The protracted legal battle between Governor Steve Beshear and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) over the attempted seizure of 140 domain names has finally reached the Kentucky Supreme Court.
This week, the Kentucky court will review the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling that an old statute forbidding gambling devices had not been intended to include domain names, as suggested by iMEGA representative attorney Jon L. Fleischaker. (Gambling Online Magazine)
Google received the highest approval, from the Queen, to allow companies to buy sponsored links for the online gambling in UK. Google stopped advertising online gambling in the search results pages in 2004 after the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) and the express claim of the US addressed to the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN) when these SE were charged together $31.5m because they accepted online ads promoting illegal gambling, during the last ten years.
The advertisers using this service will have to be regulated in Britain or Europe and would have to have internet links to organisations helping problem gamblers.
“We’ve decided to amend our policy to allow text ads to appear against search queries related to gambling in Great Britain. We hope this will enhance the search experience for users and help advertisers connect with interested consumers. Gambling ads will automatically be classified as Non-Family Safe which means they will not show on any search where the user has applied the Safe Search filter.“, says James Cashmore, Head of Technology, Industry Markets Group, Google UK.
Although Kentucky’s culture is generally considered to be Southern, it is unique and also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distiling, tobacco, horse racing, and gambling.
The biggest day in horse racing, the Kentucky Derby, is preceded by the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival in Louisville. Louisville also plays host to the Kentucky State Fair, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and Southern gospel’s annual highlight, the National Quartet Convention. Owensboro, Kentucky’s third largest city, gives credence to its nickname of “Barbecue Capital of the World” by hosting the annual International Bar-B-Q Festival. Bowling Green, Kentucky’s fifth largest city and home to the only assembly plant in the world that manufactures the Chevrolet Corvette, opened the National Corvette Museum in 1994. (Wikipedia)
PC World – Kentucky May Kill Online Gambling Permanently
The state of Kentucky’s attempt to block resident’s access to 141 online gambling sites has proceeded to the next level, as a Franklin County Circuit Court …
Kentucky Judge Rules: Forfeit Gambling Domains | WebProNews
In essence, the Judge has ruled that the domains related to online gambling operations will be seized by the State of Kentucky unless the sites somehow …
Kentucky Threatens to Forfeit Gambling Domains
Supporters of online gambling on Friday lashed out at a Kentucky circuit court ruling ordering owners of 141 domain names to appear at a hearing next month …
KY judge gives gambling sites 30 days to block users | ZDNet …
Richard Koman delivers news and analysis on IT and enterprise computing in city, state & federal government.
Kentucky Court Affirms Seizure of 141 Gambling Domain Names & the …
Judge Thomas Wingate’s Ruling today in the matter of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. 141 Internet Domain Names has dismissed all objection – Domain Name …
Poker News – Kentucky judge rules against gambling domains …
In the Kentucky domain name seizure case, the court ruled against the domain name defendants and in favor of the state on virtually every issue.
Opinion and Order in Kentucky Online Gambling Domain Case (In Its …
Edward Leyden, President of The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, on Thursday declared “We are going to fight like Hell”.
Judge upholds move to stop Internet gambling sites – State …
Dozens of Internet gambling sites have 30 days to block Kentucky users or their domain names will be transferred to the state, a Franklin Circuit judge …
MediaPost Publications – Kentucky Court Says Gambling Sites Must …
Kentucky Court Says Gambling Sites Must Restrict Access – 10/17/2008.
Ky. judge allows gambling Web site case to proceed – Forbes.com
A Franklin County Circuit Court judge refused Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to block access to more than 140 online casinos in Kentucky.
Decision in the Kentucky Gambling Domain Seizure Case
boogster
… against the state of Kentucky’s initiative and ruled that the owners of the websites — other than those sites that are used only for advertising or information and not gambling — start blocking access to Kentucky residents. … Kentucky Gambling Decision to be Released Thursday
The governor is not claiming to protect the citizens of the commonwealth from ‘the evils of gambling.’ Instead, he is trying to have them all to himself. That is because Gov. Steve Beshear is a big supporter of gambling in Kentucky, …
kentucky gambling decision to be released today
trujm
instead, he is trying to have them all to himself. that is because gov. steve beshear is a big supporter of gambling in kentucky, and he wants to keep the money. so why not use his and the kentucky courts’ power to take out the … Computer Glitch Defers Kentucky Gambling Domain Ruling
The future of 141 online gambling domains was left in the hands of Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate yesterday, but late in the day, the word came down from the judge’s office that the ruling would have to wait until Thursday, …
Kentucky judge rules against gambling domains
18, the Commonwealth presented evidence that computers located in Kentucky were, “through the use of domain names,” able to access gambling Web sites over the Internet offering online slot machines, roulette and poker. … Timeline Unclear for Wednesday Release of Kentucky Gambling Verdict
Dan Cypra
The verdict in the case that pits the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky against 141 internet gambling domain names is scheduled to be released on Wednesday. However, how and when the decision will be …
kentucky gambling verdict to be released today
EmmaMav
the kentucky gambling verdict is a ruling that will decide whether if several poker websites will be quarantined and not used in governor steve beshear’s state, kentucky, or if the websites will be permitted there. it has been anxiously … Ruling Expected Soon in Kentucky Gambling Domain Case
A decision is expected to be passed down shortly by Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate in the ongoing gambling domain name saga. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear wants 141 of the most popular online gambling domain names …
Kentucky Gambling Domain Decision Delayed
It looks like the judge in charge of the online gambling domain seizure case in Kentucky will render his decision late. More… Kentucky Circuit Court Dismisses Objections to Seizure of Gambling …
Fate89
Last month, the Commonwealth of Kentucky seized a number of gambling domain names because the â€oedomains were being used in connection with illegal gambling activity.†The names included widely popular online destinations such as …
Video: Are We Witnessing the Death of Online Gambling (Tension is continuing to build as Kentucky moves forward with its action against illegal gambling websites. As we have reported, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear ordered a seizure of 141 gambling domain names. A hearing took place last week in which many motions were filed. [WebProNews, 10/03/08])
US gambling revenue dropped 15% in May. In Las Vegas, the percentage is 16.4%. As for Atlantic City, the casinos gambling revenue down 11% in June, comparing with the same month of the last year (a single casino shows an increase in revenue, Harrah’s Resort Casino). In Illinois, gambling revenue was down more than 20 percent in June compared to June 2007.
