Switzerland is a potential role model for other non-EU markets such as the United States, the study finds, despite the small national population of the country, which is no bigger than that of London in the UK.

Martin Oelbermann of MECN says that aside from its unforced decision to liberalise, there are other interesting aspects to the Swiss initiative:

1) While most EU countries are focusing liberalisation plans on the online sportsbetting and poker segments (for example France), Switzerland is concentrating on opening up the online casino segment. Therefore, all casino operators (online and offline), usually neglected in liberalisation plans, should pay close attention to the developments in Switzerland.

2) Switzerland additionally has a more enlightened approach to poker, a reason to hope that the online poker segment will also be included in the planned liberalisation.

3) Oelbermann says that Switzerland could prove to be a role model for other non-EU countries like the United States because it is one of the first western countries to open up parts of its gambling market solely as a result of the pressure from commercial competition in shape of foreign online companies. This fact has led many experts to suggest that non-EU markets could benefit from a closer study of the developments in Switzerland.

“The similarities between the Swiss and the US gambling market are clear,” says Oelbermann. “Aside from the World Trade Organisation dispute, both countries can freely contemplate a potential liberalisation without being pressured by third parties such as the European Commission when reviewing and drafting their regulations.

“Moreover, both countries have a strong federal system that allows each state/canton to draft its own gambling regulations. Finding a binding and nationwide regulation for all states/cantons will be a key challenge for both.

“Last but not least, the gambling markets of the US and Switzerland are structured in similar ways.”

Gala Coral is at the centre of several attempts by British private equity companies and lenders to gain control and enable the company to clear some of its GBP 2.6 billion debt burden

Gala operates a significant online bingo and casino business along with land gambling interests of some 2 000 betting shops, 148 bingo clubs and 227 casinos.

Apollo is not inexperienced in matters gambling, holding a substantial shareholding in one of the world’s major gambling enterprises, Harrah’s Entertainment in the United States.

According to a Times Online analysis of the Apollo offer, the American company proposes to pay GBP 250 million to the company’s senior lenders. Junior lenders would be given the remaining 50 percent of the equity. However, Apollo would have majority voting rights, in effect handing it control. The scheme is unlikely to be well received by existing shareholders, who would receive nothing.

Gala’s main lenders are due to deliver their verdict before Christmas on which restructuring proposal they prefer, after which it is likely that the deal will be finalised by the northern hemisphere spring.

mSlots will be concentrating on arcade and casino style slots games with one or two more traditional mobile casino/bingo games, the company said in a statement this week. Products like the 5 reel 20 pay-line Casino Viper slot will be offered alongside more traditional retro UK style fruit machine games such as 777 Heaven.

mSlots will also be getting a new Scratch Card game which is a first of its kind, having the ability to download new graphics ‘on the fly’ and allowing LMGi to be able to bring out new themes on a weekly basis without having to download new applications. Cometa boasts that this is the first mobile game to have this functionality.

Rob Anderson, chief exec at Cometa said: “mSlots.com is a fantastic way to introduce 5 brand new games and our new white label website.
“The mobile gambling market is growing month on month; Cometa saw over GBP2.5 million in wagered bets in Q2 2009 and with projects like mSlots.com is on course for close to GBP 10 million in Q1 2010.

LMGi CEO Paul Stewart, commented: “Working with Cometa was really easy. They provided LMGi with everything we need to enter the rapidly growing mobile gambling arena including some exciting routes to market.”

Lagerman was previously employed in business development and marketing at the Swedish state online gambling monopoly Svenska Spel, where he worked for five years.

Welcoming Lagerman to the company, Mobenga CEO Christian Rajter said he would be based in Stockholm and charged with developing future business possibilities. “Fredrik’s background as the commercial driver at one of the earliest mobile ventures from one of the world’s biggest gambling companies will be an excellent addition to Mobenga,” he said.

In addition to video slots, BlackJack, Roulette and Casino Holdem are now available for iPhone via the Safari browser.

“The iPhone is the first mobile platform which shows real scalable commerce,” said Udy Yosha, CEO of CTXM. “The iPhone share of internet activity makes up 55 percent of mobile internet browsing, which is far more then the iPhone respective market share in the mobile devices market.

“We see the conventional internet range merging with mobile gaming through platforms such as the iPhone and believe there is a great potential for i-gaming in this area.

“We think that acquiring the iPhone market will enable our partners to maximize their gaming revenue.”

Currently, CTXM offers ten game applications through the iPhone AppStore for fun play. The new Safari browser-based versions enable playing for real money as well as gaming account management.

The Commission recently submitted 41 recommendations, among them a notable comment that regulating online gambling and slot machines may be a better course than banning it.

Newell argued that liberalising internet gambling and the uses of credit cards are laws “lacking common sense,” when online gambling revenues grow a quarter every year compared with the 1.1 percent per annum in [land] poker machines.

In a press release issued this week, Newell was protesting the tough restrictions on land “pokies” and said that the Productivity Commission’s recommendations had failed to recognise the contributions that clubs had made to local economies such as employment and donations to charities. His statement included the claim that the new pokie restrictions could be at the cost of 23 000 jobs throughout Australia.

Newell also claimed that the rate of problem gambling on pokies is less than 1 percent, indicating that this sector was not a significant generator of problem gamblers.

The Productivity Commission has prepared 41 draft recommendations following its probe into the gambling industry in Australia.

Among the proposals are restricting poker machine players to bets of A$1 ($1.26), down from the current maximum of A$10, and a A$20 limit on one machine at a time.

