Online Casino News and Information

The Calgary Sun
Thu, February 8, 2007
By TODD SAELHOF, SUN MEDIA

The city’s top Catholic and fellow-social activists are furious over a possible provincial cash grab through online gambling.

Bishop Fred Henry calls media reports the Alberta government planned to collect revenue through Internet betting as “an intemperate, ill-advised, immoral decision.

“It should be a short study,” Henry said yesterday of a government survey to gauge opinions about Internet gambling.

However, an Alberta Gaming Commission spokeswoman says the province is not moving forward on Internet gaming right now, simply taking the pulse of Albertans on Internet gambling through a survey.

Marilyn Carlyle-Helms, responding to reports the province was mulling jumping into the online betting game, said the commission’s telephone and online survey with 800 Albertans hopes to find out if they gamble online and what games they play.

She said the province has been monitoring this issue for more than five years because Internet gambling is illegal in Alberta unless the province is involved.

Henry said the premise of the survey is still a scary one.

“The government is totally ignoring the social bottom line and simply looking at the finances and saying, there’s money to be made here,” said Henry, adding online gambling especially hooks young Albertans because they are the most Internet savvy.

Social activist Doug Rogan echoed Henry’s sentiment, adding the rising addiction among teens is reason enough to lobby — or force further debate — against such a site.

A recent report pegged gambling in the province this fiscal year will bring in $1.4 billion to government coffers.

CNN
CNNMoney.com
February 8 2007: 9:11 AM EST

LONDON (Reuters) — British payment processor NETeller said Thursday U.S. prosecutors had seized funds, stopping U.S. customers from accessing their money, the latest move in an online gaming sting.

NETeller, which quit the United States last month after authorities arrested its two founders, said it was cooperating with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Southern District of New York.

“The amount of funds seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties does not exceed $55 million,” said NETeller, which abandoned 65 percent of its business by quitting the United States.

The move is the latest in a U.S. crackdown on online gaming, which began with the arrest of BETonSPORTS’ Scottish Chief Executive David Carruthers in Texas last July.

An industry source earlier told Reuters, “It’s not NETeller stopping customers getting to their cash. It’s the FBI.”

Canadian founders, Stephen Lawrence, 46, and John Lefebvre, 55, have been charged with handling billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. Both face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures, and related legal concerns, the group is currently unable to make payments to U.S. customers,” said NETeller.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office were not immediately available. A recent article in USA Today quoted FBI Agent Neil Donovan saying funds from NETeller are being held in court as potential evidence. Some customers may get their money back, he was quoted as saying, but did not provide a timetable.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT CNNMoney.com

PRESS RELEASE

8 February 2007 - NETELLER Plc (LSE: NLR), the leading global independent online money transfer business, today issued the following update with regard to its US business and criminal charges against two of its founders.

On 19 January 2007, at the request of the Group, the Group’s legal advisers met with representatives of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (“USAO”) to clarify the Group’s position with respect to the complaints brought on 16 January 2007 against two of the Group’s founders, Mr. Stephen Lawrence and Mr. John Lefebvre. Neither are current employees or directors of NETELLER. In that meeting, the Group pledged to cooperate with the USAO, indicated it was prepared to begin document production promptly and discussed a potential mechanism for arranging an orderly repayment of funds to US customers.

The discussions between the Group’s legal advisers and the USAO are ongoing. The Group is, under advice of its legal advisers, commencing production of documents and intends to cooperate with the USAO in its investigation.

Following upon the complaints dated 16 January 2007, banks in the US began declining to permit transactions involving the Group through accounts maintained at one or more automated clearinghouses in the United States. Additionally, the Group has been advised that the USAO has obtained court-ordered seizure warrants seizing funds pertaining to the Group’s transactions. To the best of the Group’s knowledge, it believes that the amount of funds seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties does not exceed US$ 55 million. These funds were largely in the process of being transferred from the Group to its US customers or vice versa.

