• eCogra Launches Major Responsible Gaming Initiative

Barring under-age aspirant players and protecting addicted gamblers from harming themselves financially is at the centre of the latest initiative launched by self regulatory body eCommerce and Online Gaming, Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA). The 56 major online casinos and poker rooms bearing the organisation’s seal will be implementing specific in-house policies and a comprehensive range of independently enforced requirements designed in collaboration with the G4 responsible gambling group. The introduction of the regulations follows an intensive training session for seal casino managers which took place recently, and cover a wide spectrum of problem gambling activities from warning under-aged players off to excluding gamblers with a problem. All sites will be required to carry a prominent Responsible Gaming section in which the dangers of under-age and problem gambling are explained. 7 day “cooling off,” 6 month self-exclusion or deposit limiting mechanisms will be provided for gamblers who suspect they may be in difficulties. Staff will be on the alert for playing and financial patterns that may indicate an addictive gambler. Scientifically developed, short self-help diagnostic questionnaires will be included together with links to problem gambling assistance bodies around the world. Training programs are being set up at each casino to give staff tuition on how to identify and handle problem gamblers, and the use of ID verification technology as part of the registration process has been formalised, although this is already in use at many operations. Special attention is being devoted to preventing underage gamblers from getting through the casinos’ screening processes, using the latest technology, ID techniques and strong warnings that underage players will be disqualified and barred. The new requirements caution marketing departments of seal casinos against sending any promotional or marketing literature to any player who may be a problem gambler, or those who are underage, or using media primarily targeted on teenagers. “Play for free” games on the sites will be linked to the same age restriction, responsible gaming and player protection information as the “real money” sections. eCOGRA has taken the position that players must be of legal gambling age in their home jurisdictions, but has in any case set an absolute minimum of 18 years. CEO Andrew Beveridge says that the new initiative is one of the most comprehensive and widespread responsible gambling efforts yet seen in the online gaming industry. “We’re very serious about this, and have the full backing of our seal casinos. Knowingly allowing or enticing under-age or problem gamblers to play is morally wrong, and once the regulations have been implemented the independent accounting firms on our Audit Panel will be paying particular attention to the consistent application of these rules by seal casinos,” he said.

> Read the full story here Source : Press Release

• Andy Black Wins the WilliamHillPoker.com Player Award

LONDON, UK -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Andy Black is the latest recipient of the coveted WilliamHillPoker.com European rankings (powered by PokerinEurope.com) player of the month award. His fantastic 5th place finish in this years $10,000 buy in at the World Series of Poker main event, earned the popular Irishman over $1.7 million in prize money and was voted the outstanding performance in an exceptional month for European poker. Andy played his way through a field of over 5600 players to take his share of the historic $56 million prize pool. His $1.7 million prize is the biggest single cash in WSOP history by a European player. Phil Quayle, Poker Room Manager at williamhillpoker.com said' Andy's performance in the main event was an outstanding one, with a little more luck in some of the crucial pots at the final table, and European poker could have been celebrating its latest and greatest bracelet winner. This made Andy a deserving winner of the WilliamHillpoker.com European Rankings Player of the Month Award.' Other individual performances of note came from the 2004/2005 European Rankings number 1, Willie Tann, who claimed a bracelet and $180,000 in the $1000 hold em event and Roland De Wolfe, for his fantastic win in the WPT event in Paris, earning him over 400,000 euro. Previous winners of the WilliamHillPoker.com European rankings (powered by PokerinEurope.com) player of the month award include Rob Hollink, Paul Maxfield, Peter Gunnarsen and Lawrence Gosney. Current rankings can be viewed at http://www.pokerineurope.com/frontpage/index.php WilliamHillPoker.Com is the online poker room of William Hill Organisation, the UK's most respected bookmaker since 1934. The online poker room hosts in excess of 10,000 players daily and offers the widest range of cash tables, single- and multi-table tournaments, daily cash tournament guarantees of over £30,000. Poker 425 ' is broadcast at 11pm each Wednesday night, and repeated at the same time nightly throughout the week with news features, player interviews and pro-player tips from the European Poker Tour: www.poker425.com.

