Harrah’s Rincon has created quite a buzz this week in their World Series of poker. Just like the World Series in baseball, or the Super Bowl, or the final four there are always upsets, and underdogs

This time it was Adam Hannula, 26-year-old business owner who turned the tables and created one of the largest upsets by any player at this year’s World Series of poker.

This tournament was Adam’s first ever final table appearance and to add more unnecessary stress to the situation, Adam walked into it holding in his hands a short stack at the table.

This tournament began with 195 entries, and accumulating $56,754 in prize money. There was a $300 initial buy-in for the no limit hold ‘em and only the top 18 players would walk away with a cash payout.

As Adam made it the final nine players, he continued playing calmly, and sticking to his strategies until he had whittled down the competition. When the tournament was over Adam walked away with $14,185 and the coveted gold ring presented to him by the World Series of poker.
On the first day of play 186 players were bested by their competition, therefore leaving nine players for the final round.
In another interesting situation, three of the top 10 players hailed from Omaha Nebraska. They had all arrived separately, and all managed to take home top money payouts.

Here are some of the stats from the top nine finishers.
9th Pl.-Michael Hook took home $1702.
8th Pl.- Stacy Kimbrel took home $2270.
7th Pl.- Thao “Scratch” Thiem took home $2837.
6th Pl.- David Kruger took home $3405.
5th Pl.- Thomas Hover took home $3972.
4th Pl.- Yasha Terlissi took home $4767.
3rd Pl.- Steven Monheim took home $5675
2nd Pl.- Manganaro took home $9079.

Many of March madness events have already been completed, as the month draws to an end, but Casino gamblers are still raking in cash prizes always up until April 1.

Games.Sky.com website as recently opened a new online community service. The service will create more games for multiplayer, allow a chat service so that other players can interact. By launching the service Sky will be catering to the online users to enjoy incentives such as tokens, registering high scores against their friends and competitors, and the functionality and customization of creating their own avatars.

Since Games.Sky.com launched in 2007 it has remained open to the public, even if players are not members or customers of Sky TV.

Sky, supported by Oberon media software, offers different services depending on the need of the consumer. For those that are looking for free games they offer over 100 instant games for their entertainment pleasure. There is also a premium package that allows a player to access 180 premium downloadable games.

Games.sky.com is a division of sky.com which is currently enjoying over 20 years of media service. CEO, Jeremy Darroch, states on their website, “We entertain, excite and inspire our customers with a great choice of high quality content. We make technology simple, put viewers in control of how they watch TV and bring them their favourite programmes in high definition. We connect customers to great-value broadband and telephony, and we back it all up with a commitment to exceptional customer service.”

It is with this type of dedication for the consumer that allows sky.com to thrive, even in a time when the economy is destroying many up-and-coming companies. Darroch also stated: “I believe that a successful and sustainable business is a responsible business; one that does the right thing, sees the bigger picture and works hard to tackle the issues its people and customers care about.”

By applying these techniques to their games division, general manager, Dan Chronnell said, ““We have created a compelling site where players can come together and have fun online whether they want to compete with other players or just join in as part of a community. We’re very excited to be to be offering such a feature rich gaming experience.”

In an attempt to stay up with competitors many sports betting networks trying to offer a variety of gambling sports to the public. By expanding their quantity of games they can then draw in a larger audience. One specific company International All Sports or (IAS) has recently completed an agreement that will partner them with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

This partnership will be a two-year sponsorship in which IASBet.com will be the online dating partner for the Australian Grand Prix. Specifically it will be partnered with the ING Formula One in preparation for a main race that happens this Sunday in Melbourne Australia. This partnership also include the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix will appear in October of this year.

Mark Read, Managing Director for IAS, and establishing creator since 1996 recently revealed: “IASBet.com is proud to partner with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.”
In strengthening their forces in online gaming provider, Read , with over 30 years of wagering experience also stated: “The deal is a milestone for the company and signifies our commitment and strategy to support Australian sport and racing through the establishment of niche alliances. It also reaffirms our presence as a leader in Australian wagering.”

