December 18th, 2008 by admin

Sweden’s state-owned Svenska Spel gambling monopoly may find itself at the centre of some dramatic policy changes if the authorities accept the recommendations of a public commission appointed to study and report back on the subject.

Stockholm News reports that the commission has recommended that the monopoly be disbanded, at least partly. The news will be welcomed by European Commission officials, who have been warning the Swedish government for some time that its monopoly flies in the face of European Union principles of free and fair movement of goods and services between member nations.

Svenska Spel has in the past been an aggressive defender of its privileged position against local media accepting competitive gambling advertising, and against Internet companies from other EU nations seeking to offer their betting facilities to Swedish residents.

The commission has proposed that companies other than Svenska Spel should also have the right to offer sports betting in Sweden. The monopoly should remain in place in respect of poker and casino gambling, the commissioners suggested, because these are thought to be more dangerous for problem gamblers.

The recommendations emphasise that foreign Internet betting sites wishing to enter the Swedish market should be made comply with Swedish regulations and operate in a professional manner. Those that do not should be regarded as illegal and face action by the authorities.

December 4th, 2008 by admin

The UK online gambling software provider WagerWorks has announced that it is to supply premium branded game content to St Minver, the white label online gambling operator associated with Boss Media.

Gibraltar-licensed St Minver is the operator of two of Europe’s major poker and bingo networks and a supplier of fully-managed ‘white label’ gaming solutions to high profile partners, including Yahoo! Games, lastminute.com, Poker Heaven, Virgin Games and Littlewoods.

St Minver also partners with major media groups in Spain, Scandinavia, Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe. In a move to offer more premium branded titles to their clients, St Minver has decided to leverage top-performing game titles from WagerWorks on its Casino and Bingo sites.

Commenting on the agreement, Oliver Lofthouse, Director and General Manager of IGT-UK Gaming and WagerWorks, said, “The provision of these premium branded titles to St Minver enables WagerWorks games to be enjoyed by even more online players. Developing a business relationship with such a high profile client reiterates the quality of WagerWorks branded games and their appeal to all levels of player.”

Leigh Nissim, Commercial Director of St Minver, comments, “This is an exciting opportunity for both our players and partners alike. We have significantly enhanced our bingo and casino games over the last 12 months and expect the introduction of branded content to further improve player entertainment value whilst differentiating our gaming solutions for partners in the European market.”