“…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.

A new agreement has been recently signed in the casino world: the world’s leading provider of interactive gaming and betting solution, Orbis, and Parlay Entertainment – the leading Internet bingo solutions developer.

According to the agreement Orbis will have to provide games content to their new partner. If to be exact, designs and concepts owned by Orbis Open Bet Casino and Fixed Odds Games will be integrated into the back office system owned by Parlay Entertainment. As a result, classic casino games, popular fixed odds concepts and play-on-demand games such as Lucky Star (the total number of games is more than 50) will be accessible for Parlay.

“This partnership once again highlights the diversity and flexibility of our product portfolio and further reflects the move in the industry towards a more open approach,” – claims David Loveday, Managing Director, Orbis.

Parlay officials are very excited to have signed the agreement. They strongly believe in the new and exciting experience of their clients.  “…The real winners will be the players, since they will see more choice than ever before when playing at Parlay-powered bingo sites,” – said Peter Trinz, Senior Vice President, Parlay Entertainment.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc has entered a new stage of its development by having signed an agreement with Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Apollo Management, L.P. According to the agreement, TPG and Apollo will get Harrah’s in “all-cash transaction valued at approximately $27.8 billion, including the assumption of approximately $10.7 billion of debt”.

The agreement has been approved by the Harrah’s Board of Directors. Their decision was based upon the recommendation given by a Special Committee of non-management directors who have thoroughly studied Harrah’s strategic alternatives. All the Harrah’s stockholders will get $90 in cash for each outstanding Harrah’s share.

The decision made by Harrah’s Entertainment does not mean the change in direction, but the change in management. So, the company are looking forward to it, their new development and goals.

David Bonderman, TPG founding partner, said, “We are delighted to be joining with the excellent management team at Harrah’s and our private equity partners to continue to build on the Company strong foundation. Taking a long-term perspective, we believe we will be able to help Harrah’s deliver on its growth strategy”.

Leon Black, founding partner of Apollo, said, “Harrah’s has an excellent brand name, strong cash flows, an impressive portfolio of properties, a very talented management team, and highly skilled employees. Together with our private equity partners, we look forward to building on Harrah’s successful track record of operational success…”

The transaction is supposed to be over in a year. Until its close Harrah’s is going to play its stockholders a regular quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share. In case the transaction is note completed, TPG and Apollo have agreed to raise “the purchase price at a rate of $0.01973 per day per Harrah’s common share beginning March 1, 2008”.

With the development of technology people expect more and more new features from their mobile phones and, of course, better service. Verizon Wireless is the company that is able to provide their clients with better service and to offer new features they will enjoy for sure. And having signed a 5-year, US $2 billion agreement, Nortel, to a great extent, will contribute to Verizona Wireless’ strive for improvements and expansion by supplying innovative CDMA mobile broadband technologies, switching, IP platforms, optical networking solutions, and necessary related equipment.

According to the opinion of Ed Salas, network planning vice president, Verizon Wireless, the agreement means true mobility for their customers. That will allow them to use their PC experience wherever the clients go. They will enjoy such things like “V CAST Music, V CAST video, great mobile games and high-speed file transfers on the nation’s best wireless network”.

Developing their partnership Verizona Wireless and Nortel together are able to deploy next-generation quality IMS-based applications and services, thus raising industry standards and defining an “IMS architecture that lays a foundation for the efficient roll-out of advanced services”.

Nortel has been Verizona Wireless’ partner for more than 10 years what proves Nortel’s leadership in the industry responsible for the supply of CDMA mobile broadband technologies and driving advanced communication services.