Reuters – Greece’s OPAP, one of Europe’s biggest betting firms, plans to launch long-awaited online sports betting before the start of the soccer World Cup in June, its CEO said on Thursday, in a bid to capitalize on the popular event. Greece sold a majority stake in OPAP to Czech-Greek investment fund Emma Delta for 652 million euros ($890 million)last year, marking its first major privatization under its multi-billion international bailout. The new management that took over in October promised to implement the company’s plans to expand into online betting, video lotto and scratch cards. OPAP launched a scratch card…

iGaming Business – Khoo Boon Hui, former president of Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organisation, has warned that global scrutiny of the 2014 Fifa World Cup will not deter individuals from attempting to fix matches during the upcoming national team football tournament in Brazil. Khoo, who held the role of Interpol president between 2008 and 2012, now serves as senior deputy secretary of home affairs for Singapore and also sits on the advisory board for the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS). According to the Kyodo news agency, Khoo said that the huge interest in the tournament will not dissuade…

Casino.org – With just weeks to go until the world’s greatest sporting tournament kicks off in Brazil, FIFA, the international governing body of football, has called on gaming operators across the globe to help them stamp out corruption and match-fixing at the World Cup. FIFA uses the “Early Warning System” (EWS), technology that is proficient in monitoring and analyzing the global betting markets, but the system also relies on the cooperation of betting firms around the world to report any suspicious betting activity they uncover. Gambling partners share suspicious patterns with EWS via a secure communications platform, while the system…

Reuters – Online gambling company Bwin.Party said this year’s soccer World Cup would help it to return to growth after problems in Greece and a shift away from riskier markets cut earnings in 2013. Bwin.Party is concentrating on fewer markets where regulations are more clear cut and is expanding in the United States as gambling rules are relaxed there. Rival Betfair, another of a cluster of online gambling companies that have grown up over the past decade, is pursuing a similar strategy. “Having streamlined the shape and size of our business we now have the foundations to return our business…