PGE is a leading parimutuel horseracing and tote betting organisation and Dragonfish is to provide it with a comprehensive sportsbook offering followed by the introduction of casino, poker, bingo and quick play games once a more developed regulatory regime is in place in South Africa.

Dragonfish will also globally distribute horseracing pools and live race streaming through its licensees and via 888.com from tens of tracks for which PGE owns exclusive distribution rights.

“As a recognised world leader in harnessing the latest technology to globalise horseracing, we are very happy to sign with a partner that can provide us with market-leading technology to expand our offering worldwide,” said Rian Du Plessis, Chief Executive Officer for Phumelela Gaming And Leisure Limited.

“Working with Dragonfish going forward will help us to diversify our online offering and build on our current success.”

In addition, Dragonfish will provide PGE with its e-payments service and back-end software allowing for its swift integration into 888’s shared wallet, cashier and customer support systems.

“Horseracing is the largest sector in worldwide sportsbetting and we are delighted to work with a global leader in this area,” said Gabi Campos, Managing Director for Dragonfish.

“Phumelela has a huge user-base in South Africa and this deal will ensure that it has the best tools available with which to provide its customers with a cutting-edge online gaming offering.”

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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The print ad in question featured a headline that contained the claim ‘Players Win More At PartyPoker’ alongside text in the body copy that read ‘Play for a $2m guaranteed prize pool…find out why more people love to win at PartyPoker.com’. Following this copy, there was an asterisk that linked to small print reading ‘Poker Players Research Ltd Opinion Poll, May 08, Sample size 10,000’.

A single complainant challenged whether the two claims in the advertisement were misleading and could be substantiated while PartyGaming Marketing (Gibraltar) countered by stating that the assertions were based on the results of a survey carried out in May of 2008 by independent research firm Poker Player Research Limited.

However, the ASA upheld both complaints and stated that the headline ‘Players Win More At PartyPoker’ was a ‘factual claim capable of objective substantiation’.

“We noted the ad stated ‘Play for a $2m guaranteed prize pool…’ and considered that readers were likely to infer that they could win more money playing at PartyPoker.com than at other sites,” read the ASA judgement.

“We considered that readers were likely to interpret the claim ‘…more people love to win at PartyPoker.com’ as a subjective one that was based on the expression of the poll participants’ opinion.

“We considered that readers were likely to infer that the survey had shown that PartyPoker.com was the most popular of the sites included in the survey. We noted the survey respondents had not been asked to name their preferred or favourite site. Because we had not seen evidence to support the likely interpretation of the claim, we concluded that it could mislead.”

The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form while PartyGaming revealed that it planned to make use of the survey findings until these were superseded by new research.

It reported earnings before tax for the year ending in December rose 23 percent to $55.7 million while its total operating income increased 21 percent to $262.5 million.

Revenues from its casino offerings were up 14 percent to $135.1 million but those from poker fell four percent to $77.2 million leaving the firm with cash and equivalents of $98 million, which was a decrease on 2007’s $104 million.

888 announced last week that it had established a separate division for its business-to-business activities under the Dragonfish banner and revealed last year’s results had been significantly improved by this new line of business. It signed up 14 white-label customers last year including a partnership with Sportech in June and three bingo networks towards the end of 2008. These were in addition to the seven agreements it already had in place while 888 stated that its business-to-business division is set to grow even further following four deals already this year including one with the Racing Post, a leading UK horseracing publication.

“We believe that this successful model, offering both business-to-business and business-to-consumer businesses, is key to growth in the online gaming market in the coming years,” said Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer for 888.

“Current trading to date in the first quarter of 2009 has been stronger than December with daily average revenues higher by more than five percent.

“While we are encouraged by this positive trend, the broader economic climate remains challenging and overall revenues in the first quarter are expected to be slightly lower than those for the fourth quarter of 2008, which was a slightly longer quarter.

“Poker and emerging offering grew quarter-on-quarter and new customer levels were considerably better than expected while casino trading was challenging.”

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The Match In Gibraltar will take place this Sunday and feature a group of UK celebrities including actors Ralf Little, Alex Lawler, Jamie Lomas, Danny Young and Gary Beadle competing for 90 minutes against an armed forces side led by Petty Officer Physical Training Instructor Dave Wilson. The celebrity team will also consist of television personality Jeff Brazier, Big Brother’s Ziggy and clubland DJ Alex P alongside Olympic sprinter Derek Redmond and music artist MC Harvey.

Held in conjunction with the first annual Gibraltar International Boat Show, The Match In Gibraltar will take place at the 5,000-seat Victoria Stadium on April 12 and feature pre-game entertainment in the shape of a Crossbar Challenge and Beat The Keeper competitions. There will also be a half-time raffle while Gibraltar-based Acquarius Marine Services will provide a cup for the winning team.

“After four days of all eyes on the waterfront, it’ll be great to get our feet on dry ground and provide a real spectacle for exhibitors, organisers, the residents of Gibraltar and visitors from Spain and beyond,” said Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director for PartyGaming.

“The Match In Gibraltar will serve to celebrate what we’re sure will have been an enormously successful first Boat Show for ‘The Rock’. It’s so admirable to see stars from the world of television, music and sport give up their precious Easter break to raise money for Help4Heroes and we intend to pack out the Victoria Stadium to raise as much as possible for this deserving cause.”

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