“The online casino players were detained by Strathclyde police after the Gambling Commission launched an inquiry into a match between them during the UK Championship in December.

“A Strathclyde police spokesman said both men were questioned for four hours and released without charge.

“…Maguire – currently ranked second in the world – won the first round clash, played in Telford on 15 December, 9–3 after Burnett missed a black which would have reduced his arrears to 8–4.

“Before the match, the game’s governing body, World Snooker, was contacted by bookmakers reporting suspicions over heavy betting patterns on a 9-3 Maguire win…”

The funeral attracted a large gathering of Las Vegans and notables from the arenas of business, sports and government. Palms owner George Maloof, Elaine Wynn of Wynn Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White, Anthony Marnell III of the M Resort, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., were among the nearly 2,000 people who attended the service.

Fertitta was 70 when he died Aug. 21 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a long-standing heart condition.

It was nearly 50 years ago that Fertitta borrowed $100 from a friend so that he could move to Las Vegas from Texas with his wife and young daughter, his son Frank Fertitta III said in the eulogy.

Fertitta initially found work as a bellman at the Tropicana while learning how to become a blackjack dealer, his son said.

He worked his way up from there and in 1976 helped opened his own casino, which is now Palace Station, and that grew into a local empire of 10 major properties.

“He loved the casino business,” Frank Fertitta III said. “For him it wasn’t work, it was one of his passions.”

But whatever Fertitta did, he always did it to the best of his ability, his son said.

“No matter what job he was doing — as a bellman, as a dealer or whatever it was — he would do it to perfection. He prided himself at always being the best at what he did.”

But it was not his business skills that made his father a great man, the younger Fertitta said.

“When I thought of the words that would best express who my father was, the words that came to mind were: kindness, generosity and integrity,” he said. “He was loyal, affectionate, humble, humorous, never selfish and, more than anything, he was loving.”

The younger Fertitta listed six things that he felt were the most important to his father: faith, family, friends, food, football and fights.

Fertitta attended Mass daily, when his health allowed, said Rev. Bob Stoeckig, who presided over the service.

Stoeckig also said family was the focus of Fertitta’s life.

“It is fitting today to see his grandchildren fill the primary roles in this funeral Mass,” he said after the grandchildren acted as pallbearers, read scriptures and offered prayers.

Bishop Gorman High School was one of the many organizations that benefited from Fertitta’s generosity, and he was the reason the school was able to build a new campus, Stoeckig said.

“That (new) campus — made possible by the generosity of many — would not be there without the driving force of leadership and generosity of Frank,” he said.

But Fertitta never was generous because he wanted attention, Stoeckig said.

“Frank was a man who was genuinely humble. Sometime people do a good job of pretending that, but with Frank it was real. He would prefer always to be in the background,” he said.

Frank Fertitta III also spoke of his father’s charity.

“He never sought or wanted recognition for his generosity, he didn’t want to be in the spotlight, he just wanted to help others,” he said.

Football – and especially Bishop Gorman football – was also one of the joy’s of Fertitta’s life, his son said.

When he began to get sick, he told his family that he was sad he would not be able to see his younger grandsons play at Bishop Gorman, where his sons and some of his other grandsons had already played.

He died on the morning of his grandsons’ first scrimmage at the school’s Fertitta Field.

“I told my son, Frank, that ‘he’d never be able to watch you play from that hospital bed, so he just figured out a way that he could watch you from heaven.’ ”

After the funeral, a private burial service was held for the family before they attended a public reception at Red Rock Casino.

That’s what the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately decided on Monday in a 23-page opinion that said the state can “institute multigame (parlay) betting on at least three casino games” without violating federal statutes aimed at restricting the expansion of internet gambling.

The opinion of the three-judge panel explained that it interpreted the language that exempted Delaware and three other states (Nevada, Montana and Oregon) from a 1992 federal ban on sports gambling as precluding any type of betting beyond what it had previously offered. In 1976, Delaware allowed bettors to place three-game parlay wagers on NFL games. The parlay system failed miserably and did not return the following season.

The ruling also said that because only NFL parlays had been previously offered by Delaware, no betting on other sports would be allowed.

