Australia: Internet In Peril as Big Brother Is Still Watching, by Greg Tingle - 13th March 2010
Gaming, news media, entertainment and freedom of expression fans, your Internet is in danger, at least if you're one of our Australian readers.
The folks down under in Australia have spoken loud and clear...for almost a year now... they don't want their internet (or coffee as a general rule), filtered by the powers that be in the Australian government.
This most important of news stories has been covered in considerable detail by Media Man, Gambling911, and many of the world's leading news outlets.
What's at stake? Human rights and censorship, and that's just the tip of the iceberg folks.
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has now listed Australia along with Iran and North Korea in a report on countries that pose a threat regarding internet censorship.
Paris-based RWB (Reporters Without Borders) put Australia and South Korea on its list of countries "under surveillance" in its "Internet Enemies" report delivered last Thursday.
Australia was listed for the government's plan to block access to websites featuring material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. Gambling911 and Media Man do not support those vices, however we do believe that if people want to enjoy online poker, casino games and even a bit of regular porn, they should be able to! You're beloved Maxim, FHM, Penthouse and Playboy Poker Babes could even be in danger of becoming "illegal"!
Detractors are saying that the plan is a seriously misguided measure that will harm civil liberties by blocking a broader range of content than just "net nasty" content.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has advised he plans to introduce legislation by the end of next week that would require ISPs to block a blacklist of "refused classification" websites for all Australians.
It is not currently certain if the government will meet this deadline; a spokeswoman for Senator Conroy said the legislation would be introduced "after it has been considered by caucus and cabinet".
The inclusion on "Internet Enemies" follows the naming of Senator Conroy as the "Internet Villain Of The Year" last July at the Internet Service Providers' Association annual awards in London, a honour that Sen. Conroy shrugged off.
The latest report was of particular interest to Aussie campaigner Peter Coroneos, the MD of the IIA (Internet Industry Association), who told the press that it showed the international reception to the proposed internet filter.
"This regrettably puts Australia on notice that, despite the Rudd Government's best intentions, any mandatory filtering policy is likely to be perceived internationally in ways that will not benefit our reputation as a free and open society," he said.
"It will likely be used by less open societies as a vindication of their internet censorship regimes, despite any domestic attempts to draw distinctions. Mandatory filtering is mandatory filtering by whatever colour it is painted."
Senator Conroy's spokeswoman defended the internet filtering, advising RC content is already prohibited in physical media distributed offline.
"Under Australia's existing Classification regulations this material is not available in newsagencies, it is not on library shelves, you cannot watch it on a DVD or at the cinema and it is not shown on television," she said.
There's hope yet however...Whether the internet filtering scheme gets up will likely depend on the position of the Liberal party, as the Greens have already pledged to oppose the legislation.
The opposition has yet to come to a final position on the matter but in a speech to the Grattan Institute earlier this week shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the policy was "likely to be unworkable in practice". He expressed concerns that the scope of blocked websites could be expanded in the future and said it was up to parents, not governments, to regulate their childrens' internet use.
A spokeswoman for Hockey said today that the shadow treasurer's comments should not be interpreted as confirmation that the opposition would oppose the filtering legislation, as a decision had not yet been made at this this time.
In South Korea, the RSF report added, "draconian laws are creating too many specific restrictions on web users by challenging their anonymity and promoting self-censorship".
"These countries are worrying us because they have measures that could have repercussions for freedom of expression on the internet," RSF secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said at an internet rights award ceremony on Thursday.
Russia and Turkey were also added to the watchlist, which is a stage below RSF's top "Enemies of the internet", the countries it considers the 12 worst web freedom violators.
These include Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Iran and Vietnam.
"The world's largest netizen prison is in China, which is far out ahead of other countries with 72 detainees, followed by Vietnam and then by Iran, which have all launched waves of brutal attacks on websites in recent months," RSF's report said.
A senior manager of Google, David Drummond, said there was an "alarming trend" of government interference in online freedom, not only in countries that are judged to have poor human rights records.
He pointed to Australia's plans as a classic example, saying that there "the wide scope of content prohibited could include socially and politically controversial material".
The Australian case "is an example of where these benign intentions can result in the spectre of true censorship".
"Here in Europe, even in France, at this very moment, some are tempted by this slippery path of network filtering."
As recently as last month, after Senator Conroy called on YouTube to censor videos in accordance with his filtering scheme, the search giant's head of policy in Australia, Iarla Flynn, said: "The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy."
Gambling911 and Media Man International are advising Aussie punters to enjoy online poker and casino games while they can at websites such as PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PKR, PokerStars and Betfair.
Management at Gambling911 is hopeful that their own website (which reports on poker, gaming, gambling, sports betting and politics) doesn't end up being banned by the Aussie government.
A little birdie has told us that the Australian government should expect more attacks on their own websites in retribution, and rumours are circulating of more protests being arranged on Australian soil, and one disturbing report of a public riot being organised. Stay tuned for more on this developing situation.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*The writer is a member of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the National Press Club
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company
http://www.mediamanint.com
Greg Tingle, Gambling911.com
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Friday, March 12, 2010
Australian News Media, Gaming And Human Rights Under Et Al Under Attack By Aussie Government - Australia Iran North Korea Connection, by Greg Tingle - 12th March 2010
Gaming, news media, entertainment and freedom of expression fans, your internet is in danger, at least if your one of our Australian readers.
The folks down under in Australia have spoken loud and clear...for almost a year now... they don't want their internet (or coffee as a general rule), filtered by the powers that be in the Australian government.
This most important of news stories has been covered in considerable detail by Media Man, Gambling911, and many of the world's leading news outlets.
What's at stake? Human rights and censorship, and that's just the tip of the iceberg folks.
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has now listed Australia along with Iran and North Korea in a report on countries that pose a threat regarding internet censorship.
Paris-based RWB (Reporters Without Borders) put Australia and South Korea on its list of countries "under surveillance" in its "Internet Enemies" report delivered last Thursday.
Australia was listed for the government's plan to block access to websites featuring material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. Gambling911 and Media Man do not support those vices, however we do believed that if people want to enjoy online poker, casino games and even a bit of regular porn, they should be able to! You're beloved Maxim, FHM, Penthouse and Playboy Poker Babes could even be in danger of becoming "illegal"!
Detractors are saying that the plan is a seriously misguided measure that will harm civil liberties by blocking a broader range of content than just "net nasty" content.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has advised he plans to introduce legislation by the end of next week that would require ISPs to block a blacklist of "refused classification" websites for all Australians.
It is not currently certain if the government will meet this deadline; a spokeswoman for Senator Conroy said the legislation would be introduced "after it has been considered by caucus and cabinet".
The inclusion on "Internet Enemies" follows the naming of Senator Conroy as the "Internet Villain Of The Year" last July at the Internet Service Providers’ Association annual awards in London, a honour that Sen. Conroy shrugged off.
The latest report was of particular interest to Aussie campaigner Peter Coroneos, the MD of the IIA (Internet Industry Association), who told the press that it showed the international reception to the proposed internet filter.
"This regrettably puts Australia on notice that, despite the Rudd Government’s best intentions, any mandatory filtering policy is likely to be perceived internationally in ways that will not benefit our reputation as a free and open society," he said.
"It will likely be used by less open societies as a vindication of their internet censorship regimes, despite any domestic attempts to draw distinctions. Mandatory filtering is mandatory filtering by whatever colour it is painted."
Senator Conroy's spokeswoman defended the internet filtering, advising RC content is already prohibited in physical media distributed offline.
"Under Australia’s existing Classification regulations this material is not available in newsagencies, it is not on library shelves, you cannot watch it on a DVD or at the cinema and it is not shown on television," she said.
There's hope yet however...Whether the internet filtering scheme gets up will likely depend on the position of the Liberal party, as the Greens have already pledged to oppose the legislation.
The opposition has yet to come to a final position on the matter but in a speech to the Grattan Institute earlier this week shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the policy was "likely to be unworkable in practice". He expressed concerns that the scope of blocked websites could be expanded in the future and said it was up to parents, not governments, to regulate their childrens' internet use.
A spokeswoman for Hockey said today that the shadow treasurer's comments should not be interpreted as confirmation that the opposition would oppose the filtering legislation, as a decision had not yet been made at this this time.
In South Korea, the RSF report added, "draconian laws are creating too many specific restrictions on web users by challenging their anonymity and promoting self-censorship".
"These countries are worrying us because they have measures that could have repercussions for freedom of expression on the internet," RSF secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said at an internet rights award ceremony on Thursday.
Russia and Turkey were also added to the watchlist, which is a stage below RSF's top "Enemies of the internet", the countries it considers the 12 worst web freedom violators.
These include Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Iran and Vietnam.
"The world's largest netizen prison is in China, which is far out ahead of other countries with 72 detainees, followed by Vietnam and then by Iran, which have all launched waves of brutal attacks on websites in recent months," RSF's report said.
A senior manager of Google, David Drummond, said there was an "alarming trend" of government interference in online freedom, not only in countries that are judged to have poor human rights records.
He pointed to Australia's plans as a classic example, saying that there "the wide scope of content prohibited could include socially and politically controversial material".
The Australian case "is an example of where these benign intentions can result in the spectre of true censorship".
"Here in Europe, even in France, at this very moment, some are tempted by this slippery path of network filtering."
As recently as last month, after Senator Conroy called on YouTube to censor videos in accordance with his filtering scheme, the search giant's head of policy in Australia, Iarla Flynn, said: "The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy."
Gambling911 and Media Man International are advising Aussie punters to enjoy online poker and casino games while they can at websites such as PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PKR, PokerStars and Betfair.
Management at Gambling911 is hopeful that their own website (which reports on poker, gaming, gambling, sports betting and politics) doesn't end up being banned by the Aussie government.
A little birdie has told us that the Australian government should expect more attacks on their own websites in retribution, and rumours are circulating of more protests being arranged on Australian soil, and one disturbing report of a public riot being organised. Stay tuned for more on this developing situation.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*The writer is a member of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the National Press Club
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company
http://www.mediamanint.com
Gaming, news media, entertainment and freedom of expression fans, your internet is in danger, at least if your one of our Australian readers.
The folks down under in Australia have spoken loud and clear...for almost a year now... they don't want their internet (or coffee as a general rule), filtered by the powers that be in the Australian government.
This most important of news stories has been covered in considerable detail by Media Man, Gambling911, and many of the world's leading news outlets.
What's at stake? Human rights and censorship, and that's just the tip of the iceberg folks.
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has now listed Australia along with Iran and North Korea in a report on countries that pose a threat regarding internet censorship.
