Down under in Melbourne, Australia, one casino punter was feeling extremely lucky, pouncing on an opportunity to steal (not win) a Ferrari F430, when a casino valet handed him the keys. Media Man and Gambling911 follow the story in high speed pursuit…

Melbourne Police have now arrested the formally lucky punters after a Crown Casino valet mistakenly handed over the keys to a Ferrari F430 Spider and he took off for a joyride lasting half a day to Coolaroo of all places.

The 32-year cheeky fella was reportedly wearing a tracksuit when a casino valet gave him the keys to the bright red, V8 supercar about 12.30am today.

Police advise the punter drove north up the Tullamarine Freeway but was pinched by police about 6.30am as he fuelled up at a servo in Coolaroo, on Melbourne’s outer northern region.

"He is currently assisting police with their inquiries," she said.

Forensic police will today examine the car, which has been towed to a holding yard in Campbellfield.

The attendant at the servo advised the man filled the beast up with petrol before police nabbed the bandit.

"He just filled up with petrol, came in here, paid for it and the cops were outside and just got him," he said.

"The cops I think were already after him."

The happening starting to generate a serious of state, national and international news stories, with Melbourne 3AW radio enjoying banter with a witness "Mark".

"Someone walked out of the casino past me and the security guard, got in and drove off,". The security guard said to me – because he only had an old tracksuit on – and he said ‘you can’t pick ‘em can you’."

Crown Casino spokesman, top brass, Gary O’Neill said the incident was a first for the casino. He explained customers using valet parking were provided with a ticket to be returned to the casino parking attendant when time to collect your car.

"It has happened in the past from time to time that people lose their tickets, and in these circumstances we ask for proof of identification and a valid driver’s licence. Those procedures were followed on this occasion," he said.

"The procedures that we have followed in the past have not resulted in this particular incident, but that’s not to say our system is perfect," he said.

"We’re cooperating fully with the police investigation."

Mr O’Neill said the incident had been caught on film by their CCTV cameras and the footage would be handed over to police.  Crown Casino is known for its world class security, as is it’s Sydney competitor Star City. The Australian land casino industry was forced to upgrade security in recent years following a succession of undesirable incidents. Industry insiders sometimes joke about the plastic handcuffs initiative and footy and cricket stars getting pissed at casino events but this matter was very serious in nature. The casino wants its VIPs, high-rollers, whales and the like to know that their transport is in safe hands at Crown Casino.

Melbourne’s Police ‘Highway Patrol’ is known to be world class and its understood that at least 99% of police corruption as featured on Network Nine ‘Underbelly’ has been cleaned up.

Crown tag lines include ‘World Of Entertainment’ and ‘Wear The Crown’.

Mr James Packer, Australian and Asia Pacific casino and gaming king remains the owner of Crown Limited. He also owns Burswood Casino aka Burswood Entertainment Complex in Western Australia, and a number of interests in Macau, Britain and new media – internet. Packer remains passionate for sport, meeting Virgin king Richard Branson last year at the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix and enjoys polo, as did his late father Kerry Packer.

Ok you want more on the sports car…we hear you…

The F430 went on sale in 2005 with the Spider convertible going for a cool $444,000 AUD, plus options and on-road costs.

F430 production was ceased earlier this year and will be replaced by the flashy458 Italia, which we understand has a two-year waiting list.

Casinos have long been associated with fast cars (and fast, sexy women). In recent years the online casino and online poker sector has plugged into the demo, with PartyGaming and PKR offering sports car as high level prizes.

Last week Richard Branson’s Virgin Racing came to sponsorship terms with online poker powerhouse Full Tilt Poker. The massive exposure of Virgin’s F1 involvement on a international scale was a key reason the deal went ahead.

A number of weeks before the public Virgin – Full Tilt Poker deal, PartyGaming’s PartyPoker signed up F1 superstars Jaime Alguersuari and Giancarlo Fisichella as brand ambassadors. Poker legend and World Poker Tour mainstay Mike Sexton remains the global PartyPoker ambassador. Last month following the sporting theme, PartyPoker also signed up Italian football legend Francesco Totti. The financial terms of the poker sponsorship deals are not currently known, as all parties appear to want to keep the details under wraps. Speaking of big names, rumours are circulating that PartyGaming may be in the midst of doing another deal and announcement with movie legend of Rambo and Rocky fame, Sylvester Stallone.  Sly is featured in the Rambo online slot game, exclusive to PartyGaming.

