The countdown to the much-anticipated Euro 2012 is nearly over, as football fans from across the continent and the rest of the world turn their attention to Poland and Ukraine.

The action gets underway on 8th June as the Poles and Greeks face off in Warsaw: a meeting of joint hosts and 2004 winners. It’s the beginning of a feast of football with two matches being played daily for 12 days straight. You can increase your enjoyment of every single game when you bet In-Play with bet365.

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The mGaming Awards, due to be held on the evening of the 25th of April at the closing of the mGaming Summit, have today announced an illustrious sponsor for the evening’s festivities. Microgaming is the largest software and technology provider for the online gaming market with over 15 years experience in the industry. Their sponsorship of the inaugural award ceremony will ensure delegates to the summit will enjoy a fruitful and note-worthy evening. The short list for the awards has been announced and can be found in full on www.mGamingSummit.com/mgaming_awards.

"We are delighted to support the mGaming Summit," says Neill Whyte, Head of Product Channels at Microgaming. "We have been at the forefront of mobile technology within the e-gaming industry for a number of years, and continue to stay ahead of the game. This event allows us to be ideally placed to meet and greet existing operators, and to discuss the key issues which are driving mobile gaming. We are looking forward to the conference and to our sponsorship of the evening drinks and awards."

The mGaming Awards are tied in to the mGaming summit, a one day event dedicated to the online mobile gambling market – a growing and profitable sector. Created by the leading information providers in each specific sector, iGaming Business (the business of online gambling) and WorldTelemedia (the mobile sector), this event will be bringing together brands, marketing agencies, rights holders, operators, federations, mobile suppliers, payment & billing services. The event is being held in London UK on the 25th of April 2012. More information can be found on www.mGamingSummit.com.

The independent testing and standards company eCOGRA has successfully completed a rigorous assessment by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service to achieve an extension to its International Organisation for Standardisation ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation.

The extension enables the company to include the Danish Gambling Authority’s Technical Standards and Change Management Programme to its area of professional expertise.

"The practical application of this extended accreditation is that, along with other criteria required by the strict Danish regulator, we are now qualified to perform certification work and provide guidance to online gambling companies in the Danish market, and those seeking licenses to operate, " said eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge this week.

The extension qualifies eCOGRA to operate in all five Danish certification categories:

• Gambling functions;
• Business functions;
• Preventative measures to counter money laundering of proceeds and financing of terrorism;
• Vulnerability and penetration testing; and
• Change management

Beveridge says that there has been significant interest in eCOGRA’s capabilities in regulatory compliance, and he is confident that his company’s professional teams of auditors and IT specialists will be engaged to perform certification work for almost a third of Danish-licensed operators.

"Since 2003 we have accrued a considerable fund of experience and knowledge, having conducted literally hundreds of technical and financial inspections, reviews and assessments for many of the leading operators in the internet gambling industry, " Beveridge said. "This has generated more business for us as the regulatory scene in Europe especially has evolved and expanded."

Satellite tournaments at the popular online poker room will award seats at five guaranteed prize tournaments and at a live event in Barcelona.

Titan Online Poker, the leading online poker room in Europe, has launched satellite qualifiers awarding seats at five online poker tournaments with $1,000,000 in total guaranteed prizes, and at a live event that will be staged in Barcelona.

IPOPS, the iPoker Online Poker Series, will consist of five online events between April 29th and May 6th, 2012. Each of the tournaments carries a large guaranteed prize and offers affordable direct entries. Titan Poker is staging satellite qualifiers around the clock to these tournaments with buy-ins starting as low as $0.10+$0.01.

iPOPS will conclude with a $500,000 guaranteed prize freezeout on May 6th. The online tournament action will pause when only 27 players remain, and the tournament will resume as a live event at the Gran Casino De Barcelona on June 1st.

In addition to the online poker tournaments, Titan Online Poker is staging satellites leading to the IPOPS Live Main Event, which will take place in Barcelona on June 2nd-3rd, 2012.

Three weekly Super Satellites will award winning players with €2,200 packages, which include the €700+€70 buy-in to the IPOPS Live Main Event; €1,000 for 3 nights’ accommodation at the Arts Hotel in Barcelona, June 1st-4th, 2012; €30 for handling fees; and €400 for flights and spending. Participating players will be invited to a special Welcome Party.

The inaugural iPOPS Live tournament, staged in Prague in December, was a huge success and attracted top poker players from across Europe. Poker novices and veteran poker players alike are invited to try out the free poker download at Titan Poker in order to participate in the exciting IPOPS tournaments.

Beveridge joins an impressive company in legal and regulatory section of awards list.

Andrew Beveridge, chief executive of eCOGRA, is among the nine executives named in the legal and regulatory section of the latest Hot 50 list published annually by the business publication Gaming Intelligence.

The list honours "the most talented, innovative and inspired people working in online gambling" and was this year compiled by a judging panel that comprised Warwick Bartlett of Global Betting & Gaming Consultants; Andrew Bulloss, head of betting and gaming practice at Odgers Berndtson; Mark Davies, chief executive at Camberton reputation management; Morgan Stanley executive director Vaughan Lewis; EGBA general secretary Sigrid Ligné; Gaming Intelligence managing editor Bobby Mamudi and financial analyst Dawid Myslinski.

Mamudi said the objective of the Hot 50 list was to recognise the achievements of industry executives who are shaping the future from a wide range of international CEOs, regulators, technology wizards, lawyers and marketers.

The list includes industry legends such as Denise and John Coates of Bet365 and Isai Scheinberg of PokerStars, and the legal and regulatory section names:

• Juan Carlos Alfonso, deputy director general, National Gaming Commission Spain
• Martin Cruddace, chief legal and regulatory officer, Betfair
• Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the Remote Gambling Association
• Jeff Ifrah, a US lawyer who has been deeply involved in the Full Tilt Poker issues in America
• Francesco Rodano head of remote gaming at Italian regulator AAMS
• Birgitte Sand, director of the new Danish Gambling Authority
• Paul Telford, general counsel for PokerStars, and
• Jenny Williams, chief executive of the UK Gambling Commission.

The individual citation for Beveridge reads:

"As CEO of eCOGRA since 2003, Andrew Beveridge has had a considerable influence on responsible gaming. But it is his handling of the process that developed the CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) Agreement for Responsible Remote Gambling that wins him a place in the Hot 50. The process began facing pretty fierce opposition but in his role as chairman, Beveridge assuaged doubts and balanced hundreds of different viewpoints to produce an agreement that has been widely accepted by the industry. It is now being used as a template for good practice to win over sceptical and protectionist governments."

Commenting on his inclusion on the list, Beveridge said he felt honoured to be in such respected company as the industry matures and moves increasingly toward national regulation in many countries, with the benefits to players that this brings.