Paris-based RWB (Reporters Without Borders) put Australia and South Korea on its list of countries "under surveillance" in its "Internet Enemies" report delivered last Thursday.
Australia was listed for the government's plan to block access to websites featuring material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. Gambling911 and Media Man do not support those vices, however we do believed that if people want to enjoy online poker, casino games and even a bit of regular porn, they should be able to! You're beloved Maxim, FHM, Penthouse and Playboy Poker Babes could even be in danger of becoming "illegal"!
Detractors are saying that the plan is a seriously misguided measure that will harm civil liberties by blocking a broader range of content than just "net nasty" content.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has advised he plans to introduce legislation by the end of next week that would require ISPs to block a blacklist of "refused classification" websites for all Australians.
It is not currently certain if the government will meet this deadline; a spokeswoman for Senator Conroy said the legislation would be introduced "after it has been considered by caucus and cabinet".
The inclusion on "Internet Enemies" follows the naming of Senator Conroy as the "Internet Villain Of The Year" last July at the Internet Service Providers’ Association annual awards in London, a honour that Sen. Conroy shrugged off.
The latest report was of particular interest to Aussie campaigner Peter Coroneos, the MD of the IIA (Internet Industry Association), who told the press that it showed the international reception to the proposed internet filter.
"This regrettably puts Australia on notice that, despite the Rudd Government’s best intentions, any mandatory filtering policy is likely to be perceived internationally in ways that will not benefit our reputation as a free and open society," he said.
"It will likely be used by less open societies as a vindication of their internet censorship regimes, despite any domestic attempts to draw distinctions. Mandatory filtering is mandatory filtering by whatever colour it is painted."
Senator Conroy's spokeswoman defended the internet filtering, advising RC content is already prohibited in physical media distributed offline.
"Under Australia’s existing Classification regulations this material is not available in newsagencies, it is not on library shelves, you cannot watch it on a DVD or at the cinema and it is not shown on television," she said.
There's hope yet however...Whether the internet filtering scheme gets up will likely depend on the position of the Liberal party, as the Greens have already pledged to oppose the legislation.
The opposition has yet to come to a final position on the matter but in a speech to the Grattan Institute earlier this week shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the policy was "likely to be unworkable in practice". He expressed concerns that the scope of blocked websites could be expanded in the future and said it was up to parents, not governments, to regulate their childrens' internet use.
A spokeswoman for Hockey said today that the shadow treasurer's comments should not be interpreted as confirmation that the opposition would oppose the filtering legislation, as a decision had not yet been made at this this time.
In South Korea, the RSF report added, "draconian laws are creating too many specific restrictions on web users by challenging their anonymity and promoting self-censorship".
"These countries are worrying us because they have measures that could have repercussions for freedom of expression on the internet," RSF secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said at an internet rights award ceremony on Thursday.
Russia and Turkey were also added to the watchlist, which is a stage below RSF's top "Enemies of the internet", the countries it considers the 12 worst web freedom violators.
These include Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Iran and Vietnam.
"The world's largest netizen prison is in China, which is far out ahead of other countries with 72 detainees, followed by Vietnam and then by Iran, which have all launched waves of brutal attacks on websites in recent months," RSF's report said.
A senior manager of Google, David Drummond, said there was an "alarming trend" of government interference in online freedom, not only in countries that are judged to have poor human rights records.
He pointed to Australia's plans as a classic example, saying that there "the wide scope of content prohibited could include socially and politically controversial material".
The Australian case "is an example of where these benign intentions can result in the spectre of true censorship".
"Here in Europe, even in France, at this very moment, some are tempted by this slippery path of network filtering."
As recently as last month, after Senator Conroy called on YouTube to censor videos in accordance with his filtering scheme, the search giant's head of policy in Australia, Iarla Flynn, said: "The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy."
Gambling911 and Media Man International are advising Aussie punters to enjoy online poker and casino games while they can at websites such as PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PKR, PokerStars and Betfair.
Management at Gambling911 is hopeful that their own website (which reports on poker, gaming, gambling, sports betting and politics) doesn't end up being banned by the Aussie government.
A little birdie has told us that the Australian government should expect more attacks on their own websites in retribution, and rumours are circulating of more protests being arranged on Australian soil, and one disturbing report of a public riot being organised. Stay tuned for more on this developing situation.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*The writer is a member of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the National Press Club
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company
http://www.mediamanint.com
Poker Babes: Maxim Men's Magazine Top 20 For 2010
Men's magazine Maxim have released their 20 hottest poker babes.
The list mainly consists of Hollywood celebs who have had minor poker involvement such as charity tournaments, however there are a handful of poker babes who can also play well, and even a couple of champions!
Vanessa Rousso enjoyed a win at the EPT Grand Final High Rollers and was runner-up at the NBC National HU Championship and has made 11 final table appearances. Her total tournament cashes are 2.5 million dollars.
Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth are two celebrities known also as passionate players. Jenn has a WSOP bracelet and both have made the semifinals at the NBC National HU Championship.
Tiffany Michelle's biggest brag is 17th place and $334,000 at the World Series of Poker 2008 Main Event.
Us, we like Kara Scott from PartyPoker.com and remain very high on Paris Hilton, Jenny McCarthy and Pam Anderson.
Cameron Diaz
Heather Graham
Jenna Fischer
Jennie Garth
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Tilly
Jenny McCarthy
Joanna Krupa
Lacey Chabert
Laura Prepon
Mena Suvari
Odette Yustman
Pamela Anderson
Rosario Dawson
Sarah Silverman
Serinda Swan
Shannon Elizabeth
Tiffany Michelle
Traci Bingham
Vanessa Rousso
Profiles
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Babes
Poker
Website Network
Poker News Media
Casino News Media
Global Gaming Directory
Australian Sports Entertainment
Sports Entertainment News
Media Man
Media Man International
Men's magazine Maxim have released their 20 hottest poker babes.
The list mainly consists of Hollywood celebs who have had minor poker involvement such as charity tournaments, however there are a handful of poker babes who can also play well, and even a couple of champions!
Vanessa Rousso enjoyed a win at the EPT Grand Final High Rollers and was runner-up at the NBC National HU Championship and has made 11 final table appearances. Her total tournament cashes are 2.5 million dollars.
Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth are two celebrities known also as passionate players. Jenn has a WSOP bracelet and both have made the semifinals at the NBC National HU Championship.
Tiffany Michelle's biggest brag is 17th place and $334,000 at the World Series of Poker 2008 Main Event.
Us, we like Kara Scott from PartyPoker.com and remain very high on Paris Hilton, Jenny McCarthy and Pam Anderson.
Cameron Diaz
Heather Graham
Jenna Fischer
Jennie Garth
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Tilly
Jenny McCarthy
Joanna Krupa
Lacey Chabert
Laura Prepon
Mena Suvari
Odette Yustman
Pamela Anderson
Rosario Dawson
Sarah Silverman
Serinda Swan
Shannon Elizabeth
Tiffany Michelle
Traci Bingham
Vanessa Rousso
Profiles
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Babes
Poker
Website Network
Poker News Media
Casino News Media
Global Gaming Directory
Australian Sports Entertainment
Sports Entertainment News
Media Man
Media Man International
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
PartyGaming News: PartyCasino and WPT Casino Get New Online Slot Games: Rubiks Slot, Slotbox, Sands Of Fortune, Beat the Bank and more - March 2010
PartyCasino.com and WPTCasino.com, both owned and operated by PartyGaming, have just released some great new online slot games.
New players can get up to $500 bonus.
Play for free or play for money. Multi language and multi currency. The casinos offer the exclusive PartyGaming PartyPoints rewards system providing players with world class rewards and bonuses.
Rubiks Slot
Rubiks game is a fixed odds game based on the popular Rubik’s Cube® Puzzle. The player selects the stake and then presses the Play button and gets wins based on how many lines and/or sides get completed on the 3 visible sides after the cube is automatically rotated several times. All wins are paid as per the paytable. Rubik's game also introduces Free Plays. Free Plays is triggered when all six letters in the Rubik's logo are highlighted, in which the player is awarded free plays and extra cubes.
Slotbox
Line up a fortune in Slotblox. Take a classic, line-building puzzle game, remove the stress and add plenty of chances to win lots of cash. That’s Slotblox.
Slotblox couldn’t be simpler. When you start playing different shaped blocks fall down the screen into your game grid. Don’t worry about controlling the blocks, the game does that for you.
You can build your way to big money when these blocks create cash-winning lines. Winning lines then disappear, creating more space in the grid and giving your further chances to win.
Get a winning line with the special ‘magic’ blocks and you’ll trigger the free plays feature where’s there’s double money to be won.
See if a fortune’s about to fall your way.
Sands Of Fortune
Sands of Fortune is a five-reel, nine-paylines slot game with a bonus feature game that gives you the chance to win extra prizes. Random number of picks of up to 5 is awarded. You get to select any 1 door in each pick to reveal a prize. 3 or more BONUS symbols appear anywhere in view triggers the bonus feature.
Beat the Bank
Beat the bank is a five-reel, twenty-paylines slot game with a 'free game' and a ‘Beat The Bank’ feature. The Free Games Feature is triggered when Thief appears any where on reels 2, 3 and 4 at the same time. 15 free games are awarded, during which all prizes are tripled, except for Beat The Bank feature win, even though it is triggered during Free Spins. The feature can be retriggered when Thief appears any where on reels 2, 3 and 4 at the same time. The Beat The Bank Feature is awarded when 3 or more Scattered Safe occur anywhere.
Thief appears on Reels 2, 3 and 4 only and substitutes for all other symbols except Scattered Safe.
PartyCasino.com is a multi time Casino News Media - Media Man - Global Gaming Directory Online Casino Of The Month winner and WPTCasino.com is a Casino News Media - Media Man - Global Gaming Directory Online Casino finalist.
PartyGaming is widely regarded as the world's leading igaming company. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange and were established in 1997.
Websites
PartyCasino.com
WPTCasino.com
PartyCasino.com and WPTCasino.com, both owned and operated by PartyGaming, have just released some great new online slot games.
New players can get up to $500 bonus.
Play for free or play for money. Multi language and multi currency. The casinos offer the exclusive PartyGaming PartyPoints rewards system providing players with world class rewards and bonuses.
Rubiks Slot
Rubiks game is a fixed odds game based on the popular Rubik’s Cube® Puzzle. The player selects the stake and then presses the Play button and gets wins based on how many lines and/or sides get completed on the 3 visible sides after the cube is automatically rotated several times. All wins are paid as per the paytable. Rubik's game also introduces Free Plays. Free Plays is triggered when all six letters in the Rubik's logo are highlighted, in which the player is awarded free plays and extra cubes.