As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures, and related legal concerns, the Group is currently unable to make payments to US customers. Nevertheless, the Group is in discussions with the USAO to manage an orderly return of funds to US customers. As part of these discussions, it is contemplated that the USAO will engage a forensic accounting firm, at the Group’s expense, to assist in this process and to examine the Group’s financial position. “The return of funds to our US customers is a top priority for NETELLER” said Ron Martin, Group President and CEO. US customers wishing to withdraw funds from their NETELLER e-wallet accounts will experience ongoing delays while these discussions continue, and a further update will be provided by the Group once effective repayment mechanisms are determined.

To the Group’s knowledge, no criminal action or proceeding has been brought against the Group, its current officers or directors by the USAO. Nevertheless, there can be no assurance that the Group will not be charged in a criminal action at some subsequent time. The Group intends to work with the USAO to seek a negotiated resolution of any allegations relating to its US activities. Any resolution of this matter may lead to potential sanctions against the Group including material financial penalties, fines and forfeitures.

It is emphasized that in line with the Group’s standard business practices for all customers, funds held by the Group for US customers are held in segregated trust accounts. The Group’s own cash position remains strong and the Group currently has sufficient working capital to fund all its customers’ balances as well as ongoing requirements of the business.

NETELLER remains committed to developing its business in line with its stated strategic objectives including geographical and product diversification for all markets. The Group will focus on its continuing business and the opportunities available in the growing markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas outside of the United States. Since the Group’s withdrawal from the US market on 18 January 2007, average daily new account sign-ups of new customers from non-US markets has been around 1,400. This compares to average daily sign ups of 3,303 for the year to 31 December 2006. Daily fee revenue since 18 January 2007 has averaged over US$ 200,000 per day (excluding any revenues from Netbanx, 1-Pay and interest income). These metrics demonstrate the resilience of the Group’s ongoing business. NETELLER customers not resident in the US continue to be minimally affected by this withdrawal from the US market.

In view of the continuing uncertainty, the Group’s shares will continue to be suspended from trading on AIM for the time being. Further announcements will be made as appropriate.

Australian IT
Ben Woodhead
FEBRUARY 08, 2007
ONLINE casino Lasseters has suffered a 35 per cent slump in first half revenue after changes to gambling laws forced the company to fold its US operations in October last year.

Lasseters also swung into the red in the six months to December 31 as US income dried up and high technology depreciation costs turned a $823,531 net profit a year ago into a $4.9 million loss.

The company’s $7.1 million pre-tax loss included $6.5 million worth of one-off impairment losses. Revenue plunged from $7.8 million a year ago to $4.99 million.

Lasseters’ expenses during the first half of the 2007 financial year included a $1 million investment in its new online gaming platform Orbis, which is due to enter service by the end of March.

The company made 22 staff redundant as it dealt with the impact of US legislation passed in September last year that banned transactions between banks and online gambling sites.

“Lasseters was not the only organisation hit hard by the US legislation. Online casino operators around the world have either embarked on mergers and acquisitions, company sales or close as a result,” Lasseters managing director Peter Bridge wrote the company’s half year accounts.

“Significantly, all the major publicly listed companies concentrating in online gaming have closed their US operations.”

Lasseters finished the half with $1.8 million in cash, down from $2.9 million a year ago.

Antigua Sun
Tuesday February 06 2007

The position of a senior European Union official that America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is “protectionist” has sparked the attention of Antigua & Barbuda gaming officials.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy recently expressed concern over what he called a “restrictive practice” by the US in relation to the Internet gambling issue and said the matter or the legislation passed by the US last year might be taken before the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Antigua & Barbuda’s WTO Attorney Mark Mendel said he would be seeking to meet with McCreevy in the near future, to explore how this country’s trade dispute with the US could benefit from expanded EU support.

“We are pursuing that angle because what he said ties in nicely with what we’re saying,” Mendel said.

CONTINUED
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LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
BY BOB SHEMELIGIAN

The chips are down for principals in online gambling operations, and the cyberspace scenario is probably going to get worse. That’s because federal officials, already incensed over billions in gambling revenues leaving the U.S., are trying to link Web gambling to terrorism.