The analyst Robin Farley of UBS wrote in a report that “the decline in Strip revenues is worse than the period immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 and except for January 2002 is the worst monthly performance in more than 10 years…The weakness in gaming revenues was not confined exclusively to the Strip as the Las Vegas locals market declined 19.5% in May, bringing year to date revenues down 8.7%.”
Sands, Wynn, Boyd… everything is sliding.
“The decline appears to be accelerating,” said Nick Danna, an analyst with Stern Agee & Leach.
Jim Murren, president of MGM Mirage, says that this drop is a temporarily situation, an usual cycle.
For Atlantic City, the most important decline is for Trump Marina Casino, 23%.
For the casino games, the reports say that table games and slot machines fell down almost the same in Las Vegas, but slots declined more in Atlantic City.
I am not a specialist, but I think that there are some important factors, external to the gambling industry, that influence it. And one of the most important, if not the most important, is the economic crisis. Including the petrol price, unemployment, the real estate crisis, as well as the reduction in flights as airlines cut back their services.
A second factor is the tourist market, influenced also by the economic crisis but not only. The restrictions implemented last years by US for the external tourists is, maybe, more important for the tourist market than the crisis.
And, to not forget the smoking ban, that will decrease even more the gambling revenue.
The crisis in US gambling industry will be increased by the casino and hotel investments started by the operators, for which it will not be possible to make the payments to the banks (for ex., Tropicana Entertainment defaulting on $2.7bn debts).
In fact, when you start an isolationist policy, including for the online gambling market, you have to take into consideration the secondary effects that can become major effects, in time.
On the campaign’s national website, Obama ask for donation between $5 and $2300 in exchange of a chance for every donor to be chosen as one of the 10 supporters to meet Barack backstage in Denver.
Tom Barrett, head of the Minnesota Gambling Control Board, consider that this is an illegal raffle and a violation of the of Minnesota gambling laws.
Nick Kimball, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in Minnesota, says that “we are not conducting a raffle of any kind“.
As far as I can see, there is no more such offer on the Donation section of Barack Obama web site.
The House Financial Services Committee voted down a bill, H.R. 5767, that would have prevented federal agencies from issuing rules implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Lawmakers failed to agree on setting a clear definition of illegal Internet gambling.
Alabama Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus says that “Today’s vote was a victory for young people because illegal Internet gambling brings the casino into their bedrooms and dorm rooms, sometimes with tragic consequences.”
But the tie vote, 32-32, meant the legislation failed under committee rules. The original bill proposed by Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Ron Paul was defeated in a voice vote.
“The financial institutions are in the position of being told not process bets, but it’s not clear what is legal and what is illegal,” said Rep. Barney Frank, the committee’s chairman.
Rep. Peter King says that this “was a banking issue, not a gambling issue” and that the banking industry shouldn’t be in the position of determining what is legal and illegal.
“The PPA is surprised that the Financial Services Committee today failed to clarify what constitutes ‘unlawful Internet gambling’ under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA),” said Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance.
| Betfair | |
|---|---|
| Type | Betting exchange |
| Genre | Online gambling |
| Founded | 000|
| Founder | Andrew Black and Edward Wray |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Website | http://www.betfair.com/ |
Betfair is the world’s largest Internet betting exchange. The company is based in Hammersmith in West London, England.
Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest bet exchange in the world. Betfair currently has over 1,000,000 clients and a turnover in excess of £50m/week.
A bet exchange allows punters (gamblers) to bet at odds set and requested by other punters rather than by a bookmaker. Members can make both ‘Back’ bets (normal bets on a selection to win) and ‘Lay’ bets (bets on the opposite side of the Back, against the selection), thereby eliminating the traditional bookmaker.
