Parlay Entertainment Settles with 1st Technology

ONTARIO, CANADA – To avoid a costly patent litigation, Canadian online gaming software developer Parlay Entertainment has decided to settle with 1st Technology LLC over a patent infringement suit that the latter had filed against Parlay.

“Given the cost of patent litigation, we determined that it would be a prudent corporate action to negotiate a settlement with 1st Technology,” said Parlay CEO Scott White. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement which provides us with certainty.”

1st Technology LLC CEO Dr. Scott Lewis commented on the settlement:

“We are pleased to have this dispute with Parlay resolved and look forward to working with other leading companies to assist in achieving compatibility with 1st Technology’s intellectual property.”

Neither parties made any admission of liability and no terms of payment were released.

1st Technology is a technology licensing company and owns several multi-media patents for advanced gaming including one for putting bets online. Several online and interactive media companies have licensed 1st Technology’s patents including Chartwell Technology, Excapsa Software and Playtech Ltd.

It will be noted that 1st Technology is the same company that last year brought a patent infringement suit against Bodog and had a very public war of words with Bodog Founder and former CEO Calvin Ayre.

Bodog and Parlay were not the first companies to go to court with 1st Technology. 1st Technology also brushed with SportingBet PLC, Paradise Poker, NDS Group PLC and Orbis Technology in court before they eventually settled with Lewis.

Johnny Chan’s Online Poker Room Closes Today

Chan Poker has played its final hand.

Starting today, Chan Poker will no longer be servicing its customers as it shuts down operations after two years of being online.

The splashy and flashy poker site, fronted by ten-time WSOP winner Johnny Chan, was launched in 2006 before the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and ran on the OnGame Network which also included other popular sites like PokerRoom.com and Hollywood Poker.

Targeted towards American poker players, Chan Poker was to be doomed months later when the UIGEA was passed and was unable to overcome changes brought about by the UIGEA to the online poker market.

In its statement posted on the site, Chan Poker said that it still trying to seek an online partner to acquire its database including honoring Chan Poker members’accumulated player points.

Here is the actual text posted on its site:

We are sad to inform you that Chan Poker will be ceasing operation effective this Thursday, August 21, 2008. Effective immediately we will no longer be accepting deposits. On August 21 our poker clients will be disabled.

If you have a cash balance with us rest assured that all withdrawal requests will be honored and promptly processed. To facilitate timely withdrawals, limits for certain withdrawal methods have been increased. We will make every effort to accept withdrawal requests through our website for as long as necessary however we strongly advise submitting your request as soon as possible. To initiate a withdrawal now please follow this link to go to your account. Please note that once final withdrawals are processed your account will be automatically closed, no further action is necessary.

The final $50 daily freeroll will be held Tuesday, August 19, 2008. We will not be holding any additional weekly Red Orange Freerolls.

We are actively seeking a partner to provide poker software and honor all Chan Poker player point balances for those that wish to continue playing online poker. We will keep you informed of developments on this front.

As always, if you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@chanpoker.com.

Warm regards,
Chan Poker Customer Support

Finnish Online Operator Aspiritus Shuts Down

HELSINKI, FINLAND – Aspiritus.com has shut down.

A visit to its website brings up a notice and when the PDF communicae is clicked, the Aspiritus Gaming management informs its players of the company’s failure to find another partner and provider, hinting that all has not gone well with recent partner Inside Gaming.

Aspiritus Gaming’s gambling operations were being managed by Inside Gaming working under a white label arrangement and license from gaming software provider Playtech.

In its statement, Aspiritus said that “(t)he Aspiritus management team has been working tirelessly since the issues arose with our gaming partner. Every effort has been made to find another provider or partner that would enable us to implement new products as soon as possible. However, our search has been futile to date due to time constraints on delivering new products, the cost of obtaining new licenses or a mixture of both.”

It goes on to inform readers that the recent contractual dispute with and ultimate termination of the contract allegedly by Inside Gaming has strained the financial capability of Aspiritus thereby leaving management with no other recourse but to shut down operations.

Aspiritus said that it is currently in talks with a new gaming operator launching this month and that the company is in agreement with this new operator to migrate Aspiritus players to the soon-to-open gaming site.

The company also stated that it will pursue legal action against its erstwhile gaming operator. Any amount that Aspiritus will gain from a positive outcome of a legal action, the statement said, “will be put towards extinguishing any outstanding debts including member balances.”

The website does not put forth any contact details but informs members that they will be contacted once a new proposal has been realized.

Illegal Top-Up of Online Casino Account Results into Police Custody for Two Employees

PASAY CITY, PHILIPPINES – As reported in Inquirer.net, two online casino employees were held under police custody last July 31 for irregularities committed in the conduct of their work.

According to Senior Supt. Marietto Valerio of the Pasay City Police, the two employees of Winmore Gaming Casino were identified as Mary Grace Elebado and Lloyd Renoso and will be charged by casino owner Anda Villota with estafa after they extended a long-time customer with online credits without paying for cash.

Villota complained that Elebado and Renoso gave a certain Hernani Almega with P340,000 pesos worth of online credit (about US$7,800) which the customer lost on online games. The customer and the Winmore employees failed to replenish the equivalent cash amount which Villota later found out and prompted her to go to the police.

Further investigation revealed that on Tuesday, July 29, Almega asked the two employees to top-up his casino account with P340,000 so that he could play. When he lost, he promised to pay the next day but failed to do so.

The two employees who allowed the customer the online credits of course, did not have the amount in cash and for failing to follow online casino protocols were also implicated.

Online Gambling Operators Hit by Payout Problems

As reported on Gambling 911, the online gambling industry, particularly sportsbooks and poker rooms, are experiencing problems in processing payouts of customers following the seizure of funds from Zip Payments by the United States Government as part of the crackdown on offshore gambling operators.

Online gambling operators have been burning candles the past few weeks to setup alternative payout processors after US$9.9 million were seized by the IRS as part of the crackdown on Bodog, a popular sports betting site established by Calvin Ayre suspected of skirting US anti-gambling laws. Bodog is one of several online gambling sites still accepting bets from US players after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was enforced in 2006.

Unfortunately, Bodog is not the only gaming company with a business with Zip Payments. The beleaguered payment processor also managed several substantial sportsbooks as well as two of the largest US-focused poker sites. It was reported that checks issued by Zip Payments have bounced as a result of the seizure.

Gambling 911’s unnamed source acknowledged that Zip Payments’ seizure is causing problems but operators are hoping to resolve the issue in about seven weeks as there are other payment processors to handle payouts.

Some sportsbooks have increased their bank wire transactions while others have opted to allow this option whereas in the past it was not. However, they acknowledge that there are indeed delays.