Nambling Notes - July 29, 2005

Quoteworthy -- "To the extent that the DOJ criticizes Casino City for not presenting lesser restrictive means as alternatives to the district court, Casino City points out that the record in this case is not yet developed. Moreover, if there is any pertinent omission pertaining to this point, it is that the DOJ has failed to show why it has chosen, contrary to United States Supreme Court precedent, to address the asserted harms by regulating speech rather than the underlying activity."

- Final paragraph of Casino City's appellant reply brief in its First Amendment declaratory judgment case against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The brief was filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District.

Technology Acquisition -- U.K.-based interactive TV and mobile services specialist Two Way TV has acquired the interactive technology assets of London-based Mindhouse, a company that was developing a delivery platform to enable cost-effective management of interactive services across satellite, terrestrial, cable, broadband, online and mobile channels. Mindhouse was founded in late 2001 but placed in administration in June 2005 after failing to secure enough finance.

Personnel Changes -- Betfair has announced the resignation of its chief financial officer, Owen O'Donnel, but has not yet named a successor. The news has fueled speculation that O'Donnel has stepped down so that the company can be led by a CFO with more IPO experience. . . . Incumbent Chairman Moses Cheng has been reappointed to serve another two-year term on the Hong Kong Football Betting & Lotteries Commission. Other members include Paul Chan, Ho Hon-kuen, Father Peter Newbery, Paul Fan, Felix Fong, Fanny Lai, Albert Hung and Wong Kwan-yu. The Commissioner of Police, the Permanent Secretary for Education & Manpower and the Director of Home Affairs will also sit on the commission, which is responsible for addressing a wide range of public concerns on authorized football betting and lotteries and advising the government on gambling regulation matters. . . . Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has appointed Caroline Gray as manager of its betting division. Gray has spent the last five years working in the HRI finance department.

Czech Stats -- The Czech Republic's finance ministry has reported that revenues from phone betting in the country has doubled in the last year. Sales from phone bets, which are frequently placed in conjunction with television programs, are rising at a rate of dozens of millions of crowns each year. Three Czech companies--Erika, Media Games and Ceskomoravska loterijni--have obtained licenses to offer phone betting services in the country. Erika, whose sales have improved from Kc160 million (US$6.4 million) to Kc245 million (US$9.8 million) in the last year, says that telephone betting accounts for about half of its activities.

Malta Stats -- Malta's Remote Gaming Council held its first general meeting this week. Representatives from over 40 companies, including gaming firms, legal firms, financial firms and Internet service providers were in attendance. The council's main goal is to field suggestions from its members and submit them to Malta's Lotteries and Gaming Authority. At the moment, 25 companies have received licenses from the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, while another 35 are waiting for the clearance of their applications. Malta's gaming industry employs about 240 local full-time employees, pays around $7.9 million annually in taxes, and uses about ten percent of the islands' Internet bandwidth.

Case Dropped -- German prosecutors have dropped their case against Juergen Jansen, the only top flight Bundesliga referee implicated in this year's German football betting scandal, due to a lack of evidence. Jansen faced charges of fixing two games in November 2004 based on evidence provided by a man who claimed he had been sent to give Jansen 25,000 to influence a game. That man now acknowledges that he had held on to the money, and the league states that Jansen did not make any wrong calls. 20 to 25 other people, including a number of players, remain under investigation for their alleged involvement in the fixing scandal.

Premiere Shops -- German pay TV channel Premiere AG, which will launch a betting channel called Premiere Win on Aug. 1, says it may also begin setting up local betting shops. CEO Gerog Kofler says that the company already has an ideal, large-scale infrastructure with over 11,000 Premier sports bars. Premiere Win will be run in partnership with North American racecourse operator Magna Entertainment Corp.

AOL Bingo -- Online bingo company Bingo.co.uk will provide AOL UK with a bingo games platform that will be available to AOL UK users over the age of 18.