Nambling Notes | Aug. 7, 2008

DIVIDENDING CryptoLogic Ltd. reported today a quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, which will be paid on Sept. 15 to company shareholders

COMING SOON Carlyle Gaming & Entertainment Ltd., a company based in Montreal, has launched a new variant of Texas Hold'em called PokerTwin.

The skill-based game is said to remove “the luck of the draw” and allows players to count mostly on skill by giving two different players an identical hand at separate tables. The player’s moves are then compared with the other player holding the same hand.

Said to be “legal in most U.S. jurisdictions,” the game is set for release in the United States during the third quarter of 2008 via dot-com and dot-net sites.

REPORTING Jaxx A.G., the Germany-based gambling operator, revealed in its first-half results that the majority of its revenues are now derived beyond the bounds of the Bundesländer.

Total revenue, it said, was up 86 percent to 58 million euros versus the comparable period last year. By business segment, sports betting contributed 56 percent of revenue, with 24 percent and 20 percent from horse betting and lottery, respectively.

The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship in tandem with the German Jumping Derby -- both June events -- was positive on sales and occasioned customer acquisition.

"We expect to see a further clear improvement in our sales and financial performance in the second half," Stefan Hänel, the company's finance director, said in a prepared statement. "The various measures designed to boost sales and reduce costs that we implemented in the first of the year can now take full effect."

FRIENDLY COMPETITORS Entraction Holding A.B. regained its place above PKR.com of Alderney on PokerScout.com. It’s now ranked at 15th place, hovering just above PKR, which sits at 16th place on the online poker traffic report Web site.

Peter Åström, chief executive of Entraction, said: “In July our competitor PKR announced that they had overtaken our position in the poker rankings at Pokerscout.com. I am happy to announce that the change of places was short, and the Entraction poker network is once again larger than PKR in terms of cash players.

“We are very happy that the Entraction poker network currently outperforms many of our colleagues in the industry with strong growth, both organically and with new partners joining," he went on. "I welcome the positive attitude in PKR’s press release and sincerely hope that they, as well as the rest of the poker industry will join us in future growth and success.”