The commission has also suggested a A$200 ATM withdrawal limit on cash machines located nearby.

Moodie’s troubles started when his ex-girlfriend’s current partner came across her topless image on a high-traffic online poker information and message board website. She claimed that her image was used without her consent and took the matter to the local police, the regional newspaper John O’ Groats Journal reports.

Moodie apparently admitted to police that he had posted the picture, Wick Sheriff Court heard this week. But because of a lack of corroboration, his trial collapsed and he was found not guilty of committing a breach of the peace.

During the case it transpired that Moodie and the woman had a son, and that their split three years ago had been acrimonious.

Asked about her reaction to seeing her topless image on the website, she said: “I was very alarmed. It was a photo of me that strangers could view. It was quite disturbing - I felt a bit disgraced.”

Moodie’s motive appeared to be rooted in a previous dispute, where he had placed a picture of himself with his son in his personal profile and had his access rights to the child restricted because he had posted his image on a gambling site.

“I just did it as I won’t see my son any more,” he said in an agreed statement.

Moodie’s solicitor submitted that there was no case to answer because no corroborating evidence had been adduced to support Moodie’s acknowledgement that he had posted the picture.

“The Crown would have needed to bring strong evidence that Neil Moodie was the only person who had access to the topless photo and the only person who could have put this picture on the website,” the defence claimed.

Sheriff Margaret Neilson agreed and Moodie was acquitted.

Recent weeks have seen this multi-million dollar pro become - in monetary terms - one of the biggest losers in online poker, but the tenacious Dwan appeared to come largely right on the Full Tilt high stakes tables this time. And to celebrate, he even managed to complete another chunk of his long-running 50 000 hand Challenge with Patrik Antonius.

Dwan started the night with successful $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha hits on Ilari Sahamies and Cole South, taking Ilari and Cole respectively for $144 000 and $304 000.

Switching to $300/$600 NLHE against the apparently and surprisingly still solvent Isildur1, Dwan continued his winning roll over 250 hands, taking the mystery Swede for another $340 000. The two then went at it for another 70 hands of $500/$1 000 that saw Dwan go down almost $100 000, but he had the good sense to call it quits at that point, moving over to take on Sahamies in a short $500/$1 000 PLO heads up that cost him $27 000.

Apparently determined to profit, Dwan challenged Sahamies to another 50 hands down at the $300/$600 level on PLO, a move that paid off handsomely when he won $228 000 from the Finnish pro.

Patrik Antonius and Dwan then sat down to another 2 hour round of action in the long-running million dollar, 50 000 hand Dwan Challenge. This lasted for 588 hands, bringing the players up to 27 773 hands played or 56 percent of the 50 000 hands required to complete the Challenge, according to MarketPulse.

Dwan lost just under $68 000 in the session, eroding his lead in the challenge to $711 556, but was still not done for the night, going on to play the 7-Game tables, where he won another $150 000 for an overall profit on the night of almost $980 000. The books now show that Dwan is down around the $4.7 million mark over the year to date.

MarketPulse statistics on the Dwan Challenge show:

* Total amount wagered so far: $223 611 528
* Amount Dwan is ahead: $711 556
* Biggest pot of the current session: $155 200
* Hands played overall so far: 27 773
* Percentage of challenge completed so far: 56 percent
* Hours played in the challenge to date: 88 hours

Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino in Hallandale Beach began offering virtual blackjack Friday evening, shortly after the state signed off on its checklist of regulations, reports the Comtex news agency.

Five Blackjack players who can bet between $5 to $200 sit around a TV monitor in the new venue. The dealer on the screen then plays out the hand.

Earlier this year, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering approved the offering of virtual blackjack, and Broward County’s three state-supervised casinos started filing paperwork to add the facility.

Manufacturer Shuffle Master Inc. agreed to give Gulfstream the games first. The Isle Casino & Racing in Pompano Beach and Mardi Gras Gaming in Hallandale Beach plan to add them the week of December 21, officials from those casinos told Comtex.

Gulfstream Vice President Steve Calabro expects that each of the five seats at the four banks of machines will produce better profits than slot machines, which typically generate between $100 and $200 a day. The executive said he does not have big expectations, but virtual blackjack offers an innovate way to play that will appeal to clientele.

“It adds another spoke to our wheel,” he said. Gulfstream gamblers who like the slots, horses and poker now have an additional option.

The new machines are called “Royal Match 21,” because they offer side bets. If a player wagers $1 and is dealt king-queen of the same suit, for example, it pays $25.

The grueling competition begins on Mondays. Players have to wager at least $500 on Mondays and Tuesdays on any of the online slot games on offer at InterCasino and at the same time make a profit in order to survive and continue in the competition. On Wednesdays the survivors will be categorized into three different groups depending on the amount that they have wagered during the two earlier days. Players who have just crossed the minimum requirement of $500 will be in the Bronze band. Players who have wagered at least $1,250 will be in the Silver band. And players who have wagered more than $4,000 on Mondays and Tuesdays will be in the Gold band.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays players have to wager at least the qualifying amount for their band. Not only that they have to ensure that they continue to make a profit on both days. Only those players who fulfill both these above conditions will qualify for the big survivor event on Friday. On Friday the survivors have to again wager the minimum amount stipulated in their qualifying bands and also have to again register a profit. Those who have managed to survive all through meeting all the eligibility criteria will win the jackpots. At InterCasino, prizes are being awarded for players who have failed to survive as well. Therefore there is absolutely no harm in trying because if players cannot win the big one, they are very likely to win one of the other prizes.

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