Many in I-gaming have seen Gambling Therapy's bright red stop sign logo, though some might not know how it actually assists problem gamblers. Company head Ian Semel shares with us his company's mission and clues us in on how the United Kingdom company performed at its G2E debut.

Recorded Nov. 26 at the Global Gaming Expo.

AudioG2E 2008

Konami Gaming, a subsidiary of Japan's Konami Corporation, had a whole lineup of new products to show off at G2E this year. Leah Steinhardt, marketing manager for the gaming supplier, took a few seconds out of the mass chaos on the exhibition floor to share with us some thoughts on Konami's latest games and to tell us who else is expected to make a big splash.

Recorded Nov. 26 at the Global Gaming Expo.

AudioG2E 2008

If today’s news in the Financial Times about one of the Party Poker founders, Anurag Dikshit, is to be believed, it seems there's been a significant development for the Department of Justice. The media outlet reports that he turned himself in to the New York office of the US attorney, offered to pay US$300M and had no plea bargain in place regarding the length of sentence for his offense. It further states that he’s pleading guilty to an offense of the Wire Act and could serve up to two years time.

As FT also states, Mr. Dikshit is a chess player and implies that he’s clearly no gambler, turning himself in on the eve of a new administration in the White House. One would wonder about his timing given the circumstances. Apparently, the DoJ was successful in convincing him that he’d get more leniency in sentencing if he turned himself in now.

Given the machinations in the BetOnSports case, the fact that the Wire Act violation was chosen is significant for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s been clear (including in a 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling) that the Wire Act applies to no activity other than sports betting.Since Party offered primarily poker with a little casino gaming thrown in, this is a significant legal development. Plus, the Wire Act does have a relatively short sentence (2 years) while the charges issued in the BoS case carried much longer sentences. The original charges of racketeering in that case carried as much as a 20 year sentence.

With the new BoS superseding indictments which were more fraud-oriented, it’s unclear how much time a guilty verdict could carry. As most folks know, when plea-bargaining discussions are initiated early on, one can even negotiate what the charges are and which laws are pertinent. That seems to be the case here. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out with Anurag Dikshit as it relates to the US justice system.

And was this the right gamble on Dikshit's part? Will a new administration, with a poker-playing President who clearly has more serious problems to tackle, put i-gaming prosecutions on the back-burner? And what if the land-based gaming industry is successful in getting regulatory measures passed in Congress or in a statehouse? Does that create complications or at least a different milieu for these prosecutions?

There’s no doubt that 2009 will offer some very interesting news for those of us who are veteran observers on the i-gaming industry.

CyberArts' Kim Northrop tells us about what all the Europeans were looking for during G2E's first hours and how the I-gaming climate has shifted since the last time CyberArts displayed at the expo in 2006 -- after the passage of UIGEA.

Recorded Nov. 27 at the Global Gaming Expo.

AudioG2E 2008

According to the New York Times, the National Football League (NFL) will reduce its staff by about 150 employees after the Super Bowl. The NFL has a total of 1,100 employees at its New York headquarters, at NFL Films in New Jersey and at the Los Angeles offices of the NFL Network and NFL.com. The NFL is estimated to bring in revenues of US$6.5 billion.

We now know that entertainment options like gambling are not recession-proof. Now, it appears that professional sports is falling to the same fate. The NFL is feeling the pinch of sagging licensed merchandising sales, sponsorship renewals and new-media deals. All of this while salaries are rising (players will receive about $4.5 billion in salary and benefits in 2008). St. Louis, we don’t know if the declining attendance at NFL games is just due to sucky football (Rams are 2-11) or the economy.

According to the NYT, “There was a time that if the NFL said, ‘I would like a window shades company as a sponsor,’ they would have a slew of prospects trying to throw money at them to be the official window shades company of the N.F.L.,” sports consultant Marc Ganis said. “Sponsors are being much more discriminating with the use of their dollars now. Advertising money is going to decrease, if for no other reason than the auto industry has shrunk. The N.F.L. relies on auto, finance and real estate — it is a mess. Yet your costs aren’t going down. You signed contracts for their increases.”

