The Market Court, which deals with all cases related to marketing legislation in Sweden has ruled that Ladbrokes Sweden can use certain taglines and advertising slogans to promote its Swedish-focused gaming products. Svenska Spel, the state-owned gaming monopolist in Sweden, had wanted Ladbrokes to stop all marketing activities using such slogans as: “Swedish games with English odds” and “We give more back to the players.” Read more ..

The online gaming operator Betsson has announced its plan to open the first ever private betting shop in Sweden this week, although its application for an operating license was turned down by the Swedish government which allows only Svenska Spel, a state-owned company, to offer sports betting products in Sweden. Betsson plans to open the shop in Stockholm on Friday, May 30.

The New Zealand Lotteries has launched its online sales channel, www.mylotto.co.nz, to enable lottery players to buy lottery tickets via Internet. According to Todd McLeay, the CEO of the company, this step became necessary due to strong demand by their customers for online lottery. The channel is called 'MyLotto' to symbolize a direct personal relationship with customers of the online service. Read more ..

Chelsea are searching for a new manager after they have decided to sack Avram Grant in the wake of the Champions League final defeat to Manchester United.

It was in September last year that the Israeli took charge at Stamford Bridge following the dismissal of the club's most successful ever manager Jose Mourinho.

A brief statement on Chelsea's website read: "Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September. We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made."

According to reports, Russia coach Guus Hiddink has distanced himself from the vacancy, but media has linked Internazionale coach Roberto Mancini, Manchester City's Sven-Goran Eriksson and ex-Chelsea striker and current Blackburn Rovers manager Mark Hughes to the post.

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PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, has announced that it has launched Macau's first live poker room, PokerStars Macau.

Participants will compete for us$ 19,049 in prizes, including entries to the us$ 3,174 buy-in September 2008 APPT Macau, after making a charitable donation to participate. The suggested minimum donation is us$ 253.

Joe Hachem, Poker World Champion and member of Team PokerStars Pro, said, "PokerStars is committed to the development of poker in Asia. Although Macau has become a gaming powerhouse, it was only with the incredible success of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour last November that Texas Hold’em poker started growing there. PokerStars planted the seeds and now this beautiful Poker room is going to be the garden where future champions learn to play. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next World Champion comes from Macau or elsewhere in China."

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Scandinavian-focused online gaming companies Unibet and Expekt has launched a new sportsbetting game, SuperScore.

This game has been developed by Malta's Monnet Enterprises Limited, a firm owned jointly by Unibet and Expekt. In this game, players need to correctly predict the results of between two and four soccer or ice hockey matches. It would feature games from Scandinavian leagues as well as the English, Spanish and Italian football leagues alongside next month's Euro 2008 competition.

Svein Jonassen, Chief Executive Officer for Monnet Enterprises, said, "The world record in highest odds on a sporting event is on this betting form, the odds were two million times the money. In SuperScore, the winning odds are anticipated to be as high as 250,000 or sometimes even higher."

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Paddypowerpoker.com has announced that it has launched the Summer Sizzler promotion. This event will deliver a full week of $777 freerolls starting on Monday, May 19th. The No Limit Hold'em tournaments are open to all paddypowerpoker.com players.

The Summer Sizzler freerolls will run for a full week (May 19 - May 25). Players can register for the tournament one hour before play commences and players need to register early as the tournament capacity is limited to 500 maximum.

Paddy Power, Communications Manager for paddypowerpoker.com, said, "With the sunny weather we've enjoyed over the past few weeks, it's clear that the summer has well-and-truly arrived. We're going to celebrate the start of our favourite season by giving our players some dosh; what better way to enjoy this time of year than with some extra money in your pocket for beers, barbeques and bikinis!"

So, get ready to earn some great moolah at the Summer Sizzler Freeroll Promotion.

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Mansion.com has joined the leading fraud management firm Ethoca Limited.

Andre Edelbrock, President and Chief Executive Officer for Ethoca, said, "The online gaming industry is strongly on board with the idea of collaborating to stop fraud with four of the top five and many more of the top 50 already committed to working together through Ethoca's community."

