Issue N26, 2008
June 26, 2008
Parlay Grabs Industry Awards for Bingo Offerings
The first Online Bingo Awards honored Parlay Entertainment for its superb contribution to the world of internet bingo last week, by handing over two prizes in top categories. A panel of prestigious industry peers judged the awards, which took place at the third annual online bingo conference in London, United Kingdom last week. Conference participants also gave their input before the awards.
Parlay Entertainment’s Parlay 4 was voted Best Online Bingo Software for 2008 because of the excellent standard that it has set in the industry since its inception in 2006. Another award for Best Online Bingo Innovation for 2008 was given to Parlay for its BingoBets, an exciting, extremely lucrative side game on which a patent is pending.
“We are very pleased to have won these two major bingo awards. On behalf of our entire development and support team, I'd like to thank the online bingo industry for this recognition of excellence," said Perry Malone, Chief Technology Officer for Parlay Entertainment. "We are especially proud because these awards were chosen by our industry peers who recognize that Parlay continues to blaze the trail in online bingo software innovation. It's a fantastic achievement and motivates us that much more to keep pushing the leading edge.”
Historic Partnership Announced Between 888 Holdings and Sportech
Sportech, the online gaming and sports betting company, is hoping to return to its glory days and boost its shrinking customer base by signing a deal with industry leader, 888 Holdings. The deal, which will come into effect in September 2008, will coincide with the release of Sportech’s exciting New Football Pools product that it believes will bring the young bettors back to its base.
According to the deal signed, 888 Holdings will market and distribute the New Football Pools across all its affiliate and partner sites, exposing the new game to one of the largest customer databases in the industry. It is believed that literally millions of players will be offered the opportunity to play the New Football Pools.
“This is a strong strategic partnership for Sportech. This fits exactly with our strategy of reinvigorating the pools business and delivering an enhanced and modern product for today's gaming customers,” said Ian Penrose, Chief Executive of Sportech. “It offers an unparalleled opportunity for all of our products to be effectively marketed on-line. Importantly this extends beyond the traditional online poker and casino offering and includes the Pools business which we believe will become an international online gaming brand.”
Antigua and United States Set a New Online Casino Settlement Date
The online casino industry has been told yet again that the Caribbean island state of Antigua and the United States have still not managed to reach a settlement agreement over their long-standing dispute regarding online gambling. While there was still hope early last week that a settlement would finally be reached by Friday’s deadline, this week the sides issued an announcement that a new deadline had been set for July 12th.
Antigua and the United States are discussing how the latter will live up to a World Trade Organization arbitration panel ruling that it is to compensate Antigua for ignoring its regional trade agreements by blocking Antiguan based foreign gambling operators in the US market. The WTO ruling stated that the US should pay Antigua $21 million annually.
Antigua’s Finance Minister, Errol Cort, was quick to pacify any skeptism about the new deadline. “The extension, just like the last one, is not an extremely long one because we want to keep parties actively engaged at the table, utilising all efforts to resolve the issues and arrive at an amicable settlement,” he said. "If we can arrive at some amicable settlement, then it would bring to an end all of the proceedings and settle the entire matter… It’s a tall order. I don’t want to give the impression that it’s a simple and straightforward matter.”
Ex BetonSports Employee Arrested for Fraud
A Canadian national was arrested at a Philadelphia airport on charges of identity fraud and sharing the information with a criminal ring that worked off the internet. Patrick Kalonji was employed in the credit department of BetonSports when he was part of the identity theft ring, using personal data that came into the online casino site to transfer to others in the ring in order to commit acts of fraud.
According to charges brought against him by a Manhattan federal court, the Congolese-born Kalonji targeted over 150 victims and stole their personal information including names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers and even security codes on those cards. The information was used to make purchases over the internet, among other things.
If found guilty, Kalonji can face up to 30 years in a United States prison, in addition to a $1 million fine.
In an unrelated case, charges are still pending against BetonSports’ founder, Gary Kaplan and its Chief Executive, David Carruthers for racketeering conspiracy.