I read this with a chuckle remembering a great panel at GIGSE 2004 when SportingBet founder and then CEO, Mark Blandford, sat with Derrick Crawford of the NFL. Mark creatively offered Derrick US$5M for SportingBet to be the official oddsmaker of the NFL. Before the panel was over, Mark had upped the ante to US$10M.

Mark was trying to be instructional to the NFL explaining that sports betting and the sports were inextricably tied together in many other parts of the world. In fact some of those creative sports leagues around the globe are now considering offering a “right to bet” to gambling operators which will make the relationship even that much more entrenched.

In 2004, the NFL’s Crawford responded that the league received sponsorships exceeding US$1B a piece from the likes of Pepsi and Reebok among many others.That put things in perspective for the crowd.

When asked what the response would be if a gaming operator could match that figure, Crawford responded, “"I am sure that would force our owners to consider it," Crawford said, "but I just don't think the league is ready for that step right now."

Given the fact that the NFL has been the truest of true believers in pushing for an internet gambling prohibition bill over the past decade, we don’t expect that this response will change. But, given the economic downturn, who knows



For land-based newcomers, Dan Savage, Bally Technologies' vice president of marketing, finally solves the mystery behind this year's biggest buzzword: server-based gaming. He discusses the technology behind server-based games (in layman's terms, thankfully), how Bally's booth fared at G2E and what Vegas locals do besides hang out with the cliché Elvis impersonators and showgirls who have become synonymous with The Strip.

Recorded Nov. 26 at the Global Gaming Expo.

AudioG2E 2008

While the nearby lounge singers at Casino Technology's booth sing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," Matjaz Petek, marketing and sales manager at Alfastreet, tells us what's popular right now and what his company's future plans might be.

Recorded Nov. 26 at the Global Gaming Expo.

AudioG2E 2008

We’ve long heard from those actually offering gambling products on mobile devices that its time is just NOT here yet. While discussions of mobile gambling prospects are good fodder for conference and report companies, the operators just aren’t seeing the revenues yet. (If you’re an exception to that rule, please let me know so I can revise my views on this.)

More of the same was reported today in Gaming Industry Media. It said:

In a new report, Juniper Research, the research firm that provides analytical services to the global communications sector found that that total wagers on mobile phones are expected to more than double in 2009 to more than $3.6 billion, whereas user spending on mobile TV and mobile games will be adversely impacted by the global economic downturn.

"Gambling is essentially a recession-proof industry, as while there may be marginal reductions in the level of stakes amongst casual users, the overall appetite for gambling per se will be unaffected," said Windsor Holden, report author, in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, with the growing availability of betting services on-portal, the mobile is an increasingly convenient and user-friendly means of placing a bet."

From my perch, it’s become clear that gambling is proving NOT to be recession-proof. While our side of the business (i-gaming) is slower to show signs of declines (people may not be traveling to gaming venues but are still playing at home), online operators are beginning to report downturns in their revenues as discretionary income patterns are altered.

So, Windsor, gambling is recession-proof, eh? Having recently seen first-hand and heard (from workers) about the impact in Las Vegas, the report writer should tell that to the 50,000 Nevada residents expected to lose their jobs in 2009 according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, quoting a new Global Insight study.

Come on Juniper 

.get real!

Lunch continues as does our conversation with lawyer Santiago Asensi. In this clip, he covers Spain's gaming tax situation and tells us how it will apply to I-gaming.

Listen to the interview.

AudioEiG 2008

Michelle Lau, poker pro and co-founder of the FIDPA, sat down with IGamingNews to discuss the importance of putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak.

Recorded Oct. 30, 2008 at the World Poker Congress in Budapest, Hungary.

AudioWPC 2008