According to a trading update issued Monday, the French online and land gambling group Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) is enjoying significant and early rewards from the liberalisation of the French gambling market, reporting a 400% growth in sign-ups at its website since May alone.

The company’s advantageous licensing position as the football World Cup action commenced, and its sports betting partnership with Paddy Power and Orbis contributed to what it described as a ‘very encouraging’ start to online gambling sector operations, which were augmented July 1 by the launch of dedicated French online poker action in partnership with Party Gaming.

Player registrations on the website soared starting early June, with some 9 million unique visits to the site during that month, the update revealed, whilst new customer sign-ups grew four-fold compared to previous months on the website, when horse racing action was offered pre-market liberalisation.

During H1,2010, overall internet wagers on racing increased some 19%, but a growth of over 200% in bets made via mobile phone technology was recorded.

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Online slot fans are anticipating the imminent arrival of Microgaming's July tranche of new games, with previews indicating an interesting range of themes across three new video slots.

The Argyle Open is a 5 reel, 40 pay-line video slot with a theme centred on a famous golf course, and includes a three-level bonus feature.

This game’s outstanding graphics are redolent with golfers, clubs and trophies, all backed by an entertaining slew of big slot features such as Scatters, Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers and an absorbing interactive game-within-the-game in the form of a 3 stage golf tournament.

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Frank Kassela is enjoying a great World Series of Poker, this week becoming the first player in the current series to win two bracelets, and there are still plenty more events to be played.

Plagued by a power outage, event 40, the $2,500 Seven-Card Razz competition, started its third hard day Wednesday afternoon with just 15 players from an initial field of 365 and Kassela lying third in chip counts, a disadvantage he was to skillfully address to eventually claim the bracelet in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The Memphis, Tennessee player made a memorable comeback after finishing the first day of the contest with a short stack and facing a remaining field of 205, many of them aces.

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The latest two video slots from online gambling software provider Playtech are finding their way onto licensee sites this week, the themes evoking memories of popular movies of yesteryear. Playtech’s deals with film production houses have resulted in new additions to its branded games range as Pink Panther and Rocky make their debuts.

Pink Panther is a 5 reel, 40 pay-line video slot featuring the bungling Inspector Clouseau in its theme, which is based on the hugely popular Pink Panther comedy series from the late ‘sixties, captured in amusing graphics and easily recognisable symbols across the reels.

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Twoplustwo.com‘s poker forums was the site of a thread brimming with controversy surrounding a home poker game allegedly run by actress turned aspiring poker player Shannon Elizabeth.

It all started as the result of a blog post done over the weekend by celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton. Apparently, a source had participated in a home game at Elizabeth’s California home. The source made it seem as though the actress was acting as nothing more than a casino pit boss, ignoring her guests and only coming into the room when it was time to collect for time played or a rake. The blog post went on to accuse Elizabeth of essentially overcharging patrons.

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Former NBA player, who made millions during his career, faces trial for failure to pay nearly $1 million in gambling debts.   He was also charged with writing bad checks.

Walker filed for bankruptcy a few weeks back.   The filing claims US$12.7 million in liabilities and $4.3 million in assets – including the 2006 NBA championship ring Walker won with the Miami Heat.

To date, Walker has paid $135,000 towards his debt.

Walker used $1 million in gambling loans between July 2008 and January 2009 at Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace and the Red Rock Resort. In

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A public feud between one of poker’s oldest players, Doyle Brunson, and one of its youngest, Annette Obrestad, has actually managed to attract more readers than most of Gambling911.com’s extensive World Cup reports.  

Sure our World Cup coverage for Saturday blew the roof of the site in terms of overall traffic, however, much of the readership was spread over a series of articles with only one exception. 

Obrestad was recently quoted in an ESPN interview as saying that "Girls suck at playing poker" and that Doyle Brunson’s "ego" would make him "easy to beat".

Brunson instructed his minions to visit Gambling911.com via his uber popular Twitter page to read Obrestad’s comments.  

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Bookmakers around the world are relishing the thought of unprecedented betting action on the 2010 World Cup, which kicks off in South Africa this week.

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Last month some amazing things happened at Party Casino when the extravagant combination of the Grand Win Auto Promotion and the Gold Mega Jackpot caused some serious fireworks. Party Casino recently released some further details that provide for an interesting winner’s story.

Gold Mega Jackpot Winner
Starting May 6^th Party Casino held the Grand Win Auto Promotion, that had the top leaderboard player winning a brand new Maserati when the Gold Mega Jackpot paid out. We already brought you up to speed on the winner of the car, but read on to find out just how the jackpot winner started spinning and is planning to spend it big.

Big Progressive Jackpot
The 48-year-old player that scooped the Gold Mega Jackpot on May 7 is known online as “arkry222″.

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BRASILIA (Reuters) – The winner of a $16 million (11 million pound) lottery jackpot in Brazil escaped his own father’s plot to kill him after police caught two contract killers supposedly hired to carry out his murder, local media reported on Friday.

Police informed Fabio de Barros of the plan by his father, Francisco, to have him killed in order to keep the winnings the two had fought over since Fabio won the prize in 2006, O Globo TV and the Agencia Estado reported.

A legal battle began after Francisco, 60, refused to hand over the winnings Fabio had deposited in his account. They had not spoken for about three years, Fabio’s lawyer said.

Francisco was arrested in Cuiaba in western Brazil on Wednesday.

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