News in brief: Australia ad ban; Iowa legislature approves study
Australian government set to ban adverts from those bookmakers which offer live updated odds during sports broadcasts.
The Australian government is set to ban adverts from bookmakers which offer live updated odds during sports broadcasts. Federal sports minister Mark Arbib was scheduled to hold a teleconference with the NRL, AFL, ARU, Football Federation Australia, Cricket Australia and Netball Australia on the matter today, according to The Daily Telegraph. Collingwood football club president Eddie McGuire revealed the news on his radio programme on Triple M radio in Melbourne earlier today: “My understanding is … they will announce, or a push towards, a ban on odds mentioned during radio and TV broadcasts of sporting with the exception of pay and free-to-air racing,” said McGuire.
Iowa‘s legislature has approved legislation requiring the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to deliver a study of the impact on the state of regulating internet poker by 1 December.
Ladbrokes‘ £8m advertising account with M&C Saatchi is under review, according to Campaign. A number of agencies have been approached via advertising industry representative body ISBA. Saatchi has been working with Ladbrokes since January 2007, with its first campaign featuring ex-footballers Chris Kamara and Ian Wright.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned gaming operators that offers of “free bets” could be misleading and breach advertising rules, despite some brands achieving 96.1% compliance with the advertising codes in the body’s latest Gambling Advertising Survey. Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA, told Marketing Week magazine: “In the overwhelming majority of cases advertisers continue to promote their products responsibly. However, the sector should ensure that ‘free bet’ promotions are advertised fairly. If they do not, the ASA will not hesitate to take quick and effective action to remedy this problem.”
Fantasy sports company Picklive has released Picklive Cricket, allowing players to play its real-time fantasy games along to the series of Tests, ODIs and T20s now underway between England and the touring Sri Lanka and India cricket teams.
Games supplier and eGR B2B Award Winner International Game Technology (IGT) has added server-based game Wild Wolf to its games portfolio.
Paddy Power Poker is running a freeroll today for a signed Lionel Messi Barcelona football shirt as part of a Champions League-inspired promotion. The freeroll, which is also awarding Champions League sports bets worth â¬10/£10 to the top 20 places, will begin at 8pm.
A bill to adopt regulations and grant licences for online poker in Nevada if Congress passes an internet gaming bill or if the US DoJ gives the state the green light was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. “The genie is out of the bottle in terms of online gambling”, Assemblyman William Horne and sponsor of Assembly Bill 258 was reported as saying during a hearing by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Nobody is going to do it better than Nevada.”