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Online poker giant Ultimatebet recently paid out some $22 million in compensation to internet gambling players prejudiced by the shocking hole card cheating scandal at the site allegedly led by former WSOP champ Russ Hamilton.

Some players have complained on leading internet poker message boards that they were due more than they received, and it seems that they will soon be in a position to check out this information against individual hand histories recorded during the cheating scandal that were previously unavailable.

The news was broken in Joe Sebok’s blog over the weekend. The poker ace recently joined Ultimatebet as a spokesman, and revealed that hand histories would soon be provided to those players who had requested them, initially in spread sheet summary format but later in more detail.

Sebok explained that some requests would receive a slower response than others, dependent on the amount of play and the time taken to assemble the information desired.

Sebok wrote: “It’s a two-part process and here is the rundown:

“First off, UB [Ultimatebet] is currently working to catch up on all past historical requests, so be aware of that if you already have a request in. In truth though, it can’t hurt to send another email request just to lock it up. You can do so at pokersecurity@ultimatebet.com. Please include all pertinent information in your email: your name, address, and your user name.

“Now, once your request has been processed you should expect a summary version of the information first. It’ll be a spreadsheet that details every hand you specifically played against each of the identified 117 cheating accounts. This will be a complete record of all those hands so that you can go through and verify the refund amounts yourselves. This will act as a summary as we want to get something out to you while the actual detailed hand histories are processed, which obviously takes longer.

“Some hand histories will go out quickly, as they won’t contain as many hands as others. Some players have played a ridiculous amount of hands however and that will take a longer amount of time to process. Again, this is the reason for the first, summary hand breakdown of the information, as that gets something in your hands that you can begin checking sooner.

“Please be a little patient with getting this information out and back to you once you have requested it. I know you have all been waiting for quite a while, but this kind of project takes some time to run through.”

Dragonfish, the quaintly named business-to-business division of online gambling group 888, has secured another major deal, this time with the South African land casino gambling group Tsogo Sun Gaming.

The multi-year deal is propitious, with regulated online gambling on the horizon in South Africa, and Dragonfish will supply all that Tsogo needs to become a successful online gambling brand.

The agreement follows close on the heels of an important signing with US giant Harrah’s Interactive to facilitate the online gambling strategies of that company in Europe.

Gabi Campos, managing director of Dragonfish said of the partnership, “This partnership is the first of many targeted at regulated markets, where Dragonfish’s partners operate under local licenses and enjoy the benefits of such regulatory arrangements.”

Campos revealed that the companies will set up a joint venture to initially launch a sportsbook offering, going on from there to introduce online casino, poker and bingo operations.

888’s latest half year report showed an impressive 42 percent year on year growth for Dragonfish.

Endemol UK, a leader in entertainment programming has announced it has signed an exclusive brand and software licence agreement with global online gambling bingo licensor Virtue Fusion (Alderney).

The exclusive deal licenses Virtue Fusion to develop a ‘Deal or No Deal’ casino game, which will combine elements of the successful TV show and traditional bingo games. The innovative Deal or No Deal online casinos game is scheduled to be rolled out on the Virtue Fusion network at the end of October.

Mecca, Paddy Power, bet365 and Sky have already confirmed they will host the game, with more operators to be announced in due course.

In addition to the Deal or No Deal agreement, Virtue Fusion (Alderney) has secured non-exclusive rights to produce mini-games, fixed odds games and scratchcard games for popular Endemol formats Deal or No Deal, Big Brother and Golden Balls.

Three unique progressive networked scratchcards will be available to Virtue Fusion operators from autumn 2009. The games will have the theme ‘Quick Scratch’ and will be in both mini- game and stand alone format.

Bob McCulloch CEO of Virtue Fusion said: “This represents a huge opportunity for our operators to partake in this exclusive contract. This deal with Endemol is further evidence of our determination to strengthen our product range and provide the tools with which to progress our business ahead of the competition”

Endemol UK’s Head of Products, Jurian van der Meer commented: “Deal or No Deal is one of Endemol’s biggest TV hits worldwide and I’m really excited to see it combined with bingo to create a new entertainment experience. By partnering with Virtue Fusion to develop the game we’re able to distribute to some of the biggest operators in the bingo industry.”