Betfair uses decimal odds, which are easier to calculate with than fractional odds. Its bookmaking model brings together two counterparties with opposing views, and thus removes the need for a bookmaker’s markup or overround. As a result, the odds are up to 20% better than bookmakers’ odds, according to the site’s operators. At the more fancied end of the market the odds offered on Betfair tend to be closer to the bookmakers’ odds, whereas for a more speculative bet the odds available may be over 50% higher on Betfair, more accurately reflecting the bet’s true chances of success. Betfair punters are able to offer odds based on their own opinion rather than on a set bookmakers’ margin. Betfair charges a commission on all winning bets, which is set at 5% of the net winnings for most markets, although according to how much a client wagers on the site, it is possible to reduce the amount of commission paid to as low as 2%.
The Betfair interface can be seen as bearing a strong similarity to that of the Stock Exchange, with the ‘bet’ and ‘lay’ options comparing to the buying and selling of derivatives. Indeed there are many professionals who play the Betfair market for profit, using purpose-designed software, in much the same way as a Stock market trader.
The company has attracted much comment in the British and Australian press.
Betfair’s co-founders, Andrew Black and Edward Wray, won the Ernst and Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2003, the company was one of about 50 recipients of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in the Innovation category. The Queen’s Awards are the UKs highest official awards for business.
In October 2005 chief executive Stephen Hill announced his resignation when the board decided not to proceed with plans for a stock market flotation, the investors holding out for a higher valuation.
In November 2005 the Tasmanian government announced a deal to licence Betfair in the state. The deal will see Tasmania receive AU$5 million up front and is projected to pay Tasmania about $40 million per year. Now that it has been approved by the Tasmanian Parliament, it will be the second licence Betfair has received outside the UK – the first being in Malta. The deal has infuriated the established monopolistic totalisators and bookmakers (due to loss of revenue) and governments (due to loss of taxes) in the other Australian states. A ban on the use of betting exchanges took effect in Western Australia on the 29th January 2007 and possibly South Australia in the future. Betfair claimed this new law violates the Constitution of Australia and filed a legal challenge. On 27 March 2008, the High Court of Australia, in a unanimous decision, found that two provisions of the legislation, purporting to ban Western Australians from using a betting exchange and prohibiting an unauthorised business from using Western Australian race lists, were invalid as they applied to Betfair because the provisions were characterised as imposing a burden on interstate trade that was protectionist in nature, and therefore contravened section 92 of the constitution. The Court decision suggests, but leaves open, that a more narrowly drafted ban may have been allowed (eg, banning people in Western Australia from laying ‘lose bets’ on events held in Western Australia).
On 28 February 2006 Betfair launched a new interface, including current live scores of in-play soccer matches, jockey silks and horse form, and an ‘express view’ in which only the currently available back odds are viewable. Within two days the ‘Xpress’ idea was also adopted by BETDAQ. The changes were criticised on the Betfair forums by many members who disliked the smaller fonts and the right-aligned columns, which displayed a large amount of whitespace. On March 1 these display issues were addressed, although many users still felt the site had been dumbed down in order to attract new punters to the exchanges. The gambit worked, however, with a significant increase in membership and deposits during the Cheltenham Festival.
Softbank purchased 23% of Betfair in early April 2006 valuing the company at £1.5 billion. In December 2006, Betfair completed the purchase of the horseracing publishing company Timeform (which traded under the name Portway Press Ltd).
Betfair launched its own radio service, Betfair Radio, in March 2007 available via its website and on the telephone. Betfair Radio broadcasts horse racing commentary, results and sports news seven days a week from the studios at their headquarters in Hammersmith.
The fact that gamblers can now lay outcomes on the exchanges has caused tremendous criticism from traditional bookmakers with much of the anger coming from the UK’s “Big Three” – Gala Coral Group, Ladbrokes and William Hill. These firms argue that granting who they consider to be anonymous punters the ability to bet that an outcome will not happen is causing corruption in sports such as horse racing (since it is much easier to ensure a horse will lose a race, the bookmakers reason).
Betfair has led their defence by countering that while corruption is possible on any gambling platform, the bookies’ arguments are motivated not by concern for the integrity of sport but by commercial interests. Betfair also asserts that unlike the high street brokers, who all accept anonymous cash bets, Betfair is well aware of who their customers are. Customers are required to create personal accounts, and Betfair keeps records of each customer’s betting history. Betfair in particular has noted that they have signed numerous agreements with governing bodies of sport including the Jockey Club, with whom they insist they will co-operate fully if the latter suspects corruption to have taken place.
Betfair embroiled itself in further controversy after suspending payments following a tennis match between Martin Arguello and Nikolay Davydenko, quoting: ‘Betfair has suspended settlement of the match-odds market on this afternoon’s second-round match of the ATP Orange Prokom Open in Poland between Martin Arguello and Nikolay Davydenko, pending consultation with relevant regulatory authorities.’ This is believed to be the first time Betfair has suspended payouts in an event after the conclusion of the event. As of this time, investigations are still pending.