Ethoca mentioned that its partner firms will now include financial providers, Internet-based retailers and online gaming operators and that it will increase profitability by distinguishing between reliable and unreliable transactions thereby reducing losses and non-payment. Recent research discovered that better fraud management could result in e-businesses recovering more than $30 billion in previously foregone annual revenues.

Guy Gussarsky, Chief Executive Officer for Gibraltar-based Mansion.com, said, "Offering the best value in online gaming means we must continue to stay at the cutting edge of fraud prevention to offer the best possible protection for our members."

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OneBigPlanet, the leader in Commerce and Loyalty Platforms for social networks and organizations, has announced that it has signed with the Poker Players Alliance whose non-profit membership organization, comprised of over 1 million members, brings poker players and enthusiasts from around the United States together to promote the game and protect poker players' rights.

Accordingly, OneBigPlanet will provide the Poker Players Alliance One-Stop Consumer Portal which has been specially designed to help foster loyalty with members and generate a new revenue stream for the organization

John Pappas, Executive Director at Poker Players Alliance, said, "We brought OneBigPlanet on board, a leading-edge loyalty company, in order to drastically increase the offerings to our members and to streamline our present, labor insensitive and costly benefits program. Migrating to an online portal using OneBigPlanet's unique platform was a logical fit for us. We are confident that this new program will further help us build stronger relationships with our members."

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FutureLogic has announced that it has signed partnership agreement with Octavian International. According to the agreement, Octavian will integrate, support and promote FutureLogic’s thermal ticket printers and promotional couponing technology across its full range of electronic gaming machines and casino management systems.

Peter Moffitt, President of Octavian International, said, "With its history of technical innovation and demonstrated leadership in TITO printer reliability and performance, FutureLogic was the ideal choice to help take Octavian International to the next level of global brand preference."

He further said, "The GEN2 Printer’s enviable position as the number one preferred printer for casinos and EGMs worldwide will be instrumental in further solidifying Octavian’s leadership in the rapidly developing international gaming market."

John Edmunds, VP International Markets, said, "The timing of this key strategic partnership with Octavian International represents a tremendous opportunity for FutureLogic. The rapid growth of TITO across EMEA, APR and South America, coupled with Octavian’s proven gaming industry expertise and product portfolio, greatly boosts our ability to provide casinos and gaming manufacturers with reliable, innovative printing and marketing solutions."

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Two people were killed during a shootout at an Indian casino in Southern California. The shooting occurred at around 6:20 PM on Monday.

According to a report from Sgt. Dean Spivacke, two people, a man and a woman, fired at the police deputies with assault rifles, then drove off into the nearby hills. Some officers pursued, and the suspects exchanged gunfire with them, and also shot at the helicopter that was aiding the pursuit.

A SWAT team confronted them when the suspect's vehicle broke down. Both the suspect's were killed in the battle, but nobody else was hurt.

Robert Salgado, the tribal chairman, said, "They've got a SWAT team out there. They're probably going to shoot first and ask questions later."

It was only last Thursday that a 26 year old member of the trible, El Morillo, was killed by deputies after he attacked them with an assault rifle.

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Professional poker players Roy Winston and Michael Binger, together, has announced that they have introduced Oracle Poker Consulting, which will focus on player education through a vast array of workshops and private training courses.

What's more, Binger and Winston are also opening poker learning centers which will be available for teaching all levels of poker; from beginner through advanced, tournament play, and cash games play.

If you are a novice who wants to learn fundamentals the Oracle Learning Centers will best fit you.

Roy Winston said, "In almost every other sport or activity, be it team or individual, coaching is a large part of the performance improvement process. Whether we are working with a beginner or taking an already skilled player, working on improving their game is our mission. Today's poker player has come a long way from the days of underground card rooms where the hustlers prayed on the inexperienced. Beyond the fundamentals, just one of the advanced concepts they teach is the ability to put your opponent on a narrow range of hands so you can beat them with a wide range of hands."

Michael Binger added, "Through refinement of a player's own game and the ability to find weaknesses in an opponent's game Roy and I will offer significant game improvement. The process is multi-faceted and will include computer based hand simulation and analysis, video teaching and substantial preparation for individual opponents. Reviewing videos of students play will allow substantial clean up their physical game as well, making reading them difficult even for accomplished players."

