Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Casino Fortune today announced that due to the illegal acts of Microgaming and Mohawk Internet Technologies, stealing Casino Fortune customers private information, including financial data and withholding same from its rightful owners, the company has no alternative but the following:

• To immediately announce the termination of its license with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
• To request that Microgaming and Mohawk Internet Technologies return the stolen customer information immediately.
• To begin legal action against Microgaming and Mohawk Internet Technologies for loss of business, damage to our name and theft of our property.
• To report Microgaming and MIT to the Canadian government and the regulating bodies of the Internet.

Casino Fortune was the first licensee of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and also the fist to leave. When the security personnel of Mohawk Internet Technologies prevented Casino Fortune’s technician from protecting their assets, the contract between the company and the Commission was broken. Casino Fortune is undoubtedly seeking the best interest of its stakeholders and will ensure that it’s integrity and good reputation is not compromised.

Kahnawake Gaming Commission Calls For Review

MOHAWK TERRITORY OF KAHNAWAKE - In response to recent public statements made by Sunny Group with regard to Mohawk Internet Technologies (MIT) and Microgaming, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) today announced an immediate full review of all the allegations made by respective permit holders.

"The Commission will review the facts surrounding any allegations made by permit holders and take the appropriate regulatory action," said Alan Goodleaf, KGC Chairman.

According to Goodleaf, neither Casino Fortune nor Sunny Group have provided notice to the KGC of the company's intention to switch software suppliers or leave Kahnawake, as required in the Kahnawake Gaming Commission's Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming and operational protocols. Notice to and permission from the KGC is necessary for permit holders to change their control systems, including software suppliers, and/or to terminate their permits for the purpose of relocating from the jurisdiction. These requirements apply to every permit holder and each permit holder understands these requirements upon their application to the KGC.

"The KGC's Regulations were created to protect consumers, and the KGC has a responsibility to provide this protection by assuring that permit holders satisfy any obligations to players while operating in Kahnawake before allowing an operator to switch software suppliers or to leave," said Goodleaf. "Through licensing standards and strict regulations, the KGC has been able to offer a safe and regulated environment to online gaming consumers.

In the creation and implementation of our interactive gaming regulations, the KGC has never given precedence to one permit holder over another, in fact all permit holders are treated equally and all held to the same standards of honesty and integrity."

Under the circumstances of this case, the actions taken by MIT to secure the gaming equipment and control systems until direction was received from the KGC, was appropriate. It would have been improper for MIT to allow unauthorized access to anyone including the software provider, in this case Microgaming.

The KGC has today directed that normal procedures be implemented and that Sunny Group's equipment and control systems be preserved - off-line - on the MIT premises until such time as Sunny Group has provided proper notice to the KGC of its intentions to change its software and/or to relocate from Kahnawake at which time the KGC will take the necessary steps in accordance with its Regulations.

In Response to Microgaming

MICROGAMING FIGHTS DIRTY TO SALVAGE ITS TARNISHED REPUTATION

An employee of Casino Fortune was physically prevented from securing Sunny Group servers by Mohawk Internet Technologies’ Security on Tuesday, 26th March 2002. This was done on the orders of Microgaming. Casino Fortune sent their Technical Support Manager to secure the company’s servers after it was suspected that Microgaming was interfering with the customer information contained inside.

MIT was duly notified of this visit. Sunny Group’s subsidiary has a contract with MIT, the terms of which allow Sunny Group employees to service company equipment. However, Sunny Group is now convinced that MIT is a biased jurisdiction that operates as an agent for Microgaming.

Roger Raatgavaer of Microgaming confirmed to a Sunny Group Director that Microgaming has an agreement with MIT that precedes any other. This is unknown to Sunny Group. Sunny Group is further shocked to find out that through letterbox companies, Microgaming and its principal Martin Moshal, is the largest Internet Casino operator in the world and for some time has been a direct competitor of Casino Fortune.

Several requests have been made to Microgaming to immediately furnish the player balances to Sunny Group. This information is contained in the server, which the Technical Support Manager was trying to protect. Sunny Group holds Microgaming and MIT responsible for damages done to the data on servers and the business of Casino Fortune. Sunny Group regards Microgaming's action as spiteful and dishonest.

Sunny Group will take this matter furthest and will protect the interests and information of its' customers. Theft of information on the Internet is a serious offense.

Sunny Group has discontinued using Microgaming Software, as it has been suspected that the company’s percentages (MGS) were not fair in recent months. Sunny Group and Sunny Casinos advise its customers that Microgaming continues to withhold the customer balances and that they have blatantly acknowledged this to the world in a press release dated 27th March 2002. This has caused Casino Fortune to lose a lot of business because some customers are blaming us for their balances seeming to disappear. Sunny Group holds Microgaming and MIT liable for the serious loss of business.

On March 27th, after repeated calls to MIT, a communication was received by a Sunny Group Director stating that MIT would not release possession of Casino Fortune, Mapau Casino and Miami Beach Casino servers. As a result of this none of the casinos are able to do business. This is a blatant sabotage by Microgaming and MIT, which will undoubtedly cost the Sunny Group millions of dollars. It was stated in the communication that Microgaming would be sending more technicians to interfere with the servers belonging to Sunny Group. Sunny Group lawyers have been instructed to petition the Canadian Government and other bodies and to immediately commence proceedings against MIT and Microgaming for their illegal acts.

Sunny Group wishes to assure its members that they are doing everything in their power to protect the interests and information of all stakeholders.

In Response to the Sunny Group

"Microgaming regrets to announce that the Software Licence Agreement with the Sunny Group of companies (which operates Casino Fortune, Mapau and Miami Beach Casino) has been terminated.

Sunny Group has not been settling its outstanding licensing fees for some time, and its current licensing fees were severely in arrears. Microgaming was left with no alternative but to terminate the Software Licence Agreement with the Sunny Group. Notice of the termination was given and confirmed by Microgaming's lawyers.

Microgaming and the Sunny Group have had a long relationship. The termination was not taken lightly and was done with a heavy heart.

Microgaming is doing everything possible to assist the Sunny Group of casinos to finalise its data so that it can pay out its players.