Slotbox
Line up a fortune in Slotblox. Take a classic, line-building puzzle game, remove the stress and add plenty of chances to win lots of cash. That’s Slotblox.
Slotblox couldn’t be simpler. When you start playing different shaped blocks fall down the screen into your game grid. Don’t worry about controlling the blocks, the game does that for you.
You can build your way to big money when these blocks create cash-winning lines. Winning lines then disappear, creating more space in the grid and giving your further chances to win.
Get a winning line with the special ‘magic’ blocks and you’ll trigger the free plays feature where’s there’s double money to be won.
See if a fortune’s about to fall your way.
Sands Of Fortune
Sands of Fortune is a five-reel, nine-paylines slot game with a bonus feature game that gives you the chance to win extra prizes. Random number of picks of up to 5 is awarded. You get to select any 1 door in each pick to reveal a prize. 3 or more BONUS symbols appear anywhere in view triggers the bonus feature.
Beat the Bank
Beat the bank is a five-reel, twenty-paylines slot game with a 'free game' and a ‘Beat The Bank’ feature. The Free Games Feature is triggered when Thief appears any where on reels 2, 3 and 4 at the same time. 15 free games are awarded, during which all prizes are tripled, except for Beat The Bank feature win, even though it is triggered during Free Spins. The feature can be retriggered when Thief appears any where on reels 2, 3 and 4 at the same time. The Beat The Bank Feature is awarded when 3 or more Scattered Safe occur anywhere.
Thief appears on Reels 2, 3 and 4 only and substitutes for all other symbols except Scattered Safe.
PartyCasino.com is a multi time Casino News Media - Media Man - Global Gaming Directory Online Casino Of The Month winner and WPTCasino.com is a Casino News Media - Media Man - Global Gaming Directory Online Casino finalist.
PartyGaming is widely regarded as the world's leading igaming company. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange and were established in 1997.
Websites
PartyCasino.com
WPTCasino.com
Tiger Airways (Not Woods) Offers Private Flights To Singapore New Casino, by Greg Tingle - 10th March 2010
Singapore budget air carrier Tiger Airways will provide a chartered aircraft that will exclusively fly foreign guests visiting the city's first casino resort. Perfect to fly casino whales and would be's... dolphins, into gambling heaven... or hell.
The airline advised it signed an agreement with Resorts World Sentosa under which the casino operator will take over the lease of the aircraft.
The plane will be staffed by pilots and cabin crew from Tiger Airways, and we understand no gambling (or sex in the washroom ala Australia's "Mile High Hostie") will be permitted mid flight.
"Yet to be named, the private flight service, operated by Tiger Airways, will have an aircraft operating as a dedicated charter service for Resorts World Sentosa, transporting guests between Singapore and other cities around the region," it says.
The service is scheduled to start late this year.
Resorts World Sentosa has opened Singapore's first casino, which is part of a $US4.4 billion ($A4.9 billion) complex that also includes a Universal Studios movie theme park, premium hotels, restaurants and convention facilities.
Media Man and Gambling911 understands that by law the casino has to provide a range of services, thus becomes a "hotel - resort - theme park" scenario, but the lions share of the income comes straight from the casinos, and the whales and dolphins that visit. Aw well, we all have to make a dollar, and we wish punters good luck at Resorts World Sentosa.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. The Media Man group includes Media Man, Media Man Australia and Media Man Asia
http://www.mediamanint.com http://www.mediamanaustralia.com http://www.mediaman.asia
Singapore budget air carrier Tiger Airways will provide a chartered aircraft that will exclusively fly foreign guests visiting the city's first casino resort. Perfect to fly casino whales and would be's... dolphins, into gambling heaven... or hell.
The airline advised it signed an agreement with Resorts World Sentosa under which the casino operator will take over the lease of the aircraft.
The plane will be staffed by pilots and cabin crew from Tiger Airways, and we understand no gambling (or sex in the washroom ala Australia's "Mile High Hostie") will be permitted mid flight.
"Yet to be named, the private flight service, operated by Tiger Airways, will have an aircraft operating as a dedicated charter service for Resorts World Sentosa, transporting guests between Singapore and other cities around the region," it says.
The service is scheduled to start late this year.
Resorts World Sentosa has opened Singapore's first casino, which is part of a $US4.4 billion ($A4.9 billion) complex that also includes a Universal Studios movie theme park, premium hotels, restaurants and convention facilities.
Media Man and Gambling911 understands that by law the casino has to provide a range of services, thus becomes a "hotel - resort - theme park" scenario, but the lions share of the income comes straight from the casinos, and the whales and dolphins that visit. Aw well, we all have to make a dollar, and we wish punters good luck at Resorts World Sentosa.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. The Media Man group includes Media Man, Media Man Australia and Media Man Asia
http://www.mediamanint.com http://www.mediamanaustralia.com http://www.mediaman.asia
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
PartyGaming - PartyCasino, PartyPoker, WPT News - CEO Jim Ryan Interview
Websites
PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com PartyBingo.com PartyBets.com World Poker Tour WTP Casino Noble Casino
Financial Performance
Total revenue and clean EBITDA are down. So how would you characterise 2009 performance?
Q. 2009 was a challenging year. It was a pretty tough economic backdrop for the sector. In fact, the sector has not worked through, or lived through a recession before that. That being said, I think PartyGaming's performance as well as the sector's was resilient but not immune. In 2009, we focused on operations and improving our operations.
In doing so, we actually returned the business to growth. And if you take a look at our fourth quarter, all four product verticals grew in that quarter, and grew dramatically. It was a 17% quarter-over-quarter growth.
So, if I take a look at the year as a whole, I would say our trading was robust, slightly ahead of analysts' consensus, so we feel good about that, and we're positioned very nicely moving into 2010.
Q. You mentioned Q4. How much of that was down to seasonality? And how much is sustainable growth?
A. Well, it's interesting. Q4, Q1 are typically the two strongest quarters in a year. That being said, focusing on our core operations, focusing on the customer, making a number of product, pricing, promotional-based improvements have actually improved the trading of the company. We saw the growth, as I mentioned, 17% quarter-over-quarter growth in Q4. We've seen that growth continue into the first quarter. So we're moving into the year very optimistic about our prospects.
Q. And what's behind the decline in new player signups in the Americas and in Asia-Pacific?
A. There are two factors. First and foremost, you have operators who have continued to operate in the United States, taking their profits and investing into countries like Canada. So that has made those environments far more competitive. That being said, PartyGaming is principally a European business. That's where our focus is. That's where we see our growth in the ensuing years. New, regulated markets coming - Italy, France, Denmark, hopefully Spain in the not-too-distant future. So that's where we're directing our attention at this point.
Business performance and development
Q. Looking first at Poker, you lost third place last year, but have regained it since. What was behind this, and how will you retain your position?
A. Interestingly enough, it was fairly simple - focusing on core Poker operations. What does that involve? It involved rewriting our products, soup to nuts. We actually re-launched Poker in September of 2008, but on the back of that re-launch, we did some very, very important things. We focused on the consumer. We changed our VIP and loyalty points programme in July of 2009. Since we've done that, we've experienced month-over-month growth in our Poker product.
In addition to that, we modified our pricing. The market has become more competitive and we've changed our pricing policy to ensure that we were as competitively priced as the other leaders in the sector.
In addition to that, promotions. There is always a reason to come and play at Party, 24/7. We have month-long promotions that stimulate VIPs, novices and mid-level players.
And last but not least, increasing the size and the capabilities of our Poker management team. I have been with four online gaming companies now, four different Poker networks, and I've never seen a team who is more passionate about the Poker product, worked as hard to make sure that we are a leader in the sector. And yes, we're number three today, but if you take out the US operators, we're actually number one.
Q. We also saw you buy World Poker Tour Enterprises. What's your strategy for that business? And have there been any regulatory issues with the US?
A. I'm going to answer the question in reverse order. First and foremost, there have been no regulatory issues. The World Poker Tour and its business is legal within the United States, and within the European community. The strategy for the World Poker Tour is fairly simple. If you take a look at the US as a case in point, and take a look at the most popular Poker brands in the United States, certainly Party would be top five. And also, World Poker Tour would be top five.
The World Poker Tour has 12 land-based events in the US. We will continue to operate those land-based events. They'll be standalone, branded World Poker Tour and their sponsors only. You will not see PartyPoker all over them. We're quite proud to have probably the best land-based tour events in the world, and we want to preserve that and grow it. We'll be growing it into Europe, with the addition of 10 land-based events.
Now, some of the European events will be sponsored by PartyPoker, and again, our focus is growing our Poker network throughout Europe. But we will also have third parties, online operators sponsor some of those events. So we are embracing our competition. We want them to participate in the land-based sponsorship, the TV sponsorship of the World Poker Tour events. So it is going to be, in one respect, business as usual for the World Poker Tour.
There is an online element that we're quite keen about in the United States, and that is the second aspect of the strategy. Subscription Poker is legal in 37 states in the US. The World Poker Tour operates in those states under the Club WPT brand. PartyPoker has a database of 12 million registered users. Our desire is to cross-pollinate the World Poker Tour subscription product into our 12 million person database. And remind those 12 million consumers that PartyPoker still exists, hopefully get them educated and interested in Poker again by getting them playing a legal subscription model, and positioning the brand for the long term - hopefully the short term, when the US market reopens.
Q. And you launched 80 games in Casino last year, which have shown strong growth. But what's your strategy there to ensure that level of growth?
A. We're excited about our Casino business. What did we have? 12% year-over-year growth and we had quarter-over-quarter growth all the way through the year. The strategy is threefold.
New content. 80 new games last year. We'll have 50 new games this year. The content will be exciting. It will be branded content. Some of the branded content will be those trusted Hollywood brands that you saw come from us last year - Terminator, Sinatra, Rambo to name a few. There will also be some internally developed brands from the PartyGaming game studio.
The second aspect of the strategy is focused on having life-changing events. It's a jackpot-based strategy. Last year, we had one of the largest jackpot wins in online gaming history. The jackpot was just shy of US$5 million. Today we have the largest reset value in our Melon Madness Jackpot. It resets or starts at US$1.5 million. Nobody else can match that in the sector. So we will continue to bring those life-changing events to the consumer.
And the last aspect of the strategy - and this is what excites me most - is dedicated Casino marketing. Now, here is why this is important. Historically, we've acquired all of our Casino players from our Poker database. That's been great, because our cost of acquisitions hasn't been particularly high, but it hasn't been particularly good for our Poker liquidity in a challenged competitive environment where we need to grow that liquidity. What we've now started to do is go and acquire pure-play Casino players. The magic of a pure-play Casino player? Their lifetime value is twice that of a Poker consumer who moves over to Casino.