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Microgaming has announced that it has launched two new video slot games -- Sure Win, and Cashapillar.

Sure Win is a 25 pay line, five reel slot, which offers its players multipliers, scatters, wilds, and some free spin features, along with an opportunity to win as high as $35,000 in the base game, plus $140,000 by using the special bonuses.

Cashapillar is the largest video slots game ever. It has as many pay lines as a centipede legs. Cashapillar features scatters, wilds, multipliers, free spins, and gambling opportunities that are wrapped in an enjoyable insect birthday party theme, along with the online casino game developers new "stacked wilds" concept, and across all five reels.

So. get ready to try your luck at this super duper new games and who knows you might get lucky.

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The first educational panel event for members entitled: '63 Money Making Tips to Win a Bundle at the WSOP', has been announced by The World Poker Association (WPA). The event will be led by Mike Caro, "Mad Genius of Poker" during the WPA Inaugural Conference running May 28-29, 2008 at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada.

WPA Chairman, Wendeen H. Eolis said, "The Conference is a winning trifecta ticket, allowing members to sharpen their playing skills, network at the must-be-seen WPA cocktail party, May 28th, and then prove their bragging rights in the WPA Mega Satellite, May29th."

The Association also announced the slate of nominees for the 08-09 WPA Board of Directors. If you wish to know more news and details of the WPA Inaugural Conference, you can visit the organization website at www.wpapoker.org

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The chief of the Triad Alcohol Beverage Control Law Enforcement was arrested Wednesday after being charged with stealing more than $1000 in Federal Bureau of Investigation funds, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court.

ABC Chief Danny Ray Burton was under investigation for allegedly stealing money on separate occasions. According to reports, FBI investigators gave Burton the chance to steal money he was told was collected as proceeds from an illegal gambling operation.

According to court documents, Burton was living above the means of his $60,000 per year salary. It was on Wednesday that Burton made his first court appearance. His next court appearance is scheduled for May 27 in a federal court in Winston-Salem.

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It is reported that India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has asked PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world's largest professional services company, to analyze the future requirement of skilled manpower in gaming and visual effects sector.The government wants to create necessary training facilities to cope with the growing demand for professionals in these sectors. Read more ..

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On Thursday, the world was able to watch online the final eight players who duked it out live in Barcelona for the $1 million top prize at Pacific Poker.

Jack Hinchey, one of the four Canadians, made it to the live table at the Peralada Castle in Barcelona. Unfortunately one of his countrymen, Michael Leah, was an early casualty before broadcast of the final table began.

Along with Leah, Pini Roberto went out early and the webcast began broadcasting when play was down to the final eight. They were:

* Mark Castonguay, Canada

* Jack Hinchey, Canada

* Michael Lawson, Canada

* Mark Roessler, Germany

* Piotr Stanislaw, Poland

* Arjan van Bavel, Netherlands

* Bert van Doesburg, Netherlands

* Bart Wetsteijn, Netherlands

The final results were as follows:

Place------ Name ------ Prize

1st ----Jack Hinchey ---- $1 million

2nd ----Michael Lawson---- $397,000

3rd ----Piotr Stanislaw---- $210,000

4th ----Arjan van Bavel---- $180,000

5th ----Bart Wetsteijn---- $120,000

6th ----Bert van Doesburg---- $90,000

7th ----Mark Roessler---- $60,000

8th ----Mark Castonguay---- $30,000

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Another lucky online casino slot player became a new Millionaire in Cryptologic's Millionaires Club. It was on May 3 at 12:35 a.m. GMT, Millionaires Club, one of the internet’s most popular progressive slot games available exclusively to CryptoLogic licensees that awarded more than $1.3 million to a player at LittlewoodsCasino.com.

Brian Hadfield, CryptoLogic’s President and CEO, said, "Millionaires Club is a great example of CryptoLogic’s leadership through innovation — and of our commitment to giving customers a truly exceptional experience. As we welcome another instant millionaire to the club, we also celebrate a game that’s earned global popularity — one that keeps players coming back again and again."