Microgaming has noted a press announcement from Sunny Group, stating that the licence was terminated by the Sunny Group, and citing a variety of spurious grounds for this. The allegations made in support of these grounds in the release, are quite simply false, and are known to the Sunny Group to be false. Microgaming regrets that the Sunny Group has sought to hide its financial embarrassment in this manner".

Sunny Group is Severing Its Ties

Casino Fortune a division of Sunny Casinos, which is itself a division of Sunny Group of Companies, announced today that it has discontinued using Microgaming’s casino Software. This decision comes after being unable to resolve concerns in relation to the percentage associated with its Microgaming software.

This decision comes against the background of industry concerns emanating from United States pressure. The Sunny Group is concerned to maintain its clean image and good industry reputation. Casino Fortune believes that its players are best protected at this time by not being offered Microgaming Software. Casino Fortune is asking that a truly independent auditing company be called in to verify the accuracy of payout percentages quoted. There should also be proof that the random number generator used by Microgaming is truly random and not susceptible to manipulation by the software provider. Sunny Casinos will always place its reputation before profits.

Below is a more detailed account of the events that led to the above decision:

An International auditing company is employed by Microgaming and Casino Fortune to review the output of the random number generator embedded in the Microgaming software used by Casino Fortune. The auditing company confirms that the generator consistently produces random numbers and is a fair basis for the outcome of games that have been played. Presently, Casino Fortune is not convinced that this is accurate.

The January 2002 audit report was released late February. At that time December’s report had also not been sent. Casino Fortune repeatedly asked for the figures, which are usually published to its customers.

On 8th February Casino Fortune was asked to sign a new contract with Microgaming. The terms of this contract stated, “Microgaming shall not be liable to the Operator for any indirect consequential or special damages or loss of profits arising out of or in connection with this Agreement.” Casino Fortune’s Directors voiced extreme suspicion and wrote to Martin and Anthony Moshal expressing this and other points of concern.

On February 13th Microgaming announced that January figures would be late due to technical difficulties. A serious letter was sent to both Microgaming and the auditing company demanding an explanation as Casino Fortune was concerned that if there were technical difficulties in obtaining information then they could stem from the random number generator.

On 20th February Casino Fortune’s IT Director wrote again "We are very concerned about our payout percentages. We also have not received our audit reports for the last 2 months. I was forced to review the previous problem we had sometime ago regarding payout percentages as shown in emails below….” The IT Director made reference to a November 2000 settlement Microgaming made with several licensees after it was suspected that they (Microgaming) had tampered with the random numbers generator causing losses. The Director copied letters from other operators who claimed that the settlement represented only one fifth of what was actually lost.

On February 22nd Microgaming, after many phone calls from Casino Fortune, agreed that the matter would be investigated and that a report would be sent to us from the auditing company on the following Monday. This was never done and up to this time Casino Fortune has not received December’s report. An urgent meeting of the Sunny Group Board was held and Microgaming was given 3 weeks to provide the report.

On the weekend of March 1st, 2nd & 3rd Microgaming was seen entering the proprietary Sunny Group credit card server. Microgaming’s access was immediately cut off and it was confirmed that no data was tampered with. However, in the light of what occurred, Casino Fortune became even more concerned.

On March 3rd Roger Raativer of Microgaming notified Casino Fortune that the auditing company was considering termination of the services they provide. Casino Fortune attempted to contact Anthony or Martin Moshal but received no answers to emails or phone messages. On 11th March, Anthony Moshal sent his new email address, which was no longer a Microgaming one.

On March 13th Microgaming asked Casino Fortune to sign new agreements with a company in the Isle of Man. The agreements stated the following terms "that at any time after termination of this Agreement, the Covenanter shall not disclose to any other person firm or company particulars of any of Microgaming’s Confidential Information”.

On March 17th, credits for guest customer accounts were tampered with. Upon investigation, it was proven that this was not caused by any employee of Casino Fortune. Microgaming was promptly contacted and they denied any allegation that their staff had anything to do with the interferences. Casino Fortune attempted to no avail, to speak directly to the Microgaming principle, Martin Moshal. Mr. Moshal did not respond to emails and his cell number was no longer active.

On March 21st, Casino Fortune decided it would be in the best interest of it customers to discontinue the Microgaming Progressive Games until the auditor’s reports and an explanation were received. Microgaming was duly informed of this decision.

From the account provided above, on Tuesday, March 26th Casino Fortune has had no other choice but to take drastic measures in terminating the use of Microgaming’s software. Casino Fortune regrets having to sever its ties with Microgaming, however as a subsidiary of the Sunny Group of Companies, our primary concern is to our customers.

During this worrisome time, Casino Fortune investigated many other casino software providers. While most had excellent games, one of the companies, which stood out above the rest in terms of excellent customer benefits and state of the art software is Playtech. Casino Fortune is therefore pleased to announce that it has selected Playtech as its new software provider.

And why do they have a reputation?

The debate has been raging for over a year now, since casinos were swamped by Danish players, many of whom seemed to be well-informed bonus hunters. The result was that numbers of online casinos either specifically banned Danish players or imposed draconian wagerthru's on them to discourage the bonus hunting element.

Unfortunately, it is also clear that some of the less reputable casinos used the general Danish scare to screw winning Scandinavians out of their bonuses and winnings and lock them out - yet they were prepared to accept their deposits in the first place! That led to what now seems to be trumped up charges that Danish players had a particularly bad record of charging back on their credit card transactions. And in the confusion it seems that Danish players are being hammered by casino systems that lump the equally controversial issue of "bonus abuse" and unilateral "domestic" negative database entries with the more criminally fraudulent chargeback accusations.

In one case, a casino group virtually made a chargeback reaction inevitable by accepting business from Danes and then locking them out on grounds that an audit was necessary and that their deposits would be withheld for up to six months. It is difficult to imagine what the reaction of American or British players would have been to this sort of treatment.

As we went to press a revealing debate was developing on the Winneronline message board between Dr Ho Casino Manager, who has earned himself a very positive reputation in a short space of time due to his informative and no-nonsense posts and the VegasUSA manager who was not faring well in the exchanges last time we looked and in fact seemed to have retreated in some confusion. Danish player advocate Jydeman was active with others, giving a very good cross section of opinion.

