Online Casino News and Information

INB - Internet News Bureau
August 11, 2006
BetonSports Folds U.S. Hand
By Roy Mark

Betonsports.com is folding its U.S. hand.

With the British-based company named in a 22-count indictment for violating American gambling laws and its former CEO sitting in a St. Louis jail, BetonSports said Friday it was permanently cutting off access to its site for U.S. bettors.

The site has been dark for American online gamblers since last month when a U.S. court issued a temporary restraining order against BetonSports.

The London Stock Exchange suspended trading in the company’s shares on July 17, shortly after a U.S. court unsealed the indictments against BetonSports and 11 current and former officials of the business.

In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, BetonSports said it hoped to refund balances to U.S. gamblers and to pay some salaries of employees in Costa Rica and Antigua, where the company’s offshore operations are located.

Those payments, however, “will depend upon the company’s ability to persuade banks and cash processors to release its funds.”

BetonSports’ problems began with the arrest of David Carruthers, the then CEO of the company, who was changing planes in Fort Worth, Texas, en route from London to Costa Rica.

A week later, Betonsports fired Carruthers because of his continued detention by U.S. authorities. Carruthers remains in jail while his lawyers negotiate bail terms.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) contends BetonSports violated U.S. law by taking sporting bets over the telephone and the Internet from U.S. citizens.

“Illegal commercial gambling across state and international borders is a crime,” U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway of the Eastern District of Missouri said in a statement released with the July indictments.

“This indictment is but one step in a series of actions designed to punish and seize the profits of individuals who disregard federal and state laws.”

READ MORE - Read the complete article at INB - Internet News Bureau

ITBusinessNet.com

Gamblers hoping to get money back after betting Web site shuts down
By ADAM GOLDMA, AP Business Writer

Since BetOnSports PLC started accepting wagers online, gamblers played the odds on plenty of sporting events. But they also gambled on whether U.S. prosecutors would one day target the Costa Rica-based company for possibly violating federal law.

Now, gamblers are wondering if they’ll ever get their money back after a judge’s temporary restraining order forced BetOnSports to disable its Web site, blocking access to player accounts.

“I just can’t get past how much I could lose,” a New Jersey bettor named Eric wrote recently on a gambling blog.

BetOnSports faces a 22-count indictment on fraud and racketeering charges in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis. David Carruthers, the firm’s former chief executive, remains in jail in the United States after being arrested while changing planes in Texas.

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, plus several cars, recreational vehicles and computers from Carruthers and 10 other people associated with the gambling operation.

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway told The Associated Press that last month’s federal restraining order requires BetOnSports to return any money that American customers have tied up with the site.

The order, which expires Monday but could be extended, also prevents BetOnSports from taking U.S.-based bets.

But Hanaway said if BetOnSports doesn’t return the money, the U.S. government has every right to seize it.

Hanaway contends the bets were placed illegally, violating the 1961 federal Wire Act. That means the government could take the money to settle legal claims in the same way it takes money from drug cartels, Hanaway said.

“In all kinds of crimes we forfeit money that someone has paid,” she said.

An executive with BetOnSports says the company is trying to return deposits and pending wagers before that scenario plays out.

“Customers will get their money,” the executive said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

But the executive said that because of the judge’s order on July 17, some payment processors, or e-wallets as they’re known, have stopped doing business with BetOnSports. The executive said BetOnSports has no way to transfer the bulk of the pending wagers or deposits to gamblers.

“We are in a difficult position,” the executive said.

READ MORE - Read the complete article at ITBusinessNet.com

Times Online
August 07, 2006
By Walter Olson

Like Prohibition-era Oklahomans who were said to stagger to the polls to vote dry, America these days is a gambling-mad country happy to elect officials who outdo each other in anti-gambling fervor. Perhaps that explains the absence of an outpouring of support here thus far for David Carruthers, the former BetOnSports.com chief executive who was nabbed at the Dallas airport, shackled and menaced with years in prison for running an online gaming company (droll New York Post headline: “Texas Hold ‘Em”).

If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then prosecution can serve as a continuation of policy by other means. The editors of the reputedly liberal St. Louis Post-Dispatch applauded the crackdown on online betting, sparing no sympathy for the British executive. “Whatever you think about legalised gambling, and we think it’s a mistake,” they wrote, “it makes no sense to send American gambling revenue overseas via internet gambling sites where it circumvents American taxes.”

