Americas

ILLINOIS HOUSE VOTES TO SINK RIVERBOATS
The Illinois House voted 67-42 in favor of a bill that would create a statewide ban of riverboat gambling. The bill now heads to the Senate.

BRITISH COLUMBIA LAUNCHES KENO ONLINE
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation announced the availability of Keno for play and purchase through its PlayNow web site located at bclc.com. Keno is the BCLC’s only lottery that picks 20 numbers each new draw and gives players the chance to win up to $100,000 every five minutes. Select lottery products have been available through PlayNow since October 2004 when the site launched with Sports Action products. In July 2005, BCLC launched more of its most popular lottery products online - Lotto 6/49, BC/49, Lotto Super 7 and Extra. Since its inception more than 20,000 lottery players have registered for an online account.

SCIENTIFIC GAMES THIRD QUARTER REVENUES RISE 10% TO $196.8 MILLION
Scientific reported that third quarter 2005 revenues increased 10% to $196.8 million from the $179.3 million reported in the third quarter of 2004. For the nine months ended September 30, 2005, revenues increased 7% to $578.8 million compared to $542.9 million for the corresponding period of 2004. Lorne Weil, Chairman and CEO, commented, “In every important respect we performed well in the third quarter. Despite continued sluggishness in the racing business, our overall revenue growth was 10%. Most importantly, revenue growth in the Lottery Group was 17%, and if Florida on-line sales are eliminated from the 2004 figure, Lottery Group growth was nearly 25%. Performance in our Lottery Group continues to reflect strength in the overall market; recently released industry data indicate that North American lottery sales grew by about 6% overall for the 12 months ended June 30, 2005, with growth having been driven largely by instant ticket sales, which grew by 14% during that 12-month period.”

GTECH AWARDED N.J. LOTTERY CONTRACT DESPITE HIGHEST BID
The state of New Jersey yesterday signed a five-year extension with longtime lottery manager GTECH Corp., despite a competitor's offer to do the job for $32 million less. State records show that GTECH's bid, which totaled $107 million over five years, was accepted because of concerns over the experience and equipment offered by rival Scientific Games, which said it could do the job for $75 million. "In general, the committee bases its recommendation on the overall technical superiority of GTECH's bid proposal," a six-person evaluation committee reported in late October. In particular, the committee's analysis showed, the state evaluation team was concerned the system of terminals and data links proposed by Scientific Games might be susceptible to breakdowns that would cut into the $2 billion of revenues the state counts on from the lottery each year. "Considering all the risks outlined above, the committee firmly believes that the difference in cost between the two proposals is far outweighed by GTECH's clear technical superiority," the committee's report concluded.

Europe

PARADISEBET UK TO USE CHARTWELL POKER
Chartwell Technology announced that LuckyBall S.A., a licensing provider for Paradisebet UK Ltd. has licensed Chartwell's multiplayer poker and joined PokerNexus, Chartwell's poker community. (www.pokernexus.com).

UK BOOKMAKER TO HEDGE BETS ONLINE
Betfred is to use betting exchanges, rather than the racecourse, to carry out its hedging services. With William Hill already using the internet for hedging, Ladbrokes are reported to be monitoring the situation closely.

UK CLAMPDOWN ON INTERNET CASINO ADS
Internet casino firms are facing a UK government clampdown over concerns some are breaking strict advertising laws. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell plans to stop gambling firms from advertising free entry to online tournaments or indicating the value of prizes. Current laws allow internet casinos to promote their brands but forbid them from offering inducements to gamble.

The Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) said it planned to send letters to advertisers, publishers and gambling firms, warning them that the government would no longer tolerate advertisements for internet casinos that offered inducements. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4424234.stm

NETELLER FOUNDERS’ STOCK PLACED
NETeller is pleased to announce the successful completion of an underwritten placing by Canaccord Capital (Europe) Limited of 35,000,000 existing ordinary shares at £6.25 per share which have been sold by certain of the Company's founders, as detailed in the announcement yesterday. The shares were placed with institutional clients in the UK, Europe and North America. Adams Harkness Inc. acted as selling agent in the US private placement of the shares.

Pan Asia

SINGAPORE TO MAKE FORMAL CASINO REQUEST
Singapore on Friday said it will issue a formal request for proposals for a casino resort near the city center on Nov. 15, and that it will choose the successful bidder based on the concept. Applications for the casino resort at Marina Bay, the site of Singapore's new downtown, are due March 29, 2006, the government said in a statement distributed at a news conference. The winning bidder will be chosen based on the quality of its concept, with the price of the land fixed at 1.2 billion Singapore dollars ($707 million), the statement said.