The following seems clear:

Many Danes are clever and knowledgeable but legitimate bonus hunters who have an effective gambling community when it comes to exchanging information through portals and message boards. VegasUSA importantly concedes that playing to the rules set by the casino is not bonus abuse, but these hunters constitute a drain as they are interested only in getting the maximum free money play.

RTG-powered casinos have featured noticeably in disputes involving Danes. With the exception of VegasUSA, casinos using software from the Big Four providers do not seem to feature in most of the exchanges.

In terms of chargebacks, official processor statistics appear to support the growing view that Danish chargebacks are not an international problem, and that in fact Denmark does not appear on the list of problem countries in this area. It is also becoming clear that chargebacks are not easily granted by Danish financial institutions.

Casino affiliate programs are still targeting Danes through aggressive, bonus-oriented marketing at some Danish sites, yet when these efforts are translated into casino players the result is too often denied bonuses, winnings and lockouts - particularly where the player is ahead.

The thread at Winneronline gives this controversial topic a good airing and dispels some of the negative myths that have evolved around Danish players. It certainly provides food for thought for both Danish players and online casino management still interested in their business.

Exceptions once more feature in the latest proposals

Representative Bob Goodlatte has been trying for years to place a US ban on internet gambling instead of recognizing that this is a popular form of entertainment and taking steps to protect Americans by regulating it. This week his latest effort was passed by a House sub-committee and moves forward another notch.

On the positive side, this unfair legislative proposal still has a long way to go. The sub-committee on crime has referred it back to the full House Judiciary Committee where further discussion and debate will take place, and that meeting is yet to be scheduled. After that it goes to the House and the Senate for further discussion and eventually a vote and then has to be signed off by the President.

In the meantime influential opposition is building, and it is understood that political support is waning.

The reason is that Representative Goodlatte has again tinkered with the Bill to allow important and unfair exceptions which could allow internet gambling by the horse racing, lottery and Indian reservation sectors. Goodlatte's bill would also technically allow a gaming company to launch an Internet gambling site, if the State of its operation guarantees that no bettors outside the state would use it; and guarantee that minors would be barred. With technology advancing rapidly in these areas there are positive possibilities even if the law is passed.

This week the powerful American Gaming Association came out against the Bill, saying that it was no longer the best legislation to address Internet gambling. "We certainly have no problems with meeting with Congressman Goodlatte, but there are still some major problems with this bill," President Frank Fahrenkopf said.

The bill in its current form attempts to outlaw Internet gambling, but does not seek to punish bettors. It is not clear how the US could exercise jurisdictional power over the many offshore sites, although the Bill does have practical provisions to attack the US-based financial instruments used in Got2bet, and law-enforcement agents can direct U.S.-based Internet providers to take down links to gambling sites, and tell online advertising firms to stop distributing ads for online casinos.

We're monitoring these ongoing developments and will keep you informed.

Vegas giant takes another step toward internet gambling

With one of those "serious" Isle of Man regulatory licences Vegas casino group MGM-Mirage seems poised to get into international internet gambling in a suitably big way with an online casino and sportsbook. Players who have visited their promotional site and looked at the quality play-for-free games there will understand why Wagerworks have this week been appointed to get them there.

WagerWorks has been selected by MGM MIRAGE, which owns or operates through subsidiaries 19 land-based casino properties on three continents, to develop its online casinos. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. WagerWorks has been the content and technology provider for MGM MIRAGE's online prize site since its inception in March 2001, and develops and markets a comprehensive Internet gaming system particularly suited to gaming operators in tightly regulated markets. The company has recently completed the integration of WagerWare with Orbis's OpenBet sportsbook system, also selected by MGM MIRAGE.

In order to concentrate on the international expansion of its online gaming initiative, MGM MIRAGE will phase out the points program on May 1 for its U.S. prize gaming site at PLAYMGMMIRAGE.com. The site will remain live and continue to offer the online gaming content.

Dates for your diary

Here's a reminder on two important upcoming industry conferences: March 21st - 22nd, 2002
World Internet Gaming Summit
Sheraton Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL


May 13th - 15th, 2002
Global Interactive Gaming Summit
Toronto Convention Centre


See you there!

A crystal ball look at the future of interactive gambling

According to a recent "Electronic Gambling" report from Informa Media Group, e-gambling revenue could rise as high as $14.5 billion worldwide by 2006 - only four years away.

Informa believes that by that time, the United States will claim only 24% of e-gambling revenue, whereas Europe will claim 53%. Informa also believes that by 2006, 58% of worldwide electronic gamblers will be in Europe.

eMarketer also posted an article this week by top analyst Ben Macklin on interactive television (iTV) gambling. Macklin presented information from Datamonitor regarding iTV gambling in each region of the world, and predicts that iTV gambling in Europe alone will generate $11.1 billion in revenue by 2006, which is higher than Informa's $7.6 billion estimate of e-gambling in general in the same timeframe.

The bullish predictions were confirmed late in the week when a survey commissioned by Dutch bank ABN Ambro produced impressive gambling revenue predictions for Britain alone of more than two billion pounds sterling within the next decade. The study said money spent on betting via interactive channels, including the Internet, interactive and satellite television, will grow to £2.1bn in 2010 from £588m this year.

dotcom Entertainment Group (DCEG) out of Oakville, Ontario up there in the Great White North has been turning in some good news for shareholders just lately, and the latest results reflect that success.

CEO Scott White announced that revenue more than doubled in 2001 to $3,802,815, compared to $1,803,298 in 2000. Net income increased by 431%, giving a sevenfold increase in terms of cents per share.

The improvement is primarily the result of the higher net income achieved in 2001 by the company achieving its goals of additional quality licensees, growing revenue streams and increased profitability. Improved technologies brought better royalty income and fees, and the addition of more new licensees since Q3 augers well for the future.

