‘QuickCall’ feature has been dropped by Ladbrokes Australia following pressure by the United Kingdom operator that forced the bookmaker to drop the in play-betting service based on an investigation on breaches in gambling laws that is currently underway by the Federal Police and (ACMA) Australian Communication & Media Authority.

William Hill, Bet365 and Ladbrokes Australia are the top three leading United Kingdom bookmakers in the market. Ladbrokes Australia will however be forced to withdraw the feature in its digital platform. But at the moment there is no response from the bookmaker on the matter and the actions they would take on it.

ACMA also made a statement that all Australian broadcasters and media channels will no longer be allowed to make advertisement on the controversial feature until the case at hand has been sorted out. Thus advertisement for ‘the call’ will be removed off the air. The feature was first launched by Ladbrokes Australia and William Hill in the month of April. Since its establishment it has brought controversy mirroring other live betting functions as it enables customers to be able to connect to team markets all through a microphone.

Other bookmakers in the UK have said that the mechanism they use is under the Gambling Act Provision of 2001, where the wagers by the customers are only processed if the customer approves of the selections they have made. ACMA responded to this by posting new guideline that the call feature did not involve other service providers that has customers using the normal telephone services which is a requirement according to the act.

In this month the ACMA proceeded to pass the investigation to the Federal Police with claims that it was a breach to the laws of the nation and they were the right force to handle this as the communication agency could not advise on the matter. With this the UK bookmaker will therefore be forced to drop the feature that it offers to its customers until the matter has been sorted out.

Licensed and operated by Gibraltar, BetVictor is launching its cash out service for its sports betting this week. Following its competitor’s bet365, William Hill and Skybet, BetVictor is the latest bookmaker to install acash out service, opening up a new solution developed by its in-house technology team.

To begin with, Cash out services will be made available to UK customers across all networksfor in-play betting and pre-match in five of the most popular football markets. This includes Win-Draw-Win, Correct Score, Both Teams to Score (BTTS), The Win &BTTS market and over/under goals.

Considering that BetVictor’s in-house technology team developed the service, they are qualified to make adjustments and developmentto the service more fastercompared to outsourcing the solution.

The launch of cash out service follows the release of the new version of BetVictor’s iOS app into the Apple’s App store, as the operator looks forward to enhancing its football offering at the start of the upcoming football session.

The company is planning to offer cash out in non-UK markets, as well as a variety of new markets across different sports.

The flowing statement was made by Head of BetVictor’ssports book product, Eoin Ryan regarding the service:

“The introduction of Cash Out to the Sports book is a major milestone in terms of our development.

“It’s a crucial product that the modern day bettor expects to have access to, and we know that it will help us continue the sustained growth and progress we have seen, especially in our football business, over the past few years.”

The firm pointed out that over the coming months they will continue to make better the initial launch of their product and will swiftly look towards extending their scope to house more sports and markets and bring in new functionalities.

The English Premier League is the most watched football league around the world, with a broadcast of 4.7 billion people in over 200 countries. On the other hand, La Liga may have Real Madrid and Barcelona but fans find it predictable. In contrast, the premier league’s title can change often. This is evident by the championship victories in the past three years by Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.

English Premier League is an intensely competitive league. This is what makes it even more engaging for its fans, who can even enhance their experience through betting on outcomes of various games. This is the main reason why the partnership of sports betting operators and football clubs is on the rise these days. The latest footballclub partnership is Aston Villa who has agreed to work with Betfair and Bet365.

New concept of co-exclusive betting rights

Aston Villa begun its partnerships with the two sports betting companies on 1 July,2015. This partnership will go on until the end of the Premier league season. However, the unusual bit about the partnership is that Aston Villa will be dividing responsibility between bet365 and betfair. This means that the two companies have co-exclusive rights for the club. This as a result, has changed the way the entire Premier league will do business in future.

Aston villa officially announced that bet365 and betfair have the right to be associated with them and both companies will appear on the Club’s interview backdrops and LED screens.

Aston Villa has a history of joining forces with betting operators. It previously partnered with Dafabet and William Hill. Dafabet was its official betting partner for the last two seasons.

Charlie Wijeratna, who is the chief commercial officer of Aston Villa, said that the co-partnership deal from Betfair and bet365 will have a significant commercial increase compared to last year’s partnership.

AFL Club Essendoncalls time on betting partnerships

While English football clubs are welcoming betting partnerships, An Australian team called Essendon does not share that spirit.

Xavier Campbell, the chief executive of Essendon acknowledges that gambling partnerships are highly lucrative. However, the team believes that sports betting have negative impression in Australia. In addition to that, he said that the decision of not partnering with sports betting would cause “short-term financial pain” to the club regardless of the club posting its revenue record for most of its financial year.

It is claimed in the 2001 Australian Interactive Gambling Act that ‘click to call’ service is against the law. However, this did not hinder bet365 based in Australia in initiating the service. This comes even it is clear that the service has brought in a lot of controversies and has prompted the federal police to undertake a thorough investigation on the matter.

Bet365 becomes the third Australian based betting company to activate the project after Willian Hill and Ladbroke Australia had earlier opened the service to their platforms in April. The three betting firms claim that the service falls within the jurisdiction of the 2001 Australian Interactive Gambling Act.

The so called ‘click to call’ service is designed in a manner that a gambler can activate his microphone where he can have a conversation with betting firm’s agents who would in turn place a bet with clients authorization and on his behalf.

The three UK betting companies belief that the service will act as a telephone conversation between a bettor and a betting agent from which they claim would not have violated in betting rules. However, national operators argue otherwise as they claim that the service which has been offering clients live betting as a breach of law.

This prompted the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) to review the rules and in end it handed the investigation matter to the federal police who would have the rights to conduct the investigation and get the real evidence.

There would be a massive loss in the Atlantic City of New Jersey if the case advocates for the eradication of sports betting. The case has been going on for some time now and the moment of truth is about to unfold itself once the final ruling is done this month.

A brief history of New Jersey’s battle for legal sports betting

It started back in 1992 when sports league asked the Congress to pass the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which claimed that no other state could legalize sports betting apart from Nevada which had initiated it before.

20 years later in 2012, New Jersey tried to legalize it but the sports leagues took a swift action where they forbid the act by moving to the court. In the first attempt, the state lost and this was the trend in the appeal case.

Since PASPA was unconstitutional, New Jersey went ahead in incorporating sports betting claiming that they were not under state laws but was governed by the federal laws. However, in 2014, Gov. Chris Christie claimed that sports betting would only take place casinos and racetracks.

What’s at stake?

If the state wins the case, it would promptly call for the strong partnership between Monmouth Park racetrack and British betting firm William Hill in incorporating sports betting for football which kicks off this September. In 2014, the total amount accrued from gambling was $3.9 billion with almost a half of this emanating from football betting. This explains why football is the most popular game in the state. It was followed by basketball with $1.1 billion with baseball coming in third with $722 million.

Why is the NBA suing to prevent legal sports betting if Commissioner Adam Silver has come out in favor of it?

Adam is for the sport betting legalization. Actually he demands the eradication of PASPA and the full control of gambling market be accorded to sports leagues and law enforcements. Some even argue that Adam wants some backing from other commissioners in attempt to eradicate sports betting.

The losing side can appeal the case but it would take a long time as it involves all 23 panel judges’ consideration unlike the three who would make the final call.