Mandatory SEC declarations by World Poker Tour Enterprises Monday morning explain why shareholders rejected an offer for the gambling company that was three times the value of one already on the casino games table.

The Form 8-K filed by WPTE advises that the directors considered an initial approach by Mandalay Media on October 29th in which it sought to replace Party Gaming’s Peerless Media as preferred bidder. Mandalay offered $35.5 million in cash and stock - approximately three times the $12 million plus 5 percent of profits going forward offer from Peerless Media Ltd.

WPT Enterprises. Inc. opted not to accede to a request by Mandalay that it postpone its shareholders meeting scheduled for October 30. The directors also decided that the offer was not a “superior proposal” as defined in its agreement to sell with Peerless. On October 30, WPTE received a modified written offer from Mandalay Media which it considered on October 31, 2009 and concluded that it was not a “Superior Proposal” either.

The shareholders’ vote on October 30th was therefore accepted, awarding the sale to Peerless.

According to WPTE’s Form 8-K filing, shareholders voted to approve the Peerless Media bid, claiming: “In the final vote count by the independent inspectors of election, 13 996 639 WPTE common shares (approximately 67.93 percent of the outstanding common shares) were represented at the Meeting, in person or by proxy, and the casino gambling Agreement was approved by 85.28 percent of the shares voted and 57.93 percent of the shares outstanding”.

Mandalay Media Inc, the Los Angeles online gambling media group who’s last minute bid to snatch World Poker Tour Enterprises from acquisition by Party Gaming’s Peerless Media subsidiary failed this week, appears to have accepted casino games defeat.

Shareholders earlier this week voted to accept the Peerless offer despite Mandalay claims that it’s bid was superior.

“We are very disappointed by this decision” said Ray Schaaf, President of Mandalay Media in a statement. “However, we remain interested in pursuing similar opportunities to expand our internet gambling business and enhance shareholder value in the future.”

Swedish online gambling software provider Net Entertainment reports that it has signed up Microgame - arguably the largest remote gaming provider in Italy - for an online casino on the popular CasinoModule platform.

The agreement gives NetEnt a useful foothold in the Italian market for the first time.

Microgame was founded in 1996 and boasts more than 1.3 million casino game accounts, with a market share of 25 percent in online poker and 28 percent in online sportsbetting.

In the reporting year 2008 the group generated gross gaming revenues of over Euro 85 million. The company operates under the licensing and authority of Italy’s Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (AAMS).

“Gambling is huge in Italy and is expected to generate a gross gaming yield exceeding Euro 17 billion in 2009, making it the country’s third largest industry,” said Net Entertainment chief executive Johan Öhman. “In light of this, it is obviously extra encouraging that one of the dominant incumbents selects Net Entertainment as their strategic casino partner.”

Those sports-minded marketers at online poker giant PokerStars have scored another promotional try by inking an agreement with Britain’s Rugby Football Union.

The deal follows a slew of sports sponsorships by the Internet poker firm that have seen it positively associated with Mexican soccer teams for online casino games, superior whiskey and luxury sports cars. In addition, the company brand has repeatedly been evident in sports like professional basketball, hockey and auto racing.

The two year deal will see Pokerstars recognised as the RFU’s official online gaming and casino partner for the England team, with advertising privileges at major matches and world famous rugby stadia, access to tickets and autographed merchandise which could make valuable tournament prizes.

Julia Tasker, a Pokerstars marketing director, said: “As a brand we are excited to be involved with the RFU. This two-year sponsorship deal will continue to associate the PokerStars brand to premier sporting events and talent, whilst also enabling rugby fans to interact with the world’s premier online poker room in live environments.”

The RFU deal will see Pokerstars enter the company of leading rugby sponsors like O2, Nike, Green Flag, Land Rover, EDF Energy and Emirates Airlines.

The UK online gambling payments group Neovia Financials plc has partnered with e-cash services group PayPal in an agreement which will increase the facilities available to online casinos users and create more internet gambling business opportunities for merchants.

Neovia’s Netbanx subsidiary can now offer PayPal as an additional payment method to its customers, making PayPal functionality available through the Netbanx Payment Gateway. This allows merchants to accept payment via Visa, Maestro, Diners, American Express, Carte Bleue, Carta Si and JCB debit or credit cards in virtually any currency worldwide.

The service also supports the major popular non-card local payment types such as Giropay, ELV, DirectPay24, Ukash, iDeal, NETELLER, direct bank payments, and now PayPal.

A number of merchants have already gone live with PayPal via Netbanx, including Readyparcels.com, the online parcel delivery service which uses its purchasing power to give heavy discounts to individuals and small businesses.

With over 20 million accounts in the UK alone, PayPal allows consumers to shop online without sharing their financial details. More than 150 000 merchants across Europe already accept PayPal, including leading UK e-commerce sites such as Boots, Topshop, Just Giving, New Look and eBay.

PayPal also supports payments for Monarch Airways with a payment solution for flight bookings.

Dan Starr, EVP Sales Marketing & Products at Neovia Financials says: “We are pleased to be able to add PayPal to the range of payment options available to our merchants, giving their customers more choice in how they want to purchase goods online. The PayPal option is fully integrated within Netbanx, meaning that there is no integration required for merchants who have already migrated to our Netbanx Unified PayPage checkout technology.”

Cameron McLean, General Manager Merchant Services at PayPal commented: “We are delighted to have signed this strategic partnership with Netbanx – one of the leading market payment service providers. Netbanx has a great merchant portfolio and this partnership offers PayPal an excellent way to reach this significant audience. Netbanx provides secure online credit card and debit card payment solutions and with PayPal its customers can keep their financial details secure and choose whether to fund the transaction either from a bank account or from a credit card.”

