The online lottery operator has released its financial results for the nine months of 2009 showing a 62.8 percent year-on-year rise in revenues to Euro 53.7 million.

As a result, the German firm has retracted a profits warning that it instituted in September this year and is confident that its consolidated EBITDA for the full year should reach Euro 43 million. The predictions issued in September have fortunately been overtaken by better business which has moved the estimates up by some Euro 13 million on revenues that are now expected to reach Euro 73 million by year-end.

This amount could reach Euro 95 million when income from successful hedging transactions is added.

Hans Cornehl, Executive Board Member for Tipp24, used the announcement of the improved results to criticise the inequitable and protectionist bans imposed in Germany through the notorious State Treaty on Gaming, noting that this has failed to reach its objectives.

“This has now been recognised by Schleswig-Holstein’s government,” the executive noted, confirming speculation that the state of Schleswig Holstein is pulling out of the treaty, thus neutralising it. “In the long term, politicians will not be able to restrict the development of the fast-growing market for online lottery brokerage. We are, thus, optimistic that we can resume our business activities in Germany in the medium-term.”

Tipp24’s EBITDA for the nine-month period more than quintupled from Euro 6.3 million in 2008 to Euro 33.1 million most recently while consolidated net profits improved to Euro 25.1 million from Euro 4.7 million.

The good results were mainly possible through non-German markets with revenues from this segment soaring to Euro 52.9 million for the first nine months of 2009 from Euro 4.2 million in 2008 while EBITDA grew to Euro 42.7 million from a loss last year of Euro 1.6 million.

Nicholas Zicarelli became the 10th person jailed for declining to testify, his lawyer, Kenneth Hensley, said at a contempt hearing in Kansas City.

Zicarelli was merely a customer of a gambling operation that federal authorities are investigating. His legal representative asked U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to grant a two-week recess and compel prosecutors to produce evidence showing that Zicarelli was something more than a casual gambler.

“He’s a law-abiding citizen who doesn’t want to be dragged into this investigation,” the lawyer emphasised.

Zicarelli had earlier invoked his 5th Amendment right not to give evidence that would tend to show that he had committed a crime after he was ordered to appear before the Grand Jury last month. A judge then gave him immunity from prosecution, but Zicarelli persisted in his refusal.

On Monday, Kays found him in contempt and committed him to detention for up to 18 months or until he agreed to tell what he knows to the grand jury.

Arguing against the 5th Amendment application from the witness, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Becker said the grand jury has a right to hear evidence about violations of U.S. laws.

“A law-abiding citizen has to make a decision,” Becker said. “Do I obey the law, or do I protect my bookmaker?”

After the hearing, Zicarelli’s father, Anthony Zicarelli, confronted Becker in a courthouse hallway and challenged him to investigate more serious crimes.

“It’s amazing how much power you have to destroy my son’s life,” Anthony Zicarelli said. “You’re putting all these young kids in jail.”

Becker listened to the criticism without comment and returned to his office.

Local media report that Judge Kays jailed three other men under similar circumstances in August this year.

Those jailed for refusing to testify could be released earlier if the grand jury completes its probe, if they decide to testify or if the jury completes its term, officials said.

In a review of progress this week, the publication ITWeb reports that loopholes in the law exist and IT systems, which could curb fraudulent activities, are not in place.

After extensive research, in 2008 the SA government finally passed amendments to the National Gambling Act allowing for the implementation of a regulatory and licensing regime for interactive gambling.

However, in August, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry requested that the implementation of the regulations be delayed. Following the publishing of regulations for public comment in February 2009, the department acknowledged that the legislation needed to be reviewed.

Meanwhile, government delegations travelled to various international online gambling jurisdictions to study their practices and infrastructure.

Currently, Parliament and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are holding public hearings on interactive gambling regulations and will only table the final Bill once hearings have been completed.

DTI spokesmen have revealed that the National Gambling Board (NGB) will be tasked with monitoring all the operators, but that it is still “developing its IT skills to handle this concern”.

The NGB has put measures in place to deal with illegal activities, such as the problems of cloning and hacking, but the DTI is concerned the measures are not “sufficient and strong enough”.

“While the National Gambling Act introduced measures to deal with illegal activities, through an umbrella provision prohibiting such actions, there were loopholes with regards to interactive gambling,” ITWeb observes.

“The legislation needed to be amended to deal with specifics, such as software tampering, cyber crime and money laundering, the DTI says.”