Although the bulk of its customer base is in the UK, Betfair offers its services in a number of countries. Betfair has never accepted customers and/or credit card numbers from the United States, where online gambling is legally proscribed. Being the leading betting exchange, Betfair has been reluctant to entangle itself in legal trouble and has thus turned away business from countries where its services are likely prohibited. As a result, unlike some other online gambling operations Betfair was not seriously affected when the U.S. Congress passed strict prohibitions affecting Internet gambling in late 2006.
Betfair has several thousand customers in Australia but its marketing activities are currently restricted to Tasmania, where it is licensed. Betfair is well known in Australia because of negative publicity from the racing industry and the totalizators. However, Betfair signed a landmark agreement with Racing Victoria in July 2006 which saw Betfair begin covering Victorian racing and left the exchange on decent terms with two of Australia’s six states. Betfair also has agreements in place with several major sports in Australia including the Australian Football League, Cricket Australia and the PGA Tour of Australasia.
In late autumn of 2005, Betfair finalised a deal that began in early summer, to purchase the online poker site PokerChamps.com, which the company will integrate into its network, replacing a poker arm that previously used gaming technology software from CryptoLogic Inc. On 30 October 2006, Betfair Poker left the Cryptologic network to move to its new platform.
In a press release the company’s poker head, Ben Fried, stated: “Having our own poker software puts us in command of our own destiny. It means we can react quickly to customer feedback and continue to develop an innovative, community-focused product. We are confident that we are laying the foundations of a market leading poker room.”
On 21 July 2006, all American accounts were frozen and the return of players’ funds were in progress, a move that immediately followed the arrest of David Carruthers, former Chief Executive at BetonSports. Betfair had previously implemented geolocation software in 2004 to deny U.S. residents the ability to place bets on its site.
Pokerchamps currently has a 20k/week cashout limits which make high stakes players favour betfair poker over pokerchamps.
It has been recently announced that pokerchamps is closing and becoming part of betfair officially.
In 2006 Betfair Casino introduced its “Zero lounge – where the house has no edge”. According to Betfair, perfect play should result in the player having an equal chance of winning or losing. For example, the roulette wheel has no zero. This means that someone playing red-black, odd-even, or high-low has an exactly 50% chance of winning, (as opposed to a 48.65% chance on a normal roulette wheel with a zero). However, in some games, such as blackjack, it is necessary to learn perfect play in order to match the house. Players who draw a card when they have 17 or more are likely to lose money to the house. The zero blackjack rules have been slightly modified (re-written) compared to normal European blackjack. For example natural suited blackjacks pay 2 to 1 instead of 1.5 to 1, Any five card 21 automatically pays 2-1, pairs of aces cannot be split, all other pairs can be split, including 4s, 5s, and 10s, only one split is allowed, doubling is allowed on 8, 9, 10 and 11, including “soft” 18s, 19s, 20s and 21s, and insurance can be taken any time the dealer shows an ace, no matter what cards the player holds.
The games offered in the Zero lounge are blackjack, roulette, baccarat and Jacks or better.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Gambling revenue will grow to $155 billion in 2012 from a 2007 revenue of $114 billion with an annually rate of 6.5 percent per year, says PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in a report released this week.
Asia, and especially Macau, will be the world’s fastest growing gambling region.
In accordance with this report, the US revenue will decline in 2008, due to the mortgage crisis and high gas and travel price. But, starting with 2010, Las Vegas will expects a new raise.
Online gambling and sports betting is expected to have a 4.9% yearly increase in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and a 4.5% yearly increase for the US tribal casinos. The most important increase for US is predicted for sports betting, rising 7% to $7.6 billion in 2012.
France accepted the rules imposed by the European Union and will allow online gambling operators starting with the middle of the next year.
Online casino and poker sites will be able to operate gradually, the details will be established soon.
A gambling affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.
We well define the gambling corporative, a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. It can be a casino, poker room, bingo halls, lotteries, sports betting agency, as well as hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions. It includes also the entities licensed to provide online gambling services.
A gambling corporative may be referred to as an gambling affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid the appearance of control.
Gambling affiliate marketing typically refers to an electronic version of the traditional gambling advertising channel concept. A gambling affiliate is a website which links back to a corporative gambling site like CasinoTropez.com.
However, as the Internet marketring continues to evolve, gambling affiliates are no longer restricted to website owners. Bloggers and members of different online community forums can be affiliates as well. Many emerging affiliate programs are now accepting bloggers and individuals, not necessarily webmasters, to be affiliates.
A good source for a gambling affiliate to buy an already promoted specific or generic domain name, web site or blog, is Gambling Sites For Sale.
Gambling affiliates can also be referred as publishers. Many publishers are very well known gamblers ( Tony G, Daniel Negreanu, etc.).
Illustration of the concept of gambling affiliate marketing
Gambling affiliate marketing is a web-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more gambling affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts.
Affiliate marketing is also the name of the industry where a number of different types of companies and individuals are performing this form of internet marketing, including affiliate networks, affiliate management companies and in-house affiliate managers, specialized 3rd party vendors, and various types of affiliates/publishers who promote the products and services of their partners.
Gambling affiliate marketing overlaps with other internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, email marketing and in some sense display advertising (in their own web sites, or on specialized web, sites such as Casino Online Advertising). On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques like publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner.
