Nambling Notes | Aug. 13, 2008

POKER PLAYING REPUBLICANS The Poker Players Alliance said today that its members want the Republican Party to return to return to core conservative values.

In a prepared statement on the P.P.A.'s Web site, the group said that over 160 of its members, poker players all, have commented on the Republican Platform Committee's Web site, urging the party to protect poker players' individual freedom to play poker online.

Comments include that of Greg Raymer, a professional poker player and 2004 World Series of Poker champion.

"My point is simple," Mr. Raymer said. "Is the Republican Party no longer the party of personal freedom and individual responsibility? Why has this party, that used to protect my rights, now become the party that wants to create a Nanny-state? Stay away from issues of personal liberty, except to remove old laws that restrict these liberties,"

On July 30, Representative Pete Sessions, a Republican of Texas, introduced a bill urging the attorney general to focus all federal prosecution efforts relating to Internet gambling on sports betting. The P.P.A. opposes the bill because it includes language inferring that poker is a criminal activity.

Click here to read the full press release.

NO CHANGE Findings from an annual survey by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission show the same number of people participating in remote gambling as the year before.

Results from the survey, which was conducted by interviewing 8,000 British adults, reveal that 8.8 percent of the population has used at least one form of remote gambling either on a computer, cell phone or through digital TV, from September 2007 to June 2008. The survey yielded the same number in 2007 and a smaller number -- 7.2 percent -- in 2006.

The survey, which is published quarterly, said those participating in remote gambling are more likely to be male than female, aged 18 to 44 years old. Computers and laptops turned out to be more popular at 6.9 percent than mobile phones (2.3 percent) and digital TV (2 percent).

According to survey results, more than 5 percent of respondents told researchers they had gambled remotely on the National Lottery in the previous month.

HOTTING UP Gaming companies from across Europe placed bids on a 10-year license for Iddaa, a Turkish sports-betting game, according to Bloomberg.

Bidders vying for the game include Ladbrokes, the London-listed bookmaker, and a joint venture between Lottomatica SpA, the operator of the Italian national lottery, Snai SpA, an Italian gaming and betting operator, and Dogan Yayin Holdings, a media-entertainment conglomerate in Turkey.

The deputy chief of Turkey’s gaming authority told reporters on Tuesday the winner of the game will be announced in 20 days. Iddaa is currently operated by a joint venture, Inteltek, which consists of Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., a mobile phone provider, and Intralot S.A., the Greek lottery operator and gaming technology provider.

“The current operator is keeping about 7 percent of revenue,'' Toygun Onaran, an analyst at EFG Istanbul Securities, told Bloomberg. “I think we'll see bids below that. There's some aggressive interest.”