Issue N30, 2008
July 24, 2008
New MD for Sportech Online Pools
Sportech, the popular online sports betting company, announced last month that it would be launching its New Football Pools in August of this year. To run this powerful new product, deal with Sportech’s existing online football brands and expand its product line, the company has appointed a new Managing Director in the form of Will Muirhead.
Muirhead has many years of proven experience in the online commercial world. While he started off in online media, his attentions soon turned to SportEV, a company that he founded to devise and implement strategies to global football rights holders such as FIFA.
Ian Penrose, the Chief Executive of Sportech said about Muirhead’s appointment: "We are delighted that Will has joined us. He is highly respected within the new media world for his innovative and entrepreneurial approach and his experience of building online businesses from scratch, as well as his relationships within the sports and media worlds, will bring tremendous value to the Company. We are committed to the development of our online businesses. This appointment fits exactly with our strategy to focus on our core football pools business as the platform for the development of Sportech into the market leading leisure, sport and gaming business with international reach."
Will Muirhead said in response: "This is a very exciting time to be joining the New Football Pools, and I am looking forward to establishing it as the favourite online football gaming destination."
PPA Condemns Kahnawake Gaming Commission
The one million member strong grassroots organization, the Poker Players Association, has come out strongly against the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, demanding that the body take the necessary steps to 'help lift the black cloud that has been placed over the industry'.
In a written statement issued by the Poker Players Association head, the former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, the US group said that the Commission should deal firmly with the cheating scandals that have recently rocked the industry, in light of the fact that both incidents involved online poker rooms – Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet - that were licensed by this independent Native Canadian jurisdiction.
“The recent cheating scandals underscore the need for U.S. licensing and regulation of online poker to help protect consumers. While even the most highly regulated industries are susceptible to fraud and abuse, regulation does provide assurances that when consumers are harmed they have recourse," said D'Amato in the statement. “The federal government cannot continue to abdicate this basic responsibility to millions of its citizens who choose to play poker on the Internet. The attempt to enforce an outright prohibition of online poker is deeply flawed and unworkable, not to mention it invades upon the personal freedoms of law-abiding adults who wish to engage in a game of skill.”
UK Tote May be Up for Sale in Several Months
Gerry Sutcliffe, the British Minister of Labor, told the country’s Parliament that the UK Tote may very well be put on the open market as soon as this coming autumn, as the government moves away from direct involvement in the English horse racing industry. Sutcliffe also noted that if no company agreed to pay the full value price of the UK Tote (estimated to be around £400 million), he would not hesitate to take it off the open market.
Several major companies in the UK betting market are expected to make an offer for the Tote, including Paddy Power, Betfred, Gala Coral and Sportech. The UK Tote runs nearly 550 betting shops in and around the United Kingdom and employees over 4000.
In a written statement, Gerry Sutcliffe told parliament: “The government remains of the view that it is appropriate that it removes itself from detailed involvement in the affairs of the racing and bookmaking industries. We also want to give certainty to the Tote and its businesses so that they can develop and flourish for the benefit of their staff and racing. The Government intends to commission detailed work on the Tote to be undertaken during the course of the summer, which would provide the necessary groundwork to launch a sale in the autumn.”
“This work will also provide further data on the company which would enable the Government and the Tote Board to consider how best to create further value inside the Tote if, in the light of market conditions, the government decided in the autumn not to proceed to a sale at that time,” he continued.
Entraction Welcomes New Online Poker Site
Paradise Bet’s successful Bet 1128.com poker site will move over to the Entraction poker website, following the signing of a deal between the two companies.
Francesco Martiradonna, who serves as commercial director of Bet 1128 said: "Bet1128 is strongly committed to improve its gaming offer with a selection of state of the art products. After a thorough investigation of the poker platform arena we decided to join the Entraction network. We consider Entraction a solid and dynamic partner to rely on in order to support our development plans. We are sure that the poker games supported will meet our customer expectations in terms of gaming experience, tournament variety and security standards.”