Casino Betting Systems

One of the leading companies developing software for Internet casinos, CryptoLogic Limited, announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30 September 2008. The company announced a loss of $ 5.9 million, which is the main reason that led Cryptologic to the recent strategic cooperation with GTECH Corporation, the biggest shareholder of Boss Media.

The financial result forced CryptoLogic to significantly reduce its dividend, to $ 0.03 per share, a decrease of 75%. In the past, the company had paid a dividend of $ 0.12 per share.

“The continued payment of dividends, even in a difficult year for the company, expresses the confidence of the board’s in CryptoLogic strategic planning , which will restore its growth and profitability in 2009,” said the company in a press release.

The company published earning of $ 14.0 million in its latest financial report, a 16.4% decrease compared with the second quarter of 2008 and 19.7% compared to the same period in 2007. Operating costs for the third quarter (until 30 September 2008) amounted to $ 16.5 million, or 117.5% of revenue.

The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to losses of $ 4.2 million in foreign exchange recorded during the quarter, after the U.S. dollar appreciated about 10% compared with the British pound and the euro, at a time when the company had significant amounts in these currencies. With the cooperation with GTECH, the company hopes to reduce operating expenses to $ 12 from $ 15 million in 2009.

“In such a difficult year for the company and the industry, we recognize that we must perform even better - and that is why CryptoLogic puts a direct implementation plan to achieve its profitability objectives and strategy growth in 2009, “said Brian Hadfield, chairman and CEO of CryptoLogic.

“CryptoLogic casinos offer attractive campaigns to new customers and our branded games have won the confidence of some of the largest companies in the world. We have already reduced our operating costs in an effort to strengthen cooperation in the field of poker. ”

With the cooperation with the GTECH international poker network which is imminent in 2009, Cryptologic will give licensees and players access to an even bigger network, while limiting the annual expenditure.

This move is just one part of the aggressive policy of CryptoLogic to increase revenues to a central axis to concentrate on online casino operators and branded games.

Cryptologic also announced agreements with the Gaming Media Group Limited, the Sky Betting and Gaming, and GigaMedia Limited, and also presented a new site for Betjacks, one of the new European customers of the company. This site came to online on 4 November.

CryptoLogic’s online casino are by far the most profitable businesses and the company expects a significant increase in revenue in the next year. The company came to an agreement with 10 new customers in 2008 and is close to cooperate with even more.

The newspaper Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this week that the change in the presidency of the United States - after the elections last week - can bring some good news for the online gambling business in the near future.

With particular reference to statements by the chairman and chief executive of Harrah’s, Mr. Gary Loveman, who replied to questions relating to the matter at a press conference, the LVRJ reported that the senior member of Harrah’s argues that the chance to legalize the online poker have been strengthened considerably since the results of national elections last week and which the Barak Obama and Republican won by a large majority.

As Loveman described, the prospects of legalizing online poker are now extremely promising. On the other hand, he has not expressed the same optimism in relation to casino games and sports betting on the internet where the chances of legalization in the near future are very ‘poor’.

He also mentioned that he was satisfied with the outcome of the elections, not only for the transfer of control to the democratic party, but also because none of the leaders of committees that negotiate the poker issue is not opposed to the procedure (ie with the prospect of legalization of online poker).

” It is something we work every day and we now believe that opened the way to achieving our goals” Loveman said.

Loveman is president of the giant casino company “Harrah’s Entertainment” which has serious business interests in the case of online poker in the U.S.. Suffice to note, Harrah’s owns also the brand of World Series of Poker.

The United States may be adopting more and more laws against online gambling, but Ireland - as it seems - has an opposit view that looks forward to the online casino industry as an opportunity to create more jobs and stimulate the domestic economy.

The Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland has asked the government to vote on legislation, which will attract online casino operators in Ireland. It is estimated that with favorable arrangements and with the effective institutionalization of online gambling, would create 10,000 additional jobs in information technology and in the areas of financial and support services such as accounting, tax, advertising and legal services.

The report also mentions that the institutionalization of online gambling will bring the country an amount of about $ 68 million every year!

And the question arises: Could the United States follow the example of Ireland, with a result that jobs and revenue in general will be 100 times more than what is estimated for Ireland?

This is kind of difficult at present for the United States since there is strong opposition to gambling in several ‘conservative’ parts of society. This is mostly based on ‘moral’ grounds, and despite the economic downturn and increase in unemployment rate, the attitude against gambling is not expected to change.

It has been a while now that Irish authorities allow citizens of the country to participate in online gambling without however establishing the appropriate legal framework. Some online gambling companies took advantage of the lack of legislation and unsuspecting customers became victims of several scams.

However, the proposed regulations are in the process of approval, and online gambling will become much safer for the Irish public.

The online gambling firms would be particularly excited to relocate their businesses in a country like Ireland, where exists specialized personnel in the field of information technology and also the industry infrastructure is highly developed and readily available.

We expect Ireland to develop into a paradise for online casinos, such as Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus.

Google, the popular search engine, while not accepting - for some time now- any kind of advertising related to casinos and gambling, decided to radically change its policy on this issue. The internet-giant will allow gambling ads from companies registered in the United Kingdom provided they have the approval of the Gambling Commission (the Commission of luck gaming in England).

Any company licensed by the UK Gambling Commission will have the opportunity to show ads on the search engine within the United Kingdom. This move was made since the ads gambling is now legal in Great Britain.

“We hope that this change will enhance the search experience for users and will help advertisers to get further networked and improve their relationship with consumers,” said James Cashmore.
Nevertheless ads that will run, will continue to be subject to filtering by the search engine.

Any user having a Safe Mode search filter will be able to block the gambling ads. All ads related to gambling will be classified as Non-Family Safe, regardless of the ad banner. This ensures that minors will not be exposed to ads related to casinos and gambling in any circumstances.

And while people in Britain will have the option to see these ads, Google has not decided yet to change its policy for the rest of the world.