READ MORE - Read Complete Article at Times Online

fool.com cryptologic post

The following is a post from Fool.com, one of my favorite stock related sites. If you haven’t checked it out, do yourself a favor and do!

“POST OF THE DAY
Cryptologic, Inc. One last thing…

By DemonDoug
August 9, 2006

Posts selected for this feature rarely stand alone. They are usually a part of an ongoing thread, and are out of context when presented here. The material should be read in that light.

So in a LBYM world, this is my last day of my current 30-day trial, no more posts from me for a while.

I want to leave everyone reading this board (and maybe the HGs board if they drop on over here) my thoughts on Cryptologic.

CRYP is undervalued right now. It is a buy. I’m hoping the price stays deflated for a bit more so I can pick some more up around the 20 level. Why am I so bullish? Let me explain:

-The company makes money. It makes a lot of money. It’s a leader and has shown good growth of its revenues and profits.
-It is in an industry that is growing, and continues to make deals and win accolades in that industry
-It is a small cap that pays a healthy dividend and is most definitely in the value range of P/E and PEG ratio
-It is a Canadian company - since CRYP does make a lot of their money off of US dollars this might not make as much a difference, but they have operations in many places that are not dollar denominated. This is important for those who see the dollar’s value dropping precipitously.
-Finally, this is probably the most important thing: The US will never ever be able to enforce an online gambling ban. EVER.

This last statement is a strong one, but let me explain. There are many things that happen online every day that are illegal. Downloading a song off a p2p network is illegal. Downloading a movie or a TV show is illegal. Gambling is illegal. Selling something and not reporting it to the IRS is illegal. Phishing is illegal. There are laws against hacking, cracking, and distributing serial numbers. All illegal. Spam is illegal. Mail-bombing - illegal.

This list can go on ad infinitum. The point is that these things happen, and no public government can ever hope to stop them. Curtail them temporarily - yes. But people still download music, movies, TV shows. People still spamblast your mailboxes and phish for your ID. Thousands of hackers and crackers reverse engineer programs and give you free access to them if you take the time and effort to use their tools. For every big federal bust you hear about on the news, what you don’t hear about is the thousands of new things being put up on the Internet daily that no government can ever stop.

And gambling fits right along with this. Cryptologic, and the online gambling establishments, will not have their bottom lines hurt by any law or enforcement efforts. The music and movie industries carry far more weight than a few casinos who try to have online gambling banned - and so far they are pretty much useless in stopping illegal downloading.

So what to do as an investor? Simple: buy buy buy as much CRYP as you can when “bad news” hits. The earnings, dividend, and growth outlook are too spectacular to keep a stock like CRYP down, and it will pop right back up - just as it has done recently.

There is only one bearish issue with CRYP and that is their executive compensation package. Fortunately there are a lot of outside investors that vote down these horrendous un-shareholder friendly issuances (and I was proud to vote no on my position). But this is the only reason to be bearish on CRYP as I see it. Everything else from a fundamental level is spot on, and as I see it the online gaming community is immune to any US or US state law enforcement efforts.

Remember back about 6 years ago, the record companies filed charges against about a thousand kids that were using the Morpheus download services? They fined them all and made them do community service, then they put a dozen of those kids on a commercial. Do you think illegal downloading has been trimmed back at all?

Of course it hasn’t. It has grown and continues to grow, and so will the gaming industry.

Second-quarter net income rose to $8.2 million, or 59 cents a share, from $4.8 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 52% to $30.4 million on strong organic growth in online poker software fees.

-DD”

You can find reviews for cryptologic casinos on GamesandCasino.com.

Reel Crime 2: Art Heist is Latest To Add Fun, Interactive Features to Classic Slot Experience

July 27, 2006- The400Group today announced the release of Reel Crime 2: Art Heist, a new i-Slot from Rival Gaming. Part of a family of online games that add an interactive dimension to classic online slots, Art Heist is a multi-line, multi-reeled slot game that takes players into the comic universe of a pair of bumbling art thieves.

Art Heist will provide 400Affiliates with a new way of exciting player interest, and help to drive affiliate traffic to The400Group sites ThisIsVegas.com, Paradise8.com, DaVincisGold.com and CocoaCasino.com.