Parlay bets are much different than single-game betting, which is what is offered in Nevada. A parlay forces the bettor to combine single wagers into one single bet. If one of those wagers does not win, the entire bet loses. Delaware will have to use a three-team minimum on the parlay bets, meaning in order to win, the bettor must pick correctly at least three games against the pointspread for what is typically a 6-to-1 payoff.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s better than having no sports betting at all,” Dover Downs Hotel & Casino CEO Ed Sutor told Casino City last week. “Nevertheless, the state still has the legal authority to offer a sports lottery of parlays involving professional football games, which is a competitive advantage for our three racinos. We look forward to welcoming to Delaware visitors from all over the region to place parlay bets on professional football games.”

Sutor fully admitted, however, that parlay betting will not nearly have the same economic impact for the state as single-game wagering would have had. For example, during the heart of the football season last year (Sept. through Nov.) Nevada sportsbooks won $58.5 million on single-game wagers, according to data provided by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Parlay card betting brought in just $13.8 million during that same time period.

Nonetheless, the three race tracks in the state – Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway and Casino and Delaware Park – plan on offering the parlay wagers for the NFL beginning Sept. 10. In fact, the tracks basically have no choice to try and attract football bettors since they collectively spent more than $10 million on their new sportsbooks facilities in anticipation of offering single-game wagers. Markell said in a statement that while the parlay system “does not provide the flexibility we had hoped for, Delaware is still the only state east of the Rocky Mountains that can offer a legal sports lottery on NFL football…We still believe this is an opportunity to create jobs and generate revenue.”

Sutor indicated that he hopes that the state would accelerate the process for a bill that would bring table games to the state in order to make up for the latest setback to the sports-wagering bill.

“Table games draw exactly the same kind of demographic that the sportsbooks do and slot machines don’t – young males,” Sutor said. “In addition, we estimate that the table games would also create 800 jobs for the three venues. This is something that would really benefit everyone involved and if they set up a special session we could have things ready to go by April 1.”

By attending this unique Dragon’s Den style session on 15 September, the conference attendees will be among the first to receive a unique casino bonuses insight into innovative, and often competitive, propositions being developed by e-gaming entrepreneurs eager to enter the market and challenge the incumbents. As competition in the market heats up, Start-up LaunchPad will offer EiG’s senior level audience the opportunity to assess the start-ups’ competitive advantage or evaluate the potential for partnership or investment.

With Start-Up LaunchPad, EiG continues its tradition as a platform for launching new companies and for raising investment. Voted one of the most popular conference sessions at EiG 2008, LaunchPad will allow the selected start-ups to present their ventures to a panel of experts and investors, and to the EiG delegates, who will then vote to choose the winner.

This year’s LaunchPad will bring sports, casino and poker projects to light, thus appealing to all corners of the e-gaming industry.

David McKenzie of Tailorbet, an automated service that allows users to create customised bets on anything statistically quantifiable in sports, and Stefan Mattsson of Jacky Betting, an innovative sports pool offering that has been gathering media coverage far and wide, will present their fresh approach to peer-to-peer and social media trends in sports betting.

Tailorbet CEO David McKenzie, says: “EiG Launchpad will give us a platform to not only showcase Tailorbet, but interact and receive feedback from the many experienced professionals that will be present. Our team is looking forward to experiencing EiG in Copenhagen.”

Fredrik Elmqvist, Founder and CEO of Jacky Betting, comments: “As an independent start-up in this industry, EiG Launchpad presents a great opportunity. It’s a great honour just to have been nominated.”

Attendees with an interest in the online casino sector should make sure they don’t miss out on the presentation by USM’s Kevin Mikkelsen whose new operator-to-operator casino software technology will fundamentally challenge current business models and offer an alternative to gaming operators of all sizes. And those interested in the poker business will get a chance to hear MasterGrinders’ Stephane Lecocq pitch a retention-boosting and community-based affiliate platform for mass multi-table poker players.

Kevin Mikkelsen, CEO of USM, explains:“Having worked on the inside of a major e-gaming operator myself, it was a no-brainer to choose the platform from where to present our new company to the world: At the EiG Launchpad you don’t just talk the talk but also walk the walk with everybody who’s anybody in the industry. Launchpad is to e-gaming start-ups what Cape Canerval is to the space shuttle.”

