This is the Media Man Australia monthly update as we get ready to enter a new month.
March 2009 proved to be a most significant month for Media Man Australia and we suspect for most people and companies.
The sentiment on the street and in the boardrooms is that Australia nor the rest of the world has yet to see the worst of the financial crisis, recession, crush, or whatever other terms we wish to use to describe it. It's well and truly a casino economy.
The "casino economy" was a catalyst in Media Man Australia further ramping up its activities in the casino, online casino, resort, financial news and tourism sector.
As you likely know Media Man Australia is primarily a media, publicity and portal development company. MMA was born in Sydney, Australia in 2001.
In 2005 we become fully aware that the casino, online casino and professional poker poker business had some exciting and potentially lucrative ties in with the media company and internet portal development business. It was our former client Keith "Bendigo" Sloan, poker commentary and trainer who tipped us off, and it must be said that "Bendigo" was right on the money as far as poker and casinos being made for TV in addition to convergent media opportunities.
In our time managing "Bendigo" we also expanded our online presence in the media, new media, poker and casino space, and were certainly able to see our business get to the next level.
Over the past few years we have noticed the trend of business giants such as Richard Branson's Virgin Group expand into other lifestyle sectors including launching their Virgin Casino - Virgin Games and James Packer's Crown Casino offering more of a total entertainment experience via bring in world class entertainment acts and in house facilities to their casino in Melbourne and Burswood Entertainment Complex in Western Australia. Billionaires such as Mr Branson and Mr Packer has also experienced their ups and downs with the financial markets and only last week caught up for a chat at the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix. Last month Donald Trump referred to the casino business as a "disaster", however the casino business is not the online casino business, and here down under in Australia things are a bit different to Las Vegas and Atlantic City which are somewhat saturated with debt laden land based casinos.
Just as in any business their are individuals and brands who stand head and shoulders about the rest and there are others which raise a number of questions and concerns.
As the founder and director of Media Man Australia and Casino News Media you can imagine that I get asked for my opinion and experience with a number of media, new media and casino entities. Here's is a list, not complete by any means, of a range of companies that we have had positive dealings and experiences with:
Virgin Enterprises Limited
Virgin Games
PartyGaming PartyCasino.com PartyPartners.com
PKR
World Poker Tour
World Series of Poker
Playtech
William Hill
Rewards Affiliates
Captain Cooks Casino
Microgaming
Cryptologic
Betezy
National Rugby League
Crown Casino
Hilton Hotels
Marvel Entertainment
InterCasino.com
JackpotCity
Moneybookers
Betfair
Australian Stunt Academy
Maxx-G Aerobatics
Drasin Productions
Richard Bradley Productions
Casino Affiliate Programs
Gaming Portal Webmasters Association
Gambling911
DGM
World Wrestling Entertainment
Layfield's Energy
Google
Fairfax
News Corporation
Foxtel
Craig's List
The Bondi View
ABC
Again, this list is not complete by any means. Please see the Media Man Australia and Casino News Media websites for more information and company reviews and articles.
What to expect from Media Man Australia in the coming months?
Media Man Australia will be at the forefront of important news stories, especially those which concern both the online casino and censorship debate and the ACMA "blacklist".
We will be continuing our policy of supporting many worthy causes at the same time via our online listing of the Social and Community Entrepreneurs and Charity portfolio. Our favorite worthy causes include Virgin Unite, Variety, beyondblue, The Salvation Army and The Shane Warne Foundation.
The Media Man Australia network will continue to expand in an online and offline capacity.
The main websites in the Media Man Australia online portfolio are:
Media Man Australia
Casino News Media
Australian Casino News
Australian Sports Entertainment
Marvel Slots Online
Party Casino News
Casino Travel Tourism
We also also assisting our friends and associates at Travel Tourism Media.
Expect to see one or two Media Man Australia websites turn up again in the Hitwise top ten lists and our Alexa rankings further improve.
The good old fashion work - life balance will remain a focus. Some good places to check out on that front include the offerings from Virgin Limited Edition and Universal Peace Centre Retreat. MMA also have an online Mind, Body and Spirit portfolio. If your looking into air travel check out Webjet, Virgin Blue, V Australia and Qantas.
We're set to break more leading news stories and will also continue to play a major role in new and exciting developments in the publicity business. I am known to say, "we don't advertise" however the internet could be seen as one giant advertisement and positive word of mouth could also be seen as a form of advertising.
Movie Reviews
There's been some great movies released so far in 2009 and some potential blockbusters just around the corner.
Movie Profiles
The Wrestler
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Watchmen
Wolverine
12 Rounds
Game Reviews
The Godfather
Wolverine
Lucky News Network
No Worries
Bush Telegraph
Goanna Gold
The Hulk
Cleopatra
WWE Legends Of WrestleMania
News
Access the world's major news services online here and here.
