Eurasia Net – Just about everyone knows that the FIFA World Cup football tournament gets underway June 12 in Brazil. But in a parallel football universe, a little-known tournament has already been completed, and the champion is a land that stretches across portions of France and Italy. The alternative tournament featured 12 teams representing internationally unrecognized nations, places like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, separatist territories that are formally part of the Republic of Georgia, as well as Nagorno-Karabakh, the focal point of an unsettled conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Teams representing Darfur, a strife-torn region of western Sudan, Kurdistan and…

Card Player – Bloomberg reported on Thursday that PokerStars, the world’s largest poker website in terms of traffic, is near a deal to be acquired by Amaya Gaming Group Inc. Amaya is a maker of gambling equipment and systems. The Canada-based Amaya owns the Ongame Network, which it acquired from bwin.party in 2012. It also has partnered with the Golden Nugget for online gaming in Nevada and New Jersey. In addition, Amaya Gaming has a deal with Ultimate Gaming for online gambling in New Jersey. According to the report, PokerStars being under new ownership might give the firm a better…

For some soccer fans, the burning question of World Cup match fixing is almost as important as wondering which national team will be crowned champion. That question looms over the upcoming 2014 event is not can matches be fixed by gamblers, but will they be? FIFA assures us that every precaution has been taken to prevent World Cup match fixing from corrupting the games played in Brazil. The organization has begun an “Integrity Initiative” among players, featuring the catchy mantra “Recognize it, resist it and report it.” To aid in this program, FIFA instituted a hotline for players, team officials…

iGaming Business – Online gaming operator BetVIP has launched what it describes as the world’s first licensed Bitcoin-only sportsbook ahead of this summer’s Fifa World cup national team football tournament. BetVIP.com takes wagers and pays out winnings exclusively in the virtual currency and only accepts bets in regulated markets. Powered by technology solutions provider BetTech Gaming and accessible online or via mobile device, BetVIP.com offers pre-match and in-play wagering opportunities across hundreds of markets in international sporting events, including the 2014 World Cup, which kicks off tomorrow (Thursday) in Brazil. All first-time customers will also benefit from a 100% first…

iGaming Business – The European Sports Security Association (ESSA) has highlighted tennis and football as the two sports that generated the most unusual betting patterns during 2013. In its ESSA Integrity Report 2014, the organisation recorded 148 unusual betting patterns, with an additional 30 alerts found to be suspicious and subsequently referred to the relevant sporting and regulatory authorities. Of the alerts registered in 2013, 44% were in relation to tennis while 38% referred to unusual betting in football. Snooker was the next highest sport, having accumulated 3.5% of all alerts in the last year. A betting pattern is only…

iGaming Business – French online betting and gaming operator PMU has agreed a four-year extension to its partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF). The new agreement will extend a partnership that began in 2010, around the same time that PMU first launched its online sports betting service in France. As a result of the deal, PMU will continue to serve as a major partner of the FFF alongside Nike, GDF Suez and Credit Agricole. Last month, PMU also agreed a four-year extension to its sponsorship deal with Ligue 1 football champion Paris Saint-Germain. SOURCE