1st US Online Casino

Ladbrokes, a major listed online and land gambling group in the UK, has made a preliminary takeover approach for rival Sportingbet, sending Sportingbet’s shares surging higher, reports the Reuters news agency.

“Further to recent press speculation, the board of Sportingbet announces that it has received a highly preliminary approach from Ladbrokes plc, which may or may not lead to an offer being made to purchase the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company,” Sportingbet said on Thursday.

Sportingbet shares surged 12% after it the approach from Ladbrokes, while Ladbrokes shares slipped by 0.3%.

Earlier this year Ladbrokes broke of acquisition negotiations with internet gambling group 888.

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has expressed its disappointment that gambling has been excluded from the general scope of the Consumer Rights Directive between EU institutions.

The RGA commented as follows:

Gamblers left out of the Consumer Rights Directive

In the context of the agreement just reached between the EU institutions on the final text of the Consumer Rights Directive, the RGA regrets that the interest of some Member States in excluding gambling from the scope of any piece of EU legislation has prevailed over the protection of online gamblers.

The RGA is committed to promoting a well-regulated industry that provides a secure environment in which consumers can enjoy their gambling in a responsible manner and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

The RGA welcomed the European Commission’s proposal for a Consumer Rights Directive, which laid down general requirements for businesses in their contracts with consumers. T

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Aaron Steury, a 24-year-old poker pro from Fort Wayne, Indiana, demonstrated his mastery of Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Stud Eight or Better over the three tough days of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. m

(Read the full post about ‘WSOP: Fort Wayne pro best in field of 963′…)

Party Casino reports that a female player who has elected to remain completely anonymous has hit its progressive slot The Big One on Melon Madness for $4,445,947.40. Whilst not an internet gambling record, the prize is among the biggest ever awarded in online gaming.

Remarkably, the lucky lady had only been a customer for nine days when she hit the progressive online jackpot.

She becomes the second woman in a matter of weeks to hit a life changing jackpot after Cameeq8 won $1,986,161.61 through the Gold Mega Jackpot playing SuperStar in early May.

In total, over $8 million in big jackpots were won by women alone at Party Casino during the month of May, the company claims.

Commenting on her $4.4 million windfall, the latest big winner said she had taken a two week break to help the news to sink in.

(Read the full post about ‘Party Casino’s “The Big One” pays out $4,445,947.40′…)

Online betting companies are believed to have again played a key role in flagging suspicious betting patterns in Wednesday’s football clash between Nigeria and Argentina, according to press reports.

(Read the full post about ‘Nigeria-Argentina match under investigation’…)

A powerful New Jersey union is telling its members that work for an Atlantic City casino to sign up for food stamps. In a move designed to make Resorts Casino Hotel look bad, Local 54 of Unite-HERE handed out leaflets yesterday telling employees of the casino to sign up for government assistance to make ends meet.

New management recently took over Resorts Casino, which is failing and was destined to close. Dennis Gomes, co-owner of the casino, decided to revamp their image, giving it a sexy Roaring Twenties theme. The hope is that business will increase with the casino’s new look. In the meantime, the casino had to cut pay in order to stay afloat. T

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Lennart Käll (52) has been appointed chief executive officer of Sweden’s state-owned gambling monopoly, Svenska Spel .

Käll will assume the position in the next six months and replaces acting CEO Anders Hägg .

“I am very pleased to announce Lennart Käll as new CEO. He has a solid and sustained record of development and change management and sales and marketing at several companies. In addition, he possesses excellent leadership qualities will be valuable in the development of Svenska Spel ahead,” said Anitra Steen , Chairperson, Svenska Spel.

A bill positioning the gambling state of Nevada to benefit from any federal legalisation of internet poker has passed through the Assembly, albeit in a somewhat stripped down form.

The bill calls for the state to develop a licensing process for online poker businesses by January 2012, and has passed barely a month after Black Friday, when federal enforcement officials shut down the US operations of Pokerstars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker.

The Associated Press news agency reports that the Nevada Assembly unanimously passed the measure, which calls on Nevada regulators to design rules that would only take effect after the federal government legalises online gambling.

A federal bill has already been introduced in Congress, authored by Congressmen Barney Frank and John Campbell.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where author Assemblyman William Horne expects it will pass, leaving only the governor’s signature to bring it into law.

Horne, who had originally proposed that Pokerstars be allowed to license, said the measure highlighted a need.

“Where there’s a void of regulation, there’s corruption,” he claimed.

Horne’s bill stipulates that online sites would need to have a partnership with an existing non-restricted gambling license holder or an affiliate that has been in business for at least five years.

The Irish Government is currently involved in an initiative to reform its archaic gambling laws which will include the regulation of online gambling and there have been various proposals to increase the betting tax from one percent to two percent which to date have not come to fruition.

Coveney said that he believed that the Department of Finance would find it difficult to continue significant state payments to the Horse and Greyhound Fund in the current financial climate and that the industry should be financed entirely by an increased betting tax.

(Read the full post about ‘Minister supports any Irish Government proposals aimed at increasing betting taxes’…)

The Spanish Congress, or lower house, has approved Spain’s gambling reform bill, which includes extensive provisions for online gambling legalisation. The bill was substantially amended in debate through the Congress Finance Committee, it is understood, although full details were not available at press time. The bill now moves to the Spanish Senate for further debate and voting, after which it will be submitted to the European Commission.

Industry observers have opined that the speed of the bill’s passage thus far could result in its provisions being implemented, and the online gambling market in Spain opened up, before the end of 2011.

The legislation represents the first major overhaul of gambling law since the pastime was decriminalised in 1977, Nerja Today reports.

(Read the full post about ‘Senate to mull over gamling bill in Spain’…)