The winner of UltimateBet.com’s online poker ‘Be A Pro’ package, a 24-year old poker player from Alabama, known as CK, has won seats in an array of poker events such as the WPT World Championship; the WSOP Main Event; Ultimate Bet’s signature Aruba Poker Classic; WPT Bellagio 5 Diamond; WPT Tunica; and WPT LA Poker Classic. All his travel expenses are included. Besides, the world’s best poker professionals will train CK to help achieve his ultimate goal.

Bwin, Vienna-based online betting firm – is one more firm whose dramatic financial losses were caused by the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act introduced in 2006. As a result the firm lost €539.6 million. In 2005 its profit was declared to be about €6.4 million.

At the moment, Bwin has nothing to do but to strengthen and expand its business in those countries, where its presence has already been established.

Analyzing the damage caused to Bwin and other companies by the UIGEA, Bwin has come to the conclusion that there are not many EU countries who met the UIGEA with great resistance.

The Gaming Executive Summit produced by the Gaming Executive Summit Australia and the Asian Casino Executives will make its debut at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid, between July 10 and July 12, 2007. The speaking panel of the conference is expected to attract only the brightest people in the gaming industry.  888 Holdings, Casinos Austria International, Gala Coral Group, Ladbrokes, Probability Games, Remote Gambling Association, The Alderney Gambling Commission and Trident Gaming are expected to be present there.

Shifting market dynamics, the changing shape of the regulatory landscape, strategies for developing the industry as well as presenting the latest gaming innovations and technologies are the focal points for discussion.

William Hill, bookmaker and online casino giant, has requested a license in Greece. Hill’s goal is to open betting shops there. However, some officials don’t expect license to be granted. If it happens, William Hill is going to fight out the license in the European courts, as what might happen is in breach with EU laws. So, it is going to be a real fight against OPAP’s monopoly.

On the one hand, William Hill may enter the market if they receive EU’s support. On the other hand, Greece newspapers have already been informed by OPAP that William Hill’s application may be rejected.

The 2005 Gambling Act coming into force will make it possible for betting shops, casinos and gambling websites to advertise on TV. It is considered to be a major step forward for the gambling industry. Despite it, advertising will be strictly regulated. Ads must not “portray, condone or encourage gambling behavior that is socially irresponsible; suggest that gambling can solve financial problems; link gambling to seduction or sexual conquest; suggest that gambling is a ”rite of passage”; portray gambling in a context of toughness”. It must be mentioned that the National Lottery, football pools and bingo are the ones to be exempt from the ban.

Still there is no common feeling about whether TV advertising is good or bad for the gambling industry. For sure, it’s nice to be able to advertise, but it’s not the thing they’d like to be able to do. Some officials think that spending huge sums of money on TV advertising will be a waste of marketing money, and the costs may be really very high.

A multi- year agreement has been recently signed between Phantom Fiber Corporation and Dynamite Idea.

Phantom Fiber Corporation is the wireless platform software developer that specializes in the gaming and entertaining sector. Expanding its business in the UK and European markets, Phantom Fiber Corporation has chosen Dynamite Idea, the online casino provider, to execute its plans. Dynamite Idea, being formed in 1995, has got an array of traditional casino and slot games, fixed odds games, bingo and keno for e-gaming operators (Ladbrokes, Skybet, PaddyPower and William Hill).

In accordance with the agreement Phantom Fiber will have to extend the games above to a mobile format on over 1,000 hand set types that operate around the world. Moreover, the games can be translated into 27 languages.

The agreement, in any case, is mutually profitable. Dynamite Idea’s revenues are expected to boost, and Phantom Fiber Corporation will easily expand in a new market.

BetOnMarkets was established in 2000. Its clientele is estimated to be over 22,000 people that come from different countries all over the world. The group is licensed in the UK, Malta and the Isle of Man. The license permits the group to operate in eight different countries. 6,000 – 10,000 bets per day handled by Betonmarkets.co.uk and betonmarkets.com may be considered the real pride of the company. In 2006 the turnover of the group grew by 39% to a record of $100m.

As it has been mentioned before, BetOnMarkets operates in 8 countries. Ireland has recently become the eighth new territory for the group. With the unveiling of BetOnMarkets.ie (licensed and registered to Regent Markets (Malta) Ltd.), Irish customers have been offered fixed odds financial betting. In other words, using free online training accounts, customers are able to learn “to use fixed odds betting to profit from movements in currency, major stocks and stock indices”. Fixed odds do make a great difference for betting customers, as they can win in any market conditions. You can definitely become a winner when there are no brokerage fees or commissions.

A set of rules to advertise gambling has recently been unveiled in the UK.  Advertisers will have to act in accordance with the 2005 Gambling Act starting from September this year.

Now, advertising should be socially responsible hat means that advertisements may not “portray, condone or encourage behavior that could lead to financial, emotional or social harm”. This advertising code starts a new era in advertising policy.

On the one hand, casinos, betting shops, online gaming sites will feel more freedom advertising their services, but on the other hand, there will be strict schedule limitations on TV and radio. In other words, no advertisements for gambling will be shown during and around the programs broadcast for those who are under 18 years old. Besides, people under 25 may not be shown gambling.

With advertising being more socially responsible, public can stay calm.

Thanks to the integration of Lasseters Corporation software with the Orbis OpenBet platform online players can enjoy 51 online casino games together with such features as multi-currency, multi-lingual capabilities, and customizable controls. Moreover, this time the games have more user-friendly and fine tuned gaming features.

The idea to expand the business in non-English speaking markets such as Japan, Spain, China, Portugal, Germany, France and Italy, came to Lasseters after the introduction of the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Inforcement Act in 2006. Besides, the corporation has always been attentive to the needs of its players. As a result of constant search for better and sophisticated graphics and functionality, Lasseters turned to Orbis Technology Ltd, the UK based company, which supplies several UK online casinos with their software platform.

In the nearest future Lasseters are planning to offer online sports betting.

Pacific Congress on Interactive Gaming (PCIG) that took place in Macau last month has proved to be really popular this year, as the number of online casino and gaming professionals who attended it exceeded two hundred.

It was the fifth annual congress whose participants discussed and learnt lots of important issues concerning the Asian online betting market: cultural influence, gaming specific trends, why and how business is operated in Asia. Shailesh Naik of Cryptologic explained the aims of the conference and gave a very detailed overview of the Asian market what is very important for those operators who are new to the Asian gaming sector.

The conference is reported to have been well-organized and the most informative so far. The views of participants over the future of the gaming industry in Asia are very optimistic. Having lost the US market, online operators are trying to find other alternatives.