So our Casino offering will grow in 2010 and beyond.
Q. Bingo performance has been transformed by the acquisition of Cashcade, but how international is Bingo? And what's the growth opportunity there?
A. Very exciting acquisition for us. We're now a market leader in the online Bingo space. We're arguably the largest network in the United Kingdom. The UK market is probably about US$400m in 2009. Now, what's fascinating about this: the worldwide online Bingo market is US$1.7bn.
So strategically, where are we going with this business? Well, we definitely want to capture more share in the United Kingdom, and we will this year. But we're going to take that business into other European markets, so you'll likely see us go into the Nordic territories and perhaps Spain in 2010.
Q. You've talked a lot about expanding your position in Sports Betting, and last year speculation was rife about a possible merger with bwin. What happened on that?
A. In fact, we've talked to a number of participants in the marketplace and continue to do so. There have been rumours about bwin and many others. The reality of it is where we stand today we have a number of discussions that are ongoing. Everything is at a preliminary stage. So, M&A continues to be a material part of our strategy moving forward, but we need the right set of circumstances for a deal to happen. So stay tuned.
B2B and B2G
Q. You say you’ve done five B2B deals in 2009, excluding those that came with the acquisition of Cashcade. How significant are they?
A. If I may, just for a moment, just state that we’re particularly proud of our B2B business vertical. Why? Because it was part of our new strategy that we announced in August of 2008. And here we are, a year and a half later, and we set that strategy up by saying we wanted to do five meaningful deals in the first year. And we did them.
You’ll never see us do double digits in terms of the number of new partners we’re bringing into our B2B business. The objective in 2009 was five deals, and that’s exactly what we did. The objective in 2010 is five deals. Our mission is to find five B2B partners who are ready and willing to invest in their online brand and drive a successful business. It is a situation where, in fact, less is more.
All of this, the five that we have, the five that we’ll do in 2010, will contribute as a foundation to our plan to achieve in excess of US$30m revenue from our B2B business in 2012.
Q. Turning to your B2G vertical, some commentators believe signing agreements with governments is restricting your potential earnings in a free market, and restricting your liquidity pool. What’s your view on this? And do you intend to continue a strategy of B2G as your preferred entry into a market?
A. I’m going to take you back to our strategy session in 2008. The executive team sat down and we took at look at the competitive environment and we said, “Let’s move five years out in trying to understand what this marketplace looks like.” The first thing we agreed on was the marketplace within Europe would regulate, and potentially within the United States and the rest of the world. In a regulated market, who are we going to have to compete against? We’re going to have to compete against media organisations, trusted brands like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo - and governments - including state lottery operators and government operators for online gaming services.
So we won’t get to dictate what is the best way to enter into these markets. They’re going to regulate. And the regulations, as they are in Europe today, vary from country to country. Is it a preferred approach? Our preferred approach is in fact to operate in regulated marketplaces because there is certainty. But there’s something also more valuable in a regulated market – the ability to freely advertise.
So our strategy right now is without question to focus on our B2B offering. So we’ll tackle those trusted brands and those media channels that want to get into the online sector. But also our B2G. It’s a natural. We’ve positioned our business beautifully for it for 2010. And what we will do, with both the B2B and the B2G, is marry them up with our liquidity pool that we generate from B2C. And hence, as we’re doing in Italy today, provide the consumer with the best possible experience.
Regulation and industry consolidation
Q. How much time are you devoting to the US at the moment? You’ve got your non-prosecution deal now agreed. You’ve got the World Poker Tour deal under your belt. The Barney Frank bill is in motion, for instance. You’re well-placed for a comeback, aren’t you?
A. We are still very much a European-focused business. That is how we’ll pay the bills throughout 2010 and beyond. That being said, we can’t ignore the opportunity in the United States. Truth be told, if I take you back to 2006, on a run rate basis, our business would have done US$1.2b worth of revenue and generated three-quarters of a billion dollars (US$750m) of EBITDA. The PartyPoker brand is still one of the most popular – if not the most popular – Poker brand in that marketplace.
So what have we done? We now have an office in Los Angeles. We have 38 employees. We’ve moved one of our executives, in fact an individual who used to run PartyPoker when we were in the US, over to our LA office. We’re propagating Poker through our subscription model right now in the WTP. We’re actively talking to land-based operators and others who are potentially interested in getting into this marketplace when it regulates.
So we’re sowing the seeds, if you will, right now and planting trees, preparing ourselves for re-entry. If and when it regulates, we’ll be there.
Q. And what further opportunities are you seeing in Europe?
A. Europe is an exciting place from a regulatory perspective right now. We have got Italy – and Italy is without question the fastest-growing poker market within the European Union. What you have to realise is, it is a regulated market now only for tournament poker. Tournament poker is 25 per cent of our core Poker business. Cash game poker makes up the balance. Cash game poker is in the process of being regulated, and hopefully will be so in the first half of 2010. Also with that, Casino games in the first half of 2010. And, hopefully in the second half, Bingo. So the Italian market is very exciting. We should expect to see some very nice growth coming from that country.
France? Hopefully mid-year will regulate online poker and sports betting. And Denmark, beginning of 2011. We also have the Spanish government, at a federal level, considering how best to manage online poker and regulation. So we’re excited about some of the developments that we’re seeing in the European marketplace.
Management focus and outlook
Q. You now have a COO, Per Widerström. So how are you focused to strategically develop the business in 2010?
A. It’s wonderful having Per. I was happy over 2009 to get actively involved in the operations, dig a little deeper and understand the business and perhaps put “Jim Ryan’s” thumbprint on the few areas that I felt I could contribute. Per, an experienced online gaming executive joining the team, taking over the day-to-day operations, will free me up to do a couple of important things. First and foremost, make sure that we monetise the synergies from the deals that we’ve done in 2009. Secondly, focus on new M&A opportunities. And lastly, contribute to the growth of our B2B and B2G efforts, not only in Europe but hopefully in the United States.
Q. Are you happy with the way the year has started? And what’s your outlook for the business in 2010?
A. We have started this year very positively, and we’re quite confident and optimistic about our growth prospects for the balance of the year.
2009 Full Year Results
Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director
Financial Performance
Q. You've reported above consensus for 2009, but isn't it all really down to cost-cutting? Talk me through the financials.
A. We're very pleased with our performance in 2009. Revenues dropped by 6% and clean EBITDA also dropped by 6%. Operating profit was up by 4%. But, given the economic climate, I think that that's a very solid result. Our Casino vertical had another outstanding year, driven by growth in new player sign-ups, the addition of 80 new games, which really saw the performance of that particular vertical take off.
Bingo was obviously transformed by the acquisition of Cashcade. In Sports we made a lot of progress, mainly in the second half. We started to reap some of the benefits of operational changes that we made earlier in the year. Poker was more difficult. We saw player numbers go backwards until we made changes to the loyalty programme around the middle of the year. And since that point, Poker has returned to growth. So, as I say, overall we're very pleased with the result.
Q. You've also reduced administrative expenses. What have you had to cut? And in order to grow, aren't you going to have to add some of that back in?
A. We're always looking to be more efficient on costs wherever we can, but around the middle part of 2008, we undertook a significant cost reduction programme in anticipation of a worsening economic climate. We looked to take out staff costs, overheads, trying not to touch any areas that were associated with revenue generation within the business. Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, we're very glad that we did that now because we think that it set us up well in terms of the 2009 performance. Foreign exchange was also a factor I should note though. Foreign exchange actually reduced our costs by around US$17m in the period, so that shouldn't be overlooked either.
Q. You mention foreign exchange. Take us through the currency fluctuations and how they affected the numbers that you are reporting today?
A. Well, around the end of 2008 we saw a substantial strengthening in the value of the dollar. It was almost 25% in the space of one quarter. Because we report our results in dollars that basically meant that the reported revenue figure was around US$30m lower than it would otherwise have been but, having said that, that wasn't the impact at the bottom line because, as I just mentioned, we had a corresponding benefit of the cost line which mitigated some of the impact.
Q. Now in Q4 we saw an uplift in Poker revenue and the business also signalled a return to growth in each of its verticals, but isn't this mostly down to seasonality and one punter's big loss?
A. Certainly in the fourth quarter you would expect to see a seasonal pickup, and there's no doubt about that, but the pickup we saw was much stronger than just seasonality. If you look at the performance of each of the verticals in turn - in Poker, revenues were up by 9% which we're very pleased about, given that we had probably six or seven sequential quarters where Poker has actually gone backwards, so we felt that that was a very important turning point.
Casino had a great performance - it was up by 17% on the third quarter. And even if you strip out the exceptional result that you refer to, where we had the mega jackpot win and part of that reinvested in December, Casino still grew by 13% quarter on quarter, which I think, you'll agree, is a reasonable result. Sports we were up by 69% Q4 over Q3, driven by operational improvements, reducing our bonus costs and taking steps to improve the margin, particularly on our live book, in line with what we said that we would do earlier in the year. And then, of course, we had huge growth in Bingo on the back of the Cashcade acquisition in July.
Q. So where do you see margins going from here, given the likelihood of increased marketing support for Casino and the need to improve Poker liquidity?
A. Well, margins in the short term will be impacted by the Cashcade acquisition. At the time of the acquisition I did point out that distribution costs were likely to move from around the 40% level, where they were prior to the acquisition, by around 200 basis points to around 42% in 2009. Going forward into 2010, when you've got a full year of Cashcade on board, we would expect distribution expenses to move to the 43% to 45% mark of revenue with a corresponding impact on clean EBITDA margins. So clean EBITDA margins are likely to be around 28%, I would say, in 2010.
Q. And, do you envisage, in order to compete with US-facing sites, having to offer higher bonuses for some time still?
A. Right now we think that our loyalty programme and our VIP incentives are competitive, even with the US-facing sites. I think that that's one of the reasons why we've seen player numbers and revenues pick up in Poker, not just in Q4, but it's continued into the current trading period in January and February. Are they going to increase from their current level? Right now we don't expect that to be the case, but I think it's we need to watch what the competition do and we need to ensure that we remain competitive.
M&A
Q. You made two major acquisitions in 2009 - Cashcade and World Poker Tour Enterprises. Are you happy with the ROI on these?
A. Yes, we're very happy. The acquisition of Cashcade will work out to be on a multiple of between 5 and 5.9 times EBITDA, which we think is a very good price for a business which is a market leader and is also a high growth business. It's contributed around US$15m to our EBITDA this year and, of course, we bought it part way through the year, in July. So, very, very pleased with that.
