The contract was awarded following a competitive procurement process and will see GTech deploy its latest ES New Media solution beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009 alongside four years of ongoing support services.

The Providence-based firm revealed that its system would offer traditional lottery-style games such as EuroMillions and Swiss Lotto alongside fixed-odds, horseracing and other sportsbetting titles in a multi-phased rollout. Initially launching online, the system will also support the expansion of services across interactive television and mobile channels in the future.

‘LoRo has been a valued customer since 1994 and we have developed a partnership that has brought about mutually-beneficial innovations and increased revenues to support the good causes in the Romande region of Switzerland,’ said Jaymin Patel, President and Chief Executive Officer for GTech.

‘Over the past five years, GTech has invested significant resources to develop a flexible, end-to-end eCommerce solution that positions lotteries for the future direction of interactive channels. ES New Media combines the expertise from the commercial gaming sector gained through the acquisition of Finsoft with GTech’s proficiency in world-wide lottery technologies. We are grateful that LoRo continues to view us as a true partner as they enter the emerging new media market segment.’

GTech stated that proceeds generated from the new interactive system would increase the contributions LoRo provides to the cantons, which aid causes benefiting the environment, among others.

‘GTech’s proposal offered a clear understanding of the issues in deploying a new media platform,’ said Jean-Luc Moner-Banet, Managing Director for LoRo.

‘It proposed an eCommerce lottery solution that the assessment panel felt accurately addressed our needs and demonstrated a thorough comprehension of our new media marketing business development plans and corporate social responsibility objectives.’

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The ESSA was established in 2005 by leading European online sportsbook operators to monitor irregular betting patterns or possible insider betting from within each sport. It maintains the inter-member Early Warning System to highlight any suspicious betting activities.

StanleyBet stated that it has had procedures in place for many years to identify suspicious betting patterns and that it would now report any uncertainties through the Early Warning System.

The Early Warning System enables the ESSA to work with national sports regulators and their disciplinary and legal departments to ensure that, when an alert is given, these regulators are informed immediately to prevent any game manipulation.

“Licensed sportsbetting operators are the primary victims of match fixing and responsible operators like us are the first to be attacked,” said John Whittaker, Managing Director for StanleyBet.

“We at StanleyBet intend to remain at the forefront in the fight to ensure integrity and I am pleased that we have joined ESSA, a young but increasingly key player in this struggle.”

The ESSA has agreements in place with the International Football Federation, the Union of European Football Associations, the European Professional Football Leagues, the Football Association, the German Football League, the Association of Tennis Professionals, the International Tennis Federation and the Women’s Tennis Association alongside close relations with the International Olympic Committee and many other global sports regulators.

“StanleyBet’s decision to join the ESSA is a massive boost for our security network,” said Khalid Ali, Secretary General for the ESSA.

“Although StanleyBet is mainly an offline operator, our members agreed that it should come into the association because of its excellent investigative unit, which operates in seven markets. This means the ESSA will be able to obtain valuable information in our quest to combat illegal betting and game manipulation.”

The agreement has a term of 96 months and will see VODone receive a percentage of the income generated from each transaction.

In addition, VODone has launched an online portal at CAI.VODone.com branded as Lottery Lifestyle to broadcast lottery related news and information supplied by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and co-managed by the China Association of Social Workers and the China Philanthropy Times. VODone also revealed that it would be unveiling an Expert Lottery Comments channel in partnership with the China Philanthropy Times to provide exclusive lottery news.

‘Launch of a mobile lottery service and establishment of the online Lottery Lifestyle channel has enhanced VODone’s business structure and opened marketing income sources,’ said Zhang Lijun, Chairman for VODone.

‘This not only marks VODone’s synergy generated by its website platform, broadcasting union system and community in the field of new media, but also an innovative application in terms of both creativity and income. Through the establishment of the Lottery Lifestyle channel, our customers can enhance their winning opportunities as well as professional knowledge, which also encourages public participation in charity.’