In February this year, DCEG had 17 licensees, compared to 9 at January 1, 2001. These licensees operate or are scheduled to launch some 15 Internet Bingo and 10 Internet Casinos systems (25 gaming systems in total).

dotcom has joined the trend toward signing up land-based clients with internet ambitions, completing final negotiations with two land-based gaming and leisure companies that have significant operations in Britain. These licensees will collectively launch 6 new on-line gaming systems, bringing the Company's total to 31 when all of their systems are operational. The licensees have engaged dot com's in-house marketing firm, Inferno Media, to develop their web presence and corporate branding.

DCEG will be spreading its wings further afield in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, too. A re-seller agreement has been reached with an as yet unidentified UK/South African company, that will re-sell and distribute the Company's Internet bingo technology. This re-seller will also give dotcom the ability to offer existing and new licensees ``turn-key'' customer support, e-commerce, hosting and related services without dot com having to enter those business sectors directly. Sounds like Aquaonline to us!.

Another casino manager in need of the 101 course?

Gamblers welcomed Goodfellows Casino.com with open arms recently as a well-funded, Microgaming-powered operation with great potential. Regrettably they have stumbled badly on a generous but risky promo, and that has led to them taking unilateral and perhaps ill-advised action that has unsettled players with painful memories of the Tropika debacle.

A notice on the site says "As a result of severe system irregularities and abuse of promotions, management would like to advise all Good Fellows Casino players that all cash-ins up to and including March 12, 2002 have been halted pending a full audit." The notice goes on to say that members can continue to play as their requested cashouts have been returned to their accounts until the "audit" is completed over a period of thirty days, at the end of which they will "render a fair and final decision"

At the end of the day, if management have erred, and players have benefitted from their mistake by playing to the rules the best course for a casino is to "eat" the loss rather than antagonising clients and acquiring a bad reputation.

Although there are no overt signs of dishonesty, this sort of unilateral damage control should always be very carefully considered - as we said earlier experienced players are still scarred by the Tropika "audit" scandal that was only resolved when Microgaming itself responsibly stepped in to pay the players.

Was their (poker) face red!

The Telegraph of London reported a major screwup in interactive TV gambling this week which must have caused embarrassment and expense on the grand scale.

Britain's biggest ever poker tournament had to be called off after organisers feared it might be raided by police. The Poker Million tournament was to have been shown live on Sky television to 65 countries.

Three hundred players from around the world, including Britain's Simon `Aces' Trumper, had already paid the £7,000 entry fee. The dispute hinges over the wording of the British 1968 Gaming Act, which defines a public and private event. It states: `No person shall take part in gaming in any street or other place where the public have access.'..."

Take care around these operations

Cashbreakcasino.com seems to have serious problems. Late last year, their servers were apparently hit by a virus that most everyone else had protection against. That's particularly reprehensible when you are a site doing business with the gambling public at large. Unfortunately, the virus contaminated the PCs of users visiting the website, but following intervention by our colleagues at Casinomeister they cleaned up their act. Shortly after that slow or no pay complaints started coming in from players. Emails to the casino bounced, and the ones that didn't remained unanswered. We invited the casino to comment, but the email was ignored.

Golden Riviera casino didn't like our cautionary to players last week, so the OPA gave them some free advice - if you don't want to appear in a negative light the solution is yours - pay your legitimate players timeously and without excuses. Reinforcing our cautionary regarding this casino, which we repeat this week were message board posts regarding the slow payment tendencies being experienced there - always a bad sign.

Remember the plagiarising iGlobal casino which stole copy and claimed Playtech software connections? Well this week they exacerbated the offence by claiming that they had the material up because they had been negotiating a deal with Playtech that fell through. How stupid do these folks think people are? It was a matter of mere hours to email check with Playtech who denied that any such deal had been in process. So, watch out for 1-online-internet-casino-gambling.com - evidence of plagiarism and downright lies doesn't usually make for honest casino management.

Finally, we have to move Real Time Gaming software into this category because the situation there is becoming suspicious. Players on a variety of message boards are becoming increasingly impatient and angry and are demanding OPA action against this turnkey casino provider that seems to have more bad eggs in its client basket than is acceptable. The complaints range from going out of business leaving players unpaid to slow payment, bonus-screwing and questionable lockouts. Earlier this year there were hopes that RTG was going to fly right when CEO Michael Staw interacted with players on the boards and promised that arrangements would be made to pay players who were owed. He even started a complaints section on his site and was widely applauded. But it is starting to look as if this was just a ploy to calm the storm at that time - although some players have been paid there are many others who are still waiting - and despite repeated pleas to explain himself, Mr. Staw has been conspicuously silent and absent from the message boards. There are several good RTG-powered casinos out there, and it unfortunate that they are suffering the consequences of being associated with RTG's baddies, but the situation does not look good and we urge you to do your homework very cautiously before putting money into RTG-powered sites.

Talking about software providers, don't expect too much help from Unified Gaming if you get into trouble at one of their casinos. Their uncommunicative and distinctly unhelpful attitude was again in evidence this week at the now infamous Aloha Casino. A player over at Gambling Grumbles at gambling.com has been trying for months to get paid out on a jackpot win of over $28 000 and both casino and software provider seem to be giving him the stalling runaround. Reports reaching us are that a change of ownership and maybe software too is about to take place at Aloha, and we can only hope that will benefit the many players who have had bad experiences dealing with these folks.

Our take on operations with potential

You might want to look over Bet2gamble.com - a directory that has just launched. They have done a pretty good job of building a site that is easy to use but packed with diverse and useful content such as e-cash providers, biggest jackpots (only MGS at present), best payouts, bad casinos, a directory, search facility, newsletter and a currency converter. They have an innovative feature in the form of an animation that allows visitors to blow up a casino in three different ways which is not only fun but cathartic if you've been on a losing streak lately! The owners are Booth Entertainment LLC.
We hate to say it, but that's it this week in terms of new gambling sites worth visiting . There were half a dozen casino launches but frankly all were pretty sub-standard in our entirely subjective opinion and not worth recommending. This is possibly an indication of a general slowing in the industry as new casinos were coming on at the rate of up to a dozen a week until late last year, but this has noticably tailed off in recent months.

