Online poker, casino and sports betting Bodog and Haydock Sports Ltd has signed a licensing agreement. A betting and gaming operator licensed in First Cagayan in the Philippines. Haydock Sports will promote and market the Bodog brand across Asia. The company is headed up by managing director Ian Dunning, who was previously managing director Asia at Victor Chandler.

The European Union has said the US crackdown on European online gambling companies such as PartyGaming and Sportingbet while allowing US firms to operate freely is illegal and may justify a legal challenge at the World Trade Organization, reports Bloomberg. The commission began its probe into the US laws in March 2008, acting on formal complaints lodged by European internet gambling companies. The EU is however expected to use the report as leverage to achieve a negotiated solution with the US, rather than move directly to litigation. Chief executive of industry representative body the Remote Gambling Association, Clive Hawkswood, commented: “If the US can give the EU some assurances it will no longer take action, then we’d be very happy.”

The renewed terms of its gaming machine supply contract with William Hill and deterioration in its pubs division following the introduction of the smoking ban in England saw Inspired Gaming report a pre-tax loss for the year of £23.5m, compared to a profit of £10.7m in 2007. However, chief executive Luke Alvarez said he believed the company “is now well positioned from a trading and cash flow perspective to withstand current economic uncertainties” following their disposal of the loss-making pubs division to Danoptra in July last year and the fundraising of £40m through a share issuance. Inspired also revealed that that the formal sale process of the company commenced late July “is ongoing.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 11:35 am and is filed under Gambling Industry News, Gambling News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.