January 16th, 2005

SWEDEN -- Boss Media AB have signed an agreement with Sportech PLC - the parent company of Littlewoods Gaming - to provide a casino and poker system for Littlewoods Bet Direct Internet gaming site.

Sportech PLC is the UK's leading home gaming company, providing a variety of gaming and betting opportunities to customers through the wholly owned gaming and betting business - Littlewoods Gaming. Sportech PLC has a full listing on the London Stock Exchange and recorded a turnover of 207.9m Pounds for the year ended December 31, 2003.

Littlewoods Gaming provides betting and gaming opportunities to over one million customers, and always strives to be in the forefront when it comes to using new technology and new channels of distribution to bring more games to more players in the home.

Boss is to supply a Casino system with GBP as the base currency. The Casino will be available in both a download and in a web-based version. The Poker will link into the existing Boss Poker Network-community. The existing Bet Direct punters will be able to log in and play both casino and poker games using their existing playing account.

"We are very happy for the contract to provide Littlewoods BetDirect with a casino and poker solution. Given our experience from customised integrated gaming solutions, and Littlewoods extensive experience from gaming operations, we see a great potential in this cooperation," says Peter Bertilsson, President and CEO of Boss Media

"When looking to develop the casino and poker products for Bet Direct we were conscious that the products needed to utilise the existing account offered on the Bet Direct Sportsbook. Boss Media have proven expertise in this area and this coupled with their excellent product offering made them the natural choice," says Phil Kissane, Director of Internet Gaming at Littlewoods Gaming.

The Group Boss Media AB (publ) is one of the world's leading suppliers of systems for digitally distributed gaming entertainment. Boss Media develops gaming solutions for such distribution channels as personal computers, interactive video terminals, mobile phones and digital TV. Licensees are offered a customized gaming system, an integrated payment system as well as related services. The Boss Media-share is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

By Teddy Greenstein
Chicago Tribune

January 11, 2004

The over-the-top criticism of Randy Moss' touchdown celebration Sunday began when Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck called it a "disgusting act" and said: "It's unfortunate we had it on our air live."

It continued with Fox studio host James Brown, who called it: "Classless, ignorant and embarrassing."

Next thing you knew, ESPN's Chris Berman was chiming in with: "Randy disgraced Lambeau (Field) and he disgraced himself, I think, with what he did."

So what did the Minnesota Vikings receiver do, exactly? He mimicked dropping his pants to moon the Lambeau Field crowd.

But there had to be people, tens of thousands of people, who tuned into ESPN's "SportsCenter" Monday morning without having seen Moss bend over and stick out his derriere.

And guess what? ESPN didn't show it. The network that takes pride in its hard-hitting news division went Pravda on us, banning the clip from its early shows.

Janet Jackson's obscured right breast wasn't treated this harshly. Nor was Jake Plummer's middle finger.

Thankfully, Mark Shapiro, ESPN's executive vice president for programming and production, realized his network's mistake the moment he tuned into "SportsCenter" Monday morning.

"We screwed up," Shapiro said. "There's no question we should have showed it.
"Somewhere in the middle of the night, a decision was made not to put it on, and it was the wrong decision. We're all caught up in the climate of not being indecent. That can be a good thing, but this is a news story, and we erred on the side of being conservative. We don't want to be gratuitous, but we have to give the viewers some context."

By Monday afternoon, ESPN was showing the Moss clip on "Around the Horn," "Pardon the Interruption" and "SportsCenter."

By then, much of ESPN's criticism had been toned down. Reporter Pedro Gomez introduced the clip by calling it a "questionable end-zone celebration."

ESPN was wise to do an about-face, lest it be hit with charges of first-degree hypocrisy.
Thursday, ESPN will launch the poker show "Tilt," its second scripted series following the controversial "Playmakers," which lasted one season after the network bowed to pressure from the NFL.

"Tilt" might be even more salacious. There's a scene 10 minutes into the first episode that is bound to leave some viewers with their, uh, mouths open.

In one of our first glimpses of the main character, poker legend Don "the Matador" Everest unbuckles his belt as he strolls into the bathroom of a lavish Las Vegas office suite. There he encounters a busty blonde who begins to kneel in front of him.

When the camera returns to show the Matador, he groans softly, looks down and says: "Bull's-eye."

Meanwhile in the suite, casino manager Bart "Lowball" Rogers shakes his head.