International actions to guard famous Vegas brands

Land-based casino gambling giant Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas has won international court orders blocking six Internet site operators from misappropriating its trademarks, and has filed four more lawsuits alleging similar infringements of its brand names.

Mandalay's trademarks for its Mandalay, Luxor, Excalibur and Gold Strike brands formed the basis for the actions, which tackled companies across the USA and in Costa Rica, Korea and Australia.

The group has warned that it will continue to aggressively seek out invasions of its brands and take legal action where appropriate.

Bad Year for IQ-L

Gambling software and turnkey casino provider IQ Ludorum released disappointingly low numbers for the year, showing an 8 million dollar plus operating loss due to the tightening business conditions and consolidation within the industry. CEO, Gurcharan Singh is still bullish about the industry and has taken steps to cut costs which last year amounted to over 12 million dollars on a turnover of just over $6 million. As part of this change, the Edmonton development activities will be consolidated in Toronto during 2002 with India assuming more of the coding of new products. The company plans to expand aggressively into Latin America in 2002. Among Singh's predictions - Asian sports wagering will overtake North America in volume of business and the traditional "bricks and mortar" casinos will be flexing their marketing muscles.

"No Deal", says Las Vegas Council

The Las Vegas City Council has voted against licencing the city's name as an Got2bet brand for the second time in 16 months. City Manager Virginia Valentine highlighted the risks of licensing and regulating a gambling-oriented Web site. Mayor Oscar Goodman, who introduced the proposal said he'd like to revive the idea if the federal and state governments determine Internet gambling is legal. However, he said he would only agree to selling the city name and seal to an Internet site if it involved a `bricks and mortar’ casino.

Justice man defines the deterrent

A US Justice Department official has echoed Judge Barbara Crabb's comments in the Gold Medal case that her sentencing was deliberately harsh to emphasize the risk versus reward factor in Got2bet prosecutions.

Tim O'Shea, an assistant United States attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin who was lead prosecutor in the case warned that the U.S. Department of Justice is intent on busting Caribbean-area bet shop operators who solicit and accept online wagers from American citizens.

Las Vegas area-based Jeff D'ambrosia, a.k.a. Jeff Allen, and Duane Pede of Nelsonville, Wis., were sentenced last week to stiff sentences by federal Judge Barbara Crabb on various gambling and tax fraud charges related to their Curacao sports book, Gold Medal Sports. Each man was fined $100,000 and sentenced to a five-year prison term that begins March 29. D'ambrosia was assessed $1,018,706 in back taxes and Pede $410,859. Additionally, Gold Medal Sports was ordered to forfeit more than $3.5 million in "criminal" earnings to the U.S. government. Two other men with an ownership interest were also fined $20 000 each.

The men pleaded guilty to violating the Wire Wagering Act rather than face trial. Gold Medal Sports also entered a guilty plea to racketeering charges.

O'Shea openly acknowledged the tough sentences were meant to serve as a "deterrent" to offshore/online operators.

"The U.S. Department of Justice will continue to investigate offshore sites that solicit and take bets from the United States," he said. "Federal agents will keep working up cases the best we can, pretty well ignoring the minnows, at least for now, and going after the whales," O'Shea added.

Progressives pioneer launches three new games

Despite paying out a total of over $57 million dollars on its Jackpot Madness progressives, Microgaming is not sitting on its laurels and this week responded to the growing competitive pressure in this sector of the business by issuing three new games.

They include the Internet’s first progressive blackjack, a progressive cyberstud poker and an exciting new progressive video poker game. Here's the detail:

Triple Sevens Progressive Blackjack is the Internet’s ONLY progressive blackjack. A $1 fixed bet wagered automatically on each hand makes the player eligible for the jackpot. The progressive jackpot is won if the first three cards of the player’s hand consist of three diamond sevens.

Cyberstud Progressive Poker, the Internet’s FIRST progressive cyberstud poker, is a progressive table game with jackpots for a flush or better. A royal flush pays out the progressive jackpot.

Jackpot Deuces Progressive Video Poker is a Deuces Wild progressive video poker game. The progressive jackpot is won with a Diamond Royal Flush.

The three games join the established favorites of Cash Splash, Treasure Nile, LotsaLoot, Fruit Fiesta, SupaJax and WowPot on the Jackpot Madness menu.

The interactive division of the British Rank entertainment group re-launched its much improved internet gambling site this week at Rank.com.

Initially launched late last year to bingo players the site did not realise its full potential and will now be promoted to a wider audience through a multi-million pound marketing campaign aimed at both male and female players. Rank.com offers users a choice of free-to-play and pay-to-play games that currently include a series of keno, slots, and dice games with a mix of numbers games and fruit machine style wagers. The group claims it offers one of the internet's largest potential jackpots online - £500,000 ($710 000) from a single game. Over the coming weeks Rank.com will be adding further games and announcing several strategic alliances with key partners, but there is even better news in prospect. The group has one of the strictly regulated Isle of Man Got2bet licences and plans a second interactive gambling site for launch later this year. Preliminary reports indicate that this will definitely be at the quality end of the market.

Christine says they're now in profit mode

Reuters news agency reports that Playboy CEO Christie Hefner is bullish on internet gambling after the groups online operations turned an almost 22 million dollar loss last fiscal year into the promise of a profit this quarter.

Addressing the FT New Media and Broadcasting Conference in London, Hefner reiterated that Playboy's online unit would turn its first-ever operating profit, compared with losses last year of $21.7 million in its Internet division. Playboy is looking to exploit the growing online gaming market, which Hefner estimates at $3 billion, particularly outside the United States where casino-style betting online is legal.

Playboy has partnered with British bookmaker Ladbrokes on sports wagering and casino games, and Penn National Gaming in the United States on horse racing. Playboy surpassed 100,000 Cyber Club subscribers at the end of 2001. ``We see this as a sustainable growth rate,'' she said.

Still looking for government protection

The predilection of the once all-powerful Hong Kong Jockey Club to whine about internet gambling and seek protection by the authorities is widely recognised. This week there was a reprise from CEO Lawrence Wong Chi-kwong who is opposing any budgeted increase in betting duties on the grounds that even more gamblers would switch to betting via offshore gambling sites, inflicting further losses on the Club.

