"Our product offers the opportunity for clubs and hotels to offer a new and novel form of betting, as an alternative to poker machines," said Marcel Dayan, Managing Director of SDS. "North Sydney Leagues is trialling the game for six months, and taken up the options of our self-service terminal and wireless, hand-held mobile terminals, so that their hostesses can walk around and offer players a convenient way to buy their tickets."
The product also has the potential to offer a range of different games, and work is already under way to develop sports options such as cricket, cycling and racing car events, which will no doubt be popular during the 2000 Olympics.
According to Mr Dayan, the game is classified in NSW as an approved betting device, and was recently granted interim approval late June. In Victoria, where it has been operating through some of Tabcorp's venues since April, the game cannot be used with a self-service terminal as it is not classified as a gaming machine.

The first internet sportsbetting site in New South Wales opened for business with the inaugural launch initiated by NSW Gaming and Racing Minister, the Hon. Richard Face.
The SportsOdd's site, located at www.sportodds.com.au offers punters the availability to wager on 23 sports for as little as A$1. The odds are continuously updated and provide players with 24-hour, round the clock access.
SportOdds, founded in October 1995 by the Kafataris family, was the first company to be granted a sports betting licence in NSW in April 1997, and claims 87% market share in the state.
A company statement said that "this sort of technology will see clients using their computers, televisions or even their mobile phones to check results and place bets over the web at the touch of a button within a few years. It also means access from almost anywhere in the world."

Final approval has been given for the merger of Crown Casino with Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited. The Victorian Supreme Court approved the deal after shareholders blocked the first attempt last year. As a result, Crown is no longer listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The casino reported a A$14.9 million profit for the March quarter and a healthy recovery in win rates from its gaming operations.

New Discoveries Publishing has launched its online Net Pirates casino, with 24 different 3D games including blackjack, roulette and slot machines. Players can use their Visa or Mastercard, secured by IBM's credit card encryption technology directly from the casino's cashier page. IBIS, a New Zealand Savings and Loan organisation, will assist in facilitating online banking activities to Australian Media Company, who secured the licence with New Discoveries.

Queensland's growing 27,000 poker machine industry is expected to slow down with the announcement that the public will now have the chance for the first time to veto new licenses.
"The licensing process will be much stricter and involve local community consultation," said Treasurer David Hamill. "In future the community impact will be taken into account when evaluating new venues."
Effectively, a gaming license and passing probity checks will no longer guarantee the right to install poker machines.

World's largest gaming network in NSW

All gaming machines in New South Wales will be connected to a wide area network and jackpot linking facilities by the end of this year. Operated exclusively by TAB Limited, testing of the new Central Monitoring System commenced July 1. The roll-out of the network is expected to commence in the final quarter of 1999, with the full commercial launch of the monitoring system on January 1, 2000. Legislation requires that all 95,000 machines (or 10% of the world's total) be connected to the system, which will be the largest gaming system of its kind available globally.
Aristocrat was recently appointed as the supplier to roll out and maintain gaming machine monitoring equipment for the TAB in NSW clubs and hotels through their Dacom software.

Robert Riley, the Chief Executive of Crown Casino, has announced his retirement after 13 months in the top position.

A new casino called the Casino Holiday palace has opened across the Thai broder in Poipet, Cambodia. This brings to the total number of casinos along the Cambodian border to four, including Ban Had Lek in Trat, Ban Pakkard in Chanthaburi and Ban Khao Din in Sa Kaew.

An internet casino headquarted in the South Pacific's island of Vanuatu has opened for business to target the lucrative Asian gambling market and global internet industry.
With a capped daily buy-in of US$150 per player, Casinos Australasia, located at www.casinosaustralasia.com, is barred from registering Vanuatu residents. The company pays 4% gaming tax 10% revenue for Vanuatu charities, and an additional amount towards sponsoring the local Olympic committee.
According to Gordon McIntosh, one of the Perth-based founders of the site, the data centre is located in Vanuatu and a virtual private network has been set up between Port Vila and Guernsey in the Channel Islands to process funds. Barclays Bank in the UK is used for the financial transactions.

Taiwan passes lottery law
Taiwanese lawmakers have passed a controversial lottery bill where the central government will be the sole licensed operator of a nationwide lottery, which caused objections by a number of the local governments.
Under current law, the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung are allowed to hold public lotteries after receiving approval from the Finance Ministry.
Lottery revenues are expected to total at least NT$100 billion (US$3.08 billion) annually, with industry analysts believing that it could outstrip the success of the UK lottery.
To help cover a record NT$507 billion budget deficit, a proposal was made in March to end the lottery ban and let the government re-establish one or two nationwide lotteries.
Official nationwide lotteries were suspended 10 years ago to discourage gambling with bookmakers who offered illegal betting on winning numbers of central government operated lottery games.

Star City casino has recommended to shareholders that they accept TABCORP's revised takeover for all Star City shares. Tabcorp has offered
1 Tabcorp share and A$1.97 (rather than $1.49) cash, for every 8 Star City share. This represents an increase of around A$31.7 million.
Star City also intends to support Tabcorp's application to the New South Wales Casino Control Authority for the regulatory approvals necessary to effect the merger.
Mr Ross Wilson, Tabcorp's CEO, said that the merger "provides enhanced capacity to pursue local and international growth opportunities in the gaming and leisure sectors.
"Tabcorp's shareholders will benefit from participation in Australia's premier casino, located in Sydney, Australia's most populated city and the most frequented destination for international tourists and business travellers."

STAR CITY
Location: 3.4 hectare site at Darling Harbour, Sydney
Opened: November 1997
Gaming tables: 200
Gaming machines: 1500
Visitors per day: 20,000
1999 first quarter net profit: A$900,000 net profit on revenue of $129
million.

TABCORP
Wagering: 623 TAB outlets, 72 National sportsbet outlets
Gaming: 13,600 machines in 278 venues. Average revenue per machine A$191 per day.
1998-1999 first half net profit: A$71.55 million on revenue of $133 million.

A Sydney businessman who lost more than A$3 million in Star City's VIP room is suing the casino, claiming that it enticed him to gamble by letting him bet when he was drunk. At times he was visibly affected by alcohol, stumbling, falling asleep and even vomiting. Other times during the November 1996 and Marc 1998 period he said that his order for tea was replaced with vodka, and Coca-cola was altered to whisky and coke.

Fake gambling chips to the value of A$350,000 have been circulated at Star City, in what has become known as Australia's largest counterfeit
operation. The high quality $500 chips were found during a routine stock count, when 500 extra were found that did not have the security features incorporated in the genuine chips. Subsequently, all $500 chips were withdrawn from sale, and the casino publicly issued a caution to any players who may be offered to buy the same denomination on the casino floor at a discount rate.

Star City has increased its high-roller commission rates to around 1 per cent of turnover, in order to compete against Crown Casino for premium players. This compares to an average Australian industry standard of 0.65%, as the amount of turnover returned to the gambler to cover expenses. According to the Australian Financial Review, industry analysts believe that the high rate is unsustainable.
Star City has planned its aggressive attack to capture a chunk of the high roller business since last year, and recently opened offices in Bangkok and Taiwan.