NEW DEVELOPMENT IN BLUE MOON - BODOG CONFRONTATION Published: 2006-04-27
Now Fox Sports is being dragged into the litigation, too
Calvin Ayre, the CEO of Bodog may have dismissed the Blue Moon Entertainment litigation with contempt and threats, but the TV doccie company showed this week that it meant business by adding Fox Sports to the list of defendants in its plagiarism action against the gambling group (see earlier Online-Casinos.com reports)
In an amended statement filed this week in a Los Angeles County courthouse, Babette Pepaj, a documentary-maker doing business as BlueMoon Entertainment, clarified and increased by one count of action her complaint against Bodog Entertainment Group, Calvin Ayre, Fox Sports Net, Inc. and other entities.
The case arises from claims by Blue Moon that Ayre's new TV reality show Wild Card Poker is a rip-off of an earlier "Poker Showdown" concept that Blue Moon came up with - allegedly at Bodog's request.
Last week Bodog boss-man Calvin Ayre claimed the case had been thrown out, and said that Bodog.com was not through fighting it just yet. "We are actually not through with them (BlueMoon) yet," Ayre insisted. "I am going to make an example of these people to show what happens when you frivolously sue me."
Ayre explained that Bodog.com asked BlueMoon to submit a proposal for a television reality show just over a year ago, requesting the parameters involve poker and have Calvin Ayre appear in it. "Those are the only two similarities," Ayre insists.
The first episode of Bodog's show, which is hosted by Ayre himself appeared on Fox Sports TV last week. Attempts by BlueMoon to stop the show airing failed when a judge turned down an application for an injunction suspending the screening.
"Wild Card Poker" is a six-episode reality series about a $500 000 poker tournament, intercut with Costa Rican lifestyle elements and the activities of Bodog's billionaire founder and top man, Calvin Ayre.
Media reports on the latest developments suggest that [Blue Moon] Pepaj's lawyers have cleverly worked a comparative table into the amended version of the complaint. This allows the media to report specifically on the nature of the complaint and the similarities in concept.
Clearly the case has not "gone away" and more fireworks can be expected as lawyers on both sides carry the battle to the media as well as the courtroom.
The positive feedback loop Published: 2006-04-29
Poker is one of the few “export-quality” US sporting pastimes. A combination of exciting TV programming and ease of play on the Net has triggered exponential market growth.
This is a feedback loop — more players are chasing more money and their presence is bringing in even more money and new players.
Similar dynamics operate in conventional financial markets: good trading platforms, better information dissemination, more liquidity and more participants create positive feedback loops.
In India’s equity markets, daily volumes have grown from an average of Rs 2,500 crore in 2003 to Rs 10,000 crore now. Derivative market volumes have grown at even more stunning pace. In 2003, the F&O segment also did around Rs 2,500 crore per day. Nowadays it registers Rs 34,000 crore — that’s 1,400 per cent expansion.
Playing poker and trading financial assets require roughly similar skill-sets and carry roughly similar risks. Anybody who has been successful at both will assure you that playing poker for a living is less risky than trading.
The motivation is the same — nobody plays poker or trades for pleasure (though you may derive much joy from both activities); they do it to make money.
There are many more traders than poker-players. Poker has regulatory and image issues (it’s illegal in many places and even poker champions are not favoured clients at shaadi.com). Equity markets can absorb far larger volumes of cash.
In India’s financial environment, a secondary bond market doesn’t exist for all practical purposes; forex trading is difficult and so is investing overseas.
Every other nation with bourses of comparable size (there aren’t too many) offers better bond markets and forex trading mechanisms. So the money concentrates on stocks and equity derivatives.
Outside the top 200-odd shares and indices, most of which are available on F&O, the secondary and tertiary listed companies aren’t big enough to absorb significant sums of cash. There is also less credible information available about them.
Inside the charmed circle of the F&O stocks however, a near-perfect setup for positive feedback exists. There’s quality information, excellent trading systems, high liquidity, good leverage and lots of participation.
India generates more stock futures volumes than anywhere else in the world. You cannot efficiently short in Indian spot markets because stock-lending mechanisms are messy. But you can sell stock futures at 15-20 per cent margin. Indian stocks often fluctuate 2-3 per cent per session leaving room for hefty returns.
Often, you find riskless arbitrages. For example, a stock future may trade at 1 per cent premium to spot price within 3-4 sessions of F&O settlement.
Buy the cash underlying and sell the future, reversing the trade as prices converge at settlement. This sauda-ultasauda cancels out price fluctuations and locks in a tiny gain, post-brokerage. That gain annualises to near 50 per cent.
The minimum commitment is to buy the equivalent of an F&O trading lot in the cash market and put down the margin for the futures trade as well. You’ll need around Rs 4 lakh in your arb warchest.
Even if such a position is taken at the beginning of a settlement, a 1 per cent differential annualises to double-digits returns at zero risk. That’s a lot better than FDs and it’s a mechanical exercise. You can do it yourself. Or, you can invest in the few mutual funds that carry a mandate to do this.
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