Shapiro said the scene was included to give viewers a true taste of the Matador.

"We thought it was relevant to his character," Shapiro said. "You can't watch that scene and not think: What a slime. He's a villain and an antagonist and we thought that was in line with this character arc. That's why we put it in and why we left it in.

"At the same time, when you scan the cupboard of shows and see `The Swan' and `Nip/Tuck,' `Desperate Housewives' and `Vegas' ... this is extremely tame compared to some of the language and some of the scenes. That doesn't mean we try to outdo each other. Hopefully it's all done for reasons of character development."

Shapiro did acknowledge: "We're trying to connect with the audience and ignite a certain reaction."

But he believes the scene does not cross the line.

Getting back to Moss, late word came Monday that Buck wanted to clarify his reasons for referring to Moss' touchdown celebration as "disgusting."

A Fox official who talked to Buck said the sportscaster was actually reacting to what Moss did after his mock mooning, when he briefly rubbed his derriere against the goal post, perhaps to mock cleanse it.

"That's what he termed disgusting," the Fox higher-up said.

That clarification came hours after Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke had ripped Buck on "Around the Horn," saying: "This is the same Joe Buck who takes a lot of money from a beer company to do a commercial about a self-serving, self-indulgent guy named Leon who reminds people of Randy Moss. It's fine when he's getting paid to do it, but when he doesn't get paid to do it, he calls it disgusting."

Plaschke also came down on ESPN for initially refusing to show the Moss clip.

"ESPN has stuff like `Playmakers' and a big gambling and sex drama coming out this week," he said. "Give me a break. It was far less worse than Jake Plummer's finger."

Charity expects $10,000

January 10, 2005

By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer

Playing cards was a family pastime for Michael DiRaimondo when he was growing up in Simi Valley, so it was fitting that a year after the Army flight medic's death in Iraq his family would have a charity Texas hold'em poker tournament in his honor Sunday.

More than 100 players attended the tournament at Paul's Italian Villa, and organizers expected to raise about $10,000 for a foundation created in DiRaimondo's memory.

DiRaimondo, who was 22 when he was killed in Fallujah, Iraq, on Jan. 8, 2004, wanted to become a fire department paramedic.

"He went in to the Army to be a flight medic," said father Tony DiRaimondo, 56, of Simi Valley. "And his idea was get training, (and) when he gets out, he would become a paramedic firefighter. And that dream did not happen."

But with more than $130,000 raised since the foundation was created last year, the DiRaimondos will offer scholarships so that other aspiring paramedics can get the training to achieve their dreams.

Dawn DiRaimondo, 29, said playing cards was a family pastime when she was growing up, so the charity poker tournament was a good event to have a year after her brother's death.

"We wanted to do something productive, sort of channel our energy into something positive," she said, adding that her brother was a humble man and would have been amazed to see the poker tournament.

With large photos of Michael DiRaimondo on a table nearby, players competed to get to a final round, where they could win hotel packages for trips to such destinations as Las Vegas and Hawaii. Among the players were many friends of Michael DiRaimondo, who was an avid surfer and snowboarder.

Longtime friend Tyler Field, 23, said he spoke to Michael DiRaimondo when he was in Iraq.

"He said that he was happy; he knew that this was what he was meant to do," Field said.

Several members of the Ventura County Fire Department also stopped by the poker tournament. Capt. Wayne Ferber said firefighters have been showing up at events held in Michael DiRaimondo's honor because he wanted to become a firefighter paramedic himself.

(Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif., was among nine soldiers killed when their medevac helicopter went down in Iraq, Jan. 8, 2004.)

Alex Dobuzinskis, (818) 546-3304 alex.dobuzinskis@dailynews.com

January 9, 2005

WHISPERS at Crown casino that the Australian Poker Championships next week might pull the celebrity talents of Tobey Maguire.

The Spider-Man star has been showing his hand at tables around the US poker circuit, walking away with almost $125,000 at a recent US invitational tournament.

Organisers wouldn't confirm Maguire's attendance, but several other big names have been invited, including Ben Affleck and Russian tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Affleck, the star of poker movie Rounders, is one of several Hollywood stars making their name in card gambling, in a craze that is sweeping America.

We hear Aussie Eric Bana is also to join the gambling world, as a professional poker player in the movie Lucky You.