Online gambling

Gibraltar-based online gambling group Party Gaming has released a new set of online slots in its latest software release. Flagships of the latest casino games are the Capcom licensed Resident Evil and the Paramount licensed The Naked Gun.

This release also sees the introduction of the Paramount licensed wild west themed High Noon and the popular puzzle game Bejeweled.

Resident Evil is a twenty line, five reel slot based on the world famous survival horror video game series. Watch out for the chainsaw wielding Dr Salvatore! The fantastic new slot has a free spin feature that awards additional spins, and two bonus game features that provide the chance to win extra prizes.

The game also features an expanding wild “Resident Evil” logo symbol. The “Resident Evil” logo symbol substitutes for all symbols - except the scattered ‘umbrella corporation’, ‘herb’ and money chest symbols. Three or more scattered umbrella corp symbols anywhere in view triggers the Resident Evil feature so get ready for the onslaught of Los Ganados!

Free spins are awarded when certain combinations of herbs are obtained anywhere on reels one, three and five. The money chest feature is triggered when three or more money chest symbols appear on consecutive reels starting from reel one irrespective of selected lines. The minimum bet amount is $0.01 USD and the maximum bet amount is $1 000 USD.

The Naked Gun is also a twenty line, five reel online slot machine but is based on the famous Leslie Nielsen movie series. The game is accompanied by the distinctive music and has four features that use great video footage of classic scenes from the films. The game also features a wild symbol which appears on reels one, two, three and four only. The wild “Naked Gun” logo symbol substitutes for all symbols other than the scattered police siren symbol. Three or more scattered police siren symbols occurring anywhere in view triggers The Naked Gun feature games. The minimum bet amount is $0.01 USD and the maximum bet amount is $1 000 USD.

“The release of Resident Evil and The Naked Gun marks another big step forward for interactivity and gameplay for slots on PartyCasino.com,” said a Party Gaming spokesman this week. “In recent months we’ve already released the swinging musical Sinatra slot and have now a video game classic and a cult film featuring actual movie footage has been added to the ranks! We continue to strive to improve the overall user experience and these two games certainly do that!”

Bejeweled, the popular gem swopping puzzle classic and the ‘wild west’ film themed shootout High Noon! have also been added, along with Joker Poker Deuces Wild and a Top Trump celebrities hi-lo game. The latest releases bring Party’s games inventory to over 130 games.

Calgary-based online gambling software provider Chartwell Technology has released its financial results for the internet games three and nine months periods ending July 31, showing sharply lower casino gaming revenues and foreign exchange losses.

Revenue for the third quarter 2009 was $3.8 million compared to $6.1 million for the same period a year earlier. The period over period decrease in revenue was a result of the expiry of two single term software licenses referred to in prior releases and a weakened economy in our key markets.

Total expenses before income taxes were $5.1 million in the third quarter of this year and $5.3 million in the same quarter of last year. Foreign exchange losses incurred this quarter as a result of the strengthening Canadian dollar were offset by lower software development and support expenses.

Net loss for the third quarter was $900 000, a loss per share of $0.05 as compared to a net income of $600 000 and earnings per share of $0.04 (basic) and $0.03 (fully diluted) in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.

EBITDA declined from $1.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008, to $700 000 in the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Cash flow from operations before working capital adjustments declined from $900 000 in the comparative quarter to cash used in operations of $600 000 in the third quarter of 2009.

During the quarter software development and support expenses totalled $2.8 million compared to $3.0 million for the same period of fiscal 2008. While the company continued to reduce costs associated with its Poker product, a shift in resources was necessary for the accelerated development of the company’s Casino product and gaming platform, which included licensing applications and software certification in Alderney.

Sales and marketing expenses totalled $600 000 for the third quarter of 2009 and 2008, commensurate with consistent activity levels in both periods.

“The seasonally slow third quarter was compounded by overall economic weakness,” said Alan Richter, CFO of Chartwell. “Through this period however, we have demonstrated our commitment to future growth by expanding our base of licensees, aggressively developing new content internally, and broadening our service and product portfolio through the imminent launch of the Chartwell Gaming Platform.

“This state of the art gaming platform will host our proprietary and third party content, will be most cost efficient to Chartwell and will provide seamless integration to our customer base moving forward.”

Richter adds “The majority of our new client signings did not launch during the quarter and accordingly did not contribute to revenue in our third quarter. We expect these new clients to be deployed in the current quarter. While we manage our business through this difficult economic environment we will continue to carefully manage expenses without compromising customer satisfaction and Company growth.”

Chartwell continued to maintain a strong balance sheet. At July 31, 2009 the company had $19.5 million of cash and short-term investments compared to $19.9 million at April 30, 2009.

