To place a bet on sports is an age-old tradition in some circles. Betting on sports online? Not so much. The relatively new form of online gambling has only fairly recently come into fruition, bolstered by several offshore operations in Costa Rica, Panama and other countries around the globe. It’s a lucrative business, but many international betting sites have opted out of given the legality of online sports betting in the United States.  In 2011, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 solely prohibited wager transmissions in conjunction with sports betting, excluding…

Independent.ie – Former England captain David Beckham has signed on to help promote Las Vegas Sands’ properties in Singapore and the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Sands said it hoped to cash in the retired footballer’s popularity in the region. The Las Vegas-based company is the largest casino operator in Macau, the center of the modern day gambling world. The deal may help Sands win attention in mainland China, where casinos are illegal and casino advertising is also banned. Football is hugely popular in China. In November Beckham posed for photographs with 100 children at the Venetian Macau and gave…

iGaming Business – Bookmaker William Hill has confirmed it plans to maintain its online betting base in Gibraltar despite new tax laws that are expected to cost the firm tens of millions of pounds. The company is one of a number of bookmakers that have set up online operations in Gibraltar in order to sign British gamblers while benefiting from lower taxes. However, Great Britain is set to introduce a new 15% duty on bookmakers’ online winnings from British customers from December 2014 in a move that could bring in an additional £300 million (€359.2 million/$491.4 million) each year. Speculation…

iGaming Business – Irish online betting and social networking company BragBet has agreed a two-and-a-half year deal to become the official betting partner of the Northern Ireland Football League BragBet, which is backed by telecommunications company Telefonica, claims to be the world’s first team betting service that allow groups of friends to form a team and bet against the bookmaker as a syndicate. Players can access the service and interact with each other via mobile and online platforms. “We are delighted to announce our partnership with the NI Football League on the back of our decision to move our head…

Gaming Intelligence – The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the largest and most representative national business association in Canada, has urged the country’s Senators to legalise single-event sports betting, arguing that it should be the provinces that should be able to decide whether to allow it. A bill to amend Canada’s Criminal Code to allow for betting on a single sports event was introduced in 2011 by Joe Comartin MP and received cross-party approval in the House of Commons in March 2012, but has since stalled in the Senate in the face of opposition from North American sports leagues who argue…

iGaming Business – UK bookmaker Coral, a division of online and land-based betting operator Gala Coral, has agreed a five-year extension to its title sponsorship of the Welsh Grand National annual horseracing event. The race takes place every December at Chepstow Racecourse as part of its Christmas programme. Coral will continue to work with both Chepstow Racecourse and its operator, Arena Racing Company, on various activities. The latest agreement will extend Coral’s association with the Chepstow Christmas period marathon to 45 years, which it claims will make it the third longest sponsorship deal in jumps racing and the longest partnership…