A specific form of email advertising is to publish article, discuss or advertise on specific mailing lists and egroups, such as http://groups.google.com/group/casinoonline, http://groups.google.com/group/onlinegambling, http://groups.google.com/group/pokergame (hosted by Google), or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bet-gambling, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/casino-gambling, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/casino-players, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/online-poker (hosted by Yahoo!).
One of the most important action in search engine optimization, is to get links back to your site from other similar web sites. Because Google and the other search engines penalize the reciprocal links, it is widely used the cross-linking methods. The best and most efficient ways to do this and this way to promote your web site and get more traffic, are the banner exchange (See MultiMedia BX) and webring methods. A webring in general is a collection of websites from around the Internet joined together in a circular structure. The best gambling webrings you can find at webring.com (http://u.webring.com/hub?ring=bestonlinecasin3, http://u.webring.com/hub?ring=betgambling, http://r.webring.com/hub?ring=poker).
The rise of blogging, interactive online communities and other new technologies, web sites and services based on the concepts that are now called Web 2.0 have impacted the affiliate marketing world as well. Most of the turnkey web sites from Gambling Sites For Sale include these characteristics.
90% of gambling affiliate programs today use revenue sharing or cost per action (CPA) and the remaining 10% are other methods, such as cost per click (CPC) or cost per mille (CPM). CPM and CPC are today still heavily used in display advertising and paid search.
Cost per mille (thousand) (CPM/CPT) requires the publisher only to load the advertising on his website and show it to his visitors in order to get paid a commission, while PPC requires one additional step in the conversion process to generate revenue for the publisher. Visitors must not only be made aware of the ad, but also pursue them to click on it and visit the advertiser’s website.
Cost per click (CPC/PPC) used to be more common in the early days of affiliate marketing, but diminished over time due to click fraud issues that are very similar to the click fraud issues modern search engines are facing today.
In the case of CPM or CPC, the publisher does not care if the visitor is the type of audience that the advertiser tries to attract and is able to convert, because the publisher already earned his commission at this point. This leaves the greater, and, in case of CPM, the full risk and loss (if the visitor can not be converted) to the advertiser.
CPA require that referred visitors do more than visiting the advertiser’s website in order for the affiliate to get paid commission. The advertiser must convert that visitor first. It is in the best interest for the affiliate to send the best targeted traffic to the advertiser as possible to increase the chance of a conversion. The risk and loss is shared between the affiliate and the advertiser.
For this reason affiliate marketing is also called “performance marketing”. Gambling affiliates are not employed by the advertiser whose gambling entity they promote, but the compensation models applied to affiliate marketing are very similar to the ones used for people in the advertisers’ internal sales department.
Some advertisers offer multi-tier programs that distribute commission into a hierarchical referral network of sign-ups and sub-partners. In practical terms: publisher “A” signs up to the program with an advertiser and gets rewarded for the agreed activity conducted by a referred visitor. If publisher “A” attracts other publishers (“B”, “C”, etc.) to sign up for the same program using her sign-up code all future activities by the joining publishers “B” and “C” will result in additional commission (at a lower rate) for publisher “A”.
This system rewards a chain of hierarchical publishers who may or may not know of each others’ existence, yet generate income for the higher level signup.
Two-tier programs exist in the minority of affiliate programs; most are simply one-tier. Referral programs beyond 2-tier are multi-level marketing (MLM) or network marketing.
Gambling affiliate sites are often categorized by advertisers and affiliate networks. There are no industry-wide accepted standards for the categorization. The following list is very generic but commonly understood and used by gambling affiliate marketers:
Gambling affiliate networks that already have a number of advertisers usually also have a large number of publishers. This large pool of publishers could be potentially recruited. There is also an increased chance that publishers in the network apply to the program by themselves, without the need for any recruitment efforts by the advertiser.
Relevant sites that attract the same audiences as the advertiser is trying to attract, but are not competing with the advertiser, are potential affiliate partners as well. Even vendors or existing customers could be recruited as affiliates, if it makes sense and does not violate any laws or regulations.
Almost any website could be recruited as an affiliate publisher, although high traffic websites are more likely interested in (for them) low risk CPM or medium risk CPC deals rather than higher risk CPA or revenue share deals.
Affiliate programs directories are one way to find affiliate programs, another method is large affiliate networks that provide the platform for dozens or even hundreds of advertisers. The third option is to check the target website itself for a reference to their affiliate program. Websites, which offer an affiliate program often, have a link titled “affiliate program”, “affiliates”, “referral program” or “webmasters” somewhere on their website, usually in the footer or “About” section of the site.
Even if all those methods seem to indicate that a site does not have an affiliate program, it could still be the case that there exists a non-public affiliate program. The only way to find out for sure, is to contact the site owner directly and ask.
(Article derived from Wikipedia)
Lee Rousso, the Washington State Director of the Poker Players Alliance, filed a lawsuit on July 1, 2007, seeking to have UIGEA declared unconstitutional, considering that the new law discriminated against interstate businesses and, thus, violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He said that UIGEA was supported by Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, whose district contains the state’s casinos and card rooms.
