Online Casino and Gambling News: April 2009

Online bingo site Crown Bingo has reported its biggest ever pay out of £240,561 to lucky member Glen Johnson of Bristol in England. The record pay-out came after Glen hit the jackpot for a £2 stake on popular side game Lucky Ladies 88 after being a member for just 10 days.

The expanded online gambling services offered by UK Internet and land gambling group William Hill plc delivered an impressive rise in revenue of 50%, the company revealed this week in releasing its Q1, 2009 numbers.

Asia-facing online and land gambling group AsianLogic Limited has reported a 49% fall in adjusted pretax profit for 2008, following a significant increase in operational expenses and bad debt provisions. The company showed a 2008 pretax loss of $11.9 million. The Board has therefore decided that a dividend will not be paid.

The British government's minister for sports, Gerry Sutcliffe, is having a busy week with gambling interests front and centre. He is not only working on an anti-corruption task force to combat sports bet cheating but is now embroiled in arguments that offshore Internet gambling sites that advertise in the UK should be coughing up more money for gambling addiction research and support for horseracing.

Neovia plc's full year results to December 31, 2008 were published this week, and will do little to cheer investors. Indeed, as the Board commented: "Nonetheless, the Board is not fully satisfied with the Group's progress towards its strategic aims. Trading in the year to date has been disappointing and reflects a weakening trend in Europe, due to an increasingly competitive market, challenging economic conditions, volatile currency markets and limitations in new product introductions."

Yesterday's online gambling banning notification from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Alcohol and Gaming Division has made mainstream media headlines throughout the world, and has predictably fired up almost immediate opposition from civil rights and Internet freedom groups.

Tote Tasmania has announced that May 30th 2009 will be the launch date for its new sports betting business, Betasport, which will offer users a larger variety of prop bets and will target both Austrailian and international markets. Advertising for the new company will commence shortly.

The recent string of suspicious betting pattern alarms in British and international sporting events has again focused attention on the British government's determination to stamp out cheating and corruption in sports across the gambling board.

In a move reminiscent of recent Australian attempts to censor the Internet at ISP level, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED)
today announced that it has served written notice to 11 national and regional telephone and Internet service providers (ISPs) instructing them to prohibit access of all Minnesota-based computers to nearly 200 online gambling websites.

Internet poker star Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier could have established a new multi-tabling sit 'n go record this week whilst in Monte Carlo for the PokerStars European Poker Tour's Grand Final.