According to the South China Morning Post, the Jockey Club argues, "If the betting duty is raised higher, it will be better to simply give away the money to illegal and offshore betting operators. The problem is that Hong Kong punters are already paying the highest betting duty in the world, and illegal and offshore betting companies are exempted from paying the taxes - a 14 percent difference.”

As usual, the Jockey Club blames Internet gambling, soccer betting and lifestyle changes for its continued drop in revenue. Wong supports anti-competitive banning rather than regulation and favours the introduction of the proposed Gambling Ordinance as soon as possible to tackle illegal offshore betting. This law seeks to make all phone and Internet bets with offshore bookmakers illegal and would punish illegal bookmakers with a maximum $5-million fine and seven-year jail term, while individual gamblers making illegal bets would face fines up to $30,000 and nine months in jail.

Land-based Brit bookie has high hopes for the new online casino

Maintaining a definite trend, Brit betting group Littlewoods Leisure this week announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership whereby it will provide interactive betting and gaming services linked to ITV programming.
The two companies will work together to develop betting and gaming concepts for viewers to ITV's channels across all analogue and digital platforms in a deal that is based on a revenue sharing arrangement, with guaranteed minimum payments to ITV over an initial five-year term, and an option to extend for a further two-year period.

In making the announcement, Littlewoods md Colin McGill referred to the internet gambling hopes of the company, saying that immediate growth prospects were looking good, and that future benefits were expected from new games, affiliate arrangements and the group's on-line casino, Littlewoodscasino.com which has one of the coveted Isle of Man licences and will have Cryptologic gambling software when it launches in the near future.

The group also sees strong growth for Littlewoods Bet Direct telephone and internet betting since last year's British gambling duty changes, with revenues 47% higher than the previous year.

Sportingbet and Boss get it together for some serious casino competition

Making competitive waves for the future is this week's announcement that Boss Media is working on a quality-end internet casino for the Internet's largest sportsbook group Sportingbet.com.

Sportingbet is a global online and telephone sports betting and casino company with approximately 500,000 customers and turnover in excess of a billion dollars a year. Sportingbet members will be able to use their existing accounts to play at the new Internet casino. The group's interest in getting into the casino side of the market gives added weight to a comment earlier this year by Ladbrokes that their sportsbooks generated significant business for their casino operations.

The top quality Boss download casino gambling suite and the website will be offered in the Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese languages.

New site....

Joining the ranks of OPA Supporter is an old friend with a new site. Rick Jessup is a switched on and very experienced ex-casino manager who was involved with William Hill, Kiwi and Intercasino when he worked for Cryptologic. He now has his own company, intriguingly called "Crafty Puppy Marketing" and has started his own portal geared towards pointing people in the safe and fun direction to win big cash online at Gaming Jackpots.com. Rick is a straight-up guy who has always been supportive of the OPA's objectives of fair play and player protection.

And how they will affect players

Reliable reports reaching us are that the hassle-prone Aloha casino has been sold to new owners and that a change of software is on the cards. During the month of March, players will likely be allowed to cashout $1000.00 per week. In April the remaining amount of money may be withdrawn.

Aloha is not the only operation that has new owners.

For players who are owed money at the following casino/sportsbooks:

Vegas from Home
Old Las Vegas
Gambling Stadium
OSG
Golden Wager

Homewagering.com will be assuming your account. You will not be obligated to play with them. However if you choose to do so, you will be able to receive your payouts in a shorter period of time. Alternatively, you will be paid a percentage of the monies owed every two months within a 10 month period. There are no rollover requirements or the like.

Whilst it is irritating for players to have to submit to conditions regarding amounts owed fair and square by the former owners, at least these changes offer the promise of payment which might otherwise have been lost.

RTG's current tactics?

Finally, the jury is still out on the raft of Real Time Gaming casinos which the software group promised to sort out after months of slow or no pay. Although there have been a number of posts from now satisfied players who have been paid there are significant numbers out there who are still waiting - and RTG is definitely not as attentive as it was and seems to be ignoring player comments on the message boards that it answered before...could it be that they feel the heat is off and they no longer see the need to respond??? Big mistake if that is so....

Keeping tabs on the deceased

The Online Players' Association is keen to keep a record of casinos that go belly-up in the tighter and more competitive business conditions pertaining these days, and asks gamblers everywhere to help.

When you come across a dead casino site all you have to do is send an email to info@casinogazette.com giving the OPA team the url. They will take it from there, investigating and keeping a record, especially where the casino has gone bust owing the players. That sort of operator has a habit of popping up again under another name and the OPA wants to be ready for those that try this little trick.

Perks: OPA member casinos have asked for suggestions from players regarding what type of OPA-exclusive "perks 'n promos" would be popular yet offer a situation that works for both casinos and players. Let us know what you think by emailing your suggestions to info@casinogazette.com Suggestions received so far include birthday bonuses, special tournaments and draws, improved loyalty offers, exclusive progressives and special VIP CS.

iGlobal site in the spotlight

Casinos that "steal" other casinos' content show little integrity in our opinion because it is not their wording and it conveys a false impression. This week an anomaly was spotted on an iGlobal site at http://www.1-online-internet-casino-gambling.com/cashier.html#3 by a surfing gambler and queried.

The reason for his curiousity was that the games did not appear to be from the house of Playtech that has a growing reputation for quality, yet the site copy claimed that games were licenced from PlayTech and that the e-cash was Iinternet Processing Solutions.

A quick query to the Playtech company confirmed the wrongdoing, and the casino at fault will by now have received a strong notification and complaint from the Playtech people. Our attitude is that if a site operator can act without honesty at this level, should they be trusted to deal fairly with the gambling public?

Expanding the betting options with interactive TV

Europe Media reported this week that BrightBlue, an interactive TV (iTV) channel, has struck a deal with Randombet and BettingCorp to provide gambling services to its viewers in anticipation of the World Cup in May. BettingCorp's TotoPools, previously only a web-based service, will be made available on iTV in time for the start of the tournament. Viewers will be able to fill in World Cup Pools coupons, access statistics and compete in trivia competitions.

