Nambling Notes | June 30, 2008

IN BRIEF Bwin Interactive Entertainment has signed an agreement with World Series of Poker, a brand controlled by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., to sponsor the tournament's live video stream.

Under the agreement, the video stream, called World Series of Poker Live!, will be broadcast online in Europe exclusively by Bwin, the online gambling operator.

The World Series of Poker, held this year at the Rio hotel and casino in Las Vegas, has been underway since May 30 and will conclude on July 16.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

In other Bwin news, Bloomberg said the company met its sales targets for this year's UEFA European Football Championship. The stock exchange release, in German, can be found here.

STAGING POINT GigaMedia Ltd. has opened an office in London from which to launch marketing initiatives for its Continental European gaming and software brand, Everest Poker.

The Taiwan company said it is expecting to double staff numbers for Everest across the 2008 calendar year, in an effort to support initiatives already underway in Portugal, Hungary and Poland.

"With over 95% of our revenue coming from Europe, we have a strong understanding of international poker markets and have enjoyed phenomenal growth since our launch in 2004," Jennifer Joyce, the company's chief marketing officer, said in a prepared statement Monday.

For reference, Everest generated $29.7 million in licensing revenue during the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, which accounted for 77 percent of total revenue across GigaMedia's gaming software business.

GigaMedia's first-quarter report can be found here.

NEW BLOOD The Tote, a state-controlled bookmaker for sale by the United Kingdom, has a new chairman.

Mike Smith, a former chief executive of Rank Group and Ladbrokes, will take up his new post July 1, 2008.

Mr. Smith, 61, replaces Sir Ian Good, the bookmaker's interim chair.

"I am confident he (Mr. Smith) will provide the kind of leadership needed to help grow the Tote's business at the same time as seeing it through any sale process," said Gerry Sutcliffe, the United Kingdom's minister for sport, in a prepared statement Monday.

Mr. Smith's term runs three years.

SOUNDING OFF Barney Frank, the libertarian Massachusetts Democrat, has blogged about last week's partisan vote that saw the Payment Systems Protection Act defeated.

"I regret the fact that this became partisan," Mr. Frank wrote Friday. "I was hoping that it wouldn't be, and I have been working closely with some of those most dedicated to economic deregulation of the appropriate sort."

Mr. Frank's blog, in its entirety, can be found here.