Since 2000, Pegler, a frequent speaker at industry conferences, has advanced through the online gaming industry achieving leadership positions with his results-driven management style. His accomplishments include creating, implementing and executing business initiatives from start-up level companies to the negotiation, structuring, and ongoing account management of B2B relationships with some of Europes largest and most successful gaming brands.

Peglers resume includes serving as Senior Commercial Director at Sky Interactive (BSkyB) and most recently, Commercial Director of the Jadestone Group AB. Throughout his career, the marketing executive has consistently displayed his ability to develop business-to-business partnerships with a broad range of gaming brands that include Betfair, Unibet, Gala Coral and Nordicbet.

Pegler is a MBA graduate with distinction from Warwick Business School.

We are delighted to welcome Andrew to our team, said Daniel Phillips, chief executive of Chartwell Games. He is a seasoned operator in our industry and his experience, knowledge and leadership will be a valuable asset to our company moving forward as we strengthen current business relationships and create new revenue opportunities in our core and emerging markets.

Pegler said that he was excited about joining Chartwell at a time when the company was rolling out some outstanding games and features.
“There is a real buzz within the company and the operators who previewed the new casino platform at the ICE show in January have provided ringing endorsements of Chartwell’s strategy and focus for 2010 and beyond, Pegler said.

The two had battled through a field that attracted the likes of Eric Liu, the CardRunners pro, Betfair’s Annette Obrestad, Texas Dolly Brunson, EPT champ Marc Goodwin and Liv Boeree to make it through to the heads up.

Turenic, who hails from Sweden, took home a second placing prize worth GBP 121 815.

Tarzan is a 20 line, five reel branded slot game licensed from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc based on the adventures of Tarzan, the Lord of the Jungle. The game features fully animated artwork based on the original Joe Kubert illustrations, a story bonus round, a Tarzan wild scatter which sees Tarzan swing across the screen and turn random symbols wild and a stampede free-spin bonus.

Multi-Hand Blackjack Pro is an update to Party Casino.com’s blackjack product and features new customisation options. Players can choose between a classic table, a laid back beach bar and a futuristic metallic look. Table colour and card backs can be further customised. Multi-Hand Blackjack Pro also features a new Turbo mode where players can increase the speed of their play.

Party recently released two other brand themed slots in Resident Evil and The Naked Gun, along with High Noon and Bejeweled. The company now offers over 130 games, including 93 slots, and pays out over $10 million each day to players, a spokesman claimed.

Both Tarzan and Multi-Hand BlackJack Pro were developed in-house by Party Gaming’s specialist unit ‘The Games Studio.’

The European Sports Security Association (ESSA) came out strongly against the punishment - a suspended sentence allowing Renault to continue to compete to the end of the season - which it described as ‘lenient.’ The security association suggested the creation of an independent global body to tackle corruption in sports.

In elaborating on its position, ESSA said the measures taken against Renault reflected the dangers of self-regulating sports bodies, and emphasised an urgent need for a global body with similar independent powers to those wielded by the World Anti Doping Agency.

“It’s in the interest of all sports bodies to promote their own sports and engage in damage limitation when a scandal breaks,” observed ESSA secretary general Khalid Ali “This means that they often don’t apply the rules as rigorously as they could or should, or hand down the tough penalties that would act as effective deterrents. This latest episode is a prime example.”

Ali added: “It is unacceptable for sport federations to use the issue of sports integrity as a pretext to seek additional revenues from the gaming industry, when it is the members of sports federations themselves - whether players, coaches or officials - who are routinely found to be the origin of corruption in sports.”

And inevitably, industry observers are speculating whether the Senator was placed under pressure by fellow Democrats anxious to avoid yet more controversy around President Obama’s already contentious initiative on healthcare.

In a statement to The Hill, Wyden’s communications director said the Senator from Oregon did not want to introduce another controversial issue into the healthcare debate, and would pull his amendment from consideration.

Senator Wyden had offered the amendment to the healthcare bill the Senate Finance Committee began considering on Tuesday this week, suggesting that a tax on legalised online gambling could contribute toward health insurance subsidies.

“The last thing Senator Wyden wants to do is make it more difficult to expand subsidies for working families by introducing a new contentious issue to the debate,” said Jennifer Hoelzer, the Senator’s communications director. “So when he offers the amendment, he will do it with other funding mechanisms.”

The Hill reports that while senior Democrats in the House also have offered support for the concept of taxing Internet gambling to pay for healthcare, the issue is unlikely to move forward.

The healthcare debate is already heated, and Democratic leaders in the Senate have signaled they do not want to introduce another controversial issue to the mix.

Regan LaChapelle, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada told The Hill: “Changing the laws regarding online gaming is a significant detour from healthcare, a detour that Senator Reid agrees is not appropriate at this time.”

Internet gaming supporters in Congress, many of them Democrats, said they would consider similar measures. Representative Jim McDermott, who has already submitted a companion tax bill to complement online gambling legalisation proposals by the Democrat Barney Frank, said that he would consider such a tax.

Representative Frank himself said: “It’s a great idea. Why should we leave all that money untaxed?”

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, added that once his panel is done with reforming regulations governing the financial-services sector, he wants to bring his online gambling bill before the panel.

The Hill speculates that McDermott and other House Democrats could move to add the Wyden provision in conference, as members work to find a compromise between Democrats who want to provide generous insurance subsidies and those who want to contain the healthcare bill’s costs.