World Poker Tour we acquired for strategic reasons. It's not really going to materially contribute to EBITDA, but we're using it to promote the Poker business very successfully at the moment and it's also coming in handy in discussions with US land-based operators. And we expect it to position us very well for a possible re-entry to the US market.
Q. So are you comfortable you have the capacity to fund similar sized, or even larger acquisitions in 2010?
A. Yes, absolutely. The business is very cash generative. This year we generated over US$120m of operating cash flow. In fact, right now we have the capacity to make another acquisition around the size of Cashcade simply from using our existing cash resources. For more sizeable transactions, then we'd also look to use our equity which, of course, is no longer an issue now that we have the DoJ settlement behind us.
Dividend, current trading and outlook
Q. So no dividend again. What circumstances do you think could make you a dividend stock, not simply a growth stock, and when would that be?
A. Well, right now our shareholders are very clear in that they want to see us consolidate the sector. So whilst the opportunities exist to do that and generate higher returns from consolidating competitors, as opposed to other activities -paying it back to our shareholders by way of a dividend or a share buyback - so we're going to continue to do that. But we do anticipate paying a dividend at some point in the future.
Q. And give us a sense of trading in January and February.
A. Current trading, we're very happy with that performance. It's in line with our expectations. At Poker we've seen further growth. Poker revenues are up around 3%. Player numbers are actually up by 9%. Casino is off a little from the fourth quarter, but that's because the fourth quarter last year was exceptionally strong, as we discussed. Bingo has continued to show strong growth - it's up 9% on the fourth quarter. And Sports Betting, even though the fourth quarter was very strong in its own right, has actually continued to grow and grow by further improvements in the margin. So, we're very happy with performance right now.
Q. So what are your expectations for 2010?
A. For 2010 we expect to see growth across all verticals. Obviously Bingo will grow very strongly because of the acquisition of Cashcade part way through the year. Casino we expect to see strong growth. Poker we expect to grow again, but at more modest rates. And further progression in margins on our Sports book.
Website Network
Media Man International
Global Gaming Directory
Casino News Media
Poker News Media
Bingo News Media
Websites
PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com PartyBingo.com PartyBets.com World Poker Tour WTP Casino Noble Casino
Financial Performance
Total revenue and clean EBITDA are down. So how would you characterise 2009 performance?
Q. 2009 was a challenging year. It was a pretty tough economic backdrop for the sector. In fact, the sector has not worked through, or lived through a recession before that. That being said, I think PartyGaming's performance as well as the sector's was resilient but not immune. In 2009, we focused on operations and improving our operations.
In doing so, we actually returned the business to growth. And if you take a look at our fourth quarter, all four product verticals grew in that quarter, and grew dramatically. It was a 17% quarter-over-quarter growth.
So, if I take a look at the year as a whole, I would say our trading was robust, slightly ahead of analysts' consensus, so we feel good about that, and we're positioned very nicely moving into 2010.
Q. You mentioned Q4. How much of that was down to seasonality? And how much is sustainable growth?
A. Well, it's interesting. Q4, Q1 are typically the two strongest quarters in a year. That being said, focusing on our core operations, focusing on the customer, making a number of product, pricing, promotional-based improvements have actually improved the trading of the company. We saw the growth, as I mentioned, 17% quarter-over-quarter growth in Q4. We've seen that growth continue into the first quarter. So we're moving into the year very optimistic about our prospects.
Q. And what's behind the decline in new player signups in the Americas and in Asia-Pacific?
A. There are two factors. First and foremost, you have operators who have continued to operate in the United States, taking their profits and investing into countries like Canada. So that has made those environments far more competitive. That being said, PartyGaming is principally a European business. That's where our focus is. That's where we see our growth in the ensuing years. New, regulated markets coming - Italy, France, Denmark, hopefully Spain in the not-too-distant future. So that's where we're directing our attention at this point.
Business performance and development
Q. Looking first at Poker, you lost third place last year, but have regained it since. What was behind this, and how will you retain your position?
A. Interestingly enough, it was fairly simple - focusing on core Poker operations. What does that involve? It involved rewriting our products, soup to nuts. We actually re-launched Poker in September of 2008, but on the back of that re-launch, we did some very, very important things. We focused on the consumer. We changed our VIP and loyalty points programme in July of 2009. Since we've done that, we've experienced month-over-month growth in our Poker product.
In addition to that, we modified our pricing. The market has become more competitive and we've changed our pricing policy to ensure that we were as competitively priced as the other leaders in the sector.
In addition to that, promotions. There is always a reason to come and play at Party, 24/7. We have month-long promotions that stimulate VIPs, novices and mid-level players.
And last but not least, increasing the size and the capabilities of our Poker management team. I have been with four online gaming companies now, four different Poker networks, and I've never seen a team who is more passionate about the Poker product, worked as hard to make sure that we are a leader in the sector. And yes, we're number three today, but if you take out the US operators, we're actually number one.
Q. We also saw you buy World Poker Tour Enterprises. What's your strategy for that business? And have there been any regulatory issues with the US?
A. I'm going to answer the question in reverse order. First and foremost, there have been no regulatory issues. The World Poker Tour and its business is legal within the United States, and within the European community. The strategy for the World Poker Tour is fairly simple. If you take a look at the US as a case in point, and take a look at the most popular Poker brands in the United States, certainly Party would be top five. And also, World Poker Tour would be top five.
The World Poker Tour has 12 land-based events in the US. We will continue to operate those land-based events. They'll be standalone, branded World Poker Tour and their sponsors only. You will not see PartyPoker all over them. We're quite proud to have probably the best land-based tour events in the world, and we want to preserve that and grow it. We'll be growing it into Europe, with the addition of 10 land-based events.
Now, some of the European events will be sponsored by PartyPoker, and again, our focus is growing our Poker network throughout Europe. But we will also have third parties, online operators sponsor some of those events. So we are embracing our competition. We want them to participate in the land-based sponsorship, the TV sponsorship of the World Poker Tour events. So it is going to be, in one respect, business as usual for the World Poker Tour.
There is an online element that we're quite keen about in the United States, and that is the second aspect of the strategy. Subscription Poker is legal in 37 states in the US. The World Poker Tour operates in those states under the Club WPT brand. PartyPoker has a database of 12 million registered users. Our desire is to cross-pollinate the World Poker Tour subscription product into our 12 million person database. And remind those 12 million consumers that PartyPoker still exists, hopefully get them educated and interested in Poker again by getting them playing a legal subscription model, and positioning the brand for the long term - hopefully the short term, when the US market reopens.
Q. And you launched 80 games in Casino last year, which have shown strong growth. But what's your strategy there to ensure that level of growth?
A. We're excited about our Casino business. What did we have? 12% year-over-year growth and we had quarter-over-quarter growth all the way through the year. The strategy is threefold.
New content. 80 new games last year. We'll have 50 new games this year. The content will be exciting. It will be branded content. Some of the branded content will be those trusted Hollywood brands that you saw come from us last year - Terminator, Sinatra, Rambo to name a few. There will also be some internally developed brands from the PartyGaming game studio.
The second aspect of the strategy is focused on having life-changing events. It's a jackpot-based strategy. Last year, we had one of the largest jackpot wins in online gaming history. The jackpot was just shy of US$5 million. Today we have the largest reset value in our Melon Madness Jackpot. It resets or starts at US$1.5 million. Nobody else can match that in the sector. So we will continue to bring those life-changing events to the consumer.
And the last aspect of the strategy - and this is what excites me most - is dedicated Casino marketing. Now, here is why this is important. Historically, we've acquired all of our Casino players from our Poker database. That's been great, because our cost of acquisitions hasn't been particularly high, but it hasn't been particularly good for our Poker liquidity in a challenged competitive environment where we need to grow that liquidity. What we've now started to do is go and acquire pure-play Casino players. The magic of a pure-play Casino player? Their lifetime value is twice that of a Poker consumer who moves over to Casino.
So our Casino offering will grow in 2010 and beyond.
Q. Bingo performance has been transformed by the acquisition of Cashcade, but how international is Bingo? And what's the growth opportunity there?
A. Very exciting acquisition for us. We're now a market leader in the online Bingo space. We're arguably the largest network in the United Kingdom. The UK market is probably about US$400m in 2009. Now, what's fascinating about this: the worldwide online Bingo market is US$1.7bn.
So strategically, where are we going with this business? Well, we definitely want to capture more share in the United Kingdom, and we will this year. But we're going to take that business into other European markets, so you'll likely see us go into the Nordic territories and perhaps Spain in 2010.
Q. You've talked a lot about expanding your position in Sports Betting, and last year speculation was rife about a possible merger with bwin. What happened on that?
A. In fact, we've talked to a number of participants in the marketplace and continue to do so. There have been rumours about bwin and many others. The reality of it is where we stand today we have a number of discussions that are ongoing. Everything is at a preliminary stage. So, M&A continues to be a material part of our strategy moving forward, but we need the right set of circumstances for a deal to happen. So stay tuned.
B2B and B2G
Q. You say you’ve done five B2B deals in 2009, excluding those that came with the acquisition of Cashcade. How significant are they?
A. If I may, just for a moment, just state that we’re particularly proud of our B2B business vertical. Why? Because it was part of our new strategy that we announced in August of 2008. And here we are, a year and a half later, and we set that strategy up by saying we wanted to do five meaningful deals in the first year. And we did them.
You’ll never see us do double digits in terms of the number of new partners we’re bringing into our B2B business. The objective in 2009 was five deals, and that’s exactly what we did. The objective in 2010 is five deals. Our mission is to find five B2B partners who are ready and willing to invest in their online brand and drive a successful business. It is a situation where, in fact, less is more.
All of this, the five that we have, the five that we’ll do in 2010, will contribute as a foundation to our plan to achieve in excess of US$30m revenue from our B2B business in 2012.
Q. Turning to your B2G vertical, some commentators believe signing agreements with governments is restricting your potential earnings in a free market, and restricting your liquidity pool. What’s your view on this? And do you intend to continue a strategy of B2G as your preferred entry into a market?
A. I’m going to take you back to our strategy session in 2008. The executive team sat down and we took at look at the competitive environment and we said, “Let’s move five years out in trying to understand what this marketplace looks like.” The first thing we agreed on was the marketplace within Europe would regulate, and potentially within the United States and the rest of the world. In a regulated market, who are we going to have to compete against? We’re going to have to compete against media organisations, trusted brands like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo - and governments - including state lottery operators and government operators for online gaming services.
So we won’t get to dictate what is the best way to enter into these markets. They’re going to regulate. And the regulations, as they are in Europe today, vary from country to country. Is it a preferred approach? Our preferred approach is in fact to operate in regulated marketplaces because there is certainty. But there’s something also more valuable in a regulated market – the ability to freely advertise.
