Online Casino and Gambling News: March 2010

Online gambling games and software developer Wagerworks reports that it has been commissioned to provide additional games for the giant UK Internet gambling group Betfair’s arcade operation.

888.com's year end results for 2009 were published this week, showing an 18% decline in EBITDA, and a welcome boost to overall revenues thanks to b2b division Dragonfish. EBITDA of €33.7 million at the gambling group was down 18% on the year before, but the group's business-to-business arm grew revenue by 33% with a series of impressive deals.

UK mobile network Orange has joined the many companies lining up for French partnerships in anticipation of a liberated French gambling market. The network has signed a three-year deal with the state gambling monopoly Francaise Des Jeux which will enable it to incorporate online sports betting into its Internet, mobile and television portals.

The UK position of offshore online gambling operators wishing to advertise and promote their products to British players moved into the spotlight this week with the news that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a consultation on the introduction of new licence requirements for overseas online gambling firms.

The New South Wales Thoroughbred Racing Board has agreed to allow bookmakers to bring laptop computers onto its racecourses for the purposes of betting as long as they obey strict terms and conditions.

Making headlines in the UK sports media this week is the sad tale of charismatic Scottish football legend Colin Hendry, who is apparently in financial trouble after letting an online betting habit get the better of him. The Scots football ace lost his wife Denise in a tragic minor surgery gone wrong last year, and has apparently found it difficult to adjust to life without her.

Dragonfish, the b2b division of 888.com, has signed an agreement to provide a dedicated Italian online casino to Bwin Italia. The deal is a first for Dragonfish in the burgeoning Italian sector, now believed to be one of the largest in Europe. Dragonfish is to supply in-house and third party developed download and Flash games including classic and video slots, video poker and table games.

Iovation, provider of device reputation services for preventing online fraud and abuse, has partnered with online gambling software provider GTech G2, through the latter's Finsoft subsidiary, to offer device reputation technology as part of its real-time transaction and risk management platform for online gaming and betting customers.

Following the award of its first online gambling licenses, the state of Estonia has launched the downside of the legalization policy - a drive against sites without its licensing imprimatur.

Marking St. Patrick's Day this week, online gambling software provider Rival Gaming launched a thoroughly Irish video slot branded Shamrock Isle. The 5 reel 20 payline game opens with a video clip based on a large emerald, and features a slew of free spins, scatter, wild and bonus opportunities, the latter on a second screen that offers a choice of three games.