A Gambling Miscellany; including Mike Tyson, Roman Abramovich, The Chancellor of the Exchequer.... some stuff, more things...

Massive US Homeland Crackdown on Dangerous Illegal Pigeon Gambling Saga.

Both Mr Michael Tyson, well known former gloved boxing type, and Animal Planet (Apparently it’s a TV Station showing moving pictures of wildlife) are supposedly the target of an investigation following accusations of illegal gambling. This follows Tyson’s new TV show about some really fast flying birds or something. I’ve lost the will to live.... but you can read more here if you really want to.

Veni Vidi Vici for Roman.... Abramovich!

Chelsea have won something. No wait a minute that’s not right! Russian squillionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of London ballkickers Chelski has won something.
We can exclusively report that someone told us that Reuters already reported that reported reports, published in Italian newspaper La Repubblica last May, alleged Mr Abramovich had lost a lot in a game of poker and was consequently forced to hand over a luxury rowing boat worth half a country. Well it transpires that this may not have been true. Read the full (real) and life changing story here.

TAX ME DARLING!

In TAX NEWS, The Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will raise Amusement machine licence duty and casino gaming duty bands in line with inflation. These are the last changes prior to a General Election. So my fellow peeps in the gambling world it’s make-your-mind-up time, get out your phones and text in who you want to vote out of Number 10.

Now some worthy news:

Gala Bingo has pledged greater support to Sue Ryder Care with a series of special online bingo games.

"Gala Bingo is increasing the number of charity games on its leading online bingo site to help raise £1.5million for Sue Ryder Care". Full story on the gala site here.


And finally, some genuinely sad news reported by The Scottish Sun.

Scotland football legend Colin Hendry is being chased for gambling debts.
The Scottish Sun revealed earlier this week the ex-Rangers and Blackburn star was facing a bankruptcy hearing.
It claims the online betting firm Spreadex have filed a petition against him for reported debts of £35,000.
More on this story here.

visit eGaming Consulting, online betting and gambling consultants at www.egamingc.com

Rien ne va plus? Online Gambling in France.

With the French parliament nearing the point of putting the final seal of approval to its gaming bill and rumours that the French regulatory licence will be active by the time the World Cup kicks off, even the most detached observer cannot help but wonder how the French market and companies operating in the territory at present will react. All eyes are on March 30th and the National Assembly where the bill returns for a second reading prior to approval from the European Union as well as France’s Supreme and Constitutional courts. All this in a period when another great lumbering European machine, UEFA, has taken it upon itself to implement French law in Spain much to the astonishment and annoyance of BetClic, an important player in the French Market.

The French bill itself is no surprise, indeed it has long been awaited by big international corporations and small “local” companies which have been preparing and positioning for the new opportunity, after all, Italy has led the way and proved to be a highly rewarding investment on both sides. AAMS (the Italian state monopoly) has skilfully managed to attract investments from all the Big Guys and is getting ready to license poker cash games and casino games.

Stanley Bet has announced that it is set to challenge the legality of the French law changes as it is yet to receive any reply from the French authorities following a licence application in June 2009.

AAMS regulated skill games, managed to channel the old “.COM” bingo and casino games revenue stream into scratch cards and play for money skill games netting 289 million euros in January 2010.

The French licence will cover only sports betting and poker, two main sources of acquisition sharing similar demographics. But where will the cash rich players enjoying the monotonous “rien ne va plus” go? Furthermore what will all those companies making massive profits from casino play do? Will they play by the book? What would you do as an operator in France and how do you see the business going?

Let us know if you would go “all in” or place multiples on the French league? PLEASE COMMENT BELOW.

Robbers raid Berlin European Poker Tour event

Armed robbers stormed a hotel in Berlin, today, where a leg of the European Poker Tour was taking place, German police have reported.

There are reports of several injuries in the incident, in which apparently around 800k Euros were stolen from the event at the Grand Hyatt.

The robbery happened this afternoon around 14:30 CET but the tournament did later resume. See some live footage of the robbery by clicking here.

Reports suggested the robber escaped into the crowds outside and there were no serious injuries.