Randombet is due to provide betting on sporting events, current affairs, and soaps and entertainment through this exciting and very convenient medium.

BrightBlue was launched by Energis Interactive on the Sky Digital platform late last year.

Two types of gambling

Many players have praised the manner in which Dr Ho management have been interacting with the players on message boards and answering a wide range of questions. However it is apparent that the different technologies that Dr. Ho is using on his internet casinos are not always clear to posters, and in an attempt to clear the confusion here is our understanding:

www.drholite.com is using Boss software, so there are slot machines, blackjack and the usual range of quality games.

www.drho888.com is using new software, with live internet camera feeds of dealers in Antigua. The only games available right now are roulette and baccarat. The dealers are attractive Chinese girls employed under contract on Antigua with hotel accommodation and chaperones, and have a choice of sometimes scanty costumes to add appeal to the gambling experience.

Both casinos accept US players.

The legendary Dr. Stanley Ho held a land casino monopoly on the offshore island of Macau for over forty years, and he remains a serious player in the island's more competitive industry following tenders from other operators last year.

This week an interview in the Chinese newspaper Ta Kung Pao with a longtime partner in the Ho Macau story underlined the great commercial success that the Ho empire achieved. The interview followed a decision to pull out of the partnership by a low-profile but influential tycoon called Henry Fok who says that he will sell his 23,623 shares in Ho's Sociedad de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) by March 31, when its casino monopoly expires.

In the interview Fok revealed that in 1961, when Dr. Ho was raising cash to make a surprise bid for the Macau casino licence he provided $400 000. Ho needed the cash to make up the $3.16 million which he eventually tendered and with which he won the licence. The profit last year alone was $1.4 billion, and there were reports of Mr. Fok being disappointed that he received only $126 million despite owning twenty seven percent of the company!

Fok said the considerable proceeds from the sale of his stake will be used to set up a charity foundation to help Macau develop its cultural and leisure activities. Interestingly, he said he had never meant to take part in Macau's gambling business back in 1961 but became a director of Ho's company when it formed around the licence. And he admitted he rarely visited Macau in the 40 years since the company was set up because he had no interest in the casino business.

Is Golden Riviera telling the truth?

The power of the message boards as a means of communication between players was yet again illustrated this week when a poster lamented slow payouts from Golden Riviera Casino and said the casino had told her:

"We have been experiencing problems with our financial processor and we subsequently switched over to a new one. We will have your cheque re-issued"

There was an immediate response from another member of the board saying "Interesting. They told me the EXACT same thing...... 8 months ago!! "

That seems to be a protracted problem - either that or the excuse machinery at GR has not taken into account the fact that these days players exchange a great deal of information over the internet and questionable excuses are soon exposed!

16 Java games designed for Eastern players

Chinese and Japanese online gamblers will be pleased with World Gaming/Starnet's latest news. The turnkey software provider has just launched sixteen good quality Java no-download games in the widely used Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Simplified Chinese language formats for licencees who are serious about success in the growing Asian market.

According to a recent Bear Stearns report, the Asian population has the highest propensity and frequency of wagering of any demographic in the world, claims WG. Furthermore, Merrill Lynch reports that Asian Internet users currently account for 8.6 per cent of the world's online consumer spending. That figure is expected to climb to more than 25 per cent by 2005. The River City Group estimates that the Asian I-gaming market will see similar growth over the same period.

You can look the new games over at: www.eCasino365.com

New sportsbook site aims to serve the Chinese market.

The Sunny Group of casinos is one of the most respected in the online business, and this week they announced a new initiative targeted on the Asian market with the successful launch of a new Traditional Chinese language online operation, Fortune Sportsbook www.88883333.net

While other online casinos have tended to use translated versions of their casinos, Sunny has specifically designed their new site with a Chinese cultural influence and language right from the start, but with an English language option too. Special attention was paid to the layout of the website, which features a God of Fortune, symbolizing wealth and luck.

According to Sunny chairman Waldo Ramsey, great emphasis was placed on the Chinese consumers’ needs in the development of Fortune Sportsbook. “The Chinese consumer wants detailed background information on your business. They want to know your history, who you are and where you came from. We ensured the information was provided and left no unanswered questions,” added Dr. Ramsey.

Whilst we applaud such sensitivity we would suggest that at heart the Western player has a requirement for similar upfront information which is not always forthcoming from the low-end casinos.

A high standard of customer service has always been a priority goal for Sunny, and providing the best services was not over looked, and this is available in traditional Chinese language format too. On the financial side members will have a variety of payment methods available such as Western Union, Bank Draft, Cashiers Check or Money Order, Wire Transfer and the latest payment option, NETeller as well as 24 hours customer service.

Sunny's homework indicates that an estimated 120,000 to 340,000 Hong Kong people alone have taken part in soccer betting, with an estimated annual turnover of around $20 billion. This figure could double with the upcoming World Cup in June 2002.

Gold Medal sportsbook operators take a fall

Last year we carried the story of two sportsbook operators who pleaded guilty to charges of running gambling operations and tax evasion in Wisconsin, USA and this week that story became "live" again with a heavy punishment from the presiding judge.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb sentenced Duane Pede, 52, of Amherst Junction, and Jeff D'Ambrosia, 42, of Henderson, Nev. to five years in prison for gambling and tax convictions in connection with an illegal offshore Internet gambling operation. The two men were additionally ordered to pay fines of $100,000 each.

Following previous orders to pay $1.4 million in back taxes, and racketeering and criminal forfeiture penalties of $3.3 million this is a heavy punishment. Gold Medal Sports, which they operated from an island in the Dutch Netherland Antilles, allegedly handled $402.7 million in bets from U.S. customers from 1996 through early 2000 when Pede and D'Ambrosia took bets through Gold Medal Sports over the telephone and the Internet.

The charges stemmed from a 1999 phone call an undercover Internal Revenue Service agent made from Beloit to Gold Medal Sports to place a $1,000 bet on the Green Bay Packers to beat the Seattle Seahawks by more than five points in their Nov. 1 game.

