Online Casino and Gambling News: December 2010

A Manhattan federal court sentenced a man who is alleged to have connections with the notorious Gambino crime family to 30 months in jail this week after he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to online sports betting.

A court action in which the pro-online gambling action group Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association is involved entered a new phase this week when the U.S. Department of Justice opposed an attempt to legalise sports betting in the state of New Jersey.

The UK and land gambling group Rank plc has been a prolific fund-raiser for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity through 2010, raising £270,000 in an ongoing support drive.

The Swedish online gambling software provider Net Entertainment has signed up another customer for its popular CasinoModule product, agreeing to supply an online casino and regular instant-play and download game additions to the German listed firm JAXX SE.

Slot players at Caesars Entertainment's four land casinos in Atlantic City will no longer have to catch the eye of attractive waitresses to get a drink without losing their seat - the gambling group has just obtained authority from the New Jersey regulators to install automated 'beverage on demand' dispensers.

A New Zealand punter from the small town of Magascene in New Zealand must have been especially nice all year and then some - Santa (in the shape of the New Zealand Lottery) brought him a NZ$13 million prize to spread some Yuletide cheer.

Cambodian internet casino operators, who have been making a good living offering punters live dealer online gambling over the internet, have been feeling the heat this week as police hammer their premises in a series of raids.

Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG and Party Gaming plc have released details of the merger timeline and plans, which the duo claim will "....create the world's largest publicly listed online gaming group that will be ideally positioned to take advantage of the rapid consolidation of the online gaming industry and to open up new markets around the world."

The land and online betting group Paddy Power , which acquired a 51% interest in the Australian group Sportsbet for €27.2 million in 2009, has locked up the remaining shares by exercising its option to buy the remaining shares of the company.

The independent professional business services group PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued a report on the land gambling Mecca of Nevada, predicting that the parlous business situation of the state's gambling industry should begin to improve late 2011, eventually returning to pre-recession levels by 2014.