A few months ago PartyGaming and PKR Poker had a Porsche up for grabs, but no one qualified to win. Not to be disheartened, Party’s casino and poker brands are once again offering dream machine grand prizes…

PartyGaming’s PartyCasino

http://www.partycasino.com/index.htm?wm=3221754

 

and

 

PartyPoker

http://www.partypoker.com/index.htm?wm=3113135

 

PartyCasino – Grand Win Auto – Win A Maserati GranTurismo

 

PartyPoker – Drive The Dream – Win a Aston Martin DB9 Coupe

 

Crown Casino Share Price – CWN: 8.290

 

*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911

 

*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. Gaming is just one of a dozen sectors covered

 

*The writer owns shares in Crown Limited

 

In an announcement this week, the Taiwan-based Gigamedia Ltd updated the market, confirming that French internet gambling group Mangas Gaming has completed its purchase of 60% of the Gigamedia online gambling operations

The sale has immediate effect, and Gigamedia expects to record a significant one-time gain in the second quarter as a result of the transaction.

Mangas Gaming is jointly owned by the Lov Group of the highly successful French media entrepeneur Stephane Courbit in partnership with the Societe des Bains de Mer de Monaco, controlled by the Principality of Monaco. SBM is the owner of the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco.

Mangas has made initial cash payment of $100 million, which will be followed by a final earn-out payment to be made after the May 2012 valuation, depending upon the fair market value of the business at that time.

Gigamedia will continue to hold the remaining 40% interest with a put option to sell all or part to Mangas beginning 2013. Beginning 2015, Mangas will have a call option on any remaining shareholding held by Gigamedia. For both GigaMedia’s put option and Mangas’s call option, the price will be determined based upon fair market value at the respective points in time.

Gigamedia posted group preliminary first-quarter 2010 financial results, with revenues of $37.1 million, down approximately 8% quarter-over- quarter, largely attributable to business transition and integration issues related to the Mangas deal.

Sport and gambling have been in the headlines in the recent months, with various allegations about match-fixing in snooker.

And the sport’s chief Barry Hearn has admitted "there may be other revelations we have to deal with in the future".

However, for those tasked with policing the sport for illegal activity, it can be hard to know if a shot was missed deliberately or not.

And snooker is not alone in facing the challenges of potential financial corruption, with the likes of football and horse racing also coming under the microscope in recent years.

Only last month, the eight-year ban from European competition imposed by Uefa on Macedonian club FK Pobeda for match-fixing was upheld.

Football integrity

"There is an awful lot of money sloshing around football, and where you have a lot of money you can have a lot of crime," says Matthew Johnson, head of legal regulation at the Football Association.

Mr Johnson’s job involves upholding the integrity of football at all levels in England, as well as educating players about issues such as gambling.

FK Pobeda players celebrate a goal in a match from July 2005

He says that in recent years, there has been a huge growth of televised football, which, coupled with the ease of gambling online, has led to an explosion of betting on football around the world.

In fact, it is now challenging horse racing as the largest sport betting market globally, with much of the huge boom in football gambling coming in Asia.

Mr Johnson told the C5 conference on Sports Law and Business that in season 2009/2010, there was betting in Asia on 250 Blue Square Conference matches – the fifth tier of English football – and on 190 English youth and academy games.

"Now you can bet to lose," he says, referring to the gambling process known as "lay betting".

"But if a player bets on his team to lose, even if he is injured, that raises massive integrity issues and affects perception of your sport.

"We are trying our best to get the message across – the real issue in football is that there is a very much ingrained culture of betting among players, not just on football matches."

Continue reading here

While the Gambling Wages affiliate program and Virtual Online Casino group attempts to clean up its image, as first reported by Gambling911.com a few weeks ago, Casinomeister Bryan Bailey is not so quick to forgive and forget.

Marty Davis, who made a name for himself managing the popular Nine.com online gambling affiliate program, was recently hired by Gambling Wages to help address concerns.

In fairness to the Virtual Group management, they did enjoy a decent reputation as acquirers of the Curacao-based Royal Sports (BetRoyal.com) betting venture some years ago before selling that off to SBG Global.

Their Virtual Casino brand is a whole different animal it seems.

Bryan Bailey posting on the CasinoMeister.com Forum:

The bottom line is that you have to put the people aside and look at the facts. If you let the people and personalities get in the way, then it turns into a political debate – who likes who, who did what in the past etc.

