There is a big question: who will operate the UK’s first super Casino located in Manchester.
Actually, there are two competitors now: US casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corporation and Kerzner International that runs Atlantis in Bahamas. Gala Coral, Europe’s biggest gambling company declared that their focus is on a smaller scale.
The competition promises to be rather stiff, as both companies seem to be rather ambitious and ready to achieve their goal.
China is the country where online game industry is fast developing now. T2CN is the leading online casual sports game company in China. Its distinctive feature is the most popular online sports game in the country – FreeStyle. Besides, the company has got such well-known partners as Coca-Cola, Nike and Nokia. It’s obvious that it makes T2CN extremely attractive in the game markets. As a result, the acquisition of majority ownership of T2CN Holding Limited by GigaMedia Limited has become known to the public.
By acquiring up to 18.3 million shares of T2CN (40.3%) GigaMedia are fulfilling their next step in building a dominant online platform in Asia and becomes a leader as “no other company has this kind of reach in Asia”. Having initial investment into T2CN in May 2006, GigaMedia also holds: convertible preferred shares of T2CN that can be converted into extra 15 million common shares of T2CN; an option to buy additional 4.3 million common shares of T2CN. As a result, the total ownership stake of GigaMedia is approximately 51.9%.
The total consideration of the acquisition amounts to $22.9 million, but it is subject to adjustment based upon T2CN financial performance in the first half of 2007. The payment is to be made in two trenches. One is expected to be in February 2007, and the other – in August 2007.
Casino portal www.casinoalerts.co.uk is reported to be re-launched by Gaming Alerts Limited. Now, players are able to view the best in online casino offerings. The portal has becom a one-stop shop, where such great players as William Hill, Casino Swiss, Casino King, Littlewoods and some others offer clients exclusive deals.
The download is free. A small window on the desktop regularly informs you about the top new deals, bonuses and their location. Besides, Skinkers, a company that provides live notification platforms via email, sms and desktops, offers a great range of promotional offers. One of the current ones is a £300 welcome bonus at casinoking.com.
“…We built a strong foundation last November when we first launched our video initiative and although digital distribution of video is still evolving, the market reception so far has been excellent. The catalogs we are announcing today further extend our plans to deliver high-quality properties to the maturing digital video market”. This announcement was made by Mitchell Koulouris, Chief Executive Officer of DMGI (a content owner and global leader in the digital distribution of independently owned music and video catalogs after signing a number of agreements with TV, film and video catalog owners that represent practically 200 hours and 400 episodes of video content.
Now, using DMGI Network everyone can find something for him/herself: classics, kid’s content, sports, comedy, edge (new content that spans from the ridiculous to the raunchy).
No doubt, DMGI is rather benevolent to content owners of all types of entertainment. They will eagerly help them access the digital media market. Mr. Koulouris said: “…we are focused on forging expanded or new relationships with our digital retailers to include video distribution to a wide variety of devices. This is all part of our strategy to position DMGI as a leading distributor of digital entertainment…”
To get more information about catalogs and content, go to http://www.dmgi.com/video/ .
661 players took part in the $500 buy-in No Limit event at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, but only the world’s best players took part in the Final Table of the $2,500 buy-in event. Schanbacher of Pittsburgh, PA, Jon “Pearljammed” Turner of Henderson, NV, and Richard “Knucklehead” Friere of Miami Lakes, FL, became the winners.
Turner, in spite of being one of the word’s top internet players, was only the third to finish. His prize money amounted to $59,138.
Frier was second to finish with $108,937 in prize money.
The first place was taken by Schanbacker. He took home $192,975.
Other well known professionals such as Barry Greenstein, Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, “Wild” Bill Edler, Eric Lingren, Ted Forrest, Steve Danneman, Amnon Fillipi, and many more took place in the $5,000 buy-in event.
Besides, The World Poker Tour Kick-Off Party with free admission for all took place on the 25th of January. Some other events are also expected to take place.
