PartyPoker Unleashes Card Rush Instant Win Promotion - 5th April 2011


PartyPoker, the world’s third largest online poker room, is offering up 1.8 million prize cards as part of its Card Rush Instant Win promotion in April. The promotion will run through April 30th or until the prize cards are given away and offers numerous chances to earn extra cash by playing on the site this month.

You can obtain a Card Rush card simply by playing in a real money game on PartyPoker and earning points. The first card will cost five points and subsequent cards will cost 15 points. Players may obtain up to 50 cards per day, but the promotion will end when all 1.8 million are assigned.

Each card will instantly give players a monetary prize between $1 and $5,000, a points prize up to 25,000, or entry into a freeroll. The freerolls will run on the following days:

Card Rush $2,000 Freeroll – May 5th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $15,000 Freeroll – May 5th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $3,000 Freeroll – May 6th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $10,000 Freeroll – May 6th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $5,000 Freeroll – May 7th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $7,000 Freeroll – May 7th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $20,000 Freeroll – May 8th at 1:00pm ET

Players can also earn cash in the Card Rush Race, a leaderboard that will pay the top 200 point-earners a minimum of $100. Points will be awarded as part of the Card Rush promotion ranging from one to 20 points per card. The more points a player earns, the more money they’ll receive. Here’s a look at the payouts:

1st place – $9,000
2nd place – $7,000
3rd place – $5,250
4th place – $4,000
5th place – $3,500
6th place – $3,000
7th place – $2,500
8th place – $2,000
9th place – $1,500
10th place – $1,000
11th-18th places – $800
19th-30th places – $700
31st-45th places – $600
46th-60th places – $500
61st-75th places – $400
76th-100th places – $300
101st-125th places – $200
126th-150th places – $150
151st-200th places – $50

In addition, every 20th spot from 220 to 2,000 will earn a Hot Spot prize of $50.

PartyPoker is also running daily qualifiers to the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Qualifiers are running now until June 19th, with satellites available for as little as $2. Each $14,000 package includes the $10,000 Main Event buy-in, travel and eight days’ hotel accommodations, and $2,000 spending money.

There are also special qualifiers exclusively for first-time depositors. Every month, new players can enter an exclusive freeroll to win one of 10 seats, each worth $750, in the WSOP weekly satellite.

PartyGaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker, recently merged with bwin to form the largest gambling group in the world. With the merger, Party Gaming hopes to even the playing field in the online poker arena as it positions itself to re-enter the U.S. market.

The new company also hopes the merge will expand the PartyPoker brand in Europe. bwin previously resided on the Ongame Network, but now combines its client base with PartyPoker to create the third largest online poker room in the world. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

Media Man, Casino News Media and Global Gaming Directory do have a b2b relationship with PartyGaming, as they do with dozens of other companies in the gaming, igaming, media and entertainment industry.

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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Poker News Media: PKR Promotions

PKR is offering the following poker promotions this month.

Win a $5,000 APT package!

In February, PKR is also offering satellites for the APT Philippines Main Event. The satellites for this live tournament are running 24/7 with entry fees starting from just $2.16. If you happen to take down a satellite tournament you’ll win a fantastic $5,000 APT package including your buy-in to the Main Event plus spending money to go with it!

In addition, PKR offers satellites to the WSOP giving you the chance to be playing at the same table with some of the best high stakes players in the real world. In the games lobby, you can also find satellites to the monthly 100K guaranteed tournament. So if you feel like risking very little to potentially win a lot, then the satellite qualifiers are for you!

PKR Freerolls

As usual, PKR offers six daily freerolls on their tournament schedule which any player can join. The PKR freerolls are a great way to gain valuable experience and to hone your poker skills for free.

Guaranteed Poker Tournaments

At PKR, you can also play for over $2,500,000 in guaranteed prizes every month! PKR offer a great selection of guaranteed poker tournaments with big prize pools on offer. Like satellite tournaments, players are given the unique chance of a big score with very limited risk.

PKR is on Facebook

Do you use the social networking site Facebook? If you become a fan of PKR on Facebook, you can take advantage of some great promotions such as exclusive Facebook freerolls, money added tournaments, and you can also win tickets to some cool tournaments.

Welcome Bonus

The PKR promotions don’t stop there either. If you are a new player and make a deposit, you will be eligible for the first time deposit bonus, up to $800!

PKR.com is a multi time Media Man, Casino News Media and Poker News Media website of the month award winner

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

PartyGaming, PartyCasino, Bwin Do Deal With Las Vegas Land Based Casinos, by Greg Tingle - 15th February 2011

PartyGaming, PartyCasino, Bwin Do Deal With Las Vegas Land Based Casinos, by Greg Tingle - 15th February 2011

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PartyGaming, the Gibraltar based iGaming powerhouse, is understood to have signed at least two major agreements to supply a gaming platform for online poker (and perhaps casino) to whale size Las Vegas land based casinos.

The Vegas casinos that Media Man and Gambling911 insiders hint are in the mix include MGM, Las Vegas Sands, Boyd Gaming and Caesars (former Harrahs Entertainment). It's unlikely a Donald Trump casino is in, as he's just sold at least one of his establishments. Trump is a fan of online casinos, but leaks say he is frustrated by what appears to be slow progress of igaming into mainstream America.

PartyGaming left the US after the UIGEA bill became law and a settlement towards $300 million was made with the DOJ (Department Of Justice).

The firm smartly snatched the opportunity to re-enter the US market if online gambling was ever legalized.

