News in brief: Online Domain Services buys Bet.ca; Pokerstars trials Belgian client...
Online Domain Services has bought the Bet.ca domain for US$200,000 and will turn it into a Canada-facing sports betting and gambling portal.
Alderney-based Online Domain Services has bought the Bet.ca domain for a price believed to be in the region of US$200,000. The company will turn it into a Canada-facing sports betting and gambling portal. British Columbia and Quebec launched government-run casinos last year, with their Playnow.com and Espacejeux.com sites now sharing poker liquidity on the GTech G2-powered Canadian Poker Network. Canada is also a substantial dot.com market for operators such as PartyGaming, which generated approximately 11.5% of its gross revenues from the territory in 2009.
Pokerstars‘ Belgian client has gone live on a trial basis, according to an email sent out to affiliates this week. The Isle of Man-based operator announced a partnership with Circus Groupe “ which owns the Casino de Spa and other venues in the European country “ last October. Belgian players will only be able to play cash games against other Belgians on the dot.be client, but tournaments will be international. The Belgian government is planning to issue 34 “new” online licences, a number which exactly matches the number of existing land-based gaming licensees. All applicants will first be required to obtain a land-based licence and to locate all relevant infrastructure in Belgium. The offline licences are set to be issued this month, there is no date yet set for the online licences. The decree on the online licences has been notified to the European Commission.
Ruedesjouers owner Gamned has launched a new online gaming portal, Mastr.com. the site covers poker, casino, bingo and sports betting, and provides details of bonus offers in several different languages including English, French and Italian.
Intralot has launched its first TV marketing campaign in Italy for its recently launched Live Presenter Bingo product. The site is now reaching peaks of close to 1,000 players a day, according to the company.
Swedish group Redbet has added i4Poker to its stable of sites. The Entraction-powered i4Poker offering poker, casino, sports betting and bingois aimed at Eastern European markets including Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Redbet already owns other egaming brands such as Total Poker and Gold Club Casino.
The Nevada Gaming Commission has unconditionally approved Spielo‘s ProdiGi Vu video lottery terminal after a month-long trial at Las Vegas’ Bellagio.
Eurolotto.com, owned by Swedish gaming company Cherry, has agreed a deal to sponsor rally driver Petter Solberg. The Swedish driver won the World Rally Championship in 2003.