On May 16, 2008, State Court Judge Mary Roberts rejected the complaint, considering that there is no prove that the state law unfairly protected gaming interests inside the state at the expense of interests outside the state, and that the state’s historically strict prohibition on gambling influenced her ruling.
“The state loves gambling, it’s a gigantic business. It’s just the state protecting its turf.” , said Lee Rousso. “We are going to win this battle. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon.”
Poker News says that Washington state Gambling Commission spokeswoman Susan Arland disagrees. She said the law is meant to protect the public from the risk of playing on unregulated sites. “You don’t know who’s behind that screen. You don’t know if the games are fair or honest. You don’t know if you get paid your winnings.”
During July 29-30, 2008, will take place the conference Next Generation in Gambling (NGG) (Exploring multi-channel delivery of games to customers while complying with federal and state laws in Canada, United States and Latin America).
The event will target the casino, racing, and lottery companies working in North American jurisdictions, focusing to expand delivery channels while staying in compliance with the law, developing multi-channel strategies to bring gaming products directly to consumers is a logical next step.
The topics will cover technological information via the dedicated technology track, marketing tips, thought-provoking keynotes, and panel discussions from professional speakers like Hon. Alfonse D’Amato (Chairman and Chief Executive, Poker Players Alliance), Chris Collins (Linden Lab), Shawn Kreloff (CEO, Sona Mobile).
Source: Clarion Gaming – The Next Generation in Gambling
An already tested method to defeat the online gambling companies started to act again, after Bodog.
1st Technology made a complaint against several companies including Digital Gaming Solutions SA, Costa Rica International Sports, Action Poker Gaming Enterprises and SBG Global; two Norwegian companies: Playsafe Holding AS and eCom Enterprises; and Digital Gaming Network, Ltd., which is based in Curacao, for the inftingement of a US patent. The result could be the confiscation of the domain names and default judgements.
Gambling 911 tells us that the complaint, filed in a Missouri Supreme Court, is considering the U.S. Patent No. 5,564,001, titled “Method and System for Interactively Transmitting Information Over A Network Which Requires Reduced Bandwidth”.
What is interesting is that this kind of action is taken against companies that are not under the jurisdiction of the US. But, in order to be able to fight against the online gambling, it is used an intermediate for the complaint and the fact that many international institutions that are implied in the domain name and Internet regulation are based within US, so they are considered as being under the US jurisdiction.
I do not know if this US patent it is a legal and enough argument against the online gambling companies. But why they didn’t act before the UIGEA, when US was accepting the online gambling?
And more than this, it seems to me that during the last years the US patents grown in a such manner that soon there will be very few activities on Internet that will no infringe a patent or another (in an insurance related web site, I was forced some time ago to change the metatag “farm insurance” because it is patented by an US company).
And they have even the power and the tools to impose their own rules, as long as the most important specific institutions are under the US jurisdiction.
So, it seems that the Internet is no more a “worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol”, but a patent where we are accepted temporarily, as long as we do not bother the owner.
NCOP Economic and Foreign Affairs Committee wants to modify the National Gambling Amendment Bill, in order that only licensed interactive gambling providers may advertise interactive gambling in its generally accepted form of remote gambling.
There it is still under discussions between the various provinces the way the online gambling advertising will be allowed.
In accordance with IT Web, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will search for “a formulation that is recommended on the subject by both DTI and the state law advisers on the subject”.
The next NCOP meeting on the subject of the Gambling Amendment Bill will be on 13 February 2008.
Californians energized by unprecedented primary election
San Francisco Chronicle, USA
Propositions 94-97 are referendums that would repeal the gambling compacts with a no vote. Those measures have attracted by far the most spending of any of …
Gambling interests funded ad campaign
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY
Beshear said during the campaign that he would prefer that elections be held without the influence of 527 organizations, according to Cauley. …
Let’s make gambling an election issue
Covers, Canada
They dug up some old quotes from Obama where he expressed some pretty strongly negative opinions about gambling in general. From 2003. …
Democrats fail to confront Bush ‘crimes’
San Francisco Chronicle, USA
In addition, the ads in favor state that expanded gambling helps Indians help themselves and these four tribes would share revenues with other less …
Gambling and elections
Politics on the Hudson, NY
By the end of September, Clinton had collected $60000 from the gambling industry nationwide, more than any other Democratic candidate in the running. …
2008 US Elections Betting
Gambling911.com, FL
The 2004 US Presidential elections were the most bet on nonsporting event ever recorded with millions of dollars bet and some online gambling establishments …
Senate Republicans unveil road funding plan
Marshalltown Times Republican, IA
The Republican plan would take $90 million from the state’s gambling revenues to put in to the Road Use Tax Fund. It also would require any money remaining …
Former congressional assistant challenges Boland for state seat
Quad City Times, IA
While Boland has some reservations about gambling, he thinks using gaming revenues is a better option for providing education funding than raising income …
Commentary: Presidential primaries and caucuses
Helium, MA
Huckabee talked about being an opponent of gambling yet he was seen gambling in a casino in the Iowan city of Burlington. Huckabee went on a comic and …
National & New Jersey political news, local talk & election results
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com, NJ
(AP) — Gambling and prostitution are nothing here — Michelle Obama committed the real local sin by mispronouncing the name of the state. …
Online poker: Where do the candidates stand?
