The Launch of a new Affiliate Program has been recently announced by Betcorp Ltd. and the world’s leader in Affiliate Marketing – EarnUnited. Their partnership is advantageous for both. Betcorp Ltd. with the help Affiliates gains an active base of more than 3,000 partners, and the Affiliates promoting betwwts.com, betcasino.com, betholdem.com and some more leading Betcorp Ltd. brands will make about 50% of the net gaming revenues generated by Betcorp Ltd., only for a limited time.
Colin Walker, Betcorp’s CEO reported: “We view this partnership as a natural fit…to reach the aggressive growth goals we’ve set out for ourselves this year… We have every confidence in Earn United and expect the relationship to pay dividends almost immediately”.

The decision to undertake investments in an established Affiliate Networks is based on the fact that performance-based marketing should make up 25% of the online advertising. Ryan King, Affiliate Program Director for EarnUnited.com explains that “Affiliate Program is an essential and integral part of the overall marketing mix for all Internet Gaming companies”. He is sure that their current partners will recognize the value of their partnership immediately. He also expects an influx of new Affiliates joining them and recognizing the fact that they are earning much larger revenues due to the combination of “Betcorp’s strong player retention through its centralized e-wallet offering, active cross-marketing efforts” and their rewarding compensation programs. Ryan King is confident that it is “a unique opportunity to build a relationship with… the largest internet gaming brands which carry the added benefit of being part of a publicly-traded company.

The companies are said to have a huge success.

Plenty of casinos in Louisiana including Harrah’s New Orleans, the largest one in the state, were affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September last year. Their devastating power could not but disrupt the gambling operators. But despite a hurricane affected fall and even with Harrah’s New Orleans contribution of only 13 days of revenue to the total, casinos in Louisiana got a 13% increase in gaming win – and that was in February. Within that period of time, as the state’s Gaming Control Board informed, in spite of the fact that 15 riverboat casinos in the state are still closed, the gaming revenue has increased from $190.1 million last year up to $214.8 million this year.

The gaming revenues in Louisiana’s 12 operating riverboats amounted to $168.9 million in February. That is 25.5% more in comparison with the same month in 2004 when 14 riverboats were reported to make $134.5 million.

As a result of the voice vote in the House Financial Services Committee we can face a bill forbidding any gambling business to accept credit cards, checks, wire transfers and electronic funds transfers in illegal gambling transactions. According to the bill under illegal gambling transactions we should understand betting on online poker websites, or laying a wager and receiving it at places where a stake like that has been proclaimed illegal in accordance with the federal or state law. So, used by many American citizens offshore gambling websites have been impacted by the latest Committee’s bill.

The Casino Affiliate Convention will take place in Amsterdam, the NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel on April 9-10, 2006. It is considered to be the largest conference and expo on gaming industry marketing and advertising.

One of the questions to be discussed at the conference concerns one of the latest Italian Government’s decision made in February 2006 to block more than 600 casino websites having no Italian gaming license. The participants of the conference will discuss the consequences of the problem and they will try to find some alternatives for the operators running game sites. The representative of a leading gaming law firm in Europe will also be present at the conference – that is a founding partner of the Law Firm ULYS Thibault Verbiest.

Other questions to be discussed are whether similar actions will be undertaken by other countries, what technical measures to take in case filters for gaming websites have been implemented, operators and affiliates’ management options, and some other topics like: European search technologies, software, rakeback for poker, mobile gambling, etc.

Peter Milovic, CEO of In Charge will represent the business analysis and decision process, options for virtual gaming industry vitally necessary in case of crisis management and limited internet traffic to prove a simple business law: it’s better to think over your probable actions in case of a crisis than to deal with its consequences.

PokerStars.com and Aston Martin Racing are the teams both located in the UK. Unlike Aston Martin Racing, PokerStars.com is the world’s largest poker tournament website. That’s why the formation of an Official Partnership that has been announced recently by the two outstanding teams couldn’t be left unnoticed.
 
Saturday, March 18 became notable thanks to the motor race that took place at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida. It was the 54th annual Sebring endurance race and the first contest of the 2006 American Le Mans Series. During the competition that lasted 12 hours either team was represented by Aston Martin DBR9 racing car having a PokerStars.com livery.

As James Turner, Commercial Director of Aston Martin Racing, has noticed the collaboration of the two world’s brand names cannot help being innovative, effective, promising and potentially very strong. Such a relationship represents plenty of opportunities for both of them. And the Sebring International Race is just the beginning of their cooperation. 

In spite of taking the second prize Full Tilt Poker’s Chris Ferguson (he won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2001) proved to be one of the best again. He managed to outlast 64 players among whom there were such celebrities as Chip Reese, Josh Arieh, Huckleberry Seed (all are pros), only letting Ted Forrest after almost three and a half hours of total play take the first prize.
Last year competition was also severe. Many skillful and professional players were left behind by Ferguson, but Phil Hellmuth took the first prize, and Chris became second.