That's a wrap for March. Remember, you only live once so make the most of it.
Thanks for supporting Media Man Australia.
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Casino News Media offer online casino news, land based casino news, game reviews, casino gossip, gaming news, online gaming, online poker, interviews, articles, press releases, event news, multimedia and more.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Australians are Biggest Gamblers in the World, by Danielle Almond - Gambling Online Magazine - 27th March 2009
A Canadian report has recently discovered that Australia is the biggest nation for gambling in the world. The report showed that Aussies and New Zealanders spend an average of $435 online every month.
The report has obviously been seen by some as more ammunition for online gambling to be banned in the country as it allows punters to use credit. This is to come as sad news to many Australians as added to this there have been other reports that the government is anticipated to be the next to ban online poker rooms.
20,000 adults were surveyed for the study which was conducted by the University of Lethbridge professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams.
Professor Wood said, “Australian Internet gamblers do report high average monthly gambling spending than the overall average we observed among our sample. This would suggest that Australian Internet gambler do indeed spend more on gambling compared with Internet gamblers from most other countries.”
Australian gambler, Greg Tingle, said, “This report confirms my suspicions and my own findings. Online gambling is red hot in the land down under. I think this officially marks a gold rush for the promised land.” Those who believe these finding should bring about a ban on gambling include Gerard Byre, the Salvation Army’s problem-gambling service co-coordinator, who said, “We would encourage bans on any capacity to gamble on credit and believe the Federal Government should take a lead on this. People are certainly reporting more and more sage of online gaming. We’ve got a culture in NSW where gambling is the state past time.” (Credit: Gambling Online Magazine)
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The report has obviously been seen by some as more ammunition for online gambling to be banned in the country as it allows punters to use credit. This is to come as sad news to many Australians as added to this there have been other reports that the government is anticipated to be the next to ban online poker rooms.
20,000 adults were surveyed for the study which was conducted by the University of Lethbridge professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams.
Professor Wood said, “Australian Internet gamblers do report high average monthly gambling spending than the overall average we observed among our sample. This would suggest that Australian Internet gambler do indeed spend more on gambling compared with Internet gamblers from most other countries.”
Australian gambler, Greg Tingle, said, “This report confirms my suspicions and my own findings. Online gambling is red hot in the land down under. I think this officially marks a gold rush for the promised land.” Those who believe these finding should bring about a ban on gambling include Gerard Byre, the Salvation Army’s problem-gambling service co-coordinator, who said, “We would encourage bans on any capacity to gamble on credit and believe the Federal Government should take a lead on this. People are certainly reporting more and more sage of online gaming. We’ve got a culture in NSW where gambling is the state past time.” (Credit: Gambling Online Magazine)
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Australian Slots Online
Australian Pokies
Media Man Australia
Greg Tingle
Online Casino
Online Casino News
World Casino Directory
World Gaming Directory
Australian Casino News
Casino News
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Aussie Senator Blames Russian Mob for Blacklist Errors
Statement "casts significant doubt on the Government's ability to filter the Internet," says Sydney Morning Herald
March 27, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- On a Q&A program aired on Australian television last night, Australia's Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, finally admitted error regarding the leaked blacklist of websites that the government is reportedly considering blocking.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald's recap of the session, more than 2,000 questions were submitted regarding the Aussie government’s "hugely unpopular policy" of Internet censorship. The audience even ridiculed and laughed at the senator’s responses, according to the article.
The main point of controversy regarding the blacklist is the inclusion of many sites that are perfectly legal, including gambling sites. When asked why the blacklist, which is supposed to focus on illegal activities, included a number of non-criminal websites, "Senator Conroy said it was the result of a 'Russian mob' that targeted small businesses and published questionable content on their websites,” wrote Asher Moses in the Sydney Morning Herald article.
“The admission by Senator Conroy on ABC television's Q&A program last night casts significant doubt on the Government's ability to filter the internet without inadvertently blocking legitimate websites,” the article continued.
Nick Minchin, a spokesman for the Opposition political party, was also quoted in the article: "This error only came to light because content from the secret blacklist had been publicly leaked. Under Senator Conroy's regime how many similar errors will result in the wrongful filtering of legal sites and content?"
"When he wasn't blaming the Russian Mob, the Minister was still invoking hateful, extreme content and protesting that they don't intend to censor 'political' content," commented Colin Jacobs, spokesman for Electronic Frontiers Australia, in the article.
"But this doesn't address questions of how the secret list is administered, how the Government hopes to classify millions or billions of web pages without making any mistakes, or why an expensive national filter has to be applied at the ISP level in the first place."