Millionaires Club has made more instant millionaires in the last year than any other online casino game in history. It was just last spring,that CryptoLogic awarded the largest jackpot win in the history of online gaming — more than $8 million to a player from InterCasino.com.

Mention can be made that all Cryptologic jackpot games feature amazing bonus rounds, impressive prizes that can be won in pounds sterling, Euros or dollars.

Justin Thouin, CryptoLogic’s Vice President, Product Management and Business Development, said, "This latest jackpot win is another example of CryptoLogic’s ability to deliver big prizes, big experiences and big results for our customers. That’s one reason CryptoLogic has earned Gambling Online Magazine’s Top Casino Software Award — based on the votes of players —for three years running."

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Julien Nuijten from Amsterdam, Holland, has won the first Pokerstars.net Latin American Poker Tour tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, besting 313 other players from 28 countries in the three-day sell-out event, including 137 who won their seats online with PokerStars.

Julien is one of many young players who have switched to poker from the strategy game Magic: The Gathering. He was the winner of the Magic world championship when he was only 15. He took away the first prize of $222,940 after beating Brooklyn NY construction company manager Vitaly Kovyazin in Rio.

Julien said: "I was playing pretty aggressively heads-up and I knew I could break him. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I had some two horrible bad beats but in the end I got him on tilt."

LAPT President Glenn Cademartori, said, "This first Latin American Poker Tour event in Rio has been a phenomenal success. I have already seen how passionate Latin Americans are about poker, but even I was surprised by the jubilant atmosphere here at the Rio tournament and the tremendous enthusiasm of both the players and their supporters. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing poker regions in the world and, thanks to the PokerStars.net LAPT, the region now has a high-stakes championship poker tour of its own."

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Andrew Lyman, a Director at the Gambling Commission, has announced that he would leave shortly to take up a senior executive role with the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB).

Lyman said, "Having been involved in regulation for some years, I am looking forward to joining an organisation with a broad commercial focus. This new role will provide an opportunity to develop my legal, negotiating and other skill sets in a challenging environment."

Andrew has announced that he would join the ABB in late July and his remaining time with the Commission will be spent on internal project work, distinct from his current regulatory role.

Gambling Commission Chief-Executive Jenny Williams said: "We are very sorry to see Andrew go but with his expertise and understanding of the Commission’s work he will continue to contribute to the promotion of socially responsible gambling in his new role at the ABB."

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We just received a note from Referback who manages the Belle Rock Entertainment casino group that its only Bingo site, Jackpot City Online Bingo, "is going live to the heart and homes of e4 TV (www.e4.com) audiences on 6 May 2008."

The JackpotCity.com online bingo advert will run every week day (Monday  Friday) during the daytime slot (7:30am  5:30pm). The advert will be aired four to five times a day during this period and this is equivalent to about 6,5 million views! The ad targets the "daytime soap opera audience," ideally suited suited to the bingo product. FREE BINGO will be advertised!

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Station Casinos has announced that it has made plans for a a mega resort near Tropicana and the I-15- the current site of Wild Wild West- that will be bigger than MGM Mirage’s CityCenter. This would be the most expensive project in the city of Las Vegas.

The project would bear the working title “Viva,” and would carry a price tag of us$ 10 billion. It will be built on 44.5 hectares. There will be at least three casinos and three hotels with as many as 10,000 rooms.

Station Casinos President Lorenzo Fertitta said, "As we started looking at the site, originally we were talking about one hotel-casino. But as we got more property we decided we have the ability to put multiple properties on there and

create a whole development."

So, get ready to witness the the most ambitious project in the company’s history.

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YouBet.com has announced that it has appointed Chairman of the Board Michael Brodsky as its new President and Chief Executive Officer following the resignation of interim Chief Executive Officer Gary Sproule.

Brodsky has been serving as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer before becoming interim Chief Executive Officer in December following resignation since 2002. He will be YouBet.com's third Chief Executive Officer in the last six months with the reasons behind Sproule's resignation unannounced.

Jack Liebau, Director for YouBet.com, said, "As we continue in our transitional phase, we believe Michael is the right person and has the requisite experience to lead us through this period and leverage our ADW platform and United Tote."