PartyGaming, which has now merged with Bwin, an Austrian based outfit is now ideally positioned to become a major force in the US, having also conducted b2b with other nations government departments, and has many a U.S senator and lawmaker on side, not to mention poker and casino associations and players.

Legalized online gambling in the US is tipped to be just around the corner, as legislators will provide a bill to congress for a vote.

Pro gambling groups and switched on politicians who can see the financial benefits are pushing hard for PartyGaming and a number other iGaming brands to go above board in the United States.

Party enjoys strong presence in the U.S (and Canada and Australia), with its Hollywood titles including Marvel Entertainment tie ins, plus the World Poker Tour brand which it owns and operates, and frequently gets airtime on television broadcasts in much of the western world. It's now or never for PartyGaming, and our leaks tell us its now, no bluff!

Readers, as always, bet with your head, not over it, and have fun.

*Media Man conducts some b2b with PartyGaming brands, as they do with dozens of other media, entertainment and gaming companies. Media Man is not a gaming company, but covers the sector, as they do over a dozen other industry verticals.

*The writer is a regular contributor for Gambling911.

*The writer's favorite slot games are Sinatra Slot and Thor!

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

PartyGaming: A Double Winner at the International Gaming Awards - 31st January 2011

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PartyGaming is proud to announce that it was a double winner at this year’s International Gaming Awards, being voted both best Online Casino Operator and Online Bingo Operator of the year. Held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in London’s Knightsbridge, the awards were open to both land-based and online operators and attracted entries from more than 300 companies from around the world.

In making the Online Casino Operator award to PartyCasino, the independent judging panel said: “PartyCasino is certainly leading the online casino business. PartyCasino has shown that poker is not the only industry on the internet.”

Cashcade, best known for its UK market-leading Foxy Bingo brand and which was acquired by PartyGaming in the Summer of 2009, won the Online Bingo Operator award for the second year running. The citation for the bingo award said: “Foxy looks like great fun and has an outstanding brand identity.”

Colin Thomson, co-founder of the International Gaming Awards, said: “To win two awards was a great achievement, endorsing PartyGaming’s leadership in the online gaming industry. PartyGaming was also a finalist for awards for Socially Responsible Operator, which is open to both land-based and online operators, and for Online Poker Operator. This is a great all-round achievement for PartyGaming!”

Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of PartyGaming, said: “We are delighted to accept these top online gaming industry accolades. The International Gaming Awards are just that – international. They are also fiercely competitive: I’m proud of our casino and bingo teams who have beaten strong competition to win these awards by providing great online gaming entertainment for our customers.”

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Poker News Media: PartyPoker Launches Double Hold’em

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The game went live almost a month ago, but PartyPoker just made it official with a press release this week: Double Hold’em has landed. The new poker variety is available at both real and play money tables and should prove to be a fun change of pace for even the most devoted Texas Hold’em players.

In Double Hold’em, players are dealt three hole cards rather than the traditional two. After the flop, one of the three cards must be selected as the “point” card (unless the player opts to fold, of course). This point card is then physically moved in between the other two cards and pushed up slightly, creating a triangle of sorts with the three hole cards. The point card is now used to create dual two-card starting hands, one with each of the other hole cards. The two non-point cards do not play together. At showdown, just like in regular Hold’em, the player with the best five-card hand wins and either pair of hole cards can be used to make the best hand. The betting rounds play the same as Hold’em: pre-flop, flop, turn, and river.

Let’s go through an example. Say you are dealt 6h-Ac-5c. You decide to play this hand, so you call pre-flop and see a flop of 3s-4h-Kc. At this point, PartyPoker will give you a few seconds to set your point card. In this case, it looks like you’ll want to at least put the 5 and 6 together so that you have an open-ended straight draw, so the logical option is to make the 5c the point card. With your rearranged hole cards reading 6h-5c-Ac, you now have two sets of cards to run with: 6-5 off suit, which gives you the aforementioned open-ended straight draw, and Ac-5c, which gives you a backdoor flush draw. The 6h and Ac have nothing to do with each other from here on out.

After a round of betting, the Qc falls on the turn, giving you a club flush draw (Ac-5c) to go along with your open-ended straight draw (5c-6h). Another betting round ensues and then the river is dealt: 2d. Using the 5c-6h, you hit your straight. Your busted flush draw doesn’t matter. One more betting round and the cards are flipped over, just like in standard Hold’em.

Double Hold’em was created by E. Mark Gross and Zvi Lando, CEO and CFO, respectively, of TableBrain. In an exclusive blog post at PartyPoker.com, Gross billed Double Hold’em as giving players “more playable hands, more action, and bigger pots! It’s a poker game built by poker fans for poker fans.”

Gross wrote that he and Lando created the game back in 2006, but it took a long time to refine the concept and get it just right in order to achieve their goal of creating “fun, intelligent games that allow players to have more continuous action and decisions at the table.”

TableBrain has also developed a video poker version of the game, which it calls EZ Double Hold’em. There are two variations of this. One is the standard video poker-style game in which a player places a bet before the cards are dealt with no further betting; the other is similar to the live game, with betting rounds at the start, prior to setting the point, after the flop, and after the turn. EZ Double Hold’em can be played for free on TableBrain’s website.

According to industry monitor PokerScout.com, PartyPoker ranks third in terms of cash game traffic behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. PartyPoker had been in a tight battle with the iPoker Network, but has recently gained some separation. It owns a seven-day average of 4,250 cash game players versus iPoker’s 3,650. They are both comfortably ahead of the Ongame Network, but light years behind Full Tilt, so it appears that the two will be jockeying for the third spot for quite some time to come. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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