Inside Gaming: Gambling to Save Endangered Species; Bodog's Latin American Plan of Attack
With poker at the center of our universe here at PokerNews, it's often easy to overlook everything else going on in the gaming industry. If you're as interested in all things gaming and casino as we are, you'll enjoy the fruits of our research by reading about what we find.
Can Gamblers Stop the Extinction of Endangered Species?
Humans are responsible for the decimation of various animal populations thanks to our knack for destroying land and hunting animals to the point of extinction. Add this to the global climate change that is affecting animal, bird and amphibian populations, and you have a recipe for disaster for our fellow Earth inhabitants. Although some species are now protected, not enough is being done to prevent extinction, but thanks to a new plan by Australian professor Hugh Possingham, it may be possible for gamblers to help make a difference.
According to The Nature Conservancy, the proposal penned by the University of Queensland professor suggests that lotteries be created to raise much-needed funds to help threatened and endangered species.
Possingham believes that the lotteries should be tied to prestigious Australian sporting events such as the Melbourne Cup, Australia's biggest horse race, to draw attention to the plight of a selected endangered species.
Each of Australia's 372 endangered species would gain an entry to a lottery that would see the winning species get a grant of $20 million AUD (less than 0.4% of the Aussie yearly gambling revenues) for the owner of the land whose property hosts these animals so that the land can become a sanctuary for the winning species. He also suggests putting the endangered animal on the front of Aussie newspapers alongside the winner of the sporting event.
Although this sounds like a long shot, think about how much good could be done if we did something like that in the U.S. If we held a national lottery tied into the World Series or the Super Bowl, which was promoted by the athletes of these sports, we would be able to save a number of our endangered animals while helping to raise awareness of their plight. Imagine being able to save Humpback whales by playing the lottery. Not only do you stand a chance (albeit slim) of winning a ridiculous prize, but you also get to play a role in reversing the damage done to these animals. Sounds like a pretty cool idea to us. Where can we get our great white shark lotto ticket?
Bodog Seeking Multiple Latin American Partners
According to EGRmagazine.com, Bodog is considering working with several possible licensees for its Latin American operation. Originally, the company was looking for a single partner this summer, but apparently Calvin Ayre and company are having a difficult time landing the perfect partner.
Apparently, Ayre is now looking to incite a feeding frenzy for potential licensees who could set up shop in one country while controlling the action in another region.
"I would consider having a number of operators within the different Latin American markets. And if someone started out with a large territory and wasn’t able to grow fast enough then we would want to claw back some of that region – we have that right already [with existing licensees in other regions]," Ayre said.
Bodog has set the bar high for potential partners in Latin America, stating that suitable matches will have at least $10 million US and be competent in daily operations, as well as have a solid plan for development if they want to be considered. This rules out a lot of people, but no doubt plenty of operators will be looking to score a potentially lucrative license from Ayre.
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