> Read the full story here Source : Press Release

• Bodog.com Mingles With MTV Music Awards And Ocean Drive

With the MTV Music Awards just around the corner, Bodog.com has joined forces with Miami magazine, “Ocean Drive” to launch the Bodog’s Ocean Drive Music Awards Weekend to coincide with the popular awards ceremony. Partying will commence on Friday, 26 August at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, where media and celebrities will mingle, followed by the “Official Celebration” on Saturday, where a host of stars will be in attendance at the prestigious event. Poker will also be on offer as Bodog.com will provide guests with poker tables and instructions for those who need a little help. In addition to Bodog.com’s involvement with the weekend, the online gambling site has also released odds on who will take home an MTV award, with Kanye West the favourite for Video of the Year with “Jesus Walks”.

> Read the full story here Source : OnlineCasinoNews.com

• Wireless Gaming Innovator Seeks Investor Interest

The leading innovator of wireless platform software Phantom Fiber Corporation will present its latest technology solutions, business strategies and growth prospects at the Desjardins Technology Series. Canada's largest financial cooperative group, Desjardins, will host the presentation in Toronto on August 10, 2005. Phantom Fiber's 3rd Generation Advanced Wireless Platform supports more than 1,000 mobile devices and is already deployed to most segments of the global gaming industry. First to market with real-time mobile gaming, Phantom Fiber supports the launch of mobile initiatives; attracting attention from leading gaming providers such as GoldenPalaceMobile.com, BetCris.com, BetWWTS.com, VIPSports.com and CaribSports.com. Now considered a highly important part of the online gaming, betting and gambling world, Phantom Fiber extends the rich multimedia content and user experience of existing Internet websites securely and instantly to a range of wireless devices including PDAs and programmable cellphones. Players also benefit from using a single account and password already established through Internet waging websites for use on mobile applications. The up-coming presentation at Desjardins follows the success of the Southern California Investment Association's National Small Cap Conference on August 6, 2005. Jeff Halloran, President and CEO of Phantom Fiber, commented: “The feedback we received from SCIA was very positive and we look forward to presenting at many more investor conferences”.

> Read the full story here Source : iGamingBusiness.com

• Going All In For Online Poker

Aug. 15, 2005 issue - Jason Kim was on a roll. One night last month, the 33-year-old policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Commerce won $60 in just 15 minutes of virtual, low-stakes Texas hold 'em on the popular online gambling site PartyPoker.com. Playing from his home PC against a half dozen strangers from around the world, Kim won three hands with a pocket pair of aces, a two pair of kings and nines and, finally, by turning a full house from what poker pros disdainfully call "the hammer"—a seven and two of different suits. But when he's not sitting at his computer these days, Kim has a different moneymaking scheme on his mind: betting on the poker sites, instead of at them. Earlier this year he invested in the stock of Internet bank Neteller, which allows players to gamble online with real dollars, and recently he began studying the stock of PartyGaming, the parent company of PartyPoker."Everyone is going to be playing online in a couple of years," he says. "I want to get in before the gold rush really starts." He may already be too late. Thanks to the never-ending broadcasts of celebrity and professional poker tournaments, poker is now the third most-watched televised sport on cable TV—behind only car racing and football. Business in the roughly 300 major virtual poker halls of the Net is booming, and in late June, five-year-old PartyGaming, based on the tiny European peninsula of Gibraltar, was among the first to take a crucial step for any ambitious dot-com: it went public on the London Stock Exchange, where its stock has since shot up 40 percent. Other poker dot-coms are now lining up to follow suit and big American investment funds are throwing in their chips and investing. Only the U.S. casino giants are left on the sidelines, banned from the action because of one remarkable fact: despite its success, online poker is technically illegal in America, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Still, as Web poker booms, the Feds aren't doing much to stifle the party. "Everybody is comfortable that the U.S. government is not going to take any enforcement action," says Las Vegas lawyer Anthony Cabot. [...]

> Read the full story here Source : MSNBC.MSN.com

• Shake Up At Moneymaker To Attract Younger Generation

Chris Moneymaker, founder of the MoneyMaker eCommerce website, has made an agreement with bep Consulting to give the site an overhaul. The site offers players a Texas Hold’em poker experience and bep, an interactive marketing firm, has been engaged to increase the sites revenue. The site is hoping to attract a younger audience, the updated site will be hoping to use the latest marketing technology and celebrity branding to appeal to the 18-34 male demographic. “When I started Moneymaker Gaming, I could have selected any consulting company in the country. I quickly became convinced that bep could best capture the essence of today's poker world. Hard core poker players understand that the style of the experience is just as important as the game itself to those who are playing it, and bep delivered that for Moneymaker Gaming,” said former World Series of Poker winner, Chris Moneymaker.

> Read the full story here Source : OnlineCasinoNews.com

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