"I believe YouBet.com is beginning to move in the right direction and I eagerly anticipate the forthcoming challenges during this transition period," said Brodsky.

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The UK Gambling Commission published last week survey data on remote gambling participation in the United Kingdom. The key findings of the survey over a period of one year beginning March 2007 are:

1. 8000 adults were surveyed. 8.8% of them confirmed their participation in at least one form of remote gambling through a computer, mobile phone or interactive/digital TV in the month before they were interviewed. The survey conducted one year earlier showed the same results.
2. 11.7% of male respondents participated in remote gambling, compared to 6.2% of females.
3. Remote gamblers are more likely to be aged 18-34 (13.7% of the respondents). The next most active remote gambling group is aged 35-44 (10.7%)
4. The least likely remote gamblers are aged above 55.
   
5. 3.3% out of the above mentioned 8.8% participated only in National Lottery games remotely.
6. 7.1% used computer, laptop or handheld device for remote gambling, while 2.4% preferred mobile phone and less than 2% went for interactive/digital TV.
7. The following remote gambling types are mostly frequented:
   - National Lottery Tickets for the National Lottery Draw (6.3%)
   - Betting on horses, greyhounds and football (2.3%)
   - Poker rooms and tournaments (1.4%)
   - Other lotteries (1.3%)
   - Casino type games (1%)
   - Bingo (1%)
   

Robert Schaeffer, an 83 year old retired steelworker in Pennsylvania cracked a jackpot worth $4.2 million in the Atlantic City casino a few minutes before the bus he was travelling in with three ladies was about to leave. They were on a day's visit in Atlantic City and tried their luck in the local casino. They had decided to spend the last bit of their money on a slot machine after trying other games. After the ladies failed to make any gain, Mr. Schaeffer decided to spin, played 60 nickels and saw 5 eagles coming up. That brought him the biggest win in the history of the casino. Read more ..

Partygaming's house broker Dresdner Kleinwort said, while commenting on the update of their first quarter 2008, that the foreign exchange development tending to weak dollar has affected their revenues by US$5m-US$10m. Dresdner said: “Given the peculiarities of gambling, a weak dollar actually negatively impacts PartyGaming despite reporting euro/sterling customers’ revenues in dollars. Poker players do not change the limit levels played nor do they play for longer due to forex changes.” Read more ..

Three days of exhibition, workshops and institutional meetings for the public of the whole gaming market will take place in Bologna, Italy, for three days from 18th to 20th September, 2008. Read more ..

The first ever PartyPoker.com Million in Europe will take place from the 3rd through 10th May 2008 on MSC Poesia, a luxury cruise liner, starting in Venice. The qualifiers for the PartyPoker.com Million VI tournament won a $12K package, including $8,2K buy-in for the no limit texas hold'em main event, $2,7K for the accommodation and the cruise and $1,1K extra for spending. A line-up of next generation poker talent representing 30 countries will take part in the main event, including Canada's Mike 'Timex' McDonald, Sweden's 2008 Late Night Poker winner Andreas Jorbeck, Brazil's Christian Kruel, Denmark's Soeren Kongsgaard, Germany's Florian Langmann and Alexander Jung and Finland's Mika Paasonen.

It is reported that Las Vegas Sands Corp, owned by Sheldon Adelson, an American billionaire, plans to open in July a retail mall in Macao, China, over 19 thousand sqm with over 100 brands. The company has already launched there a casino and hotel resort, Venetian Macao, last August. They want to go further and launch three additional malls to be completed by 2011. That will bring Las Vegas Sands' total capacity to 1,200 shops on 280,000 sqm of retail space, containing over 20,000 hotel rooms operated by capacities like Sheraton and Hilton.

This development shows the increasing attraction of Macao as a gambling metropole, being the only place in China where casino gambling is allowed. As far as gambling revenue is concerned, Macao now rivals Nevada. Their casinos earned 2006  us$6.95 billion, compared to Nevada's us$6.69. Last year, their revenue was, according government reports, overus$10 billion. Before the gambling monopoly ended 2002, Macao was primarily attractive for casino players coming for a day's visit to the town. Now it has become a destination for conventioneers as well shoppers and families staying there for several days, yet remaining attractive for passionate gamblers.