Issue N32, 2008
July 31, 2008
New Mastercard Brands at Playtech Casinos
It comes as no surprise that Playtech, the popular turnkey gambling company, has one of the largest selections of payment options at the over 200 online casino sites licensed to this industry leader. Playtech announced this week that it would be improving its banking options even further by introducing two new Mastercard backed prepaid cards to its list of deposit and withdrawal choices at its sites. From today, players will be able to pay for their online casino fun using InterCash and TransSend. In addition, licensees will also be able to pay their affiliates using these cards.
"InterCash offers a market leading payout product for the gaming industry from a provider that they can trust,” said the Chief Executive Officer for InterCash, Patrick Seguev. “We are very excited to be working with Playtech to offer their licensees the ability to provide their customers with instant access to earnings. This offering is further enhanced by the compatibility, brand visibility and security that Mastercard brings.”
In the meantime, the Chief Executive Officer of TransSend, Richard Jones had this to say about the deal: “We are delighted to be working with Playtech, one of the leading gaming software providers, to deliver an improved service offering to their licensees. It is evidence of the revolutionary nature of this payment solution that we have linked up with a company with such a strong reputation in the gaming industry.”
Sportingbet Employee Still Awaiting Charges
Despite having been arrested over two months ago, an employee of the UK-based gambling company, Sportingbet, is still waiting to know what charges are due to be brought against him in Turkey. The employee was one of 39 others who were arrested by Turkish authorities in a three-speared raid in May in suspicion of money laundering, with many of those arrested being linked to Sportingbet’s Turkish arm, Superbahis.
While some Superbahis employees are still under arrest, only one Sportingbet employee is awaiting trial after another was set free recently following an appeal. No charges were brought against him.
In an announcement made this week, Sportingbet said that it would continue to follow the case of its employee very carefully, and offer all the support that is needed to bring about his speedy release. In addition, Sportingbet said that it was slowly reducing its presence in the Turkish gambling market, showing that only 9% of its revenues were now brought in by Turkish players, compared to 14% in April.
32 Red Shows High Online Casino Game Profits
32 Red’s superb online casino game offering has managed to contribute significantly to this company’s first half performance, boosting its total gaming revenues to $13.2 million – an increase of 27%. All in all, 32 Red’s online casino brand made up over 90% of the company’s revenues, showing once and for all how popular this offering truly is.
The online casino section of this company performed remarkably well, considering the poor results coming from its poker offering. Despite a number of efforts to pull its poker brand in line with the rest of the competition in the industry, 32 Red Poker produced revenues that were largely unchanged compared to previous statistics, and even showed that players were leaving the site.
"The refocusing of our efforts in accelerating the growth of the 32Red business has delivered immediate results and I am pleased to report a good start to the year," said Ed Ware, the Chief Executive Officer for 32Red. "In particular, the casino yield per player is strong and reflects the excellent player experience enjoyed by 32Red customers. Our distinctive and distinguished brand continues to stand out and we intend to further expand our UK profile.”
“We continue to explore opportunities to expand the 32Red product offering and closely monitor regulatory developments in new territories," continued Ed Ware. “We look forward to progressing these projects in the second half of the year and will update shareholders accordingly.”
Eyebrows Raised at Kahnawake’s Choice of Moderator
Praise for the Kahnawake Gaming Commission over its appointment of a moderator to head its newly formed Independent Monitoring Team to investigate cheating at two poker sites, was short lived after the poker industry realized who was picked.
While nobody doubts that the former New Jersey State Gambling Regulator, Frank Catania is definitely qualified for the job through his years of experience in the field, the online poker industry is raising eyebrows over the fact that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission failed to mention anywhere that Catania has been associated with the group in the past. In fact, Catania helped then Grand Chief Joe Tokwiro Norton draft regulations for the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in 1999. Poker analysts have noted that this is the same Joe Tokwiro who heads Tokwiro Enterprises, the company which owns Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet that are the two sites being investigated for internal cheating scandals.
"While the ongoing investigative process has dominated the attention of the KGC in recent months, we are fully confident in the ability of the Independent Monitoring Team to deliver results and to assist the Commission in bringing this matter to a decisive conclusion," said the Chairman of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Dean Montour, who was quick to calm things.