Business highlights for the third quarter of 2009 included:

*Four new licensees advanced toward deployment; one of which deployed late in the third quarter, with the remaining three to deploy in the fourth quarter.
*Gala Coral group renewed its contract for another three year term.
*Received preliminary approval for a license in Alderney in preparation for the launch of the Chartwell Gaming Platform, which will host all proprietary and third party content for licensing.
*Negotiated agreements with multiple third party content providers, including Novomatic games from Astra Games Limited for unique gaming content.
*Completed the development of two new table games and enhancements to three other table games.
*Received software certification for Isle of Man, one of the major online gaming jurisdictions.

Much of the European online gambling industry gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark Tuesday as the 8th Annual European iGaming Congress and Expo (EiG) kicked of at the casino gambling ultra modern Bella Centre about 22 ride by Metro from the city centre.

It is the first time this important casino gambling industry conference has been held in Copenhagen, which meant that delegates had a fresh selection of sights, shows and restaurants in which to network between formal conference sessions.

Organisers Clarion Gaming said preliminary numbers suggested that the attendance matched that of the Canadian GIGSE conferences at their peak, a positive affirmation of the resilience of the industry despite difficult global economic conditions. Certainly there were crowds of delegates and some frenetic early networking going on when the registration desks opened Tuesday morning.

Danish minister talks on market liberation

Top of the speakers’ bill was an address by Danish Minister of Taxation Kristian Jansen, an important political driver in Denmark’s move away from a state gambling monopoly through Danske Spil. The affable and articulate minister is the architect of much of the new legislation now taking shape in Denmark which could see the Nordic country becoming an important i-gaming centre.

Jansen revealed that the monopoly’s positive contribution to Danish charities and civil society currently topped Euro 250 million a year, but outlined the motivation for the Danish move toward a more liberal online gambling market. This would see the current monopoly Danske Spil holding on to certain gaming genres, but a significant opening of the Danish market to responsible companies prepared to license, be regulated and pay taxes in the country was planned.

Online gambling companies and developments in the European Union had seriously challenged Danske Spil, he said, undermining the monopoly and making it unsustainable. Bans on advertising had proved difficult to enforce, and the government had therefore opted for a partial liberation of the market under strict regulation which would meet the European Commission’s approval.

Danske Spil would retain its grip on certain aspects, such as lotteries, and would be able to compete in the open market in others, paying taxes in these liberated sectors and subject to the same regulations as licensee companies. The old monopoly would also be free to compete vigorously in external markets.

Jansen touched on what he referred to as the dark side of gambling, explaining that it was a unique product in that it touched sensitive spots in business, religious and moral areas. There were real concerns regarding money laundering, problem and underaged gambling, unfair games and the perils of organised crime, and these fears were being assuaged by the government’s insistence on a strict regulatory framework, which new and simplified legislation was designed to provide, protecting both players and legitimate licensees under the new tax and licensing regime.

This legislation had been sent to the European Commission for input, and Minister Jansen said he hoped to be in a position to submit the proposed law to the Danish Parliament next spring, with a view to commencing operational licensing in 2011.

Shielding Danish licensees

The minister outlined a three pronged approach to protecting Danish licensees from illegal operators, saying that the government was moving toward a combination of:

a) Ensuring that Danish financial institutions banned transactions with illegal (non-Danish licensed) operators;
b) ISP blocks could be mounted against illegal operators
c) Illegal operators would not be permitted to advertise in Denmark.

Whilst not individually ideal, the combination of the three could be largely effective, he opined.

Quizzed on tax levels, the minister played his cards close to his chest, giving away nothing other than that the government was studying the tax levels of other countries involved in Internet gambling licensing and regulation. The tax rate had yet to be decided, he said.

The minister did not seem to think that harmonised online gambling regulation was likely to eventuate in Europe, instead being replaced with individual semi or completely liberated markets.

Billion dollar lessons

Immediately following the minister’s address was an interesting presentation by top US business writer and co-author of a best seller, Paul B. Carroll. This consultant to world figures like Bill Gates has achieved global recognition for a book entitled “Billion Dollar Lessons - What You Can Learn From The Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Past Twenty Five Years.”

The title of the book covered the theme of Carroll’s address, backed by intensive business research into 700 business failures, mainly among giant US companies. Carroll’s relaxed, straightforward and highly entertaining talk was a great addition to the program, and will undoubtedly encourage more businessmen to consider why companies fail before launching new initiatives.

Carroll’s signals to beware include the words and phrases ’synergy’ and ‘the model says…’ and he encouraged managers to play devil’s advocate, debate new ventures extensively and challenge all assumptions.

Online gambling past, present and future

Rounding off the morning’s activities was a high-powered panel of movers and shakers in the industry marshalled by online gambling doyenne Sue Schneider and discussing the past, present and future of online gambling. Instantly recognisable names on the panel included Sportingbet founder Mark Blandford; Tim Lambe of Pan Index; Adrian Brink of iCoins; Dietmar Knoechelmann of Wirecard Payments; Gigamedia’s Bob Cahill and John Anderson of 888.com, eCOGRA and the IGC.