The Formula One Australian Grand Prix will be featured as one of the many events that IAS will be handling for online wagering. IAS is more commonly known for its thoroughbred racing wagering. Through IASBet.com you can also have 24 seven access to Internet and telephone betting.

As IAS continues to grow and maintain a high level of customer service around the clock as well as many multilingual speaking operators they will continue to be substantial force in the online wagering market.

Drew Ward, CEO for the Australian Grand Prix appear to be excited about the new partnership. “We welcome IASBet.com in joining the growing list of sponsors for this year’s Grand Prix, which is shaping up to be a truly fantastic four-day event,” said Ward.

The Spanish market continues to grow online casino gambling and expand its force throughout the world. One marketing firm, CMedia 2007 SL, as its recently acquired a new gaming network they’ll expand its reach into foreign markets.

CMedia recently revealed its acquisition of MediaGambling online gaming network. This acquisition was critical to the global market as it has over 500,000 unique users spanning many countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany and parts of Latin America.

MediaGambling was launched out of Uruguay in 2002 and included over 600 representative brands. The founders, Maximiliano De Muro and Enrique Dubois focused their strength on foreign markets and continued to expand their unique online casino users.

Some of the common sites established by Muro and Dubois included PokerGratis.es, BingoGratis.es, ComoJugarPoker.com, JuegosDeCasinoGratis.com, JuegoMundo.com and JeuxDePokerGratuit.com.

Since the acquisition of MediaGambling, Cmedia has increased its ability to serve foreign markets in multiple languages and said its goal of achieving 1 million unique monthly online users, thereby dominating the Spanish market.

“The MediaGambling network acquisition is a response to our company’s objective of becoming a leader in the Spanish gambling world,” said Christian Khoury, Chief Executive Officer for CMedia.

“For this purpose, MediaGambling´s faithful and solid traffic volume will join with CMedia offering us new markets in Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Latin America.”

”I am very proud that such an innovating company as CMedia with so much potential has chosen MediaGambling, a project we started with sacrifice and humbleness seven years ago and, at present, counts with millions of unique visitors per year,” said De Muro on behalf of MediaGambling.

“The MediaGambling acquisition is evidence of the project’s great success.”

We’ve seen this system in many networks throughout the world. New partnerships occur almost daily, showing strength in the online casino community and allowing strong forces to arise as the competition continues to stiffen.

New leadership has emerged on Beacon Hill, Massachusetts causing a ray of hope in many Plainridge gamblers eyes. One critical player in this debate to bring slots to the racetrack is Gary Piontkowski, horseman of over 31 years whose love for horses started at age 4.

As a former state racing commission chairman, Piontkowski has been very involved with trying to generate revenue back the mask uses the use of wagering in gaming. This is a battle that has been going on for years where Piontkowski has been a critical player.

As an outspoken person Piontkowski caused quite a stir in 2008 in trying to overturn the legislation. But now, “For the first time, the stars seem aligned with support in the Legislature,” Piontkowski said.

With the boom of mobile online and Internet gambling harness racing is beginning to fade into the background. Mike Perpall and Piontkowski are concerned at the lack of interest in this sport and are working diligently to draw crowds back this exciting event.

“We don’t see as many in person,” he said, “but why should they come here when they can watch somewhere else?” said Perpall.

Even the drivers have become discouraged as the crowd began to fade. John Hogan, a driver with more than 4000 wins in 65 years of horse experience said: “I thought I would get out of the business. But I belong here. It’s the competition that keeps you going, putting yourself and what you know your horse can do out with the others. It’s an amazing feeling that you can’t buy.”

With other casinos opening just miles away the track is having difficulty competing, therefore they continue to work on overturning legislation in bringing slot machines to the track.

Town Administrator Joe Fernandes said: “We are thankful and amazed this business has been able to hang on.” Without the ability to generate revenue through online slots he also stated that it was “a losing proposition.”

