Six-figure agreement will initially be for a year

Online bookmaker and gaming company Victor Chandler has announced it is to become the official sponsor of Coca-Cola Championship football club Nottingham Forest for the season 09/10 for an initial one-year term for a significant six-figure sum. Victor Chandler has secured a wide range of Nottingham Forest rights. The historic Victor Chandler brand will appear on Forest’s new home and away kits, as well as adult replica kits. The famous Victor Chandler script logo will have a major presence in The City Ground, and will become the In-Stadia betting partner. In addition Victor Chandler has plans for promotions and benefits for adult season ticket holders and fans purchasing the new home and away shirts. Victor Chandler make Nottingham Forest a best price 40/1 to win the Championship this season, and 10/1 to be promoted to the Premier League by any means. They are 11/10 to finish above local rivals Derby County and ...

Say that just won’t go away

There has been continued speculation this week on whether one of Britain's biggest online and land gambling groups, William Hill plc, is getting set to move its online operations out of the UK. It's a frequently raised possibility triggered by rising taxes and competition (see previous InfoPowa reports). Adding weight to the rumours this week was an interview given to the Financial Times by Will Hill's CEO Ralph Topping. “We face worldwide competition from 400 or so English-language betting websites," the executive said. "In these circumstances, clearly we do not have the luxury of being parochial about our future or taking a simplistic stance on complicated issues.” Topping went on to cite competitive pressure from low-tax jurisdiction rivals such as Paddy Power and Bwin, triggering renewed rumours that the UK company was seriously considering moving its key telephone and Internet betting operations offshore. Topping has in the past commented that he sees ...

InternetSafety Selected to Power BetStopper, Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation’s Program to Combat Youth Casinos and Gaming

InternetSafety today announced that it developed and is powering the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation's (NSGC) new BetStopper software, a free tool being offered toNova Scotia families to help combat online youth gambling. The program - the world's first online gambling blocking software - utilizes InternetSafety.com's award-winning web filtering technology to prevent users from accessing online gambling sites. BetStopper was introduced at the 5th Annual We Love Our Children Expo that took place last weekend inNova Scotia. The software was developed in response to research showing thatNova Scotia youth are gambling online three times more frequently than adults. Many of the more than 2,500 casino-style Internet gambling sites fail to enforce access and age restrictions. Some studies have shown that that the average adult problem gambler started gambling at age 10, so youth gambling is a real concern. NSGC selected InternetSafety.com as its technology provider because of the market success of the ...

Waves of fun aboard the Carnival Pride

When I heard Carnival Cruise Lines would begin sailing year-round from Baltimore, I was not excited. I was glad that it meant more jobs and a boost to Maryland's economy, but a Carnival cruise wasn't going to be part of my vacation plans. You see, Carnival and I parted company years ago after I took a disappointing cruise from Miami. The food was unappetizing, the passengers unruly and the ship unremarkable. It seemed most of the guests brought booze while I brought my mother. Mom and I haven't cruised together since. But cruising has become such a growth industry for Maryland, mostly because home ports -- places where travelers can hop on a cruise ship without ever getting on a plane -- have been so successful. With a couple of ships newly arriving to the port of Baltimore this year, and with Carnival being the largest, I decided I needed to give ...

French Charter Issued to Help Promote Casinos

As the French government makes preparations for regulating online gambling, albeit to a limited extent, the online media group known as "Geste" has released two charters calling for responsible gaming practices. Stemming from a study that began earlier this year, the charters seek to give European online gambling operators an accepted standard by which to follow, thus ensuring the online gambling industry in France is viewed as a socially responsible and legitimate industry in the "trying" years to come. Indeed, the immediate years to come will be a time in which all eyes will be closely set on France's online gambling industry. As the French government is expected to open their internet gaming market to outside operators one year from now, a surge of gambling activity is likewise expected. Just how much of a surge will help regulators and analysts gauge the impacts of regulation, including it's efficacy at preventing problem ...

