eGaming Review

GIGSE Snapshot – 7 June

Five months after eCOGRA released its study into the profile of the “average online gambler,” a new report’s findings were unveiled yesterday in Montreal. Promising to be the “first public study of actual egaming behaviour,” the study was conducted over eight months by Bwin and the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). Richard A LaBrie, associate director of the CHA, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School’s division on addictions, told the GIGSE conference the study showed that the median behaviour of bettors amounted to a spend of 4 per day. According to the research, which had 40,499 participants, only 1% exhibited behaviour which could be read as problem gambling, or “discontinuously high”. Over the course of the study, 61.6m was wagered, and 7.8 million bets placed. For the 39,719 players classified as median bettors, total average wagers for the duration of the study was 148. LaBrie told the conference, however, that even the 1% of gamblers who fall into the higher category, are only spending the equivalent of “maybe a good bottle of wine a day”, online.  All of the study’s participants were from the Bwin site, and took into account fixed-odds and live action betting. It began in February 2005, and is to be published in full soon.

Mark Mendel, the lawyer representing Antigua in the country’s WTO dispute with the US, said yesterday that he expects the European Commission (EC) to file a compensatory claim against the US. Mendel said that the recent decision of the US to withdraw from the GATS agreement over the issue of egaming had wider repercussions throughout Europe. He added that the decision with regard to the long-standing dispute with Antigua, paved the way for a compensatory claim to be filed by other WTO members under WTO law. He said: “There is a very real possibility of massive claims being made.” If this was the case, Mendel hoped the US would reverse its decision to withdraw form the GATS and said: “The US may be shutting the door on the rest of the world, but they are not shutting the door on us.”

NEWS: Further details have been released of the witness list for Friday’s hearing at the US House of Representatives on internet gambling regulation. Among those talking to the Barney Frank-chaired house committee on financial services is Gerald Kitchen, chief executive of UK-based payments company Securetrade, and Jon Prideaux, chief executive from Asterion Payments. Also taking part is Jeff Schmidt, chief executive of Authis and recognised information security expert. Representing the anti-online gaming faction will be pastor Greg Hogan. A spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative – an organisation which is close to the Frank moves - said the hearing could be the first of up to four, and should be viewed as being part of the effort to get more members of Congress to understand online gaming. “It’s part of the push to get more support,” she added. There are over 70 members in the financial services committee.

A new online gaming lobbying body called the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) has filed a complaint against the US Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve System, to halt enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The lawsuit was filed this week in the US District Court and outlined how UIGEA infringed on the basic constitutional rights of Americans to do as they please in the privacy of their own home. iMEGA said it would seek to obtain an injunction preventing the US government from enforcing the Act, and would also base some of its arguments on the recent WTO ruling which found the US in contempt of its international  trade obligations. Edward Leyden, president of iMEGA, said: “Two major benefits come immediately from US recognition and regulation of internet gaming; transparency and tax revenues. Taxation of internet gaming could generate more than US$20bn during the next several years.”

Interactive TV production company Two Way TV (TWTV) has signed up with interactive gaming channel the Game Show Network (GSN) to supply it with its Simcast technology, which will allow GSN viewers to play along to the games on TV through their mobile phones. The new product will be launched during the summer, viewers will at first be able to play along to GSN’s Monday prime time casino programming and will eventually be able to play along to the channel’s game and reality shows. Chris Raleigh, senior vice president of ad sales at GSN, said: “Text-to-TV promises to be a valuable new interactive TV platform in the US. Two Way TV’s Simcast technology allows us to deepen an advertiser’s relationship with consumers by extending the interactive experience through commercials and into the programme on-screen. Advertisers will also receive immediate feedback as viewers interact via SMS.”

Software developer CyberArts has launched its backgammon product, available to licensees in cash-play and free-play version. The product features scheduled and sit-and-go tournaments, and several different game variations, including nackgammon and hypergammon. It is also the first online system that supports chouette play, allowing multiple players/bettors to actively participate in a single game on a single board. Ken Arnold, CyberArts chairman, said: “Chouette is the most popular and social form of backgammon in real life, and avid players have been asking for an online chouette for years." CyberArts hopes to announce the names of licensed operators over the next few weeks.

NEWSPAPERSANDWIRES: The Financial Times is reporting that the long-mooted merger between Bwin and Sportingbet is “some way off” and has hit legal and regulatory hurdles and the talks “remained protracted”. Drawing parallels with the breakdown in talks between 888 and Ladbrokes, the FT adds: “The impasse between Bwin and Sportingbet reflects the difficulties the online gambling industry is experiencing trying to consolidate following last year's tightening of US gaming laws and enforcement action by US justice authorities”.  

CITY: Gaming VC is up 10p to 120p, 888 is up 1.75p to 121.25p and PartyGaming is up 1.25p to 42.5p.  

Posted: 07/06/2007