PokerListings.com
Though the candidate himself has made no statements during the campaign regarding online gambling, the Mormon Church is opposed to gambling in all forms. …
Presidential candidates, from a poker perspective
Niagara Falls Review, Canada
It has been almost two years since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The legislation blocked financial institutions from …
Casino operator spends more than $1 million in Ky. governor race
Kentucky.com, KY
Yung also made a maximum $1000 campaign contribution to Beshear during the election campaign. He also contributed $10000 to help pay for Beshear’s inaugural …
Online Poker Players Could Swing Election in Favor of Hillary …
Gambling911.com, FL
Both Democratic contenders have expressed support of a study to determine whether regulating online gambling would be feasible in the US. …
Our Views: A busy year for elections
TheAdvocate, LA
presidential primary election, coupled with the much-debated proposition in East Baton Rouge authorizing a third riverboat casino. …
US Politicians Stand On Internet Gambling
Online-Casinos.com, Denmark
February 5th is an important day in the run-up to a crucial US election, and voters have an obligation to make their preferences known.
Casino Operator Helps Governor Get Elected in Kentucky
Online Casino Advisory, Canada
William Yung is a well known casino operator around the United States. He is the head of Columbia Sussex, which owns and operates casinos in all areas of …
Will a Presidential Candidate’s Stance on Internet Gambling Sway …
Poker King
This is an important election in terms of Internet gambling in the United States. The UIGEA was snuck into the SAFE Port ACT, and instead the folding, …
Election 2008: Indian gaming and the candidates
Tahlequah Daily Press, OK
“The US Department of Justice, the NIGC, and the Indian gaming arm of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are all involved in a ‘discussion’ about whose …
2008 Election Endorsements
The Santa Barbara Independent, CA
If California is going to allow legalized gambling, we question the wisdom of assigning de facto monopolies to any outside interests. …
The Dutch justice ministry introduced new regulations that will held criminally liable the banks and credit card companies that will facilitate online gambling on foreign sites for the Dutch citizens.
In accordance with Dutch News, in some months it will be published a list with the banned web sites (this decision seems to me a stupid idea, because they cannot control all the new gambling sites that are published every day).
Online gambling is already illegal in Netherlands, but the Dutch stats show about 400,000 people that play online, and about 30 foreign companies that target the Dutch gamblers.
The Dutch policy for gambling is in contradiction with the EU rules, Netherlands trying to get absolute state monopoly for all the gambling games, giving to the state-owned Holland Casino exclusive rights to run internet gambling in the Netherlands, and denying license for all the foreign companies that want to build casinos in the Netherlands.
U.K. Gambling Act of 2005 went into effect Sept. 1, 2007, restricting online gambling advertising to only those companies based in the United Kingdom or other countries in the European Economic Area. The EEA consists of the 27 countries in the European Union together with Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Countries outside that area could apply for approval to be included on a “white list” of countries outside that area who would be allowed to advertise in the United Kingdom.
This week, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed that Tasmania will be added to the ‘white list’ of countries for online gambling advertising, but it still do not include in the list Antigua and Barbuda or the Kahnawake territory.Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is very disappointed by this decision and Grand Chief Michael Ahríhrhon Delisle, Jr. announced that they will request to be taken into consideration the Article 20 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Tasmania was approved after they amended tax legislation which will go into effect on January 31, 2008. The only existing approved jurisdictions outside the UK mainlands was, till now, Alderney and the Isle of Man. Gibraltar and Malta are included in the white list, Malta being by far the most popular licensing jurisdiction in the EEA.
Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name. It is located 240 kilometres (150 mi) south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait. The Tasmanian Gaming Commission is an independent body responsible for the regulation of gaming in Tasmania, established under the Gaming Control Act 1993.
So, the white list includes:
In any other territory it is illegal for gambling operators to advertise gambling in or to the UK, including Antigua, Kahnawake, Curacao, Costa Rica and Belize.
Last year UK released a Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice for gambling. iGaming Business makes a synthesis of this rules:
Advertisements to the UK market also have to comply with the codes of practice of which there are three:
The Industry Code sets out the following general principles in relation to gambling adverts:
In terms of specific requirements, there are three key things implemented by the Industry Code as follows:
The advertising codes will apply to any business that wishes to advertise to or in the UK market whether or not they require a licence in the UK.
The new borders of the Internet started with the online gambling. Internet meant, at its beginning, freedom of information, products and services. Now, it keeps from less to less this initial meaning.
I am a fun of the online gambling, especially online poker, but now I see it like an animal in a forest hunted from all the sides by the hunters/authorities, and having from less to less place to move. Unfortunately the real reason is not the same with the official one. If they care about children, pathological gamblers or unfair online casinos, there are possible laws that can be implemented. And there will be no more pornography, violence in movies, alcohol, a.s.o. The real reason is that the money have to be kept in the respective countries. Why to let a foreign company to collect the money from the citizens of a country, when the government of that country can collect the money by taxes from the local casinos, or even exercise a monopoly on the gambling games and collect directly the money.