So our strategy right now is without question to focus on our B2B offering. So we’ll tackle those trusted brands and those media channels that want to get into the online sector. But also our B2G. It’s a natural. We’ve positioned our business beautifully for it for 2010. And what we will do, with both the B2B and the B2G, is marry them up with our liquidity pool that we generate from B2C. And hence, as we’re doing in Italy today, provide the consumer with the best possible experience.
Regulation and industry consolidation
Q. How much time are you devoting to the US at the moment? You’ve got your non-prosecution deal now agreed. You’ve got the World Poker Tour deal under your belt. The Barney Frank bill is in motion, for instance. You’re well-placed for a comeback, aren’t you?
A. We are still very much a European-focused business. That is how we’ll pay the bills throughout 2010 and beyond. That being said, we can’t ignore the opportunity in the United States. Truth be told, if I take you back to 2006, on a run rate basis, our business would have done US$1.2b worth of revenue and generated three-quarters of a billion dollars (US$750m) of EBITDA. The PartyPoker brand is still one of the most popular – if not the most popular – Poker brand in that marketplace.
So what have we done? We now have an office in Los Angeles. We have 38 employees. We’ve moved one of our executives, in fact an individual who used to run PartyPoker when we were in the US, over to our LA office. We’re propagating Poker through our subscription model right now in the WTP. We’re actively talking to land-based operators and others who are potentially interested in getting into this marketplace when it regulates.
So we’re sowing the seeds, if you will, right now and planting trees, preparing ourselves for re-entry. If and when it regulates, we’ll be there.
Q. And what further opportunities are you seeing in Europe?
A. Europe is an exciting place from a regulatory perspective right now. We have got Italy – and Italy is without question the fastest-growing poker market within the European Union. What you have to realise is, it is a regulated market now only for tournament poker. Tournament poker is 25 per cent of our core Poker business. Cash game poker makes up the balance. Cash game poker is in the process of being regulated, and hopefully will be so in the first half of 2010. Also with that, Casino games in the first half of 2010. And, hopefully in the second half, Bingo. So the Italian market is very exciting. We should expect to see some very nice growth coming from that country.
France? Hopefully mid-year will regulate online poker and sports betting. And Denmark, beginning of 2011. We also have the Spanish government, at a federal level, considering how best to manage online poker and regulation. So we’re excited about some of the developments that we’re seeing in the European marketplace.
Management focus and outlook
Q. You now have a COO, Per Widerström. So how are you focused to strategically develop the business in 2010?
A. It’s wonderful having Per. I was happy over 2009 to get actively involved in the operations, dig a little deeper and understand the business and perhaps put “Jim Ryan’s” thumbprint on the few areas that I felt I could contribute. Per, an experienced online gaming executive joining the team, taking over the day-to-day operations, will free me up to do a couple of important things. First and foremost, make sure that we monetise the synergies from the deals that we’ve done in 2009. Secondly, focus on new M&A opportunities. And lastly, contribute to the growth of our B2B and B2G efforts, not only in Europe but hopefully in the United States.
Q. Are you happy with the way the year has started? And what’s your outlook for the business in 2010?
A. We have started this year very positively, and we’re quite confident and optimistic about our growth prospects for the balance of the year.
2009 Full Year Results
Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director
Financial Performance
Q. You've reported above consensus for 2009, but isn't it all really down to cost-cutting? Talk me through the financials.
A. We're very pleased with our performance in 2009. Revenues dropped by 6% and clean EBITDA also dropped by 6%. Operating profit was up by 4%. But, given the economic climate, I think that that's a very solid result. Our Casino vertical had another outstanding year, driven by growth in new player sign-ups, the addition of 80 new games, which really saw the performance of that particular vertical take off.
Bingo was obviously transformed by the acquisition of Cashcade. In Sports we made a lot of progress, mainly in the second half. We started to reap some of the benefits of operational changes that we made earlier in the year. Poker was more difficult. We saw player numbers go backwards until we made changes to the loyalty programme around the middle of the year. And since that point, Poker has returned to growth. So, as I say, overall we're very pleased with the result.
Q. You've also reduced administrative expenses. What have you had to cut? And in order to grow, aren't you going to have to add some of that back in?
A. We're always looking to be more efficient on costs wherever we can, but around the middle part of 2008, we undertook a significant cost reduction programme in anticipation of a worsening economic climate. We looked to take out staff costs, overheads, trying not to touch any areas that were associated with revenue generation within the business. Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, we're very glad that we did that now because we think that it set us up well in terms of the 2009 performance. Foreign exchange was also a factor I should note though. Foreign exchange actually reduced our costs by around US$17m in the period, so that shouldn't be overlooked either.
Q. You mention foreign exchange. Take us through the currency fluctuations and how they affected the numbers that you are reporting today?
A. Well, around the end of 2008 we saw a substantial strengthening in the value of the dollar. It was almost 25% in the space of one quarter. Because we report our results in dollars that basically meant that the reported revenue figure was around US$30m lower than it would otherwise have been but, having said that, that wasn't the impact at the bottom line because, as I just mentioned, we had a corresponding benefit of the cost line which mitigated some of the impact.
Q. Now in Q4 we saw an uplift in Poker revenue and the business also signalled a return to growth in each of its verticals, but isn't this mostly down to seasonality and one punter's big loss?
A. Certainly in the fourth quarter you would expect to see a seasonal pickup, and there's no doubt about that, but the pickup we saw was much stronger than just seasonality. If you look at the performance of each of the verticals in turn - in Poker, revenues were up by 9% which we're very pleased about, given that we had probably six or seven sequential quarters where Poker has actually gone backwards, so we felt that that was a very important turning point.
Casino had a great performance - it was up by 17% on the third quarter. And even if you strip out the exceptional result that you refer to, where we had the mega jackpot win and part of that reinvested in December, Casino still grew by 13% quarter on quarter, which I think, you'll agree, is a reasonable result. Sports we were up by 69% Q4 over Q3, driven by operational improvements, reducing our bonus costs and taking steps to improve the margin, particularly on our live book, in line with what we said that we would do earlier in the year. And then, of course, we had huge growth in Bingo on the back of the Cashcade acquisition in July.
Q. So where do you see margins going from here, given the likelihood of increased marketing support for Casino and the need to improve Poker liquidity?
A. Well, margins in the short term will be impacted by the Cashcade acquisition. At the time of the acquisition I did point out that distribution costs were likely to move from around the 40% level, where they were prior to the acquisition, by around 200 basis points to around 42% in 2009. Going forward into 2010, when you've got a full year of Cashcade on board, we would expect distribution expenses to move to the 43% to 45% mark of revenue with a corresponding impact on clean EBITDA margins. So clean EBITDA margins are likely to be around 28%, I would say, in 2010.
Q. And, do you envisage, in order to compete with US-facing sites, having to offer higher bonuses for some time still?
A. Right now we think that our loyalty programme and our VIP incentives are competitive, even with the US-facing sites. I think that that's one of the reasons why we've seen player numbers and revenues pick up in Poker, not just in Q4, but it's continued into the current trading period in January and February. Are they going to increase from their current level? Right now we don't expect that to be the case, but I think it's we need to watch what the competition do and we need to ensure that we remain competitive.
M&A
Q. You made two major acquisitions in 2009 - Cashcade and World Poker Tour Enterprises. Are you happy with the ROI on these?
A. Yes, we're very happy. The acquisition of Cashcade will work out to be on a multiple of between 5 and 5.9 times EBITDA, which we think is a very good price for a business which is a market leader and is also a high growth business. It's contributed around US$15m to our EBITDA this year and, of course, we bought it part way through the year, in July. So, very, very pleased with that.
World Poker Tour we acquired for strategic reasons. It's not really going to materially contribute to EBITDA, but we're using it to promote the Poker business very successfully at the moment and it's also coming in handy in discussions with US land-based operators. And we expect it to position us very well for a possible re-entry to the US market.
Q. So are you comfortable you have the capacity to fund similar sized, or even larger acquisitions in 2010?
A. Yes, absolutely. The business is very cash generative. This year we generated over US$120m of operating cash flow. In fact, right now we have the capacity to make another acquisition around the size of Cashcade simply from using our existing cash resources. For more sizeable transactions, then we'd also look to use our equity which, of course, is no longer an issue now that we have the DoJ settlement behind us.
Dividend, current trading and outlook
Q. So no dividend again. What circumstances do you think could make you a dividend stock, not simply a growth stock, and when would that be?
A. Well, right now our shareholders are very clear in that they want to see us consolidate the sector. So whilst the opportunities exist to do that and generate higher returns from consolidating competitors, as opposed to other activities -paying it back to our shareholders by way of a dividend or a share buyback - so we're going to continue to do that. But we do anticipate paying a dividend at some point in the future.
Q. And give us a sense of trading in January and February.
A. Current trading, we're very happy with that performance. It's in line with our expectations. At Poker we've seen further growth. Poker revenues are up around 3%. Player numbers are actually up by 9%. Casino is off a little from the fourth quarter, but that's because the fourth quarter last year was exceptionally strong, as we discussed. Bingo has continued to show strong growth - it's up 9% on the fourth quarter. And Sports Betting, even though the fourth quarter was very strong in its own right, has actually continued to grow and grow by further improvements in the margin. So, we're very happy with performance right now.
Q. So what are your expectations for 2010?
A. For 2010 we expect to see growth across all verticals. Obviously Bingo will grow very strongly because of the acquisition of Cashcade part way through the year. Casino we expect to see strong growth. Poker we expect to grow again, but at more modest rates. And further progression in margins on our Sports book.
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Boyfriend of Victorian Premier daughter ejected from Australia's Crown Casino, by Greg Tingle - 9th March 2010
We can now confirm that state police have questioned the boyfriend of Elizabeth Brumby, the daughter of Victorian Premier John Brumby, over an incident at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The 23-year-old man was ejected from a private function on Friday night after security guards accused him of being drunk. The guards had no need to use plastic handcuffs on this occasion, a unique initiative getting mixed reactions from the Australian hotel, club and casino sector.
No charges have been laid at the time of publishing.
In a brief media statement, Mr Brumby said his daughter tried to defuse the situation and described it as a "private matter".
Crown Limited shares remain strong at 8.270 (share price, not blood alcohol reading)
Media Man and Gambling911 will continue to report from the sometimes battlefield that is the Australian land based casino sector. PS: no plastic handcuffs required in online casinos.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*The writer is the founder and director of Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com , primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company
*The writer owns shares in Crown Casino
We can now confirm that state police have questioned the boyfriend of Elizabeth Brumby, the daughter of Victorian Premier John Brumby, over an incident at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The 23-year-old man was ejected from a private function on Friday night after security guards accused him of being drunk. The guards had no need to use plastic handcuffs on this occasion, a unique initiative getting mixed reactions from the Australian hotel, club and casino sector.
