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The upcoming Asian Poker Tour this August will set the scene for what could be a Chinese version of the popular US poker movie Rounders, increasing awareness of the game as a sport.

With a working title of “Poker King”, the directors of the production are listed as Chan Hing-Kai and Janet Chun, working with a script that tells the story of two poker-playing rivals who compete in tournaments for championship glory.

Top Chinese actors like Louis Koo, Sean Lau Ching-Wan, Stephy Tang, Cherrie In and Josie Ho have apparently been signed to appear in the film.

“This is a very exciting project and is sure to provoke even more excitement about the APT Macau Festival in August,” said Tom Hall, Chief Executive Officer for AsianLogic Limited, owners of the APT.

“Players across the region and throughout the world are encouraged to come to the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel And Casino and play at the APT Macau Festival. The movie crew will need lots of extras and even players to take on roles if they choose.”

There have been several famous gaming films for the region, most notably the 1989 Chinese-language God Of Gamblers starring Chow Yun-Fat that spawned dozens of spin-offs, but Poker King is set to be the first release specifically focusing on poker.

The British online gambling group William Hill plc will replace BetNOW as News International Commercial’s Dream Team partner next season. The project, run through The Sun newspaper, is a multi-platform initiative that embraces digital, mobile and print.

The online and land gambling group is understood to want to increase its engagement with football fans both online and in its betting shops through the year-long partnership.

There are important expansion plans for The Sun’s fantasy football offering during the new season, with expanded participation and engagement levels. Last year the game received a record 840 000 entries, and the partnership wants to improve significantly on that number.

The Dream Team website features a number of innovations designed to achieve this, and the game will continue to offer a guaranteed cash prize fund of GBP 1 million.

“Dream Team is the home of the UK’s most passionate football fans and this partnership gives William Hill ownership of the audience through three powerful touchpoints, reaching millions of gamblers as they play throughout the season,” said News International director Alex Hole.

The Sun’s average net circulation rose back above 3 million in the ABC figures for June, posted last week, a spokesman revealed. In common with several other top media brands, the casinos newspaper group wants to diversify its revenue stream by moving into non-traditional products such as the online and mobile sectors.

The popular European online gambling group 32Red.com (motto ’second to none’, geddit?) has signed up as official gambling club sponsor for the Swansea City football club for the next two seasons.

A 32Red spokesman said the company was a major supporter of sport in the United Kingdom. In the past 32Red has sponsored hundreds of televised horseracing events, including the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, along with a major interest in football. In 2006 32Red became club sponsors at Premiership Club Aston Villa and enjoyed two successful and high profile seasons with the Birmingham club.

Swansea City FC is a top Championship club that has enjoyed notable success over recent seasons and is now poised to take the next step forward with an entertaining and flowing style of football, possibly into the Premiership having gone close to promotion in the 2008 / 2009 season.

The sponsorship includes the appearance of 32Red’s brand on the team’s shirts and training kits and around the pitch at the Liberty Stadium.

The economic crisis throughout the world and in the United States in particular has created a heavy workload for Congressman Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee, and that unfortunately means that his latest attempt to regulate and licence online gambling in the United States will have to be put on hold until September, the politician’s staff advised this week.

The industry has high hopes for HR2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act, which was launched last (May) month and has already attracted political support.

However, it now appears unlikely that the bill will be voted on before the next session of Congress following a decision to delay hearings in the Committee until September 2009.

Confirming the re-scheduling, a spokesman in Congressman Frank’s office said that the hearing for the proposal had been postponed until the autumn due to an excessive workload on legislation urgently needed to address the economic crisis and the administration’s measures to correct it.

STOP PRESS:
Alaska Republican Representative Don Young has become the thirty-fifth co-sponsor for Frank’s online gambling proposal.

Industry observers this week have been surprised by the apparent hypocrisy of the United States government in protesting to China about its erosion of Internet freedom and trade restrictions, when it is itself the subject of severe criticism for its double standards on internet gambling, both in its laws and its activities at the World Trade Organisation.

The letter of protest, sent over the signatures of US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke - top officials in the Obama administration - has been triggered by the compulsory installation of censoring software on all new PCs distributed in China. Chinese government officials will decide on what websites to ban from time to time, giving considerable leeway for government censorship in any number of spheres of interest.

This week the Wall Street Journal reported that the letter of protest complains the Chinese action constitutes censorship, interferes with free speech, compromises Internet security, and violates World Trade Organisation regulations.

The business publication reported that the US letter “…expressed that the U.S. government is seriously concerned, including wide-ranging concerns about the scope of the measure, the censorship implications, trade impact and security flaws which create serious problems for the IT industry and Chinese consumers.”

US officials additionally met with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology authorities, the WSJ reports, and complained that the blocking software would conflict with what a US Embassy spokesman called “internationally recognized rights to freedom of expression.”

The irony is that these are all accusations that have with some justification been levelled at successive US administrations over their discriminatory laws and enforcement actions against the online gambling industry.

The US has been repeatedly accused of allowing some forms of domestic online gambling - on horseracing, fantasy sports and state lotteries - whilst enforcing bans and enforcement action on others; usually foreign competitors.

The US government was recently the subject of a European Commission investigation which found that unfair and discriminatory enforcement practices were carried out against European online gambling companies and executives by US officials, and in the World Trade Organisation the US has unilaterally abandoned its gambling obligations in the wake of a successful WTO action against it by Antigua and Barbuda.

The discriminatory use of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to disrupt financial transactions between American gamblers and overseas Internet gambling companies has also been widely condemned.

The impact of US anti-online gambling legislation on the personal freedom of US citizens is also the subject of much discussion, interfering as it does with a personal pastime carried out in the privacy of the home by adults.

Server based gaming provider BetStone is to open a new office in Mexico City to better service its customer base in Mexico and across Latin America gambling, the company announced this week.

A company spokesman said that establishing a local presence in Mexico City will enable BetStone to offer new and existing operators improved service through providing local access to BetStone’s global support infrastructure.

A local dedicated team will enable faster response times to customer requests and more efficient day to day management of their server based gaming platform. In addition to this, services can be provided by local staff who understand regional requirements.

Avron Goss, a director of Betstone, said: “BetStone is committed to continued investment in Latin America and providing its customers with high quality products and services. The opening of an office in Mexico demonstrates this commitment”.