“The reason why a lot of land-based casinos have backed away from the Internet and offshore enterprises is because of the Patriot Act,” said Saverio Scheri of WhiteSand Consulting. “Investigators believe some of that money is being laundered and is ending up in the hands of terrorist groups.”….

All U.S.-based casinos with annual gambling revenue of more than $1 million are classified as “financial institutions” by the Patriot Act and subject to strict government regulations, including adopting money-laundering programs, identifying the identity of foreign nationals and filing a Suspicious Activities Report to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Online operations skirt all these rules….

“There certainly have been a lot of scare tactics but they’re working,” said Sue Schneider, president of River City Group, which monitors the online gambling industry. Schneider says federal investigators are trying to link online gaming operations to terrorist groups….

“They’ve been saying that since 9/11,” Schneider continued. “At some point it gets to be ridiculous and, more probably than not, what they’ll do is drive the business underground.”

One who agrees is Anthony Cabot, a Vegas-based attorney who specializes in Internet-gambling law. “After a while, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and frighteningly similar to Prohibition,” Cabot said. “By forcing them underground, you increase the potential for less-reputable sites.”….

“With the new legislation, though that is ironically more likely to occur,” the source continued, “since Russian mobsters and others are likely to see unregulated, rogue sites as a way to raise untaxed money.”…

It’s hardly news to Cabot that investigators believe there is a link between online gambling sites and terrorist groups. “This argument has come up before,” he said. “There are probably 2,000 online gaming sites. Can you say that all of those have no relationship whatsoever to terrorism? No, but what you can say is that the larger companies operating out of the United Kingdom are completely transparent. They have public shareholders and dividends, and audited financial statements.”

Allyn Shulman, corporate counsel at Card Player magazine, added, “to specifically link terrorism to online gaming is disingenuous.” She believes that, rather than prosecute operators of online gambling operations, the federal government should investigate how to regulate and tax the industry.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS

eGaming Review

A new payments processor which says it will be open for business in March this year appears to be falsely claiming to be certified by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA).

YouTeller claims on its website to be a trademark of a company called Seed Capital Ltd, and gives an address in east London. A link on the company’s contacts page then diverts to the FSA register of Small E-Money Issuers where a company called Seed Capital Ltd is indeed listed.

However, a search on the FSA website reveals the company behind Seed Capital Ltd to be Oxford Technology Management, a company based in Oxford. When contacted by eGaming Review, a spokesperson at Oxford Technology Management said the company had never heard of YouTeller.

YouTeller also gives a registration number for Companies House in the UK on its website. A search under the number given comes up with the same east London address as the YouTeller website. The only director registered is one Florian Schweitzer with an address given in Austria.

This Seed Capital Ltd was registered at Companies House in October 2006. The other Seed Capital Ltd, from Oxford, registered its name at Companies House in July of last year. Schweitzer is not registered personally with the FSA.

A spokesperson for the FSA said the matter had been passed on to the relevant department for investigation.

Neither YouTeller or Schweitzer was available for comment

The Salt Lake Tribune
By Peter Sanders
The Wall Street Journal

Today, a 28-year-old Hollywood assistant named Seth plans to enjoy the Super Bowl in the same way millions of other football fans will - he’ll bet on it.

How, exactly, will he wager that $100 burning a hole in his pocket? One thing he knows for sure is that he won’t do it legally. Trekking to Vegas for the weekend is out of the question. And he won’t do it using one of the publicly traded online services based abroad that have been taking sports bets from Americans over the past few years. They have mostly stopped taking action from U.S. residents in the wake of an aggressive government crackdown on Internet wagering.

But that doesn’t mean he and other gamblers will be shut out. In fact, the government’s war against illegal online wagering may be driving gamblers back to where they started: their local bookie. And in an ironic twist, there’s a good chance the bookmaker is taking bets over the Internet, too.

”Even my bookie is online these days,” says Seth. He would be logging in to place his bet but misplaced the username and password the bookmaker gave him. ”I guess I’ll just have to call him and get him to resend me the instructions, sort of a tech support for the sports bettor,” he says….

