The Tasmanian Gaming Commission has been given the green light by the government to implement a range of new precautionary measures to guard against addictive gambling in land establishments, ABC Australia reports.

Most of Tasmania’s estimated 2 000 problem gamblers are addicted to pokie machines, and the new measures have been developed after a recent study confirmed this. The government’s treasury minister, Michael Aird first released information on the proposed new precautions in March this (2009) year. These include limiting the EFTPOS transactions in gaming areas to one per person per day, reduced maximum bets and restrictions on food and alcohol being served to people playing pokies.

After attending a Ministerial Council on Gambling meeting in Brisbane last week, Aird has now given approval to the Gaming Commission to implement most of the measures immediately. Others will be considered by Parliament in the coming months.

Aird says the one area that needs further work is around pre-commitment technology, like smart cards, where the minister says he is in favour of the technology, but that it should be rolled out at national level.

“So we are going to work with the other [Australian] states to ensure consistency in pre-commitment technology which can be used across Australia,” he said. “Tasmania can’t go it alone on the use of this technology [as] it is changing rapidly and we need a national response,” he said.

A MacBook Pro laptop worth $1 400 that goes for $35.86 sounds too good to be true, but according to reports in the online casinos publication The Atlantic, that is typical of the auction action at online bidding site Swoopo.

But the real money is probably behind the scenes, in Swoopo’s business model, reports the publication, which researched the online gambling site’s money making ways. “For each ‘bid,’ the price of the computer goes up by a penny and Swoopo collects 60 cents, The Atlantic found. “To get up to $35.86, it takes, yes, an incredible 3 585 bids, for each of which Swoopo gets its fee. That means that before selling this computer, Swoopo took in $2 151 in bidding fees.”

The Atlantic’s Jonah Lehrer asks why the site is so popular, and reports: “I think the real appeal of the website is the sheer uncertainty. As an item nears the end of bidding, a big countdown clock appears. At any moment, someone else can come in and bid on the item, which then resets the clock to twenty seconds. The process repeats and repeats, until the price gets to a point that discourages other bidders. (It’s probably less discouraging to you, since you’ve already sunk $50 in bidding fees.)

“But here’s the secret of the site: after placing a bid, you’re forced to wait and watch. You have no way of knowing if your bid will win, or if someone else will swoop in and bid on the laptop at the last possible second. In other words, it’s just like a casinos slot machine: you put in a quarter and wait for the wheels to whirr. With swoopo, the random number generator is other people.”

Few in the affiliate marketing sector, or for that matter the online gambling industry in general, will be unfamiliar with the name of Debbee Silverman, a highly experienced and competent marketer who is a familiar face at major industry events.

This week a relative newcomer to the industry, First Gaming Partners.com, scored something of a coup by signing Silverman up as director of its affiliate marketing activities. First Gaming’s inaugural online gambling operation is SlotPower.com, which was purchased lock, stock and barrel after being rebranded from a company managed by Lou Fabiano and Warren Jolly (there is no other connection with these individuals).

Silverman brings nearly a decade of online gaming experience and a wide network of industry contacts to the Cyprus based First Gaming Partners. She is widely experienced, beginning with her long tenure heading up marketing and advertising for the iconic portal, ‘GoneGambling,’ to her more recent position handling similar duties for the Club World Group of casinos.

“We are delighted that Debbee has joined First Gaming Partners,” said general manager Robert Forman. “She has an impressive record of accomplishment, and we anticipate that her talent, experience and professional network will greatly enhance and grow our new affiliate program.”

Silverman described her new appointment as an exciting professional challenge where her skills and expertise could be fully leveraged. In addition to her casino marketing experience Silverman’s portal history gives her a special insight into the needs of affiliates, with a broad understanding of all sides of the online gaming business. Silverman is also a published author of articles for industry publications and has spoken on a variety of marketing-related topics at many industry conferences.

First Gaming Partners has an aggressive growth plan, and a new online casino brand will be added to the lineup later this summer.

The Pennsylvania state legislature is considering a new law designed to better insulate public officials from gambling industry inducements, reports Business Week.

The proposal “sailed through” the state Senate’s Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee this week after numerous press conferences and legislative hearings unearthed perceived shortcomings in the state’s casino regulation.

The bill seeks to reinstate a stringent ban on cash contributions to political causes by gambling industry executives and investors. This follows a state Supreme Court ruling in April this year in which a former five-year-old similar ban was struck down on grounds that a complete prohibition on contributions went farther in practice than called for.

The new initiative has the support of the government watchdog group, Common Cause Pennsylvania, which counted $4.4 million in political campaign contributions in Pennsylvania from people and groups in the gambling industry beginning in 2001.

“This study helps explain the gaming industry’s winning streak in Pennsylvania,” said Barry Kauffman, the group’s executive director. “And it suggests that gaming interests will go on a giving binge now that they have the chance.”

The 51-page bill also seeks to restrict the gaming board’s “revolving door” policy, and now requires top and mid-level state employees to wait two years, instead of just one, before working in the gambling industry. The policy would additionally cover lawyers - an aspect that may get scrutiny by the state Supreme Court, which reserves the regulation of lawyers for itself.

Senator Jane Orie, a Republican from Allegheny and a frequent critic of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said: “I think it’s a strong message, and I believe we’re on the path to restoring public trust.”

The bill has the support of other Senate leaders and could pass the chamber this (June 2009) month, but its prospects are less certain in the House, where a bill to legalise table games is pending as a tax contributor to state coffers.

Pennsylvania has eight slot-machine casinos currently operating and another expected to open within weeks. Casino operators have lobbied for the legalisation of table games, saying it will create valuable jobs and make the establishments more competitive with the expanding gambling industries in states along Pennsylvania’s borders.

ESPN reports that a legal challenge based on the constitutionality of the 1992 Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act and lodged by New Jersey Senator Ray Lesniak earlier this year is to be supporter by the state’s governor, Jon Corzine.

The publication reports that Corzine will this week be filing a brief in support of Lesniak’s contention in Newark’s US District Court that the law is unconstutional and violates state rights.

The ESPN piece informs that Corzine is reacting to the state of Delaware’s decision to approve a sportsbetting lottery despite threats from the National Football League, and that the governor has considered the nationwide financial crisis and a recent poll indicating the majority of New Jersey residents want sportsbetting in deciding to take up the challenge.

It also opines that the Governor’s overt support for Lesniak’s action enhances the lawsuit’s chances of getting the federal sports betting ban overturned. Such a direct assault by a state claiming that its rights have been trampled on by a federal law strengthens the case, many legal scholars have said.

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) has announced that its challenge to the Unlawful internet gambling Enforcement Act in the form of an appeal action against the US Department of Justice has been set down for July 7th 2009 at 10.00 am, when arguments from the parties will be heard at the US courthouse in Philadelphia.

The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has named the three-judge panel selected to hear oral arguments as Judge Dolores Korman Sloviter, a Carter appointee; Judge Thomas L. Ambro, a Clinton appointee; and Judge Kent A. Jordan, a George W. Bush appointee.

iMEGA will be represented by Eric M. Bernstein, who first argued to have UIGEA overturned in US District Court, and Stephen A. Saltzburg, professor at the George Washington University school of law and former deputy attorney-general of the United States.

The defendants - the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve - will be represented by Nicholas J. Bagley and Jacqueline E. Coleman of the US DoJ’s civil division in Washington, DC.

“This law will finally have to stand on it’s own two feet in court, free from politics and all other outside influences,” said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr. “We feel very confident that when the judges take a look at the law, they will see just how defective it is, and they will overturn it.”