Conservative Christian groups oppose the Wyden idea, saying that legalised online gambling will degrade family life.

Tom McClusky, vice president of Family Research Council Action said: “It is congressmen trying to take advantage of the situation,” adding that the tax on Internet gambling would be paid by gamblers who need help.

“The $1.28 million in gross terminal revenue ranked as the third highest opening day in the state, behind Sands Bethlehem’s $1.6 million on May 22 and The Meadows’ $1.48 million in April.

“Of the Rivers’ $1.28 million in revenue, 55 percent of that will go to the state in taxes. The crowds that jammed the North Shore venue Sunday wagered $14 million in all, with $12.6 million of that returned to players in winnings. The numbers represent the wagering and revenue from the time the casino opened at noon yesterday to 6 a.m. today.

“State Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey said it is difficult to compare first-day numbers because Pennsylvania stand-alone and racetrack casinos have opened at different times on different days. Sands Bethelehem, for example, opened on a Friday, typically one of the busiest days of the week for a casino…”

Too many bettors got it wrong, however, as much of the wagering action was on Mir. The fight was one-sided in favor of Lesnar, who won by second-round technical knockout at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Lesnar closed as a minus-220 favorite at MGM Mirage sports books.

“We need Lesnar to win the fight. There has been money on Mir,” Mirage sports book manager Jeff Stoneback said.

Lesnar pinned Mir to the mat early in the second round, unleashed a barrage of shots at Mir’s head, and the fight was stopped at the 1:48 mark. Mir was beat up and bloodied and unable to turn his rematch with Lesnar into a mirror image of their first bout in February 2008.

Mir won that meeting by kneebar submission in the first round. Lesnar called the result a fluke, and he delivered on his promise to pound Mir and exact revenge.

Lesnar walked into the octagon at about 275 pounds, giving him about a 30-pound advantage, and the difference showed.

The main event failed to live up to the hype, but wagering on UFC 100 met high expectations.

“It probably has been our biggest handle on the UFC,” Stoneback said. “I was surprised that we didn’t get as many large wagers as usual, but the number of bets have been significantly more than we usually take.”

Stoneback said action was heavy on all the underdogs.

Upsets are commonplace in the UFC, but favored fighters won nine of the night’s 11 fights.

Georges St. Pierre retained his welterweight title by winning a tough five-round decision against Thiago Alves. St. Pierre’s popularity made it surprising the betting action was mostly on the underdog. St. Pierre closed as a minus-220 favorite after the line soared as high as 330.

“We can’t get anybody to bet St. Pierre,” Stoneback said.

The star of the show was Dan Henderson, who threw a right-handed bomb that knocked out England’s Michael Bisping in the second round. Henderson closed as a minus-210 favorite, down from the opening number of 270.

The biggest upset of the night was staged by 44-year-old Mark Coleman. The betting public and MMA experts barely gave Coleman a chance, but he encountered few problems with the much younger Stephan Bonnar, a minus-350 favorite.

Coleman took Bonnar down in the first round, bloodied Bonnar’s face in the second and had the stamina to finish strong. All three judges scored the fight 29-28. Coleman cashed as a plus-275 underdog.

Tom Lawlor also won as an underdog, using a guillotine choke to beat CB Dollaway in the first round. Dollaway was a minus-250 favorite.

The bloodiest fight ended with underdog Mac Danzig on the losing end. Danzig and Jim Miller, a minus-190 favorite, hooked up in a lightweight brawl, and Miller opened a gash on Danzig’s head early and won by unanimous decision.

A fighter to watch is 21-year-old Jon “Bones” Jones, who defeated Jake O’Brien by submission in the second round. Jones, a rising star in the UFC, delivered as a 4-1 favorite.

Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jon Fitch, Shannon Gugerty and Dong Hyun Kim also won as favorites.

“The prestige of the bracelet is a little overwhelming,” Schulman said to the WSOP. “This is the term when it comes to winning in poker. They say these tournaments are not about the money, and I never used to think like that. But I know what they mean now. The bracelet is a little sweeter than the cash.”

The cash was nice, too. Schulman earned $279,742 when he eliminated Wahlbeck, who had won the $10,000 mixed-games world championship last week.

“There wasn’t a weak spot in the field,” Schulman said. “I feel really fortunate. I feel the cards came my way, and I was able to capitalize on that.

“He’s a great player,” Schulman said about Wahlbeck. “I am happy for him [doing well at this year's WSOP]. He deserves it. He’s a very tough player.”

This was Schulman’s sixth WSOP cashing and second final table. He started the final table in fourth place and was able to pull out the victory in six hours. In a great way to end the tournament, Schulman won holding the game’s best hand and called Wahlbeck’s all-in with a 2-3-4-5-7.

Below are the complete results of Event 23:

Event 23: No-limit 2-7 lowball world championship
Buy-in: $10,000
Entries: 96
Prize pool: $902,400
Players in the money: 14

1. Nick Schulman ($279,742)
2. Ville Wahlbeck ($172,864)
3. Steve Sung ($112,042)
4. John Juanda ($75,964)
5. Archie Karas ($53,783)
6. Vince Musso ($39,697)
7. David Benyamine ($30,492)
8. Michael Binger ($24,545)
9. Justin Smith ($19,871)
10. Roland de Wolfe ($19,871)
11. Herezel Zalewski ($19,870)
12. Max Pescatori ($17,885)
13. Daniel Harmetz ($17,885)
14. Jason Gray ($17,885)

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