Java provider ties up with Horseshoe

Canadian software provider Chartwell Technologies has achieved some impressive land-based casino contracts, among them the respected British bookie Victor Chandler. This week they announced a deal to supply free-play Java games to one of the biggest privately owned land casino groups in the USA - Horseshoe Gaming.

Horseshoe has operations at Bossier City, Hammond and Tunica and runs a supporting promotional and reservations website.

Chartwell has been selected to develop the Horseshoe Gaming ``Play for Fun'' online casino (www.horseshoe.com) as part of Horseshoe's overall Internet strategy. The group's customer loyalty program is built around its Winners Circle concept, and Chartwell's suite of games will be available to all current and new Winners Circle members.

Well, would you accept this anywhere else?

Listen to the following statements, that have been making indignant waves on the message boards this week. Listen... and consider whether you regard this as the way to impress clients and get them "coming back for more"!

"Company reserves the right, in its unfettered discretion, to void any winnings and confiscate any balance in your Casino account in any of the following circumstances:"

"If you have not played at the Casino on an individual basis for personal entertainment only (that is, you have played in a professional sense")

"if you make untrue and/or malicious comments with regard to the Company's operation, the Company reserves the right to publicise your actions together with your identity and e-mail address,"

Quite apart from the very serious privacy considerations implied by this nonsense, the sheer arrogance and one-sided approach to player relationships is staggering and seems to leave unilateral discretion in their hands.

It comes from the IGS-powered site Bonanza Bay.com - now you know. Make your own decision on whether you think a productive client-casino relationship is possible under these circumstances.

A purely subjective view of the new

Another largely quiet week, but again a reasonable percentage of new operations that you may find diverting...

Royal Palace Online Casino.com
There's a good "big site" feel to this online casino and sportsbook that is powered by World Gaming. The theme is sort of Brit Crown Jewels and it has a sumptuous look to it. All the usual WG facilities of top-notch e-cash, free CD, live chat and fully contactable Support are available, with the usual download and java mix gambling suite. The sportsbook links to basketballonlinesportsbettinglines.com.

American Victory Casino.com
Strong Stars 'n Stripes USA theme on this workmanlike site which is colourful and easy to use. The software is the standard World Gaming java and download suite supported by all the usual services (the e-cash is thru' Cyber Processing Corporation) Unusually for a WG site there is a 20 percenter signup on offer. The owners of this site are Internet Empire Entertainment Inc out of Antigua, who also own the "good" Pyramid casino - that's the dotcom Pyramid. There are links on the site to four very similar "template" style casino/sportbooks namely Advanced Online Casino, London Picadilly Casino, Riviera Hotel Online Casino and Paris Picasso Casino - all dotcoms. Added to Betonus, Binions and Pyramidpoker this makes for an impressive group with a good record of fair play and excellent Customer Service. BTW when we double checked this information with an email query the response was back and fully upfront within hours. That's the sort of folks they are...

Chicago 20s.com and Chicago 20s Casino.com
Two urls - essentially the same online casino but one is for no download Java software gambling and the other for download (4 meg) Both gambling suites are of good quality and come from Diamond Gaming. The sites are very appealing with a workmanlike but aesthetically clean and easy to use design. There are 19 games comprising 6 slots, 3 VPs, 3 keno, Five Hand Poker and 6 table games including Pai Gow. Fully contactable Support and Play History, Online Updates and cash via PayPal and NetTeller are all on board. Players have the very convenient options of US $, British Sterling or Euro in their wagering. The sites claim both IGC and OPA membership . There is a fifty percent non-withdrawable bonus on offer maxed at $75. This casino is owned by Interworld Gaming Group, which also owns Boss-powered download casino Ace King Club.com, started a couple of years back by two ex-land casino managers who are still involved.

And here's a really nice one from Playtech software. Gold Gate Casino.com is typical of the creative skills from Playtech - a cool, easy to use design with plenty of upfront information and of course that quality download of 12 games that includes multiplayer Blackjack. There's a full range of financial options, toll free round-the-clock Support and they're offering a 20 percenter signup maxed at $50 with a x5 wagerthru' (x20 for Danes unfortunately due to the claimed incidence of bonus abuse from that country) The licence is Antigua and the owners are Global Interest Gaming, who have proved efficient and reliable through their Boss-powered California Casino and their other Playtech sites Swiss and Tropez. Good.

Zodiac Casino.com is also new online and is powered by Microgaming with a Flash and download gambling suite of something like 52 games, including the big progressives, Power Poker and multihand Blackjack. This impressive and beautifully designed site joins Blackjack Ballroom, Golden Tiger, Strike It Lucky and Virtual City in the Casino Rewards group. All the usual classy bells and whistles are on board like Cashcheck, Playcheck, full toll free Support, Veep Program and a newsletter are available for your convenience and there are some good bonuses on offer, too. $10 download; deposit a $100 for $40; the special weekender deal of $20 on a $200 deposit and $250 to the top ten slots players - there's even one based on horoscopes! The licencing is Khanawake and the owners are IGC members. Good.

Our final casino this week is a new launch from Boss Media - this is their first foray into Latin America with a South American operator. This is an easy one to remember - the casino is simply called El Casino.com and it comes with that quality download gambling suite of 13 games from Boss with five progressives, great Support, WebDollar e-cash, free CD and a nicely presented website in English or Spanish language versions that gives you lots of information and is easy to use. The licencing is Netherlands Antilles, and there's a loyalty program and a $20 signup.

General casino information currently to hand:

Goldencoincasino.com is up for sale. It's a Starnet-powered operation which has not hit the high spots.

Word has it that Natural Casino.com is also available. It's a Elka Systems operation but do your DD well!

Midnight Flyer.com is no longer doing business and re-routes to the TopOne search engine.

Aloha Casino may be in for a change of ownership and maybe software too - after their repeated hassles with players this could be a good thing.

Be careful around Club Monte Carlo, too - we're getting reports of very bad customer service, bonus-jacking and apparently the Radiate software provider isn't much help either. Gambling Grumbles has the detail over at Gambling.com

Finally, if you're a bonus hunter you might find the 95/5 bonus - purchase wager split a little too demanding for your liking at Lucky Gate Casino. This is an iCrystal powered casino and there have been a number of critical postings about them this week.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa