Pacific Lottery has received exclusive approval to broadcast the 30-minute Hanoi Lottery Draw nightly beginning from Monday on State-run television. The programme will use the Calgary-based firm’s national online lottery technology to present the winning combinations for the various games offered by the State-owned Lottery Corporation.

The Canadian firm revealed that its marketing personnel would also assist the government with the development, launch and ongoing production of this new prime-time televised lottery show. It also stated that it expects to ‘significantly increase’ its national marketing efforts in Vietnam’s only State-authorised online lottery programme.

“We are extremely gratified by the continuing confidence the government has shown in us through its ongoing strong support of the nation’s only online lottery programme,” said David Aftergood, founder of Pacific Lottery.

“This development marks a major milestone in the ongoing progress of the Vietnamese lottery programme and will also significantly assist in the boosting of our brand nationally in Vietnam and regionally throughout South East Asia.”

Pacific Lottery stated that it had purchased a new ball draw machine from SmartPlay International Incorporated of New Jersey to use during the Vietnam show.

In addition, it revealed that the Lottery Corporation is to start selling its new Two Digit/Pair proprietary online lottery game in order to combat an illegal lottery. Pacific Lottery stated that this is the first time that a game similar to the illegal lottery has been authorised for use by the Vietnamese public and it expects that the new title will directly compete with the unauthorised but well-known version.

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The Las Vegas-based giant revealed that Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment Incorporated would ‘manage the global growth of the World Series Of Poker’ while also exploring a ‘European interactive strategy’.

‘As the world’s largest gaming company, Harrah’s is taking a proactive approach toward international and interactive expansion,’ said Gary Loveman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer for Harrah’s Entertainment.

‘It is important we position ourselves to explore new markets as well as new technologies with our best-in-class brands.’

Loveman revealed that the new subsidiary would explore the use of interactive gaming technologies to expand the reach of its brands globally, beginning in Europe, in addition to growing the World Series Of Poker. Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment will utilise the Total Rewards customer loyalty programme to strengthen and grow the firm’s customer base.

Garber will serve as Chief Executive Officer for the new subsidiary while Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner for the World Series Of Poker, has been appointed as its President. A lawyer, Garber also served as Executive Vice-President for Optimal Group, FireOne’s Nasdaq-listed majority shareholder, before moving to PartyGaming and has experience with the industry going back to the 1990s when he developed the first gaming law practice in Canada for the Montreal-based firm Lazarus Charbonneau.

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Harrah’s has annual revenues of around $10.8 billion and the appointment has set industry tongues wagging as to whether the American giant is planning to launch an online casino offering of its own or acquire an existing operation.

Garber will oversee a newly created division established to handle Harrah’s online and World Series Of Poker (WSOP) activities. His appintment has created some anxiety with current operators as they could soon face the prospect of competition from a large and well-financed land gambling company if the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is overturned.

Gibraltar-based PartyGaming is the firm behind popular online poker domain PartyPoker.com and Garber became its Chief Executive Officer in 2006 before standing down last month. The Canadian joined from FireOne, a listed payment processing company for the online gaming industry, and is credited with restoring the operator’s fortunes after a large part of its core business was wiped out by UIGEA.

A lawyer, Garber also served as Executive Vice-President for Optimal Group, FireOne’s Nasdaq-listed majority shareholder, and has experience with the industry going back to the 1990s when he developed the first gaming law practice in Canada for the Montreal-based firm Lazarus Charbonneau.

In November, Gary Loveman, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Harrah’s, stated that the prospects were ‘relatively good’ that online poker would be legalised in the US. In addition, he admitted that Harrah’s had a strong interest in making online poker legal because of its ownership of the WSOP brand.

”This is something we’re going to be working hard at and we think the world got easier on this one,” said Loveman.

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Professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams from the University of Lethbridge in Canada surveyed more than 20,000 adults from 105 nations for their study and found that antipodean players wagered an average of $306 online every month.

‘Australian Internet gamblers do report higher average monthly gambling spending than the overall average we observed among our sample,’ said Wood.

‘This would suggest that Australian Internet gamblers do indeed spend more on gambling compared with Internet gamblers from most other countries.’

According to a report from The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the results are five times what punters in Australia and New Zealand put through land-based poker machines and has prompted renewed calls for a ban on online gambling because its alllows players to bet using credit.

The study from the Alberta-based researchers also found that the prevalence of problem gambling was four times higher for Internet gamblers than those who play by more traditional methods.

Gerard Byrne, Problem Gambling Service Coordinator for The Salvation Army, told the newspaper that he was not surprised by the figures and called on the Federal Government to ban credit-based betting.

‘People are certainly reporting more and more usage of online gambling,’ said Byrne.

‘I’m not surprised New South Wales is near the top in problem online gambling. We’ve got a culture where gambling is the state pastime. We would encourage bans on any capability to gamble on credit and believe the Federal Government should take a lead on this.’

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According to a piece in The Vancouver Sun newspaper, offering online gambling services for real cash is illegal in Canada and the United States but the NHL has released a statement supporting Sundin’s activities.

The television commercial in question has been airing in Canada over the last few months and shows the Swedish player enthusiastically shooting a puck and decking opponents interspersed with shots of him competing at poker under the strap-line ‘same buzz, different game’. Sundin was not signed with any NHL team when the advert was shot after he left the Toronto Maple Leafs but has since become a member of the Vancouver Canucks.

‘The NHL has no objection with Mats having a relationship with and endorsing the free, educational website PokerStars.net,’ said Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner for the NHL.

“Many of our clubs have similar relationships. We do not allow endorsement or sponsorship relationships with ‘for money’ gaming websites of any kind.’

The newspaper pointed out that several land-based casino operators have sponsorship arrangements with NHL teams and it gave the Canucks and its deal with Richmond-based Great Canadian Gaming Corporation as an example. In addition, the Maple Leafs also has a sponsorship arrangement with PokerStars.net.

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