No charges have been laid at the time of publishing.
In a brief media statement, Mr Brumby said his daughter tried to defuse the situation and described it as a "private matter".
Crown Limited shares remain strong at 8.270 (share price, not blood alcohol reading)
Media Man and Gambling911 will continue to report from the sometimes battlefield that is the Australian land based casino sector. PS: no plastic handcuffs required in online casinos.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*The writer is the founder and director of Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com , primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company
*The writer owns shares in Crown Casino
Gambling News and Findings From Australia Get Mixed Reviews, by Greg Tingle - 9th March 2010
It's been a painstaking process, but Gambling911 via the Media Man down under in Aussie Land, has got their hands on some interesting data of substance, released by our "friends" at the New South Wales government no less!
The good news is that a recent survey by the NSW government has demonstrated that rate of problem gambling in the state is declining and that it now has fewer "problem gamblers" per head of population than the southerly friends in Victoria. Yeah, The State Of Origin is on... go The Blues.
Not to any great surprises, the scientific (whaling term ala Japanese whaling) findings have been greeted with furious scepticism by an academic expert and by anti-pokies campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon, who has named the survey a ''snow job'' from a government dependent on gambling revenue. If there was one man in Australia that possibly hated the pokes more than Kevin "Bloody" Rudd, that would be Nicky X, coming out of the blue corner.
The gambling and gaming survey, which was included in the New South Wales Population Health Survey at the request of Gaming and Racing Minister Kevin Greene, found that only 0.4 per cent of the state's adult population are "problem gamblers", down from the last survey in 2006 that found the rate to be 0.8 per cent. It concluded 2.5 per cent were low-risk gamblers and 1.2 per cent were moderate-risk gamblers.
The results of the telephone based survey also found that Victoria had a "problem gambling" rate of 0.7 per cent, while South Australia and the "banana benders" in Queensland were on a par with NSW.
Minister Greene advised that the findings showed measures introduced by the NSW government to help problem gamblers were making a positive impact. Its Responsible Gambling Fund, taken from a levy on casino profits, has poured money into front-line and telephone counselling services. Measures introduced last year included further capping machine numbers and banning credit card cash withdrawals from ATMs in gaming venues.
''These findings are very encouraging and we hope it's a sign that our high-quality counselling service and strict harm minimisation laws are making a real difference,'' Mr Greene said.
However Senator Xenophon as can be expected queried how a telephone survey could accurately gauge the level of problem gambling in the community, arguing many "problem gamblers" were either in denial or already had had their landlines disconnected!
''This survey shows just how desperate the NSW Government is to cover up the extent of problem gambling, he said.
''The NSW government is hopelessly compromised when it rakes in well over $1 billion in poker machine taxes a year.''
Monash University senior lecturer in Health Social Sciences Dr Charles Livingstone, a board member of the journal International Gambling Studies, agreed that telephone surveys of problem gambling tended to contain a "selection bias". His interpretation of gambling data collected in NSW in the past decade showed a problem gambling rate about 2.5 per cent in the adult population, which had remained largely unchanged. ''Gambling continues to be very much out of control in New South Wales'' Dr Livingstone said.
The survey also interestingly contradicts the findings of a draft Productivity Commission report released last October, which found that measures introduced by state governments to limit problem gambling in the past decade had been largely ineffective.
Media Man can advise from from first hand accounts that its basically impossible to enter a venue such as a pub, hotel or casino in Australia without seeing a number of extremely visible warnings and alerts as to the potential dangers of problem gambling. Be it Bondi Icebergs Bergs Gaming, Bondi Hotel's Stardust Rooms, or the good ol Crown Casino, they all carry substantial signage. One of the signs even read something to the effect of "Generally your chances of winning a substantial prize are less than one in a million".
Trusted and highly ethical casinos such as PartyGaming's PartyCasino and Virgin Games Virgin Casino also carry quality information about harm prevention and minimization, the odds of winning, and who to contact if you think you may have a gambling problem. One in million hey...Aw well, you got to be in it to win it.
The Productivity Commission has just handed its final report on gambling to the federal government and is receiving mixed reports.
Gambling policy, health and internet censorship remain of great interest to voters for state and federal elections, and yes, you can bet on election outcomes at agencies such as Centrebet International, who are now also taking bets on the financial markets, following the lead from PartyGaming with their InterTrader deal with London Capital Group last January.
Media Man and Gambling911 remind the readership and punters to know your limits and keep it fun, be it at a land based gambling den or at any number of online casinos.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company http://www.mediamanint.com
*The writer owns shares in Crown Casino and is a pro active member of Richard Branson's Virgin Unite
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It's been a painstaking process, but Gambling911 via the Media Man down under in Aussie Land, has got their hands on some interesting data of substance, released by our "friends" at the New South Wales government no less!
The good news is that a recent survey by the NSW government has demonstrated that rate of problem gambling in the state is declining and that it now has fewer "problem gamblers" per head of population than the southerly friends in Victoria. Yeah, The State Of Origin is on... go The Blues.
Not to any great surprises, the scientific (whaling term ala Japanese whaling) findings have been greeted with furious scepticism by an academic expert and by anti-pokies campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon, who has named the survey a ''snow job'' from a government dependent on gambling revenue. If there was one man in Australia that possibly hated the pokes more than Kevin "Bloody" Rudd, that would be Nicky X, coming out of the blue corner.
The gambling and gaming survey, which was included in the New South Wales Population Health Survey at the request of Gaming and Racing Minister Kevin Greene, found that only 0.4 per cent of the state's adult population are "problem gamblers", down from the last survey in 2006 that found the rate to be 0.8 per cent. It concluded 2.5 per cent were low-risk gamblers and 1.2 per cent were moderate-risk gamblers.
The results of the telephone based survey also found that Victoria had a "problem gambling" rate of 0.7 per cent, while South Australia and the "banana benders" in Queensland were on a par with NSW.
Minister Greene advised that the findings showed measures introduced by the NSW government to help problem gamblers were making a positive impact. Its Responsible Gambling Fund, taken from a levy on casino profits, has poured money into front-line and telephone counselling services. Measures introduced last year included further capping machine numbers and banning credit card cash withdrawals from ATMs in gaming venues.
''These findings are very encouraging and we hope it's a sign that our high-quality counselling service and strict harm minimisation laws are making a real difference,'' Mr Greene said.
However Senator Xenophon as can be expected queried how a telephone survey could accurately gauge the level of problem gambling in the community, arguing many "problem gamblers" were either in denial or already had had their landlines disconnected!
''This survey shows just how desperate the NSW Government is to cover up the extent of problem gambling, he said.
''The NSW government is hopelessly compromised when it rakes in well over $1 billion in poker machine taxes a year.''
Monash University senior lecturer in Health Social Sciences Dr Charles Livingstone, a board member of the journal International Gambling Studies, agreed that telephone surveys of problem gambling tended to contain a "selection bias". His interpretation of gambling data collected in NSW in the past decade showed a problem gambling rate about 2.5 per cent in the adult population, which had remained largely unchanged. ''Gambling continues to be very much out of control in New South Wales'' Dr Livingstone said.
The survey also interestingly contradicts the findings of a draft Productivity Commission report released last October, which found that measures introduced by state governments to limit problem gambling in the past decade had been largely ineffective.
Media Man can advise from from first hand accounts that its basically impossible to enter a venue such as a pub, hotel or casino in Australia without seeing a number of extremely visible warnings and alerts as to the potential dangers of problem gambling. Be it Bondi Icebergs Bergs Gaming, Bondi Hotel's Stardust Rooms, or the good ol Crown Casino, they all carry substantial signage. One of the signs even read something to the effect of "Generally your chances of winning a substantial prize are less than one in a million".
Trusted and highly ethical casinos such as PartyGaming's PartyCasino and Virgin Games Virgin Casino also carry quality information about harm prevention and minimization, the odds of winning, and who to contact if you think you may have a gambling problem. One in million hey...Aw well, you got to be in it to win it.
The Productivity Commission has just handed its final report on gambling to the federal government and is receiving mixed reports.
Gambling policy, health and internet censorship remain of great interest to voters for state and federal elections, and yes, you can bet on election outcomes at agencies such as Centrebet International, who are now also taking bets on the financial markets, following the lead from PartyGaming with their InterTrader deal with London Capital Group last January.
Media Man and Gambling911 remind the readership and punters to know your limits and keep it fun, be it at a land based gambling den or at any number of online casinos.
*The writer is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company http://www.mediamanint.com
*The writer owns shares in Crown Casino and is a pro active member of Richard Branson's Virgin Unite
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PartyGaming News: PDMR Shareholding
PDMR Shareholding - 5th March 2010
Websites
PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com PartyBingo.com PartyBets.com PartyGammon.com
World Poker Tour WTP Casino Gamebookers.com
Notification of Transactions of Directors, Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility or Connected Persons
In accordance with PartyGaming’s long-term incentive plans for Executive Directors, the following awards over the Company’s ordinary shares of 0.015 pence each (“Shares”) have today been granted under the PartyGaming Plc Executive Share Option Plan (“ESOP”) to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Group Finance Director.
Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, has been awarded an option over 250,000 Shares and Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director, has been awarded an option over 200,000 Shares. These options vest subject to the growth in the Company’s Clean Earnings per Share over the three-year period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012. The threshold for vesting, at which 25% will vest, will be 5% Clean EPS annual growth over the three-year period, rising on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting if annual Clean EPS growth equals or exceeds 15% over the period.
Each option is exercisable at 310.10 pence per Share and has been awarded at nil-cost. Unless exercised following the satisfaction of the aforementioned performance condition, these options will lapse on 5 March 2020.
This is the third award to be granted under the ESOP to Mr Ryan. The first grant was made in October 2008 over 645,100 Shares and the second award was made in April 2009 over 125,000 Shares. This is the fourth award granted under the ESOP to Mr Weigold. The first award was made in May 2007 over 88,360 Shares, the second award was made in March 2008 over 171,402 Shares and the third award was made in April 2009 over 337,500 Shares.
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PDMR Shareholding - 5th March 2010
Websites
PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com PartyBingo.com PartyBets.com PartyGammon.com
World Poker Tour WTP Casino Gamebookers.com
Notification of Transactions of Directors, Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility or Connected Persons
In accordance with PartyGaming’s long-term incentive plans for Executive Directors, the following awards over the Company’s ordinary shares of 0.015 pence each (“Shares”) have today been granted under the PartyGaming Plc Executive Share Option Plan (“ESOP”) to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Group Finance Director.
Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, has been awarded an option over 250,000 Shares and Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director, has been awarded an option over 200,000 Shares. These options vest subject to the growth in the Company’s Clean Earnings per Share over the three-year period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012. The threshold for vesting, at which 25% will vest, will be 5% Clean EPS annual growth over the three-year period, rising on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting if annual Clean EPS growth equals or exceeds 15% over the period.
Each option is exercisable at 310.10 pence per Share and has been awarded at nil-cost. Unless exercised following the satisfaction of the aforementioned performance condition, these options will lapse on 5 March 2020.
This is the third award to be granted under the ESOP to Mr Ryan. The first grant was made in October 2008 over 645,100 Shares and the second award was made in April 2009 over 125,000 Shares. This is the fourth award granted under the ESOP to Mr Weigold. The first award was made in May 2007 over 88,360 Shares, the second award was made in March 2008 over 171,402 Shares and the third award was made in April 2009 over 337,500 Shares.
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Monday, March 08, 2010
World Poker Tour New Websites By PartyGaming
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Crown returns to profit in first half - 26th February 2010
Casinos operator Crown Ltd is cautiously optimistic about the second half of the financial year, after moving back into first half profit with "satisfactory" growth at Australian casinos.
Crown on Friday reported a net profit from continuing operations of $115.3 million for the six months to December 31, 2009 compared to a $409.7 million loss in the prior comparable period.
The previous corresponding period's result included a $547.5 million writedown on stakes in casinos in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, which were affected by the economic downturn in those countries.
After stripping out the impact of non-recurring items and the variance in the theoretical win rate against high-rolling gamblers, Crown's normalised net profit for first half of 2009/10 was $145.6 million, up three per cent on the normalised figure of $141.4 million in the prior corresponding half.
Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie said the overall results for Crown's casinos in Melbourne and Perth - which have been the focus since last year's writedowns on the overseas assets - were "satisfactory".
The first half had been strong but had tailed away later in the half due to a softening in consumer sentiment and a greater-than-expected impact of refurbishment and expansion programs at the Crown casino in Melbourne and the Burswood casino in Perth.
Mr Craigie declined to provide specific outlook for the second half, but said consumer sentiment had picked up in January and February, the replacement of the raised floor in the main casino at Burswood would be completed by April, and Crown was set to open its third hotel, the Metropol, at the Crown complex in Melbourne in March.
However, disruption due to refurbishment of the Teak Room at Crown casino in Melbourne would continue until August.
"And what the economy is going to look like over the next four months is obviously going to be a factor as well," Mr Craigie said.
"We've started the second half with the main gaming floor growing at close to twice the rate where we finished the first half and non-gaming is up as well.
"There are some things to look forward to, but obviously like others we are cautious about where the economy is going."
Mr Craigie said main-floor gaming revenue at Burswood and Crown grew by about three per cent in January and February 2010 compared to the prior corresponding period, and non-gaming revenue lifted about seven per cent.
Mr Craigie also said Crown was not intending to sell its gaming interests in Macau.
Crown holds a 35 per cent stake in Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE). Crown's share of MCE's result for the first half was a loss of $48.1 million.
Crown saw long-term potential for growth in the Macau market given its exposure to China, and MCE had announced that overall performance in January had been pleasing.
Mr Craigie said the US gaming market was still in difficulty and Crown had not considered any activity there in the last six months.
"The US market is still very depressed, Las Vegas continues to suffer declines in revenue and the other states which have allowed gaming are experiencing similar sorts of difficulty," he said.
Mr Craigie said that in the first half, renovations at Crown Melbourne and Burswood had affected main floor table revenue.
But the casinos achieved record turnover in high-roller gambling, which rose 22.9 per cent to $23.4 billion.
Non-gaming revenue had recovered and grew 4.5 per cent in the half.
In August last year, Crown said its principal efforts in the 12 months following would be to focus on enhancing Crown's Australian operations and to work with its joint-venture partners to optimise the value of our Macau and other overseas investments.
"We have made progress on those fronts during the past six months, and this will continue to be our focus," Mr Craigie said.
Crown declared an interim dividend of 18 cents per share, in line with the prior corresponding period.
Crown shares were 17 cents higher at $8.00 at on Friday.
Casinos operator Crown Ltd is cautiously optimistic about the second half of the financial year, after moving back into first half profit with "satisfactory" growth at Australian casinos.
Crown on Friday reported a net profit from continuing operations of $115.3 million for the six months to December 31, 2009 compared to a $409.7 million loss in the prior comparable period.
The previous corresponding period's result included a $547.5 million writedown on stakes in casinos in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, which were affected by the economic downturn in those countries.
After stripping out the impact of non-recurring items and the variance in the theoretical win rate against high-rolling gamblers, Crown's normalised net profit for first half of 2009/10 was $145.6 million, up three per cent on the normalised figure of $141.4 million in the prior corresponding half.
Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie said the overall results for Crown's casinos in Melbourne and Perth - which have been the focus since last year's writedowns on the overseas assets - were "satisfactory".
The first half had been strong but had tailed away later in the half due to a softening in consumer sentiment and a greater-than-expected impact of refurbishment and expansion programs at the Crown casino in Melbourne and the Burswood casino in Perth.
Mr Craigie declined to provide specific outlook for the second half, but said consumer sentiment had picked up in January and February, the replacement of the raised floor in the main casino at Burswood would be completed by April, and Crown was set to open its third hotel, the Metropol, at the Crown complex in Melbourne in March.
However, disruption due to refurbishment of the Teak Room at Crown casino in Melbourne would continue until August.
"And what the economy is going to look like over the next four months is obviously going to be a factor as well," Mr Craigie said.
"We've started the second half with the main gaming floor growing at close to twice the rate where we finished the first half and non-gaming is up as well.
"There are some things to look forward to, but obviously like others we are cautious about where the economy is going."
Mr Craigie said main-floor gaming revenue at Burswood and Crown grew by about three per cent in January and February 2010 compared to the prior corresponding period, and non-gaming revenue lifted about seven per cent.
Mr Craigie also said Crown was not intending to sell its gaming interests in Macau.
Crown holds a 35 per cent stake in Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE). Crown's share of MCE's result for the first half was a loss of $48.1 million.
Crown saw long-term potential for growth in the Macau market given its exposure to China, and MCE had announced that overall performance in January had been pleasing.
Mr Craigie said the US gaming market was still in difficulty and Crown had not considered any activity there in the last six months.
"The US market is still very depressed, Las Vegas continues to suffer declines in revenue and the other states which have allowed gaming are experiencing similar sorts of difficulty," he said.
Mr Craigie said that in the first half, renovations at Crown Melbourne and Burswood had affected main floor table revenue.
But the casinos achieved record turnover in high-roller gambling, which rose 22.9 per cent to $23.4 billion.
Non-gaming revenue had recovered and grew 4.5 per cent in the half.
In August last year, Crown said its principal efforts in the 12 months following would be to focus on enhancing Crown's Australian operations and to work with its joint-venture partners to optimise the value of our Macau and other overseas investments.
"We have made progress on those fronts during the past six months, and this will continue to be our focus," Mr Craigie said.
Crown declared an interim dividend of 18 cents per share, in line with the prior corresponding period.
Crown shares were 17 cents higher at $8.00 at on Friday.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Tiger Woods Turns Down $75 Million Offer From Paddy Power Poker; Online Poker And Gambling Firms Looking For Celeb Edge, by Greg Tingle - 7th March 2010
Media Man reports it's been a big year for The Tiger, and an equally huge year for the online poker and gambling sector.
Tiger Woods has just turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer from the online firm Paddy Power.
Paddy Power enjoys a strong position in the Irish sector and has aspirations to kick big goals in a number of overseas regions.
Various news sources and wires such as TMZ and Poker News Daily report "Tiger Woods just blew off a $75 million endorsement offer from an Irish gambling company – and that is how you know you’re rich." It was a long term deal, but tiger has recently made it clear what his major priorities are.
In other celeb - poker news, five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman has signed with Cake Poker Network site Only Poker. Rodman is managed by Prince Marketing Group, as is fellow NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and boxing legend Smokin' Joe Frazier.
PartyGaming's PartyPoker.com is said to be delighted with their poker celeb and pro signings including Aussie's Stewart Scott and Tony G, Canadian-Brit Kara Scott, German Dragan Galic and Italian football living legend, Francesco Totti.
Mike Sexton, Poker Hall of Famer remains the face of Party's World Poker Tour, which PartyGaming purchased last year.
PartyPoker is not currently accepting American players, but is taking on Aussies. PokerStars continues to accept Americans, Canadians, Aussies, and just about anyone else, as does PKR Poker.
Media Man can report that PartyGaming an a number of other online poker and gaming brands have their eyes and ears open to sign the right celebs and celebrity poker and sports starts as the high stakes business of online poker and casino continues.
These developments come as many governments of the world are considering fully regulating the online poker and casino industry.
Website Network
Poker News Media
Media Man International
Casino News Media
Australian Sports Entertainment
Sports Entertainment News
Global Gaming Directory
Media Man reports it's been a big year for The Tiger, and an equally huge year for the online poker and gambling sector.
Tiger Woods has just turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer from the online firm Paddy Power.
Paddy Power enjoys a strong position in the Irish sector and has aspirations to kick big goals in a number of overseas regions.
Various news sources and wires such as TMZ and Poker News Daily report "Tiger Woods just blew off a $75 million endorsement offer from an Irish gambling company – and that is how you know you’re rich." It was a long term deal, but tiger has recently made it clear what his major priorities are.
In other celeb - poker news, five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman has signed with Cake Poker Network site Only Poker. Rodman is managed by Prince Marketing Group, as is fellow NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and boxing legend Smokin' Joe Frazier.
PartyGaming's PartyPoker.com is said to be delighted with their poker celeb and pro signings including Aussie's Stewart Scott and Tony G, Canadian-Brit Kara Scott, German Dragan Galic and Italian football living legend, Francesco Totti.
Mike Sexton, Poker Hall of Famer remains the face of Party's World Poker Tour, which PartyGaming purchased last year.
PartyPoker is not currently accepting American players, but is taking on Aussies. PokerStars continues to accept Americans, Canadians, Aussies, and just about anyone else, as does PKR Poker.
Media Man can report that PartyGaming an a number of other online poker and gaming brands have their eyes and ears open to sign the right celebs and celebrity poker and sports starts as the high stakes business of online poker and casino continues.
These developments come as many governments of the world are considering fully regulating the online poker and casino industry.
Website Network
Poker News Media
Media Man International
Casino News Media
Australian Sports Entertainment
Sports Entertainment News
Global Gaming Directory
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