The number of frequent lottery players in China has reached over 100 million recently contributing over $14 billion in annual turnover. The turnover for the Welfare Lottery reached $8.75 billion last year, ranking it as one of China’s largest.

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Kahnawake-based Morris Mohawk operates the popular Bodog online poker brand founded by Calvin Ayre. The Canadian entrepreneur was originally sued by 1st Technology in 2007 in Seattle for the alleged unauthorised use of 1st patents, forcing him to change the brand’s domain name from Bodog.com to BodogLife.com.

1st Technology claimed a $48 million uncontested judgment after it claimed that Bodog had infringed upon its American patent entitled ‘Method And System For Interactively Transmitting Multimedia Information Aver A Network Which Requires A Reduced Bandwidth While Operating In The US’.

The recent settlement resolves 1st Technology’s judgment collection efforts in addition to covering core multi-media patents for advanced gaming products and could mean that Morris Mohawk would be able to reopen Bodog.com.

“The 1st Technology patents, developed by early multi-media pioneer Dr Scott Lewis, Chief Executive Officer for 1st Technology, are targeted at providing enhanced interactivity and optimised delivery of high quality multi-media information over various bandwidth networks including narrowband and broadband telephone, cable and wireless Internet,” read a statement from 1st Technology.

“While the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group was not the judgment debtor, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group is the exclusive licensee of the Bodog brand within the region and, as such, activities that impact the brand necessarily impact our businesses,” said Alwyn Morris, Chief Executive Officer for Morris Mohawk.

“We are pleased to have worked constructively with 1st Technology and its principals to bring an end to this protracted dispute. This resolution will provide certainty and will also allow us to continue to enhance our technology base for online gaming in order to provide our users with unfettered access to the best technology.’

‘We are pleased to have finally resolved this dispute and applaud Mr Morris for his proactive and constructive approach,” said Lewis.

For his part, Ayre stated that he was happy that the situation had been resolved but told online news portal Point-Spreads.com that he had no idea about the specific terms of the settlement.

“Other than the fact that the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group acquired all the seized domains and the default judgment was satisfied, I don’t know anything more than anyone else,” said Ayre.

“Alwyn told me that the details of the settlement agreement were strictly confidential, so I respect that. It’ll be great for the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group and great for the Bodog brand. Bodog.com is back.”

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The small sovereign nation became the first jurisdiction to license online gaming operators in 1994 and has continued to improve its legal and regulatory models while implementing stringent licensing and compliance best practices.

Overseen by the Directorate Of Offshore Gaming, a branch of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), the new programme for licensees leverages information systems and industry-specific computer assisted auditing techniques (CAAT) to actively monitor the complex businesses and ensure that all compliance requirements are tracked and satisfied.

Compliance requirements include the criteria mandated by the UK Department of Culture, Media And Sport when the Caribbean jurisdiction received its ‘white-list’ status in November. This designation recognised the Directorate Of Offshore Gaming’s robust licensing and oversight controls and provided Antiguan eGaming licensees with preferential status to enable them to freely advertise their gaming services in the UK.

“We view the ‘white-listing’ criteria as a minimum threshold only,” said Kaye McDonald, Director Of Gaming for Antigua And Barbuda.

“Our objective is not to simply satisfy minimum requirements but rather we work in collaboration with our licensees to set the bar much higher through continuous implementation of evolving best practices. Indeed, the new monitoring programme was not developed in isolation, it is a product of active collaboration with our licensees.”

All eGaming licensees are subject to the same rigorous compliance requirements as financial institutions including strict controls on money laundering and ‘know your client’ protocols. Compliance is validated by ongoing external audits while all licensees are required to contribute to the Responsible Gambling And Gambling Addiction Research And Education Fund (GAREF) as a condition of licensing.

“The ongoing improvements to our statutory requirements ensure that our licensees comply with internationally accepted best practices and further affirms their commitment to socially responsible practices,” said McDonald.

“In Antigua, we have historically led the way with respect to ensuring player fairness and preventing financial crime and fraud. We are proud of our regulatory pedigree but as the challenges and opportunities in the industry evolve so must the sophistication of the regulatory framework.”

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