To evaluate the start-ups, Clarion Gaming has invited leading investors and venture capital experts who will probe contestants on the niche markets they are targeting and the uniqueness of the value proposition to customers, plus further development plans and business projections.

The expert panel includes Mark Blandford, Chairman of Valhalla Investments and Founder of Sportingbet; Alistair Assheton, President of VIP.com and investor on the lookout for compelling new ideas; seasoned venture capitalist, Adam Valkin, Head of Digital Media and New Business Development, Endemol; LaunchPad 2008 winner, Dave McDowell, CEO of FSB Tech and Simon Holliday, Director, H2 Gambling Capital who will moderate the session.

In an exclusive interview with Clarion Gaming, Blandford urged contestants to do their research diligently and thoroughly so as to convince the judges that they truly understand the opportunity, the marketplace and the requirements of that marketplace.

“Keep it simple; keep to the core of the opportunity,” he advises. “The other thing we are looking for is people, their background, their CVs, their references, the relevance of any experience, why they believe that they are the people that can lead a new start-up to success.”

Start-up LaunchPad will take place at the Betta Center in Copenhagen on the 15th September from 15.25-16.45.

Details of the new approach have not been disclosed by casino bonuses, but it would have to be a signiicant bid to best Gamnyia’s $9.05 million and percentage of subsequent revenues proposal agreed on August 3rd, but conditional on the approval of shareholders.

Previous communications from WPT management indicated that 39 percent of shareholders had already agreed to accept the Gamnyia proposal.

The probe centred around the League Two clash between Accrington Stanley and Bury in May 2008 (see previous InfoPowa report) which generated unusual betting activity.

Ex-Accrington player Jay Harris was banned for a year and fined GBP 5 000, while team-mates Robert Williams and Danny Mannix received eight and 10-month bans and GBP 3 500 and GBP 4 000 fines respectively. Ex-Bury player Andrew Mangan was given a five-month ban and GBP 2 000 fine.

The Sun newspaper quoted a former football star who was jailed for similar offences in 1964. Peter Swan said: “You will never rid the game of gambling.”

Swan, now a publican in Chesterfield, declared: “I am not at all surprised that something like this has surfaced again.

“The fact is, having a flutter on opponents to win a game against you was prevalent in my playing days and it is still rife in the game today.”

Swan, along with Sheffield Wednesday team-mates David ‘Bronco’ Layne and Tony Kay, were sentenced to six months in prison, were banned from football for life and could not watch live games at any FA-sanctioned ground after betting on the Owls to lose at Ipswich.

The trio were freed after three months and the life bans were lifted after eight years. That allowed Swan, now 72, to briefly resume his playing career at Hillsborough and Bury.

He added: “No matter how much money players earn or how rich they become, they will always enjoy a gamble.

“I do not get to many live matches these days but I watch a lot of games on TV and sometimes, I have to say, it makes you wonder.

“For example, I look at a ball that should easily be cleared and the next thing it’s in the back of the net.

“As an ex-pro, you can sense something might not be right in situations like that.

“I am not suggesting for one second these four lads have done anything untoward but, boy, have they got off lightly compared to how me, Bronco and Tony were punished.

“All we did was have a gamble on the fixed odds. We didn’t ‘throw’ a game.”

Commenting on the decline, Garry Smith, a gambling research specialist with the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, opined that problem (addicted) gamblers were largely responsible for insulating the industry from the worst of the recession. He estimated that as much as five percent of the adult population has a gambling problem, ranging from mild to severe, but this demographic contributes at least one-third of overall gambling revenues and even more to slot machines and video lottery terminals.

“It’s not a recession-proof industry,” Smith says. “(But) if you’re an addict, you’re still going to play and I guess that’s one of the reasons it stays up there. Most industries drop significantly; gambling has levelled off and dropped a bit, but not that much.”

Statistics Canada found wealthier households are more likely to gamble than their poorer counterparts, with 34 percent of those with incomes of less than Cdn$20 000 playing games of chance in 2007, compared to 58 percent of those making Cdn$80 000 or more.