Click here to read the article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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March 27, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- On a Q&A program aired on Australian television last night, Australia's Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, finally admitted error regarding the leaked blacklist of websites that the government is reportedly considering blocking.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald's recap of the session, more than 2,000 questions were submitted regarding the Aussie government’s "hugely unpopular policy" of Internet censorship. The audience even ridiculed and laughed at the senator’s responses, according to the article.
The main point of controversy regarding the blacklist is the inclusion of many sites that are perfectly legal, including gambling sites. When asked why the blacklist, which is supposed to focus on illegal activities, included a number of non-criminal websites, "Senator Conroy said it was the result of a 'Russian mob' that targeted small businesses and published questionable content on their websites,” wrote Asher Moses in the Sydney Morning Herald article.
“The admission by Senator Conroy on ABC television's Q&A program last night casts significant doubt on the Government's ability to filter the internet without inadvertently blocking legitimate websites,” the article continued.
Nick Minchin, a spokesman for the Opposition political party, was also quoted in the article: "This error only came to light because content from the secret blacklist had been publicly leaked. Under Senator Conroy's regime how many similar errors will result in the wrongful filtering of legal sites and content?"
"When he wasn't blaming the Russian Mob, the Minister was still invoking hateful, extreme content and protesting that they don't intend to censor 'political' content," commented Colin Jacobs, spokesman for Electronic Frontiers Australia, in the article.
"But this doesn't address questions of how the secret list is administered, how the Government hopes to classify millions or billions of web pages without making any mistakes, or why an expensive national filter has to be applied at the ISP level in the first place."
Click here to read the article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Australian Casino News
Online Casino News
Casino News
Playtech 2008 Revenues Climb 70 Percent
27th March 2009
Playtech, a leading global designer, developer and licensor of software for the online and mobile gaming industries, has announced its audited full-year results showing a 70 percent increase in total revenues to €111.5 million.
The Isle of Man-based firm revealed that casino revenues improved 68 percent from €47.4 million for the year before to €79.4 million while those from poker grew 73 percent to €30.1 million from €17.4 million.
Capping off the good news for Playtech while many others in the industry struggle, net profits increased 55 percent to €40.7 million resulting in a net profit margin of 37 percent, which was slightly down on 2007’s 40 percent.
Playtech also reported an encouraging start to 2009 with daily average revenues for the first eleven weeks up 2.3 percent compared to the final quarter of 2008. In addition, revenues from its software licensing deal with William Hill that created William Hill Online were approximately 40 percent greater for the first eight weeks of 2009 than those generated by former customers over the final period of last year.
'Playtech continues to perform extremely well, delivering healthy growth for shareholders and meeting management's demanding expectations,” said Roger Withers, Non-Executive Chairman for Playtech.
'Our landmark agreement with William Hill Online is on course to offer significant benefits to the company's earnings in 2009 and further strengthens Playtech's position.
'Management's strategy to focus on growing its presence in regulated markets has enabled the group to enter Italy, signing-up four leading Italian licensees in the process, and we expect to announce further developments in this regard.
'Our successful share placing in June of 2008 demonstrated the faith investors have in the company and its management. Despite the difficult macroeconomic outlook for 2009, I am confident that the group will successfully navigate these challenges. As a result, the board is highly confident of its prospects for 2009 and beyond.'
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William Hill
Playtech
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Playtech, a leading global designer, developer and licensor of software for the online and mobile gaming industries, has announced its audited full-year results showing a 70 percent increase in total revenues to €111.5 million.
The Isle of Man-based firm revealed that casino revenues improved 68 percent from €47.4 million for the year before to €79.4 million while those from poker grew 73 percent to €30.1 million from €17.4 million.
Capping off the good news for Playtech while many others in the industry struggle, net profits increased 55 percent to €40.7 million resulting in a net profit margin of 37 percent, which was slightly down on 2007’s 40 percent.
Playtech also reported an encouraging start to 2009 with daily average revenues for the first eleven weeks up 2.3 percent compared to the final quarter of 2008. In addition, revenues from its software licensing deal with William Hill that created William Hill Online were approximately 40 percent greater for the first eight weeks of 2009 than those generated by former customers over the final period of last year.
'Playtech continues to perform extremely well, delivering healthy growth for shareholders and meeting management's demanding expectations,” said Roger Withers, Non-Executive Chairman for Playtech.
'Our landmark agreement with William Hill Online is on course to offer significant benefits to the company's earnings in 2009 and further strengthens Playtech's position.
'Management's strategy to focus on growing its presence in regulated markets has enabled the group to enter Italy, signing-up four leading Italian licensees in the process, and we expect to announce further developments in this regard.
'Our successful share placing in June of 2008 demonstrated the faith investors have in the company and its management. Despite the difficult macroeconomic outlook for 2009, I am confident that the group will successfully navigate these challenges. As a result, the board is highly confident of its prospects for 2009 and beyond.'