The ability to play at the final table two years in a raw shows Chris Ferguson’s great skills, talent, potential and makes him one of the best professional poker players, – Raymond Bitar’s opinion (Tiltware LLC CEO).

It should be noted that the game shown by Huckleberry Seed this year is much better in comparison with the one in 2005 where in the second round he was defeated by Hellmuth. This year first he defeated David Oppenheim and Erick Lindgren, then – Scott Fischman and Barry Greenstein. In the semifinals Seed lost to Ted Forrest. Nevertheless he managed to make $125,000.

Every amateur poker player can learn to play by getting real time lessons at the virtual table from such famous pros as Ferguson, Seed, Lindgren and Oppenheim. All of them represent www.FullTiltPoker.com – one of the fastest growing online poker sites, and they spend several hours a week helping such amateurs as you. Some other 29 best poker pros can virtually play with you at www.FullTiltPoker.com . Thus, being professionally helped, you’ll easily improve your playing skills.

Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, John Juanda, and Mike Matusow are the people who make up Team Full Tilt. And you can easily use your chance to play or chat with them, or to be taught by them.

The full-year pretax profit declared by Internet gaming group 888 on Thursday has increased for 16% this year, and it amounted to $50.2 million (28.7 million pounds). In 2004 it ran as high as $43.1 million. The year of 2006 doesn’t seem to be less promising either.

As Chief Executive John Anderson reported their trading coincides with the expectations of the managers, i.e.: the number of casino players has increased to 4.1 million, whereas the number of poker players – to 1.5 million. Moreover, 888 tried to make investments abroad, away from the USA, thus decreasing the part of the U.S. revenues from 58% to 55%. Simultaneously the UK share reached 20%, 5% was added to 15% in 2004. Anderson explained their management’s politics by their wish to get down the U.S. share to 20-15% as quickly as possible, as it is not wise at all to rely too much on only one country. So, they are expanding their horizons!

One of the 40 qualifying events is going to take place at the Canteen Bar & Grill tonight at 6 pm. The Canteen Bar & Grill is situated in the Quality Inn at Highway 83 and Interstate 80 interchange.

To become a player you should donate $20 to Nebraska Sports Council. Having become a player you’ll be presented with a shirt, a gift, and you’ll be able to qualify for the state finals that are going to take place on the 29th of April in Lincoln. At each tournament, in every qualification the top 10% of all participants will proceed to the finals.

There is neither cash nor prizes that can make up the value at stake. The tournament is said to be non-gambling – the State Attorney General’s Office and the Nebraska State Patrol have come to such a conclusion. All the money raised will be used to make participation fees lower in future.
It can be added that the Cornhusker State Games are held by the Nebraska Sports Council that strictly oversees the N-Lighten Nebraska Program.

What was going on till the final table in the first annual competition was unbelievable as many famous poker players were knocked out. Their game was fast and loose and it seemed as if the game was over in a few seconds. Many celebrities and highrollers were eliminated. The first to go was Scotty Nguyen, then there were Rene Angelil (Celine Dion’s husband), professional poker player and emcee Robert Williamson III, and Playmate Samantha Cole. Jeff Gordon having shared the table with Williamson and Chris Jesus Ferguson left the game after two hours into play.

The group of finalists consisted of Chris Moneymaker, who was the first, Anna Bravo, who in the game proudly outlasted Jesus, and Ali Nejad. Lately they were joined by Mitchell Mantin, Buddy Kemner, Mike Sugg and Rock Cloutier. The last one – Rock Cloutier – was late making people wait for him in the best traditions of Phil Hellmuth, but not living up to Hellmuth’s best playing poker standards.

The first prize was taken by Mike Sugg of Moorpark, and Nejad won the second one. The winner got nearly $18K in cash, a seat in the WSOP and a handshake from Jeff Gordon.

The tournament appeared to be pretty funny, unusual, but entertaining. From the very beginning of the tournament up to the final presentation the room was full of fans, friends, ESPN production folks getting ready for the upcoming NASCAR broadcast and simple strangers. The underprivileged families across the country will benefit from the tournament.
Las Vegas will willingly welcome Jeff Gordon and his crew next year.

Filming a party by Online casino Bodog.com CEO Calvin Ayre was upset by the unexpected arrival of policemen who seemed to believe that an illegal casino poker night session was taking place at Ayre’s mansion in Costa Rico. The behavior of the policemen left much to be desired and everything what was going on could be compared with some cruel scenes from a detective movie. In fact a filmed party was just a part of a poker tournament that according to the arranged schedule should be broadcast by a TV network. Fortunately nobody was arrested, only some things were confiscated such as a laptop and several files with organizational material.
 
The reason for the court-ordered raid might be constant gossip in local press concerning Canada’s newest forty four year old billionaire, Calvin Ayre. Probably one thought couldn’t leave journalists in peace: how could a person being only 44 years old make such a huge fortune? That paranoid thought lead to a not less paranoid idea of Ayre’s constant organizations of illegal casino sessions. As a result police raids were not a success, for gambling parts of a poker show were filmed at a local TV station, but not in Ayre’s mansion.