One of the world’s largest jackpot casinos, All Jackpots Casino, has released its first games of the year – Magic Spell and Prime Property. The games are exclusive, with superior graphics, effects and sounds. Besides, more players will be able to play, as the minimum bet is 1 cent.
Magic Spell is a 25-payline online slot offering rewards of up to 100,000 coins in the base game and 75,000 on the generous bonus features. The game is centered on the Four Schools of Magic – Arcane, Alchemy, Frost and Fire.
As for Prime Property, it offers 40 paylines and comes complete with a Top Wild, a Scatter, a Bonus Scatter, Free Spins, and a Bonus Game.
According to the opinion of All Jackpots Casino’s officials, the Jackpot Factory presents an image what online jackpot casino should be. David Brickman, Spokesperson for the Jackpot Factory, says: “…All Jackpots is stocked with numerous, high quality slot games”.
Online Gambling Magazine has presented the favorite operator of the year that was chosen by the readers. Intercasino, online casino operator has been voted Best Online Casino 2007 and Best Casino Software. Besides it was chosen Best Online Poker Room 2007 and won a gong for best poker tournaments.
The software used by Intercasino is definitely the one that helps get the awards not only this year, but also in each of the past five years. It is CryptoLogic online casino software.
Peter Marcus, spokesman for The InterCasino Group, explains their success: “…The main focus of Intercasino is its players. Intercasino is very dedicated to providing the best experience and value to all of its players”.
After the introduction of the U.S. Unlawful Iternet Gambling Enforcement Act lots of online gaming companies suffered huge losses, not only financial, but also human ones. So, now Mark Blandford and Bob Holt are reported to have quitted Sportingbet. That happened in spite of the fact that the company operated rather successfully. Its gross profit in the three months preceding October, 2006 amounted to £31.7 million. As the company’s officials claim, they have agreed to reduce the size of the board for the sake of business efficiencies.
According to some rumors Mark Blandford and Bob Holt are pursuing other projects with Sean O’Connor, senior independent director.
Gibraltar-based online bookmaker has been forbidden to deliver online poker and gambling services to Israeli customers. The decision has been carried out in the Israeli court.
Victor Chandler’s activity was pretty mach ignored by the state. They were permitted to operate in a legal grey area. Gradually Israel has become the company’s second biggest market thanks to a huge marketing campaign including ads on billboards and buses, and a Hebrew website.
Since gambling in Israel like in many other European countries represents a state-run monopoly, it is clear that authorities have been annoyed by the fact of encroachment of foreign gambling companies.
The decision taken in the court clearly demonstrates unwillingness of Israeli authorities to give foreign companies an access to the gambling market in Israel. To prove that, here is what Judge Abraham Heiman said: “A foreign company operating an online gambling site may not hide behind the fact that the company and its servers sit in another country, and it is breaking the law if does not block access to Israelis”.
The feelings absorbing people during the 2007 Winter Poker Open at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, in the Event Centre, were more than excited. There were 40 players left after $500 buy-in event, Event 1.
In the end there were only three of them left: Tae Baik of Leonia, NJ; David Zhu of Scarbourough, Canada; Emad Alabsi of Wickliffe, Ohio. They have won the first, the second and the third places respectively.
The first place prize money amounted to $152,960. The second place finisher has taken home $95,900, and the third – $58,225. Besides, all the main event winners got Tag Heuer purchased from Bernie Robbins Fine Jewelry.
Baik comments: “I have played tournaments in Borgata’s new poker room before, but this is my first victory in a tournament of this magnitude”.
Alabsi says: “I always have fun when I’m playing poker here; Borgata offers a great atmosphere to play in”.
Vinny Procopio has also taken part in the event. He was the seventh to finish and very pleased with his result. His prize money made up $30,825.
This event is over, but still there are 28 opportunities, i.e. 28 Super Satellites and Second Chance Tournaments, left. There you can turn just $120 into thousands.