Finland confirms my prediction for online gambling for this year but, after the previous experience with Germany, they adopt a different and more subtle strategy, especially for online poker. In accordance with a Finnish draft law from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and commissioned from the University of Joensuu, the losses claimed by Finnish online gamblers would be taken back from the online poker rooms, or from the payment processing companies. This way the online gambling operators will be forced to block the Finnish players
Finland is the 4th country in the world with about €150 million in gambling expenditures annually.
If I am right and the main reason for the ban of the online gambling is the will of the states to keep the money within the respective countries, I think the e-commerce itself is in great danger, especially from the countries that have a negative balance for e-commerce.
My predictions about the boom of the gambling industry in Russia come true sooner than I expected. Russia’s Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov set up a gambling zone, Azov-City, in the Scherbinovsky district of Krasnodar area and the Azov district of Rostov region. A budget of about 18 billion rubles for tourism and recreation facilities in the South Federal District from 2008 through 2012.
In accordance with Kommersant, the gambling area will cover 20.022 million sq meters, including a portion of the Krasnodar area and the Rostov region in southern Russia.
There will be four gambling zones in Russia by July 1, 2009: the Kaliningrad region, the Altai Republic, the Primorie area and to the territory on the border of the Rostov region and the Krasnodar area.
“We offered the name of Port-Katon but after discussion with the Krasnodar Territory the name of Azov-City has been agreed. We hope it will remain after the government issues a decree on the order of creation of the special gambling zone on the border of the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory” – the Rostov Region economics minister Mr. Victor Deryabkin said.
“The Internal Affairs and Regional development ministries have already given the conclusions. The Economic development and Legal affairs ministries conclusions are left” – the minister stressed.
“By the end of January 2008 they will prepare requirements specification for architectural-planning works and by Summer next year ground areas will be probably given to develop certain objects of the future gambling zone ” – the Rostov Region economics ministry said.
Azov (Russian: Азо́в, IPA: [a'zof]) is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just sixteen kilometers from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town.
Unfortunately, another prediction come true at the beginning of this year: we will have a bad, if not very bad, year for online gambling. It seems that Russia will ban online gambling, too.
Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe) is financing the UK-based gambling company betNOW. This way gamblers can place bets via text message, with the actual wagers charged to phone bills. Winnings can be picked up at local post offices. Balderton Capital invested also in Betfair. I know myself another big UK company with activity in the domain of mobile communication that started to invest in gambling, too.
Balderton Capital is a different kind of venture firm – one that’s based on teamwork, superior service to entrepreneurs and an intense dedication to building companies of lasting value, the leading venture capital firm behind Bebo, Codemasters and Setanta.
Robert Urwin, co-founder and CEO of betNOW said: “betNOW is the fastest, simplest and most intuitive way to place a bet in the UK. We’re delighted to partner with Balderton Capital at this exciting early stage in our development.”
Tim Bunting, partner at Balderton Capital said, “betNOW is a thoroughly innovate service providing a whole new take on the remote sports book market. It’s great to be working with Robert and his team to help launch betNOW throughout the UK and develop a rollout of the business internationally.”
In December 2007, Hop-On Inc introduced “its newest phone for AT&T and Verizon Networks. The GSM/CDMA Dual Mode PDA 2001 model, complete with GPS capability, utilizes the latest technology in the most cost-effective manner. This new PDA phone will have the ability to become the world’s first handheld slot machine, bingo, video poker or black jack device.”“The 2001 PDA offers the latest in GPS technology for a fraction of the cost of similar phones,” says Hop-on’s President, Peter Michaels. “This particular phone has the ability to actually play interactive casino type games utilizing the touch screen features of the phone. This phone is a computer, which can handle casino type wagering.”
Mobile gambling specialist company Cometa Wireless has signed a partnership agreement with Cashcade, an important UK online interactive gaming provider.
“The mobile market is rapidly becoming a vital channel for online gambling providers,” says Simon Collins, the CEO of Cashcade. “Players no longer have to be at home, in front of their computer. The ubiquity of mobile and the convenience of the phone in the user’s pocket or purse makes it a unique way for players to interact, no matter where they are. With consumers working longer hours and commuting long distances, the attraction of having their favourite online services at their fingertips is hard to beat.”
London-listed mobile technology company Probability plc, successfully demonstrated a gambling service running on an Apple iPhone in December 2007, leading the mobile gambling field in the technology. The company has developed a fully working version of Blackjack, boasting that it is the first online casino game to have been built and demonstrated in real money play mode on an iPhone in the UK.
So, what we see as the common features of all these news? “UK companies”, including non-gambling companies, and “mobile gambling”. Two keywords that will make the future of the online gambling in the near future.
This trend will be helped a lot by the major sport event of this year, the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2008, that will take place in Austria and Switzerland, from 7 to 29 June 2008.
Mobile gambling refers to gambling done on a remote wirelessly connected device, such as wireless tablet PC’s, mobile phones and other non traditional mid-level networked commuting devices.
Analysts place the value of the market space at US$20 billion by 2010.
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Nicolae Sfetcu
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