 

There is no "cleaning up one’s act." Not in this business. Sure, you make a mistake or two, then players may be forgiving. But repeat offenders, who go on and on and on for years, screwing players (I couldn’t care less about the affiliates who whine about not being paid by GW, they shouldn’t have been promoting them to begin with) they are the leopards who will not change their spots.

 

I have learned with 10+ years of dealing with this group is that business ethics do not change. As long as the Virtual casino group is owned by the same people and managed with the same philosophical approach to this industry, there will be no change.

 

Sure we can let a rep come in here and try to mop up the mess – answer player complaints and resolve issues. But this should not be a tactic or strategy to get on the "good" list. They should have attempted this in 2002 not 2010. It’s a day late and a dollar short.

 

How many times has the Virtual Group asked to be given a second chance, or that they were turning over a new leaf? Some of you more astute at doing searches on the site should be able to find the newsletters and postings where I have met either the owner or managers. I have been lied to a number of times by these guys. I don’t trust them – why should any affiliate or player trust them either?

 

Back to the "people" issue. I don’t think it matters who bears the torch, leading the charge on cleaning up Virtual’s act. Hell, it could be me or Spearmaster, Jetset, Simmo! (fill in the blank with your favorite personality here) leading the way. Their history is so tarnished, it could never happen – and it won’t. I don’t care how great they may think of themselves at the moment – you cannot forget the past. And believe me, the past is not so long ago…

 

So my message to Marty: I’m sure you have good intentions and you’re a swell guy. But I hope you understand you have chosen to tackle one hell of a situation. Best of luck to you – for the players’ sake.

Gambling Wages would like to join the Gambling911.com family of sponsors but will not do so until everything is cleared up at CasinoMeister.  And by the looks of things, it appears that won’t be happening any time soon.

As for the Virtual Casino Group, 7 of the top 10 searches in Google are negative when searching for "Virtual Casino Group".  "TheVirtualCasino.com" does not appear to have fallen victim to negative search entries…yet.  "Gambling Wages" itself has not exactly been beaten up in search either to date though some of the top 10 searches question their past business practices and disputes. 

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher

 

 

The Chinese news agency Xinghua illustrated the power of China’s gambling market this week by reporting on the first quarter revenues for lotteries, which soared 24.5% between January and March 2010. Releasing the numbers, the Chinese Ministry of Finance revealed that the lotteries earned 34.62 billion yuan (US$ 5.07 billion).

Sales of the Welfare Lottery in the first quarter totaled 20.2 billion yuan (US$ 2.96 billion) while Sports Lottery sales amounted to 14.42 billion yuan (US$ 2.11 billion), both representing an increase of 24.5%, according to ministry statistics.

In March alone, lottery sales across the country rose 15.7% year on year to 13.25 billion yuan (US$ 1.94 billion).

Gambling911.com reported last week that UB.com poker pro Liv Boeree had beaten 1,240 contestants last week to win £1.1million in San Remo, Italy. Despite that win, the Manchester University graduate was knocked out on day two in Monte Carlo.

She said last night: "I’m disappointed. I was getting low on chips and they had better hands than me – that’s how it goes. I was hoping to follow up my win last week but it just didn’t happen. But I had a great day anyway."

Boeree began her poker career on the television series UltimatePoker Showdown in August 2005. There, she learned some valuable tips from Annie Duke, one of the poker world’s best female players.


In just a few years, Liv Boeree has secured multiple top-10 finishes in a number of first place wins in Texas Hold’em tournaments across London. In May 2008, Boeree claimed the top spot in the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship, besting a field of 53 players for $30,000 in cash and positioning herself as a top female poker player.

Online poker players at UB.com poker can employ the online poker site’s free UltimateBuddy feature to discover where Liv Boeree is playing.

Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl is not holding up President Obama’s Treasury nominations according to his spokesperson, Ryan Patmintra.

Those rumors have been widely circulating in recent months.

As co-author of online gambling legislation, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, Kyl was said to have been unhappy with the Obama Administration’s delay of its implementation until June 1 (previously October 1

Rumors that Kyl is holding back Treasury nominations to force the law to take effect are not true, Patmintra told the Arizona Courier newspaper.

Kyl says that the government needs to start enforcing federal law that would prevent people from playing online poker over the Internet. He claims online gambling is comparable to crack cocaine.

The Poker Players Alliance has attempted to educate Kyl in regard to online poker, claiming it to be a "game of skill", however, the Senator does not appear swayed. 

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher 

Following a disastrous run of results, the odds on Manchester United retaining the English Premier League title have lengthened considerably with Chelsea now favourites to emerge as champion.