DTI officials have informed Parliament that players would be protected against the negative effects of gambling, but that the regulations supporting the amended Gambling Act would also focus on the prevention of criminal acts like money laundering.

Officials said that licensed operators would have to comply with Financial Intelligence Centre Act stipulations, as they would be in possession of important personal information. The Act requires that players must disclose personal details, such as ID number and proof of residential address. Players would have to create an account linked to a credit card or cheque account and present a bank stamp, as no cash transactions would be allowed. A maximum of Rands 20 000 would be allowed in the individual player’s account.

“Gambling operators would be required to meet all these requirements, but the department and the NGB have the biggest responsibility and we are currently preparing ourselves for it,” says the DTI.

The NGB initially plans to issue only 10 interactive gambling licences, all of them on a national level to operators that can prove they have a physical presence locally, and all financial transactions would also have to be located within the country’s borders.

The non-profit organisation’s Responsible Gambling manager, Tex Rees conducted the courses in-house at online casino, poker and sportsbook operations.

The course included tuition on:

* Identifying and dealing with problem gamblers and understanding how a compulsion can develop, concluding with role-playing exercises and in-depth discussion sessions.

* Awareness of what issues a problem gambler faces.

* Perceived numbers as opposed to actual prevalence study percentages.

* The implementation of eCOGRA best practice standards and requirements, including practical sessions on gambling websites where the dedicated responsible gambling facilities were analysed critically, and the reasons for inclusion in eCOGRA standards discussed.

* Advertising standards, with examples of gambling ads recently criticised by the UK Advertising Standards Authority.

“Responsible gambling ranks very high in eCOGRA priorities for both social responsibility and business reasons,” said Rees. “This year is the fifth in which eCOGRA has provided this professional service to Fair and Safe seal-bearing online gambling venues across the online casino, poker room, mobile, bingo, live dealer and sports betting platforms of the 145 international, tier one gambling sites that are accredited.

“It is heartening to note that this vitally important service is in constant demand, illustrating a real commitment to responsible gambling by eCOGRA operators that goes beyond merely meeting the standard accreditation requirements in this regard.”

In the real world, problem gamblers constitute a miniscule percentage of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of punters who go online for usually disciplined and enjoyable betting entertainment on a regular basis. For example, in its 2007 UK gambling prevalence study, an independent survey for the Gambling Commission found that 0.6 percent of adults were possibly at risk as ‘pathological’ gamblers.

That small percentage attracts a disproportionately large amount of political, social and above all media attention, and this often overshadows the good community work carried out by many operators, said eCOGRA chief executive Andrew Beveridge.

“Nevertheless, problem gambling is frequently seized on by industry detractors, and for this as well as moral and business reasons it is essential that operators ensure that staff is trained and facilities are available to the players,” he added.

Stopping problem gamblers at website level is just one aspect of a responsible gambling program, which should also embrace marketing and advertising, providing self-diagnostic aids and advice on counselling, and training staff in the right way to handle self-exclusion requests and indeed problem gamblers per se.

The objective of the eCOGRA courses is not only to address problem and underage gambling timeously, but to continually underline for operators the critical moral and commercial imperatives of continued vigilance, and the diligent application of genuine responsible gambling programs using rapidly evolving exclusionary technologies and training content.

The agreement calls for Dragonfish to provide Linden Lab with e-Payments, fraud and customer support management services. The services will be delivered via Dragonfish’s back office functionality and advanced cashier interface.

A Dragonfish spokesman said that the company’s e-Payment solutions are unique, combining payment optimisation technology and fraud management, including anti-money laundering with 24/7 multi-lingual customer operations that assist customers’ deposits and withdrawals both proactively and reactively.

Dragonfish has over a decade of experience in global payment processing and works with a variety of trusted bank partners, the spokesman said, adding that a wide portfolio of local and global payment methods enables Dragonfish to maximise transaction approval rates and provide the platform for partners to rapidly penetrate new markets.

With the support of a highly experienced fraud and risk management department, Dragonfish provides an easy and secure environment for its partners’ customers.

The agreement with Linden Lab is significant as it represents an extension of Dragonfish’s offering beyond the gaming industry, into the wider retail environment; adding ‘Total Payment Services’ to the existing ‘Total Gaming Services’ offering and becoming a stronger player in the regulated PSP market.