Areas of future significance included mobile and social gaming, new affiliate marketing models, doubts regarding any European regulatory harmonisation, customer relationships and the need for genuine innovation. All appeared agreed on the remarkable resilience of the industry and its considerable potential going forward.

Early view of new competition

Delegates returning to the Bella Centre this evening will have one of the first public snapshots of the newly rolled-out Bodog [Poker] Network in a special presentation by Bodog Network vice president Jonas Odman.

Rumours earlier this month that Betfair may be seriously considering a public listing resurfaced this week as casino news that banking advisers are to be consulted appeared in the online gambling media.

The Telegraph reported that the giant bonuses international betting group could be considering a GBP1.5 billion flotation after shareholders agreed to call in bankers to discuss the group’s options.

“Bertie Black and Ed Wray, Betfair’s founders, have agreed for meetings to be held with banking advisers over the coming weeks to discuss a potential flotation in what would be the UK’s first major listing since the financial crisis hit,” the Telegraph reported.

“Betfair is keen to raise new capital in a bid to lead the consolidation of the global gaming industry and a flotation would give it the necessary means.”

Wray and Black could make hundreds of millions on a listing, the newspaper opines, confirming the duo as among Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. The two are major shareholders with a 25 percent stake, along with Japanese investor SoftBank, which owns a further 23 percent and is understood to be keen to realise a return on its GBP 355 million investment three years ago.

“While Betfair has seen strong growth since then, equity market valuations have fallen sharply since the financial crisis hit and Softbank’s stake would likely be valued at a similar level to three years ago,” the Telegraph surmises, adding that as the founders of Betfair, Wray and Black could currently be worth around GBP 190 million each, but could scoop a further GBP 350 million or more between them were they to offload their stakes in the company.

Private equity investors and management own the remaining 25 percent of Betfair.

A public listing is not the only option the company has, should it wish to raise further capital. Betfair could persuade existing shareholders to ante up with further funds. It is believed that the company may need more capital to acquire other companies as industry the trend toward consolidation continues.

Interestingly, the Telegraph report notes that experts in the gambling industry believe that the legalisation of online gambling in the United States could be lifted as early as next (2010) year, a move that would be expected to lead to a pick-up in mergers and takeovers in the sector. 888 and Partygaming, the online gaming companies, are thought likely to be involved in any consolidation moves.

Betfair revealed record full-year results earlier this month. Revenues rose 27percent to GBP 303 million in the year to April 30, with active users up 25percent to 652 000. EBITDA was recorded as up 25 percent at GBP 72 million, despite ongoing investment. The company handles around 2 billion P2P bets a year, an average of 6.4 million trades a day…more than on all European stock exchanges.

MacUpdate has launched a bit of online poker fun in the form of its new Imagine Poker, which enables player to take on virtual history greats at Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.

This imaginative online gambling concept uses AI and 21 beautifully crafted avatars of history-changing personalities like Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Abraham Lincoln, the Tooth Fairy, Stalin, Robin Hood, Blackbeard, Merlin to set up matches for Mac players against the historical characters.

Even the Abominable Snowman traveled all the way from Kathmandu to participate in the Imagine Poker tournament, reports MacUpdate.

Players can configure the Texas Hold ‘Em game with any rules and settings desired and then enter a five round tournament where they must beat all of the characters to win.

Imagine Poker features Candywriter’s acclaimed artificial intelligence module that is sure to challenge even poker professionals, boasts the creators.

Players can create a profile from scratch and represent any country in the world. Then watch as Imagine Poker tracks detailed statistics of games, ranks in a Leaderboard against all of the other characters, and even grades individual player performance!

In India, the Madurai city Commissioner of Police K. Nandabalan’s special anti online gambling team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police P.C Thenmozhi, continued its drive against illegal internet gambling rings which do business through websites.

Following a tip-off earlier this week, the team raided a premises in Villapuram in Keeraithurai police station limits and casino promotions and seized raffle tickets issued from Arunachal Pradesh. Five persons — Saravanan, Shyam Prasad, Krishnakumar, Kartikeyan and Sundar of Villapuram were arrested and could face charges under the Lotteries Regulation Act, reports Hindu.com.

The investigating officers said that the gang procured the lotteries through different online sources. It is suspected that two persons were the ringleaders, selling to a few retail vendors in the southern districts.

“We are gathering details of persons who had financed the gang to procure lottery tickets in huge quantities and run the illegal business,” said a police spokesman. “Initial inquiries suggest that the main dealer was operating from Dindigul district.”

Superintendent of Police M. Manohar said that the raids on online lottery vendors had hopefully put an end to the illegal business in the region. The special teams detected that gambling was taking place in as many as 16 places during the operation, and all of these had been shut down and the owners arrested.

“Our next step is to check the servers with the assistance of the cyber crime police,” he added.