Two weeks ago, Manchester United were top of the league but the three-time consecutive champion were subsequently beaten by Chelsea before being held to a scoreless draw away at Blackburn Rovers. To make matters worse, United were also knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Bayern Munich and could only watch as Chelsea defeated Aston Villa to regain top spot in the domestic table.

Manchester United are now being offered at odds of 6/1 to win the English Premier League this season by WilliamHill.com. BetFred.com have them at 13/2 with SkyBet.com, BoyleSports.com, BlueSq.com, Ladbrokes.com, PaddyPower.com and 888Sport.com all showing 7/1.

With four games remaining, Manchester United have to hope that Chelsea slip up while bet365.com, Totesport.com and Sportingbet.com show odds of 15/2 on Sir Alex Ferguson’s men retaining the title. Slightly longer, VictorChandler.com,StanJames.com and Bodog are going with 8/1 while BetDaq.com, Betfair.com and WBX.com all at 17/2.

Chelsea finished third last season and have not won the English Premier League since the 2005/06 edition but VictorChandler.com, SkyBet.com, BoyleSports.com, SportingBet.com, BlueSq.com, 888Sport.com, Bodog.com and Ladbrokes.com are offering odds of 1/6 on Carlo Ancelotti bringing the title back to west London.

Ferguson recently admitted that the English Premier League title is Chelsea’s to lose after his side could only manage a scoreless draw at Blackburn and and WBX.com agree by offering odds of 21/100 on the title returning to Stamford Bridge for a fourth time.

For their part, bet365.com, Totesport.com, Betfred.com, PaddyPower.com, Coral.co.uk and WilliamHill.com show Chelsea at odds of 1/5 to win the title this season while, Betfair.com is going with 1/4.

After being virtually written off earlier in the season, Arsenal has made a surprising comeback and are now at odds of 6/1 with Ladbrokes.com and PaddyPower.com to win the English Premier League while Bodog.com and VictorChandler.com show 13/2.

Arsenal have one of the easiest run-ins to finish the current campaign with bet365.com, SkyBet.com, ToteSport.com, BoyleSports.com, BetFred.com BlueSq, StanJames.com, 888Sport.com and Bwin.com offering the ‘Gunners’ at odds of 7/1 to win the title for the first time since 2003/04. Slightly longer, SportingBet.com shows 15/2 while WBX.com has 8/1.  

Ioannis Spanoudakis, the chief executive of Greece’s state gambling monopoly OPAP has online gambling in mind once regulators give their green light. Speaking at the presentation of the group’s 2009 results, Spanoudakis said:

“Our strategic focus is to enhance and solidify OPAP’s position in the domestic market in 2010 and over the coming years by further improving the quality of our existing games and the appeal of our franchise, preparing for the expansion into new activities such as video lottery terminals, scratch tickets and online sportsbetting when permitted by the regulator, actively supporting the State in its efforts to confine illegal betting and optimising OPAP’s cost base and improving its operational efficiency.”

The group posted a 1.4% year-on-year decrease in revenues to €5.4 billion, reporting that EBITDA fell by 8.5% when compared to 2008 to €966.8 million while net profits sank by 18.5% to €593.8 million.

Management attributed the decline to a shortage of major sporting events and the negative economic climate, but pointed out that adjusted net profits for the year dropped only five percent to €691.9 million.

Punters across Ireland are set for a recession busting €10 million gamble on tomorrow’s Aintree Grand National according to bookmaker Paddy Power.

The world’s most famous race goes to post at 4.15pm with a full field of 40 horses going head to head over a grueling 4 1/2 miles with ten of the runners carrying the hopes of Ireland.

Irish punters have latched on to a couple of the leading contenders and will be looking for Ruby Walsh and big race betting favourite, Big Fella Thanks (7-1), to get them back to winning ways after a very tough Cheltenham Festival and Irish Grand National.

A spokesperson of the bookmaker said: “It’s the biggest race of the year and punters are out for revenge after a very tough Cheltenham. There’s always a fairytale in the National and we don’t have too long to wait to find out who’ll be enjoying the happy ever after.”

The fun-loving bookie has also pledged to give horse racing fans a day to remember tomorrow by promising to buy everyone in Liverpool a free pint if top Irish jockey A.P. McCoy rides the winner in the Grand National.

The betting firm has teamed up with Irish football legend John Aldridge and will sponsor a free bar all night in his famous Liverpool watering hole ‘Aldo’s Place’ should Tony McCoy be first past the post in the four mile stamina sapping contest.