Issue N12, 2008
March 20, 2008
New Bingo Site Launched by 32 Red
A new bingo site has been launched by industry leaders, 32Red Holdings that is sure to take the gambling world by storm. The site, appropriately named 32Red Bingo, will focus on the United Kingdom bingo market and will offer a wide variety of 90 ball bingo games. Mr. Mark Quayle, Marketing Manager for 32Red Bingo said: “We are conscious that Bingo is a very competitive marketplace, but we’re confident that our quality software, a free £10 no deposit bingo bonus and a bonus every time a player deposits, 32Red Bingo will be an instant hit with new and experienced online bingo players.”
32Red Bingo has several successful offerings in the online gambling market. The company runs 32Red Casino, which has won Casinomeister’s Best Online Casino award for five consecutive years. It has also recently launched a mobile gaming site and continues to attract players to its lucrative poker room that has been part of the industry since 2002.
Mark Quayle said that 32Bingo would concentrate on trying to make players happy at all times. “The player environment is key, we have won awards for our player support and we will continue to build on this by providing a friendly rapport between the player and ourselves,” he said.
World Poker Tour Expands its Connection with Cryptologic
One of the world’s most famous poker gaming brands, the World Poker Tour has announced that it has extended its contract with Cryptologic to provide games and software to its official site until 2011. In addition, the new deal will see Cryptologic provide the World Poker Tour with software to launch a German and Spanish site, as well as a full suite of over 200 casino games.
The President of Cryptologic, Brian Hadfield said: “In less than one year, CryptoLogic and World Poker Tour have teamed up to deliver an exceptional online experience for casino and poker players all over the world. CryptoLogic's collaboration with World Poker Tour is another great example of our success in building and growing relationships with the world's top gaming and entertainment brands for mutual benefit.”
Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO for World Poker Tour, said that his company’s partnership with Cryptologic has been a key element in delivering a superior WPT experience to fans from all over the world. “Expanding and extending this relationship allows us to take the WorldPokerTour.com brand to a higher level,” he said.
South African One Step Closer to Legalizing Online Gambling
Gamblers in South African may very soon be able to take their favorite pastime online, after it was disclosed that the government is one step closer to legalizing internet gambling. Although online gambling is illegal in the country at present, new legislation is being drafted that could essentially regulate the industry and allow millions of South Africans to wager legally over the internet. Unofficial statistics say that a good proportion of citizens are already gambling at a multitude of casino sites that offer their services to the South African market, although they have no recourse if they run into trouble with a site and are not paid out what is due to them. In addition, such players, if caught, could face jail time or hefty fines.
Themba Marasha, the Chief Operations Officer for the country’s National Gambling Board said: “The new law will enable people to license Internet gambling and South African citizens will be able to operate within a protected environment”. He warned, however, that gambling sites that were caught operating without a license before the ban was lifted had little chance of being awarded one after the new laws were passed. “Acts of wrongdoing will disqualify them should they want to apply for a license in the new South African gambling environment,” he said.
Facebook Under FBI Scrutiny over ‘March Madness’ Pools
March Madness – the traditional time of the year where the top college basketball teams vie for first place in the championships – has always attracted informal betting pools among friends, families and colleagues. With the advent of internet social networking sites such as Facebook, that type of betting eventually went online and a quick search on the Facebook site will show that there are over 20,000 online pools circulating as we speak.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, was not going to allow this type of online wagering – considered illegal under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act – to go unnoticed and has started an investigation into the matter. It is considered almost impossible, however, for Facebook to press charges against all those it suspects of taking part in these informal betting pools and experts agree that this may be a case that the FBI needs to decide to simply drop.
Facebook has issued a statement saying: “We do not condone the use of the site for any unlawful purposes and users must agree as part of the terms of use not to conduct illegal activity”.