Cryptologic has been in the news a lot lately and then continuing to improve and cultivate relationships with other online gaming network. Recently the logic, based out of Dublin, has joined forces with The Gaming Network. The Gaming Network or TGN is based out of the United Kingdom and is a power player with their online casino software.

In a recent agreement CryptoLogic will be The Gaming Network’s exclusive supplier for the casino software downloads. Besides the downloadable software CryptoLogic will also provide casino games of the non-download variety.

Brian Hadfield, President and Chief Executive Officer for CryptoLogic stated that, “CryptoLogic’s casino software is both highly popular and highly profitable and today that earns us the confidence of yet another European customer.”

Cryptologic is familiar with creating these partnerships as they have spent the better half of March signing deals with other networks in order to maintain their status as a powerhouse in the online casino industry. Considering this particular agreement, Hadfield said: “It’s significant that through one agreement, CryptoLogic will supply Internet casino software to several leading brands and that will add to our revenue and profitability in late-2009 and beyond.”

Andrew Branscombe, Chief Executive Officer for TGN, has a high opinion of cryptologic software. “We are very familiar with CryptoLogic’s innovative and entertaining casino software,” said Andrew.

“We are extremely pleased to be using these industry-leading games on the brands we operate beginning with Lottery.co.uk. We look forward to hearing the feedback from our players and to introducing the full suite of CryptoLogic games on our other popular sites.”

“This deal with TGN puts CryptoLogic’s casino games on successful, high-traffic sites in markets where we continue to grow and that fits in perfectly with our business strategy,” said Justin Thouin, Vice-President of Product Management and Business Development for CryptoLogic.

In CryptoLogic’s constant expansion, they continue to maintain the respect in the online casino industry as well as winning multiple awards. This is why they have won the Top Casino Software prize four years in a row.

Most online casino industry experts agree that online bingo is probably one of the fastest growing sectors of the industry. And the upcoming Online Bingo Summit certainly gives credence to the experts’ opinions. The Online Bingo summit made its entry onto the scene in 2006 – and now, just four short years later, it serves as a marker for just how popular online bingo has become.

In 2006, attendance at the Online Bingo Summit was about 85 companies. In 2007, the number nearly doubled. And in 2008, 250 companies attended. This year’s summit is expected to be well over 350 companies – a marked increase. The numbers released by the organizers of the Summit don’t reflect the hundreds of gaming affiliates expected to attend – only the companies participating.

The Online Bingo Summit has become a huge networking opportunity for online bingo room operators and webmasters, as well as the perfect platform for discussions about the current state and the future of the online bingo sector. The partnerships formed at the Summit help get bingo brands out to the growing number of gamblers that are interested in giving internet bingo a go.

Gloucester Hotel in Kensington, London, UK will host the 2009 summit from June 16th through June 17th. Items on the agenda of events include “Bingo Affiliate Zone”, new forms of online betting (like TV gaming and mobile bingo gaming), and a section for European updates on gambling regulations.
Online Bingo Summit attendees can also count on some big networking bashes as well. Today’s bingo is strategically geared toward thirty-somethings, so a large portion of attendees will be looking to have some fun at the Summit, as well as to take advantage of business networking opportunities.
U.S. Players can give online bingo a try by checking out the World Bingo Network’s bingo rooms which are open to U.S. players.

Gruppo Lottomatica, an Italian lottery and gaming operator, has released last year’s financial results and the numbers are great. They reflect a 24 percent increase in full-year revenues, and a 50 percent increase in revenues for the fourth quarter. Net income for the year showed a 27 percent growth to €94 million.

Lottamatica’s net financial position was reported at €2.71 billion – compared to 2007’s net financial position of €2.25 billion.

The increase in revenue can be attributed directly to Lottomatica’s sportsbetting and pool games in
Italy. Their performance more than tripled in 2008 – from €40.1 million in 2007 to €144.7 million in 2008.

