Nambling Notes - Sep 21, 2001

Tidbit from the US -- The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have sidetracked Rep. Bob Goodlatte's, R-Virg., plans for reintroducing his Internet gambling prohibition bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. "Last Tuesday's tragic events altered a lot of things, including legislative schedules," Goodlatte said Wednesday. "I plan to introduce Internet gambling legislation in the near future." He did not specify a date. American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf said the bill is clearly not of priority to Congress now that it is dealing with business related to the attacks. "The NCAA bill and Internet gaming legislation are clearly on the back burner now," he said. "Congress is facing one of its greatest challenges ever, and it's clear that the NCAA bill and other bills of that nature are not top priorities."

Closing Shop -- Coral Eurobet's play2match.com person-to-person betting site ceased trading on Tuesday. The site is no longer accepting bets. The final event traded on was the Manchester United versus the Field Premiership Title Pit, which closed Friday.

Makin' Deals -- Internet marketing company NextLevel.com is going to handle site management, marketing and advertising for Bingo.com. The two companies announced the agreement on Wednesday.

wegamble.com has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with GameHouse, Inc. through which GameHouse's casino gaming software will be integrated into wegamble.com's patent-pending Nevada E-Gaming System^TM and Personal Casino^TM applications. The 15-game Super Casino Suite(c) includes VegasSlots, VegasBlackjack, BarRoomBlackjack, Jacks or Better and CaribPoker, Deuces Wild Poker, VegasCraps, Rockin' Roulette and keno, as well as scratch-off and pull-tab games, and will be featured in wegamble.com's interactive gaming systems on a worldwide basis. wegamble.com, a privately held Nevada corporation that has developed interactive gaming systems for inter-casino linked, intra-property, in room, slot operator routes, handheld devices, intranet, Internet and interactive TV, said that it's preparing to submit applications for approval of its interactive gaming systems to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Breakin' Deals -- FirstBingo.com and IGL Gaming Ltd. said Friday that, due to a breakdown in communication, they are breaking their letter of intent from July 9. The letter of intent detailed IGL's plans to purchase a substantial amount of FirstBingo.com's stock.

New Stuff -- Irish betting site BETDAQ - The Betting Exchange opened for business Thursday morning. The site has already registered more than 700 users in 27 countries. During its first two hours of operation, more than $275,000 had been logged into members' accounts.

Access Gaming Systems Ltd. (AGS) on Monday delivered the third pillar of the Austrian Lottery's Internet gaming portal. The new section adds 6/45 Lotto and Quicktip to the lottery's offerings, which include four casino games and eight instant games. Paul Barnes, AGS vice president of sales and marketing, said his company is proud to be working with the Austrian lottery. "Austrian Lotteries have once more broken the innovation barriers," he said. "They are now the first fully regulated gaming organization to offer casino games, instant lottery games and draw lottery games on a single platform."

Through its partnership with Betfair.com, sports content provider FTT launched an online betting service this week. The new person-to-person wagering site enables users to place bets against each other with no bookie being involved. FTT is a subsidiary of Arena Online.

Poker.com, Inc. announced today the launching of three new casino sites: Butterfly Corporation Ltd.'s site at www.casinosigal.com, Bellagio Funding Ltd.'s site at www.realtimevegas.com and World Wide Support Systems Ltd.'s site at www.vipjackpot.com. Poker.com has provided the three licensees with single and multi-player Internet casinos. The list of casino games include blackjack, Caribbean poker, Battle Royale, baccarat, Let it Ride, Pai Gow poker, craps, roulette, slots and video poker.

VIS Entertainment of Scotland is about to become the newest player in the virtual horseracing arena. Thoroughbred Times reports that the company will soon launch a European TV channel that will enable viewers to wager on races with fields composed exclusively of virtual horses racing on computer-generated tracks. The channel, I-Race, will feature races in 10-minute intervals 24/7. The channel will be made available to European digital cable and satellite subscribers in the second quarter of 2002.

Sports.com, the self-proclaimed biggest online sportsbook in Europe, has extended its service to bettors in France, Italy and Spain. Guardian Unlimited reports that the company has launched sites in each of the three countries. "On the continent, where the regulatory framework is different, we will partner the relevant government organizations to introduce an integrated betting service to each of our sites," Sports.com Chief Executive Tom Jessiman told Guardian Unlimited. The company, which generates revenue from betting, advertising and content syndication, also reported that it has more than doubled its number of users to 6.8 million in the past year.

Vegas Pays Tribute to Victims -- For the first time since the death of Frank Sinatra, the casinos and resorts of the Las Vegas Strip extinguished their exterior lights on the evening of Sept. 14 in honor of people who lost friends and relatives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The act was part of a day of prayer. Thomas E. Gallagher, president and chief executive of Park Place Entertainment, said his company's casinos dimmed their non-essential exterior lights as an expression of support. "Our lights are our symbol to the world," he said, "and by turning them off and leaving them off all night, we demonstrate our support in the most visible way."

Names and Faces Changing Places -- The chairman of Stanley Leisure, Leonard Steinberg, announced last week as part of his AGM statement that Lord Baker of Dorking will be the company's new non-executive director, effective immediately. Baker was most recently chairman of business for Serve Plc, Monstermob Ltd. and Northern Edge Ltd. He replaces David Pearl, who held the position since 1994 and is retiring. Stanley Leisure's Jonathan Steinberg is also retiring from his position of non-executive director.

Poker.com announced Monday the appointment of Christa Taylor as its president. Taylor was formerly the company's CFO. In other Poker.com news, its CEO, Michael Jackson, is retiring to pursue consulting and business interests and will consult for the company in the upcoming year. Electing not to appoint a new CEO, Poker.com's board of directors appointed Keith Andrews, most recently vice president of strategic alliances for VERB Exchange, as director of Poker.com.

Bingo.com on Tuesday announced the appointment of new members to its board of directors. They are Peter A. Crossgrove, who is also a member of Premdor Inc.'s board and Tarrnie Williams, Bingo.com's interim chief executive and CEO. Williams will be the board’s chairman.

World Gaming plc appointed David Flemming to vice president of product development. Flemming, who will lead the company's software development strategies, was formerly the CTO of IronLion Management Inc.

At Boss Media, Peter Bertilsson will take the place of Johan Sigvardsson as the company's managing director. For the past few years Bertilsson was the deputy managing director for SBS New Media. Sigvardsson is leaving the position for personal reasons.

The chairman and director of PlayandWin Inc., John G. Simmonds, resigned his position on Wednesday to pursue other opportunities.