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Playtech
Playtech News
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Friday, March 27, 2009
Australians Are The Biggest Gamblers In The World - Gambling911 - 26th March 2009
A report out of Canada paints Australians as the biggest gambling degenerates in the world. The report, obtained exclusively by The Sunday Telegraph, shows Australian and New Zealand gamblers spend an average of $435 online every month.
This is five times what punters put through poker machines and has prompted renewed calls for bans on online gambling, which allows people to bet using credit.
The study also found the prevalence of problem gambling was up to four times higher for Internet gamblers than those who used traditional means such as poker machines.
More than 20,000 adults from 105 countries were surveyed for the study, conducted by University of Lethbridge professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams.
"Australian Internet gamblers do report higher average monthly gambling spending than the overall average we observed among our sample," Prof Wood said.
"This would suggest that Australian Internet gamblers do indeed spend more on gambling compared with Internet gamblers from most other countries."
Australian Media Man for Gambling911.com, Greg Tingle, rejoiced at the news.
"Ahoy. This report confirms my suspicions and my own findings... online gambling is red hot in the land down under... Australia. I think this officially marks a gold rush for the promised land. Our phone hasn't stopped ringing, and there's a constant stream of overseas enquires.
"The Australian government's ACMA website blacklist doesn't appear to have slowed down those seeking to make a killing down under. We're seen a trend in more .net ventures taking off and online casinos are generally keeping the "play for free" or "play for money" option. Australian newsrooms are also starting to run more stories regarding the online gambling sector and most are surprisingly balanced stories. We're gladly assisting them on (some) of the inner workings of the online casino industry." (Credit" Gambling911)
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This is five times what punters put through poker machines and has prompted renewed calls for bans on online gambling, which allows people to bet using credit.
The study also found the prevalence of problem gambling was up to four times higher for Internet gamblers than those who used traditional means such as poker machines.
More than 20,000 adults from 105 countries were surveyed for the study, conducted by University of Lethbridge professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams.
"Australian Internet gamblers do report higher average monthly gambling spending than the overall average we observed among our sample," Prof Wood said.
"This would suggest that Australian Internet gamblers do indeed spend more on gambling compared with Internet gamblers from most other countries."
Australian Media Man for Gambling911.com, Greg Tingle, rejoiced at the news.
"Ahoy. This report confirms my suspicions and my own findings... online gambling is red hot in the land down under... Australia. I think this officially marks a gold rush for the promised land. Our phone hasn't stopped ringing, and there's a constant stream of overseas enquires.
"The Australian government's ACMA website blacklist doesn't appear to have slowed down those seeking to make a killing down under. We're seen a trend in more .net ventures taking off and online casinos are generally keeping the "play for free" or "play for money" option. Australian newsrooms are also starting to run more stories regarding the online gambling sector and most are surprisingly balanced stories. We're gladly assisting them on (some) of the inner workings of the online casino industry." (Credit" Gambling911)
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Australian Casino News
Australian Gambling
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Rewards Affiliates Super-Sizes Commission Rates in April
Enormous 60% commission structure is almost double the standard rate
March 26, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- Starting next week and running throughout the entire month of April, leading affiliate network Rewards Affiliates will be offering a stunning 60 percent commission on all new referrals to the CasinoRewards.com family of Internet casinos.
“Sixty percent is almost double the regular commission offered by Rewards Affiliates,” the company stated in a press release, “and no doubt one of the highest rewards structures in the casino affiliate program industry.”
Named “Best Casino Affiliate Program” at the First Annual CAP Awards held last year, and with an affiliate manager who’s been named Best Casino Affiliate Manager two years in a row, Rewards Affiliates is widely acknowledged to be one of the premiere affiliate program networks in the online gaming industry.
There are 19 online casinos in the CasinoRewards.com family, including such popular destinations as RewardsRiches.com, BlackjackBallroom.com, YukonGoldCasino.com, CaptainCooksCasino.com, and CasinoClassic.com.
View the company’s press release for more information.
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March 26, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- Starting next week and running throughout the entire month of April, leading affiliate network Rewards Affiliates will be offering a stunning 60 percent commission on all new referrals to the CasinoRewards.com family of Internet casinos.
“Sixty percent is almost double the regular commission offered by Rewards Affiliates,” the company stated in a press release, “and no doubt one of the highest rewards structures in the casino affiliate program industry.”
Named “Best Casino Affiliate Program” at the First Annual CAP Awards held last year, and with an affiliate manager who’s been named Best Casino Affiliate Manager two years in a row, Rewards Affiliates is widely acknowledged to be one of the premiere affiliate program networks in the online gaming industry.
There are 19 online casinos in the CasinoRewards.com family, including such popular destinations as RewardsRiches.com, BlackjackBallroom.com, YukonGoldCasino.com, CaptainCooksCasino.com, and CasinoClassic.com.
View the company’s press release for more information.
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