The Week That Was 5/11 – 5/16/08

We are only two weeks from the May 30 start to this year’s World Series of Poker and the poker world has been buzzing with activity. Business announcements, controversies addressed, litigation – a lot is going on:

• In February 2008, European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy issued a warning to Holland compelling them to either comply with European free trade obligations or face stiff penalties, and the European nation had until April to change its ways. After that deadline came and passed, it took a little less than a month for the country to enact its own set of UIGEA type regulations which in short forbid Dutch banks from accepting online gaming related transactions. While the European Commission has not yet responded, it is generally believed that it will not take kindly to this action and may even take Holland to the European Court of Justice.
  
  
• Following months of turmoil and executive personnel shakeups, Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel has had enough. Svenska Spel has officially begun legal proceedings against international gaming firm Ladbrokes for copyright infringement. The center of the suit is a recent Ladbrokes ad campaign which features a logo very similar to the one employed by Svenska Spel in addition to the slogan, “Svenska Spel med Engelska Odds” which means “Swedish games with English odds.” While Ladbrokes has removed the logo in question from the campaign, it has stuck by its slogan. Neither side seems all too willing to resolve this dispute without litigation.
  
  
• Online gaming companies are also gearing up for the WSOP with a slew of new promotions and tournaments. Building on the success of their popular “Bounty” tournaments, Ultimate Bet is opening up a series of “Sniper” tournaments. The seven players who collect the most bounties throughout the week will gain entry into a weekly freeroll. Meanwhile, AOL is offering is offering 6 WSOP Main Event packages this year. The packages will be awarded to winners of freerolls from its games division between the dates of May 4 and June 15. And online giant Full Tilt Poker has opened up what is calling “the largest buy-in for a heads-up tournament ever held either live or online.” On May 24 and 25, less than one week before the WSOP begins, Full Tilt Poker will hold the $25,000 buy-in Heads Up World Championship. Limited to 64 players, Full Tilt will forego any administrative fees and leave the $1.6 million prize pool intact for the winners.
  
  
• Multiple European online gaming companies are reporting significant profits for the first quarter of 2008. International gaming firm, bwin Interactive Entertainment AG announced a 10% gain in first quarter profits versus last year for a net profit of €11.0 million. European sportsbook Paddy Power announced operating profits of 14% for 2008, ahead of the previous 8% forecast by about €6 million. Sweden’s main digital entertainment group and owner of the 24hPoker Network, Entraction Holding AB is experiencing a 48% jump in total revenues along with a 10% growth in its customer base. Finally, Irish-based financial spread betting company, WorldSpreads Group plc has moved its stock from the London Exchange to the newly created Irish IEX listing. This has benefitted the fledgling exchange greatly as the past year has seen WorldSpreads’ listing price go from a London IPO price of 47.00 pence to a May 14 closing price of 110.00 pence.
  
  
• In what is sure to be one of the biggest business moves in the poker world for 2008, Party Gaming has announced that Jim Ryan will take over as CEO beginning May 16, 2008. Ryan, who is the former CEO of St Minver Limited, former CEO of Excapsa Software Inc and former Chief Financial Officer of CryptoLogic Inc, replaces current CEO Mitch Garber who has held the position since 2006. Party Gaming also announced that Chief Games Officer, John O’Malia will be promoted to a newly created Board position titled “Managing Director.” For its final announcement of the May 14 London Press Conference, Party Gaming is officially parting ways with former CEO and current Non-Executive Chairman Michael Jackson. While no specific time table has been set, Jackson looks to leave with a replacement in place in the next three to four months. Both Garber and Jackson leave the industry heavyweight under amicable conditions.
  
  
• UltimateBet is addressing concerns that its recent two-time Bad Beat Jackpot winner, dhc2lovr cheated. UltimateBet spokesman George MacLean stated that dhc2lovr is one of the site’s most frequent players having achieved the rare status of Ultimate Legend in its loyalty program. For his part, dhc2lovr said that before winning the second of his jackpots he felt as though he “had the same chances as anyone else to win and the fact that I had won it before made no difference.” 
  
  
• The revolving door at the World Poker Tour continues to turn as WPTE has confirmed that hostess Layla Kayleigh will not return to host Season VII. After retaining Shana Hiatt as host for the first 3 seasons, the WPT has had problems with its hostess position. Courtney Friel, Sabina Gadecki and now Layla Kayleigh each lasted only one season as hostess despite announcers Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten remaining for all six seasons of the WPT’s run. The search is officially on for the fifth host of the popular poker series.

And that’s what’s happening in poker.