Nambling Notes - March 26, 2008

IGN's Emily Swoboda spoke with WorldSpreads Chief Financial Officer Niall O'Kelly about the group's plans for a potential float on the Irish Enterprise Exchange. View the full story.

South Africa's National Gambling Amendment Bill has been amended by a National Council of Provinces (NCOP) committee to allow Internet gambling operators to advertise in the country, according to a government insider. View the full story.

A High Court decision is expected tomorrow on Betfair's challenge to Western Australia's anti-betting exchange statutes. While unconfirmed reports have that Betfair is favored to win the case, Betfair Communications Director Mark Davies told IGN this morning that the company could not comment.

Financial Times reports the Indonesian government has passed legislation that will criminalize "the accessing, production and distribution of pornographic, defamatory, threatening and gambling materials via the Internet." The paper says the law threatens penalties of up to 12 years in prison and £54,000 in fines for violations. More on this to come.

NetEntertainment has agreed to supply its CasinoModule platform to Smart TV Broadcasting Ltd. and an unnamed bingo group, which operates sites bingoliner.com, bingocafe.com and bingocabin.com. Incidentally, the three bingo sites were ranked in the top 40 of Casino City's "Web Site Traffic Rankings."

Shares in Rank shed 3.5 percent today despite continued stakebuilding from Guoco, which upped its holding to 9 percent from 6.05 percent. Since Jan. 15, 2008, Guoco has steadily increased its share from 3.17 percent. In February, brokerage JP Morgan suggested the likelihood of a takeover approach -- possibly by Guoco or Genting -- was increasing and advised investors to buy below 90p and take profits above 110. Rank closed at 88p, though traded as high 91.25 today.

The London Times reports that chimpanzees are more likely to "gamble" than their close genetic relative, the bonobo.

Will the increasing ubiquity of mobile gaming outpace I-gaming in India? In a Q&A with Indian financial daily Economic Times, Ricky Liversidge, VP, worldwide field marketing at Adobe, says it will.

On the London Stock Exchange today, 888 was up 6p (4.1 percent) to 154.00, Playtech was down 8.75p (1.97 percent) to 436.25 and PartyGaming was up 0.50p (2.5 percent) to 20.50.