“It’s a completely new set of characters and a completely new storyline,” says Justin Kelly, Affiliate Manager at 400Affiliates. “It also has a lot of new, interactive extras that players are going to really like.”

Art Thievery with a Comic Twist
Art Heist follows the animated adventures of Remy and Raoul, two Parisian art thieves out to steal famous paintings by Rembrandt, Picasso and DaVinci. But what makes the game genuinely exciting is that game play determines their success rate.

As players progress to higher levels, they encounter multiple bonus rounds that send them towards different levels and outcomes. Player skill and choices dictate progress and winnings, but they also determine whether Remy and Raoul will end up on a chain gang, or sipping daiquiris on a beach in Jamaica.

“T4G is committed to giving its affiliate partners a constant stream of new games and promotions to appeal to their customer base,” says Kelly. “With Art Heist, we feel we’ve provided our affiliates with something that they can really go to bat with.”

Other i-Slots available at T4G sites include As the Reels Turn and Reel Crime: Bank Heist.

The400Group N.V. is a fully licensed, online casino operator based in Curacao. Its registered business subsidiaries are ThisIsVegas, Paradise8, DaVincisGold and CocoaCasino, all of which are online casinos. With a top priority of establishing and maintaining mutually successful relationships, 400Affiliates offers one of the most competitive online affiliate programs in the industry.

Rival Gaming is an online gaming software developer based in Nicosia, Cyprus. Providing total business solutions to its valuable licensees, Rival’s range of products and services includes cutting-edge interactive software, a full casino suite, powerful backend marketing and management tools, maximum security and anti-fraud control, unique custom marketing programs, seamless affiliate management, dedicated and proactive customer support, and comprehensive start up guidance and training. Dedicated to the evolving needs of today’s savvy and ever more demanding players, Rival Gaming is the partner of choice for discerning operators worldwide.

easyBOURSE
Tuesday August 1st, 2006 / 15h52
By Lilly Vitorovich Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants the Senate to amend the controversial Internet gambling legislation, saying it would impose a “substantial regulatory burden” on financial institutions.
The world’s largest business federation, which represents more than three million companies and organizations, has joined a growing list of trade associations that oppose parts of the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act.
The bill, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and will be reviewed by the Senate, would basically prohibit credit card companies and financial institutions from sending payment to online gaming sites.
In a July 28 letter reviewed by Dow Jones Newswires, the U.S. Chamber says it isn’t taking a position on Internet gambling. However, the Chamber warns that obliging companies to investigate whether paper checks, and other non-coded financial transactions are related to Internet gambling, could “require substantial changes to the system by which such instruments are processed.”
“Clearly, the costs of these changes would be significant,” the Chamber said. “We are writing to strong urge the Senate to amend this legislation to clarify with certainty that the bill will not require financial institutions to block non-coded transactions.”

READ MORE Read the complete article at easyBOURSE.com

bellevillenewsdemocrate.com
JEFF DOUGLAS
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS - The former chief executive of one of the world’s largest online gambling companies, BetOnSports, will remain in federal custody after pleading not guilty Monday to charges of mail and wire fraud and racketeering.

David Carruthers, 48, was one of several BetOnSports PLC employees and associates named in a federal 22-count indictment who pleaded not guilty.

Neil Kaplan and Lori Kaplan Multz, the brother and sister of BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan, were among those pleading not guilty.

The government claims BetOnSports and its employees fraudulently took billions of dollars in wagers from U.S. residents by phone and over the Internet without paying excise taxes.

No one appeared on behalf of BetOnSports PLC, a British online gambling company. U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway wasn’t surprised.

“They have not had any regard for the law,” Hanaway said. “And to not appear would be a further step along that same path.”

Gary Kaplan is a former New York-area bookie now living in Costa Rica, authorities said. He remained at large despite the indictment.

Carruthers was transported to St. Louis from Dallas, according to court officials. He was arrested July 16 by federal agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport en route to Costa Rica, where the company has an office.

The Justice Department is seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, cars and computers from the defendants.

BetOnSports fired Carruthers, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom, last week and the company has agreed to a judge’s order to stop accepting U.S. bets. The company has also asked the London Stock Exchange to suspend trading of its shares.

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