Server Based Gaming specialists Inspired Gaming Group has inked a partnership deal with the UK based games developer Blueprint Entertainment UK Ltd through which Blueprint will exclusively provide Inspired with new casino games content for LBO, SBG Bingo and VLT terminals due to be rolled out across Italy in 2010.

The partnership will allow Inspired to provide its customers with exciting new big brand content, such as VIZ and Super Spins BAR-X, all due for release before Christmas ‘09. A total of five new Category B3 casino games will be available on Inspired’s Open SBG platform. The agreement also brings a wealth of European expertise into the UK market, as Germany’s Gauselmann Group has a controlling interest in Blueprint

Martin Lucas, Managing Director of Inspired’s LBO division, commented: ‘Inspired has been working with Blueprint for several years so we are excited to be securing further content on an exclusive basis for our LBO customers. This partnership further demonstrates the power of Inspired’s open Server-Based Gaming platform which allows us to offer the widest range of content from the best developers.’

Darren Breese, Blueprint’s Managing Director, commented: ‘Having already developed many successful games for Inspired I am delighted to be strengthening the relationship with this partnership. Inspired’s platform offers us great distribution across LBO, SBG Bingo and now Italy, which will be a new area for us.’

The online gambling industry has come out with guns firing following uninformed claims in the British press this week that UK online gambling sports face an increased threat of match-fixing as a result of the relocation offshore of major internet gambling groups like William Hill Online and Ladbrokes.

The CEO of William Hill, Ralph Topping has already debunked the claims and Clive Hawkswood, chief exec of the Remote Gaming Association has joined the fray, challenging the allegations and describing them as ‘bizarre.’

Hawkswood, who heads a trade association to which most major British online gambling groups belong, says that the moves offshore by Ladbrokes and William Hill Online were purely commercial decisions motivated by the need to better compete in a highly competitive global industry.

Online betting is a global operation facing global challenges and is not (nor ever was) solely focused on British sport, he remarked.

Following on from this, it is a fallacy to suggest that betting operators combat integrity threats because they are compelled to, Hawkswood said, pointing out that operators do so because it is crucial to the safe running of their business.

And, Hawkswood commented, the [UK] Gambling Commission does not have a monopoly on good regulation.

The RGA chief stressed that reputable betting operators have been making a significant investment in integrity mechanisms to assist sports for some considerable time, and will continue to do so.

“Operators have a significant interest in this area; what harms sport likewise harms operators, both in financial and reputation terms. There is, therefore, a mutual interest, and the fact that operators are based abroad makes no difference in that respect,” he said.

Hawkswood ended with a stiff condemnation of “those who wildly, and inaccurately, speculate that betting presents as great a risk to sport as doping”, saying that the comments in the press have no foundation and do nothing to focus the discussion about what is an essentially commercially forced move.

William Hill’s CEO had earlier explained that the relocation of the company’s online activities to Gibraltar had been largely motivated by the burden on its competitiveness which the UK gambling tax of 15 percent and horseracing levies of a further 10 percent constituted.

Hawkswood revealed that the RGA is presently conducting a consultation on sports betting, and has invited a number of national and international sporting bodies to respond.

The GTech G2 group lived up to its promise to launch its new casino game creation studio at EiG this week, revealing that the centre would draw in talent from throughout the group to provide top of the range gaming services and casino games.

Simon Caddy, Head of Games Studio and founder of group subsidiary Dynamite Idea, explained: “Like every other part of GTech G2, the Game Studio is player-focused - with new ideas coming, first and foremost, from insight into online casino game play trends and understanding of player demands.”

GTech G2 is working with several of the games industry’s leading developers such as Atronic, Spielo Ashgaming, Endemol, Realistic Games, Zukido and Solid Icon going forward, and will be forming an alliance with “casual” games provider, PopCap Games.

“These projects will take the PC games as the core concept around which we are going to make entirely new games for gambling - not for simple entertainment,” said Dominic Mansour, Head of Casino GTech G2. “It’s more creative than just using a powerful brand and simply using the imagery and sounds for a slot machine - think of redesigning Space Invaders as a game of Keno.”

The results of the more focused attention to game development are already reaping awards in the form of new licensees, GTech claims.

The first of these will be the Nordic Gaming Group, launching across the sites of Nordic Bet, Trio Bet and To Bet. A total set of 10 minigames including 3 games will be embedded in their sports betting and live betting sites.

Canadian online gambling software developer Rival Gaming has released its latest 5 reel online slot, branded Moonlight Mystery. The game takes players on a Clue-like crime investigation with a theme that includes victim chalk outlines, police officers, magnifying glasses, a selection of questionable characters that appear as symbols on the game and some really good sound effects.

The entertainment element in the new casino game is to discover the culprit, working through an innovative bonus round.

Casino news from EiG and the price optimisation software developer Botsphere is that it has signed up leading UK bookmaker Stan James as a online gambling licensee for its Right Price product.

The Botsphere system was developed by the same team that created the popular Oddschecker product, and Stan James joins another internet gambling leading bookie - Victor Chandler - in using it.

Botsphere director Stewart Vassie said at EiG this week: “The explosion in In-Running betting demands new technology, with Botsphere taking price optimisation to a new level.” He revealed that RightPrice has algorithmic pricing according to both set criteria and trading strategies.

The Gibraltar-based Stan James Call Centre handles thousands of calls every day, dealing with a wide variety of bets and markets and including In-Running and Special Bets.

Right Price automates the trading operations of sportsbooks, creating events, markets and outcomes, pricing through both the pre-market and in-running and then resulting. Users and trading management control the prices offered using algorithms and trading strategies.