Issue N44, 2009
November 18, 2009
888 in SecondLife Payment Deal
Dragonfish, the Business to Business (B2B) unit of 888 Holdings, has announced that it will be expanding its offerings by providing epayment services to one of the world’s largest virtual communities in the world, SecondLife. Operated by Linden Lab, Second Life has players from all over the world enter a 3D virtual world with its own laws and economy. 30 million transactions were recorded in October alone. Dragonfish will provide its advanced payment services to SecondLife, and strengthen its position in the wider retail market in the process.
“Today’s agreement extends our offer of Total Gaming Services into Total Payment Services and highlights the increasingly diverse nature and strength of Dragonfish’s operations,” said the Managing Director of Dragonfish, Gabi Campos. “We have many gaming partners interested in our e-Payment solutions but this is a giant step beyond our core operations into the retail environment. It’s an excellent complementary business for Dragonfish which will provide incremental revenue.”
“Second Life Residents log into the virtual world from nearly every country around the globe and participate in a virtual economy that will exceed USD500 million this year,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Linden Lab, Mark Kingdon. “Dragonfish has a strong track record in unlocking new markets through its unique and secure payment processing solutions, and as Second Life continues to grow internationally, we're pleased to work with them to provide easy and secure payment options for our users outside the United States.”
New Products for Canada’s Online Gambling Industry
Canadians will soon be able to enjoy new online gambling products, following the announcement of the President of Loto Quebec that the group plans to introduce online poker and sportsbetting to its customers. “The lottery sector has changed greatly over the past 40 years,” said President and Chief Executive Officer, Alain Cousineau. “Loto-Québec's new products will, therefore, need to incorporate such factors as competition, decision-making and skill, in addition to the fun of playing. That is a major challenge, but meeting it successfully is critical if we are to maintain our products' competitiveness.”
Since 2003, online gambling in Canada has grown by 30%, jumping from a market worth $184 million to $675 million in 2008.
Loto Quebec will collaborate with five other Canadian provinces that already offer online gaming, including the four Atlantic provinces. The group also said that it would approach Quebec’s government to make the necessary changes in the law so as to allow online gambling.
Antonius Keeps His Cool – and Wins Biggest Ever Online Poker Hand
The online poker world was buzzing this week over the true identity of a mystery player who arrived on the scene less than a month ago to bag himself over $6 million in high stakes online poker action. The player, known only as Isildur1, has played – and beaten – top pros such as Tom Dwan at Full Tilt Poker, and has been challenging anyone willing to take him up on marathon high stake sessions which seem to be his specialty.
On Monday night, Patrik Antonius, the legendary Finnish poker player, took Isildur1 up on his challenge and managed to blitz the player in some of the most remarkable game playing witnessed online in a long time. By the end of the evening, not only had Antonius made a sizeable dent of $2.7 million in Isildur’s bankroll, but he had also broken the record for the biggest online poker pot won. Isildur1 was forced to hand over more than $900K in one single swoop after being on the losing end of the game. Over 2000 hands were played during the monster session of $500/$100 Pot Limit Omaha, leaving Isildur1 with a bruised ego, and the cool Fin quietly counting his winnings – until the next time…
Responsible Gambling High on eCOGRA’s List of Priorities
The eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) industry watchdog group has shown that responsible gambling is high on its list of priorities after it was announced that it was celebrating 5 years of training key casino personnel in the field. The training courses, conducted in house across the sportsbetting, casino and poker sectors of the industry, educated over 70 people this year alone. The courses hammer home the message that operators at eCOGRA accredited casinos are responsible for keep underage players out and directing problem gamblers to the assistance they require.
“Responsible gambling ranks very high in eCOGRA priorities for both social responsibility and business reasons,” said Tex Rees, Responsible Gambling Manager at eCOGRA. “This year is the fifth in which eCOGRA has provided this professional service to Fair and Safe seal-bearing online gambling venues across the online casino, poker room, mobile, bingo, live dealer and sports betting platforms of the 145 international, tier one gambling sites that are accredited.”
“It is heartening to note that this vitally important service is in constant demand, illustrating a real commitment to responsible gambling by eCOGRA operators that goes beyond merely meeting the standard accreditation requirements in this regard,” he added.