Lottomatica also gives credit for its impressive increase in earnings to the acquisition of the Totosi brand. Totosi is well-knows in the online sportsbetting market in Italy and the acquisition helped Lottomatica increase market share in online games from 14 percent to 19 percent. Lottomatica also introduced an interactive online poker service this year, which also contributed to their increased earnings. The poker service was part of the Boss Media platform and operated by its GTech subsidiary.

Lorenzo Pellicoli, Chairman and Chief Executive Office fro Lottomatica said, “We are very pleased with our results in 2008.”

He went on to add, “ We achieved the guidance provided to the market with significant growth in revenue and margins. We also demonstrated that through the group’s global presence in over 50 countries and across all gaming market segments we are able to generate income, pay dividends and maintain a solid financial structure to support our growth.”

Lottomatica’s website states, “Lottomatica is one of the largest lottery operators in the world based on total wagers and a leader in the Italian gaming industry. Since 1993, Lottomatica has been the sole concessionaire for the Italian Lotto game and since 2004 for the Instant and Traditional Lotteries (Scratch & Win). The Company has built an extensive real-time, on-line distribution network, with approximately 150,000 terminals in 80,000 points of sale throughout Italy.”

The online gambling sports and horseracing community in France could be getting larger. Athens based developer and supplier of gaming and transaction processing systems, Intralot, is possibly planning on bidding for a betting license.

Reuters news has reported that Constantinos Antonopoulos, Chief Executive Officer for Intralot, has recently told reporters from Imerisia, a Greek financial daily, that his firm is planning on bidding for the French operating license for online casino gambling.

Antonopoulos said, “For Intralot, liberalisation of the online betting market in Europe is a big opportunity as our company has the structure, know-how and necessary presence to take advantage of the opportunities.”

Intralot is the world’s second largest online lottery provider. Just last week, France’s Budget Minister Eric Woerth revealed a new draft plan for the country’s betting market. The plan would open doors to foreign competition with 2010 being the target year for the first wave of online betting licenses.

Woerth stated that the gambling market in France would be opened and expanded to adapt “to Internet reality” and help France “get out of an unsustainable situation in which the State is losing a growing part of the betting market.”

His plan is widely believed to also be a response to the threat of a lawsuit in 2007 when the European Union demanded that states end state gambling monopolies. The lawsuit was threatened by the Union in order to get states to comply with the bloc’s competition rules.

The gambling industry in France, which includes online gambling, casinos, lotteries, and horseracing generates about $6.3 billion a year in taxes. Woerth’s plan factors in a tax of 7.5 percent on online sportsbetting and horseracing bets, along with a two percent tax on Internet poker bets. The plan is scheduled to be presented to the French Cabinet at the end of the month.

Harrah’s Entertainment is in trouble. Bankruptcy is looming and gaming industry experts say that the casino giant will have to sell off a large portion of assets to relieve cash flow problems. Online casino operators are keeping their fingers crossed that brand rights to the World Series Poker will be on the list of assets being sold.

The World Series of Poker brand has been Harrah’s for a while now (since Harrah’s bought Binion’s just to acquire the rights to the world’s top poker tournament). But the online rights to WSOP have never been exercised. Harrah’s has always planned to set up online casinos – and would still love to do so after the UIGEA is repealed – but gaming experts are wondering if they’ll ever get the chance. Financial problems abound and selling the rights to World Series of Poker may be one of their biggest chances at staying afloat.

There is already wide speculation that the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will be on the sale block soon. And selling the online casino games license for World Series of Poker would keep Harrah’s from having to close additional hotel-casinos.

Online casino sites are hungry to carry the World Series of Poker logo. It’s the best-known name in the entire casino business – and the company fortunate enough to acquire the rights would benefit enormously from the name. The bidding war might also be intense because online poker sites will want to block other sites from using the brand against them.

If Harrah’s earnings continue to spiral downward, the sale of their online casino betting license may come sooner rather than later. Their need to convert assets into cash may outweigh their desire to hold onto the World Series of Poker brand themselves. The company reported over a $4 billion loss last quarter alone.