Nambling Notes - March 19, 2008

Youbet.com has resolved its part in a federal investigation into illegal activity allegedly undertaken by customers of the company's former International Racing Group subsidiary. View the full story.

Following Monday's news regarding Bwin and Germany's Westlotto, Bwin spokesman Kevin O'Neal told IGN the following:

"We are operating under challenging circumstances -- the interpretation of EU law varies from country to country. The United Kingdom, for example, is one of the more enlightened countries; Spain is another that is more enlightened. And others, well, we're waiting for EU law to reach those countries . . . I had a look at [Monday's] trading volume, and it suggests it (Westlotto development) was not a big affair in the eyes of our investors."

32Red has launched its U.K.-facing bingo product at 32RedBingo.com. More on this to come.

Financial Times reports Playtech closed at an all-time high Tuesday as the company concluded a roadshow with institutional investors. Following on from a strong trading update, shares were up 4.3 percent to 428.50p.

JP Morgan has slashed its target price on William Hill to 465p from 610, upgrading shares from "overweight" to "underweight," while downgrading shares in rival Ladbrokes from "overweight" to "neutral," with a target price cut to 345p from 430. In a research note, the brokerage encouraged Ladbrokes investors to buy into William Hill as it considers the price-to-earnings valuation gap to be too wide.

Harrah's announced this morning that its World Series of Poker Europe event will take place between Sept. 19 and Oct. 1, 2008. The tournament will be held at the Fifty London.

PokerStars.com has launched its series World Series of Poker online satellite tournaments. The company said it intends to send over 1,000 satellite winners to this year's WSOP in Las Vegas.

On the London Stock Exchange today, Playtech was down 1.75p to 426.75, William Hill was up 10.50p to 354.50 and Ladbrokes was up 3.50p to 291.25.