Online Casino News and Information

EGAMING REVIEW

Neteller founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre have been charged with money laundering offences by the US Attorney General in the Southern District of New York.

A statement from the office of Michael Garcia added that Lawrence and Lefebvre had been arrested in connection with the “creation and operation of an internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from US citizens to the owners of various internet gambling companies located overseas”.

Lawrence and Lefebvre were arrested in the early hours of Monday morning, January 15. Lawrence was arrested Monday in the US Virgin Islands and will be presented in federal court in St Thomas today. Lefebvre was arrested in Malibu, California, and will be presented in a Los Angeles court yesterday.

Neteller suspended trading yesterday morning as the news broke.

In a statement released, Neteller said neither Lawrence or Lefebvre had any current position within the company. The statement added: “The group has not received any communication or correspondence from any US authority regarding this or any related matter.”

Lebebvre left Neteller in December 2005 while Lawrence left in October last year, just after the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

The news of the Neteller arrests spelt more bad news for those operators that have not exited the US.

Said one legal source: “It’s a warning shot across the bows for those still taking money from the US.”

He added: “They are aiming their strategy at the finance provision. It is consistent with the UIGEA. It is a more effective strategy than going after the operators themselves, such as PokerStars. When you get the money providers, you get the portfolio of operators.”

One leading operator suggested this was particularly bad news for those poker operators that remain in the US market. “This could be terminal for the poker business in the US. The average punter will not be willing to jump through the hoops (to get their payments through).”

It has been reported that the founding partners of Neteller were arrested today, one on the west coast in Los Angeles and one on the east coast in New York.

Steve Lawrence and John LeFevre established Neteller in 1999 although both are now removed from the company, John in 2002 and Steve as of October 13th, 2006. Many will recognize that as the date the UIGEA and Safe Port act was signed into law by President Bush.

Although neither are now involved with Neteller nor have they since the signing of the bill, there may be a possibility they are receiving income of some sort through Neteller.

E-GAMING REVIEW

Mansion has denied industry rumours that it is undertaking a re-organisation that will see it close the majority of its online operations.

According to sources Mansion is to concentrate on being a “high-end offline and online casino” operation in conjunction with Mansion owner Putra Sampoerna’s London casino Les Ambassadeurs.

The company said they were “unsubstantiated rumours”.

The source suggested the failure of the online gaming company’s sponsorship of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur to bring in sufficient new customers lies behind the move.

Said the source of the Spurs shirt sponsorship: “It didn’t work at all.”

Mansion signed a four-year deal with Tottenham Hotspur last season for £34m (US$66m). It is not known what would happen with the sponsorship following the revision of Mansion’s strategy.

READ THE ARTICLE AT E-GAMING REVIEW

Victor Chandler chief clarifies Israel meeting
E-GAMING REVIEW
Michael Carlton, chief executive of Victor Chandler, has issued a statement regarding his questioning by Israeli authorities on Wednesday 10 January.

“I traveled to Israel for a preplanned meeting with government ministers, at their invitation, regarding licensing arrangements in the country. Before leaving I was invited to spend two hours with the Israeli authorities answering their questions regarding online gambling in Israel,” he said.

Victor Chandler currently advertises in and accepts bets from Israel, although other operators do not, as gambling is overseen by a state-run monopoly there. According to newspaper Haaretz, in December 2006, Israeli state prosecutor Eran Shendar decided to outlaw online gambling by private operators and police warned credit card companies that by processing transactions for operators they would be committing a felony offense.

Carlton said: “Israel is currently a fraction of the Victor Chandler business. However, we are keen to work with the authorities in Israel going forward and have already opened discussions with Knesset members.”

READ THE ARTICLE AT E-GAMING REVIEW

Perspectives Weekly - January 12, 2007 has been released and this video will give you chills… literally! This week’s installment covers gaming news from the UK and China, preliminary audit results of some major online poker rooms and affiliate spamming that goes over and beyond the walls of decency.

Perspectives Weekly is produced by APCW and is always a highly entertaining and informative video of what’s happening in the online gambling world.

THE GUARDIAN
Simon Bowers
Friday January 12, 2007

PartyGaming’s co-founder Vikrant Bhargava, who stepped down as marketing director last month, is believed to have raised about £50m through the placing of a 4.1% stake in the company - a move which could mark the first of a series of share sales among the four founder shareholders in the online gambling group.

The placing of 160m shares is believed to have been made by the brokers UBS at 30.5p - a 9.6% discount to the previous day’s closing price. The online poker, casino and bookmaking business is expected to confirm the sale within days.

Some unconfirmed reports suggested the placing had been taken up rapidly, with strong hedge fund interest. PartyGaming shares closed down 1.5p, or 4.4%, at 32.25p.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT THE GUARDIAN

TIMES ONLINE
Dominic Walsh
The chief executive of Victor Chandler International (VCI), the online bookmaker, has been detained by the Israeli authorities in the latest crackdown on the internet gambling industry.

Michael Carlton is understood to have spent two hours helping the authorities with their inquiries before being released and allowed to return via London to the company’s headquarters in Gibraltar.

A spokesman for VCI refused to comment but confirmed that Mr Carlton was flying back from Israel and expected to be in the office this morning. At that point, the company would make a formal statement, he said.

Industry sources said that Mr Carlton had been detained in Tel Aviv over an advertising campaign run by Victor Chandler on the side of Israeli buses.

Internet gambling and the advertising of the pastime are deemed illegal in the country, although this is believed to the first time that anyone has been detained by the authorities.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT TIMES ONLINE

CryptoLogic enters the acquisition market by agreeing to buy the poker brand and assets of Parbet.com, a Scandanavian based online poker room. The deal will be brokered using WagerLogic, a division of CryptoLogic, whereby $9 million euro will be paid for Parbet brand and assets and an additional amount no greater than $4 million euro upon improved performance of assets after 6 months. CryptoLogic projects this action will add approximately $2 million to this year’s earnings.

As recorded by various sources, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reports that new legislation has been introduced by Turkish authorities directed at censoring what was described as ‘indecent broadcasting and online gambling’.

Directly targeting child abuse, indecent broadcasting and online gambling, this new amendment beefs up the existing law (Article 301)of the Turkish Penal Code, giving authority to the ITSA (Information Technology Security Agency) to censor or block all offending websites including those that criticize Turkish people, the Republic, institutions and organs of the state.

Note from the editor - I’ve tried to verify this report but have been unable to locate the source of original content. This could be caused by translation problems or I’m just not looking in the right places. Since the content impacts the online gambling industry, I felt it needed to be addressed but be advised content source has not been located.

TIMES ONLINE

Empire Online has had a torrid time along with the rest of the online-gaming sector following the passing of legislation in America that has in effect banned internet gambling.

Last year’s reversal triggered the departure of non-executive chairman Leonard Steinberg, and halted the group’s US business, which it said will have a “material” impact on future earnings.

Its shares have fallen 35 per cent since the US decision and 75 per cent on Empire’s flotation price 19 months ago. Last week, it baled out of the sector by selling its gaming assets to Party Gaming for 83.3m ordinary shares, worth $37.96m (£20m).

The group intends to become an investment company after the disposal is completed, subject to shareholder approval. Chief executive Noam Lanir, through his company Groverton Management, has shown his confidence in the move by snapping up 5.5m shares for £2.34m. The transaction
increases Lanir’s stake to 101.1m, or 34.5 per cent, of the issued share capital.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT TIMES ONLINE