iGaming Business – Gaming solutions provider Scientific Games’ SG Gaming UK division has extended its agreement with UK bookmaker Ladbrokes until March 2019. Under the extended agreement, SG Gaming UK will continue to serve as the bookmaker’s sole provider of server-based gaming machines to its UK estate of almost 2,250 shops. In addition to supplying and servicing these machines, SG Gaming will also provide approximately 9,000 of its new Clarity gaming machines with additional touch screens and improved customer relationship management. SG Gaming UK confirmed these would be installed during the first half of 2014. “By renewing the contract early,…

An online company in China – 500.com – is planning for Chinese online sports betting via a US $150 million initial public offering in the USA after winning what sources conclude is tacit approval from China’s Ministry of Finance to develop a purpose built platform for legal online sports bets. This is a huge change in the government approach to what they know is an out of control illegal internet betting on mainland China. Legal Chinese online sports betting in mainland China could be facing the biggest shake up in nearly two decades, with government-sanctioned online gambling. A Chinese lottery…

For many years the FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter was very much against the goal line technology. His position was that it will remove the human factor from soccer and it’s going to kill a bit of the fun in the game. In order to please the fans and the teams, two new referees were introduced in the campaign “Now We See More” one on each out line. The effect? Not much difference when it comes to proper referee decision on debatable situations. Finally, during the group stage of Euro 2012, when Ukraine scored a goal to England, but neither…

The Telegraph – Footballers are resorting to payday loans to fund their gambling habits, according to charity Sporting Chance. Players are so desperate to bet they are taking out short-term loans before turning to the charity for help, chief executive Colin Bland told BBC Radio Five Live. The charity, which helps sportsmen and women deal with addiction, has dealt with one footballer who has lost an estimated £7 million in three years of gambling. “It’s not uncommon for us to have a footballer who has turned up that’s in a circle of payday loans and gambling,” said Bland. “One of…

Marketplace – Like everybody else, bookmakers in Vegas know the Broncos are great and the Jaguars are awful. They don’t know what the final score will be. But they don’t have to predict the future to make money. In fact, Christopher Avery, a Harvard economist who published a widely-cited study about the NFL betting line, says the spread doesn’t reflect exactly how bookmakers expect the game to turn out. “The people who are setting the point spread are not trying to get the point spread right, in the sense of it’s the best guess about how the game will turn out,” he says. “They’re trying…

iGaming Business – Financial spreadbetting provider IG has agreed a sponsorship deal with London-based English Premiership rugby union club Harlequins. The deal will run for three seasons, from 2013-14 to 2015-16. The IG logo will appear on the sleeve of the Harlequins playing shirt as well as across items of the match day and non-match day training kit. IG will also benefit from stadium branding, match day activation and player appearances and will also be the principal sponsor of Harlequins’ festive fixture, ‘The Big Game’, at national stadium Twickenham in December. “We understand the drive and ambition that has kept…