Founded in 1999, Linden Lab is the creator of Second Life, the world’s leading 3D virtual world environment. Since Second Life opened to the public in 2003, Second Life residents have logged more than one billion hours and generated more than US$1 billion in user-to-user transactions on the platform. With a broad user base that includes everyone from consumers and educators to medical researchers and large enterprises, Second Life has become one of the largest hubs of user-generated content and the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world.

Gabi Campos, Managing Director of Dragonfish, commented: “Today’s agreement extends our offer of Total Gaming Services into Total Payment Services and highlights the increasingly diverse nature and strength of Dragonfish’s operations.

“We have many gaming partners interested in our e-Payment solutions but this is a giant step beyond our core operations into the retail environment. It’s an excellent complementary business for Dragonfish which will provide incremental revenue.”

“Second Life residents log into the virtual world from nearly every country around the globe and participate in a virtual economy that will exceed US$500 million this year,” said Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab.

“Dragonfish has a strong track record in unlocking new markets through its unique and secure payment processing solutions, and as Second Life continues to grow internationally, we’re pleased to work with them to provide easy and secure payment options for our users outside the United States.”

The account will include extensive work in the run-up to next year’s World Cup of football, which is being held in South Africa, reports Brand Republic.

The marketing publication also notes that William Hill has reportedly entered into the second phase of a brand refresh using Wolff Olins.

Launching is a new portal branded Leading Casino.com, which as the title suggests is designed to independently assess and showcase a dynamic Top Ten online casino list with criteria based on customer service, bonus structure and the quality of games on offer.

Offering expert reviews of the ten gaming operations listed, Leading Casino.com also provides reviews of popular slot games and commentary on the latest industry news.

Utilising Wordpress blogging software, Leading Casino.com is regularly updated and allows visitors to comments on every article that is published on the portal.

The new portal is the third gambling portal opened by Bath Rock Media, joining sister sites Online Casino Reviewer.com and BetSage.com.

Bathrock’s Online Casino Reviewer.com information portal has earned the respect of many gamblers over the years and has been subjected to an extensive revamp. Developing further from a new website design which was rolled out at the beginning of the year, OCR is now turning its focus to reviews of individual online slot games to run alongside its widely read casino reviews section.

Sawyer comments: “Providing detailed reviews of the games provided by the casinos we feature on OCR was the natural next step to take for the development of OCR. It is our aim to have over 100 online slot games reviewed on OCR by the spring.”

Like sister sites in the Bathrock Media stable, OCR also provides the latest gambling industry news, a players’ forum, information on gaming software and information and links to sites focusing on responsible gambling.

Vegas Tech-powered Golden Casino is widely believed to have been set up by the Golden Palace group in order to access the US market after the UIGEA was approved by Congress in 2006.

The notification to players advises them that from December 1st the online casino will not be accepting new accounts from US residents.

The decision to leave the US market may also be connected with recent reports that e-processors believed to have been associated with Golden Casino have been the subjects of US federal enforcement actions.

Existing accounts do not appear – at this stage anyway – to be affected by the decision, but exchanges on player message boards are already speculating on the advisability of leaving accounts open, especially where these contain credit balances.

The company has assured both players and affiliates that all monies owed will be paid.

Affstorm, which handles affiliate marketing for brands like Casino33.com, becomes the first to carry the GAU’s watchful eye logo after changing a clause in its terms and conditions and agreeing to enter into GAU-arbitrated negotiation if necessary going forward.

The clause change concerned a commonly troublesome phrase used by casinos and programs in the industry: “the terms of this agreement may be modified by us at any time.” The amendment consists of the addition of a consultative process and a 15 day notice to affiliates before any changes are implemented.

Meanwhile, the GAU has increased membership to 150 affiliates and expects to reach 1 000 within the next six months.

“By working with the GAU and changing from a very unsuitable term to one that offers fairness to affiliates, the GAU feels that Affstorm should be rewarded by GAU members and all affiliates. Affstorm are showing their commitment to affiliates and that they are fair and reliable,” the UK-based GAU chairman Paul White remarked.

He revealed that a further five affiliate programmes are in discussion with the GAU regarding endorsement.

The GAU has recently appointed a further director; Canadian poker affiliate Terry Bolger, aka ‘Pokerkeep’.

The online player hammered the online casino’s jackpot on his first experience with the game, and is still so astonished at his good fortune that he has not finalised any plans for using the windfall.

Powered by Parspro, Bet24.com began operations in 2001 and is currently owned by Modern Times Group (MTG), the largest free-TV and pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltics. BET24 holds a Maltese and UK gaming license.