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that the poorest households devote 1.7 percent of income to gambling, compared to just 0.4 percent in the richest households.

Cashcade operates top brands like Foxy Bingo, Mirror Bingo, Think Bingo and Cheeky Bingo, and has been consistently hosting over 2 500 average daily concurrent users in its 7 online bingo networks in the 3 months to June 30, 2009; representing around 23 percent of the total UK online bingo market share, reports the independent bingo information portal Bingoport.co.uk.

The next closest competitor is the stand alone bingo site, Tombola, with just over 1 200 average daily concurrent players, followed by Gala Bingo with around 1 100 average daily concurrent players.

Bingoport assesses Cashcade’s rise as a notable success story in the UK online bingo industry, where traditional land based companies have in the past dominated. The group’s purchase of Herotech and Independent Technology Ventures for GBP 13.5 million in 2007 saw its portfolio increase through strategic acquisition, but it has been its success with organic growth, smart marketing and strategic innovation that has seen it power to the top spot in the industry.

“Cashcade has been the market leader for the past two years in terms of their innovative online bingo products, promotions and marketing,” said BingoPort.co.uk managing director and co-founder, Scott Logan.

“Cashcade took the industry to another level earlier this year with the introduction of the innovative free/pay online bingo site, Cheeky Bingo; which now accounts for 33 percent of Cashcade’s overall bingo player traffic.”

Patrick Southon, the m.d. of Cashcade, commented that the present is just the dawn for interactive online games like bingo.

“With the addition of mobile, Interactive TV as well as international opportunities the future is exciting for companies like Cashcade - a business which is unencumbered [by debt] when compared to some of our peers,” he added.

Southon has ambitions beyond the UK, revealing that the recent launch of new sites like Little Big Bingo and Kiss My Bingo extends Cashcade’s gains in its core UK market, but that he is also considering wider possibilities.

“We do not want to lose focus on our number one market, the UK. We are looking closely at Spain and Sweden but we have a desire to take advantage of the whole European deregulation”, said Southon.

The Tombola release claims the firm has always led the way in the UK online bingo market through its management of Sun Bingo and Tombola.co.uk, and quotes independent statistics provider Hitwise to claim that it is officially the most visited bingo website in the UK.

Hitwise numbers apparently show that Tombola has more paying players than any other bingo website, however the press release is remiss in not including actual statistics to back its claims.

The release goes on to reveal that Tombola plans to consolidate its position with a GBP 7 million above-the-line advertising campaign which will break in August across TV, print and online media. The new TV ads are based around a tropical Tombola island and will feature in ad breaks for some of the UK’s most watched shows including Coronation Street and Emmerdale. The tropical island theme is also part of another company marketing push in which GBP100 000 worth of free bingo has seen millions of gratis bingo tickets distributed through popular weekly magazines.

Tombola’s bingo software is developed in-house, with the company regularly launching new games to attract new players and retain existing fans. The site has 43 chat rooms moderated by over 100 moderators.

A statement from Mark Mendel’s law firm Mendel Blumenfeld LLP late Friday advised that ZookZ “…is not operating under the authority or with the knowledge of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. More specifically, Zookz.com is not authorized by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, or by the World Trade Organization, to offer entertainment downloads in contravention of international law.”

The statement goes on to assure interested parties: “Under the US [Internet] gambling case before the WTO, Antigua retains its right to implement intellectual property sanctions against the U.S. if the remote gambling matter can not be brought to a negotiated solution. If and when the Government of Antigua and Barbuda invokes sanctions it will follow WTO protocol.”

Adding weight to the statement is a comment by Antiguan minister Harold Lovell, who commented: “The operators of ZookZ.com have not played any role in the Antiguan gaming industry or in our country’s case pending before the WTO.

“Only the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has the right to implement and oversee the intellectual property sanctions it was awarded by the WTO. As of this time, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has not authorized any person or entity to implement sanctions.

“While we may in the future consider exercising the right to impose sanctions, as of this moment, I am instead looking forward to meeting with the United States Government in the near future and focusing on a mutually beneficial resolution of the issues raised by the remote gambling case.”

Meanwhile, the ZookZ issue has been referred to the Antiguan Ministry of Legal Affairs for a full investigation.