”The likely impact is that people who previously wagered on legal, regulated sites . . . will now call a local bookie or bet on an unregulated site,” says Alan Feldman, a spokesman for casino giant MGM Mirage….

But as the kickoff at Super Bowl XLI in Miami nears, the overall picture of Internet gambling has only gotten muddier. It’s not just that local bookies are taking bets over the Internet. For every established Internet-gambling company that has stopped accepting bets from the U.S., others have cropped up to fill the void.

”The online-gambling ban should be renamed the Sopranos Support Bill,” says Wayne Allyn Root, an outspoken professional sports handicapper in Las Vegas. ”All of this money has moved to brand-new, privately held companies [that] opened overnight and [are] run by criminals engaging in fraud and organized crime.”

”The crackdown has taken the online bets out of a fairly transparent set of companies and put them into companies that aren’t transparent at all,” adds Sue Schneider, president and CEO of River City Group, a St. Charles, Mo., Internet-gambling consultancy. ”Players could be more at risk.”

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT The Salt Lake Tribune

Daily Breeze
February 4, 2007

The best bet would be for the government to lift the online gaming ban and instead license, regulate and tax Web sites that seek American bettors.
Daily Breeze editorial

Super Bowl Sunday is a good time to examine the federal government’s hypocritical relationship with gambling. Betting at Native American casinos on federal land is fine. Wagering in Nevada and New Jersey is OK, too. State lotteries are great. So is the stock market.

As long as the government is in on the action (taxes), placing a C-note on the Bears or the Colts is as moral as eating apple pie.

But don’t dare use your BlackBerry or laptop to visit an offshore gaming Web site. If you do that, you lock the Internal Revenue Service out of the take and offend the “legitimate gaming” lobby.

It’s time to sack the online gaming ban, which makes criminals out of people who may not always have the best judgment but aren’t doing anything that hurts others. There are, of course, gambling addicts, but the vast majority of players aren’t. Banning online gaming for that reason is about as wise as banning pinot noir because some people sip too much of it.

Like other pronouncements against “sin,” the government crackdown is creating crime where it shouldn’t need to exist. The prime beneficiaries of the assault on computer wagering appear to be local bookies and illegitimate Web sites run by organized crime, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apparently some of those who want to place bets on the big game are too scared to do so from their computers, which are easy to trace, but they don’t mind risking a call to a guy who looks like one of “The Sopranos” and collects in person (scary). Some Americans are still taking chances; some gaming sites in Costa Rica and other countries are still accepting action from the United States.

Americans last year bet $94.5 million on the Super Bowl in legitimate Nevada casinos. That’s just a fraction, considering what went to offshore and into office pools. This year, the Silver State expects to take in more than $100 million from rollers high and low.

People clearly want to bet on sports, and they are increasingly using computers to direct their money to where they want it to go, the right of anyone in a free society. Gambling is a form of speculating, and if someone thinks he can get a greater return on the Super Bowl than he can on Ford stock, why not let him?

The best bet would be for the government to lift the online gaming ban and instead license, regulate and tax Web sites that seek American bettors. Under this system, online firms would have to obtain proof of age, not just accept credit card numbers, and audits could single out those who need counseling.

Gambling is governed by an unbeatable market force. Whether it’s illegal, tolerated or legal, online gambling should not be subject to an unrealistic blanket ban by the government.

READ THIS ARTICLE AT Daily Breeze

The Beatles accompany the start of this week’s Perspectives Weekly for February 2, 2007 and it’s the 2nd video shot in London where J. Todd was attending CAP Euro. I can verify it really was J. Todd even though he didn’t introduce himself in the video.

This week’s show covers the hot news in online gambling including:
US Dept of Justice - their actions and the UK’s reactions
Cap Euro
Neteller/Payment Processors

You can view the video here: Perspectives Weekly February 2, 2007

Perspectives Weekly is a video produced by APCW.org. Players, Webmasters, and Affiliates should visit the site, view archived videos, register with APCW and Join The Fight!