Poker Hall of Fame Nominations Stay Public

Thanks to extensive media coverage of the world's largest high stakes tournaments, over the last few years poker has become something of a public sport, and (despite all odds) pro poker players have become instant celebrities. You can follow their blogs, read their books, even catch them competing on reality TV. So if millions of screaming tweens can vote on their favorite dancers, singers, and models then why can't adult poker fans vote on their favorite pros? Now they can. This week the people at WSOP kicked off their 40th Annual World Series of Poker with a few special announcements. The instant gratification offered by online poker and online poker news has spoiled the at-home crowd, and they'll no doubt be pleased to hear that this year they'll even get a say in the Poker Hall of Fame nominations. And who better to decide which names deserve the honor than ...

All meet in a memorable heads up

The A$2 700 buy-in PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) concluded at the Crown Casino in Melbourne this week with a victory for Chris Levick, a high profile Australian entrepreneur who has launched a number of poker rooms and the successful Oz Poker Tour over the past three years. Levick won his place in the tournament on a free roll, making the occasion even more memorable for him. It was a clash between business and the media in the heads up, where Levick faced runner-up Heath Chick (30), a poker journalist and commentator. When Levick was declared the winner, it was his third cash - and first win - in a major live tournament, with the A$158 050 main prize taking his career winnings to date to A$169 668. The two were survivors of an initial field of 218 hopefuls that included seasoned players and 61 online qualifiers. Levick dominated the final ...

Poker wedding for 2 Kiwi lovebirds

The entertaining New Zealand edition of the international magazine Stuff reported last week on an all-in poker wedding sponsored by the Christchurch Casino in a "To Have and To Hold" innovative promotion for poker couples. The promo saw nine engaged couples playing for two-and-a-half hours over the weekend with the main prize a sponsored wedding, followed by a 7 day Las Vegas honeymoon at the MGM Grand. The winners were Hollie and Perry Vogel, both in their early twenties, who fast-forwarded their September 2009 wedding plans on winning the tournament and were married right away. With a stack bolstered by Hollie's winnings from a Queens and nines full house, it took Perry just 10 minutes of heads-up play to land a tournament-winning pair of aces. Those cards defeated a pair of fives and saw Perry, 21, and Hollie, 22, married three hours later. Perry's poker skills were honed in friendly games, while Hollie took ...

Bodog and Haydock Sports deal start at fruition

Manila-based and First Cagayan licensed Haydock Sports has launched its Asian-facing Bodog88.com website, complete with a live dealer casino by Entertasia, and in English and Chinese language options. The launch is the fruition of a deal signed earlier this year between Bodog and Haydock Sports with the Asian market in mind. Haydock's 9play brand has now been absorbed into the better known Bodog offering. The Bodog Brand is licensed exclusively in Asia to Haydock Sports Limited, which has been operating in Asia since 2006. It is headed up by the former Managing Director of Asia for Victor Chandler Ltd, Ian Dunning. The move into the Asian market follows a Bodog agreement some 18 months ago to license its North American brand to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group based in the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake, and lead by Olympic kayaking champion Alwyn Morris.

Will you be paid out immediately and in full if you hit that once-in-a-lifetime jackpot?

Players have characterised the T&Cs on progressive jackpots at a number of online gambling websites as predatory this week as the forum row over Joyland Casino and player SylvieP continues to reverberate around the Internet (see previous InfoPowa report). Briefly summarised, the issue involved a Canadian player who hit the jackpot for $4 188 719.98 playing the Beach Life progressive slot at Joyland - a Playtech powered brand which is now (but was not at the time of the big win) part of the William Hill Online group following the major Playtech-Will Hill deal earlier this year. The "win" was widely publicised as one of the biggest jackpots ever paid out. The sad thing is that the player only received about half of the winnings. It turns out that the Terms and Conditions under which the player gambled at Joyland specified a maximum payout of $9 000 a month. This would mean ...