Online Casino News and Information

March 16, 2007 the Department of Justice again postponed court proceedings against the 2 Neteller founders arrested in February. The new court date is April 16th and hopefully there will be no further delays. What this means for Neteller customers whos money is tied up in this investigation is another matter. There seems to be little concern from either the Dept of Justice or Neteller regarding the release of millions of dollars in customer funds frozen or confiscated as a result.

These customers are now coming together at Neteller Customer Coalition which was established to organize all US and other members that have money tied up in Neteller. Their Yahoo website (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/NetellerCustomerCoalition) states “We are actively pursuiting all avenues that will get our money released — going after Neteller, the government, the media, etc..”

Poker News Web has an excellent article on the Neteller Customer Coalition and their demands for release of funds.

REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Barney Frank said on Thursday he will give details in the coming weeks on possible legislation to repeal a ban imposed last year on online gambling.

In an interview, the chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee said he is in no hurry and plans to consult with others on the matter.

“I’m not ready to give you more details, but I will be by next week or so. We’ll talk more about it later. There’s no urgency on it,” he said.

Internet gambling in the United States was effectively banned last October when President George W. Bush signed legislation outlawing gaming financial transactions.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Democrat said on Wednesday Frank was considering legislation to repeal the ban but had not drafted a bill and had no timetable for action.

The ban has hammered the stocks of online gambling companies such as Britain’s PartyGaming Plc.

PartyGaming shares jumped sharply on Frank’s remark on Wednesday but gave back gains on Thursday to close down almost 5 percent at 40-3/4 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

U.S. prosecutors have launched a probe into Internet gambling. The U.S. Department of Justice has demanded information from some of the world’s biggest investment banks as part of the investigation, according to banking sources.

eGaming Review

Following yesterday’s news that US Congressman Barney Frank had confirmed he was working on legislation to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the American Gaming Association (AGA), the trade body for the US land-based casino industry, told eGaming Review that it would not comment on the development other than to reiterate its view on the matter. “Our board continues to support the authorisation of a federally funded study to evaluate the impacts of online gambling,” it said. The AGA added that the study should be comprehensive and establish “whether internet gambling can be effectively legalised and regulated in the United States. Such an endeavour could evaluate whether legalisation, regulation and taxation – on a state-option basis – may be a more viable option than a complete ban on internet gambling, and would result in recommendations to Congress on the best way to handle the issue”.

eGaming Review

The office of US Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the House financial services committee, has confirmed that he is currently working on legislation to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The news item appeared this afternoon on the Financial Times website and has been confirmed to eGaming Review by Frank’s press department. The details of how any repeal would take action have not been worked out and no timeframe was given.

Frank is quoted as describing last autumn’s Act as one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and adds: “I am working on legislation to cut back on this internet gambling thing… I think it’s preposterous”.

While rumours of Barney Frank’s support for a repeal of the Act had been circulating around the egaming industry in the past few weeks, Frank himself had not confirmed or commented on them. Shares in PartyGaming, 888 and Sportingbet were all up this afternoon.

The FT says the mid-term Democratic victory in the US Congress brought some hope to the online gaming sector and John Conyers, chairman of the House judiciary committee, is also considered sympathetic to the industry.

But while Frank and Conyers are “powerful potential allies, it is far from clear that the lawmakers would have enough support to pass any meaningful legislation” because it is not clear “whether the votes would be there for a regulatory bill”.

The FT adds that the US treasury is currently drafting the rules to implement the Act but that the deadline for presenting them has been missed and is now expected in April or May.

It looks like things are looking up in some parts of the online gambling world; particularly in Europe! The European Court of Justice, Europe’s highest court, ruled that Italy can’t stop bookmakers from other countries from operating in that country. Italy was using their legal system to protect their own state run gambling model and keep it as a monopoly. They aren’t the only ones that were trying to do that either. Both France and Germany have national gambling monopolies and have threatened online gaming operators with criminal prosecution (with a few decades of jail time) to keep their state run gambling monopolies safe. So when the court ruled against Italy, it basically opened the doors for cross border trade. This is a huge victory for the online gaming public in Europe. People in the US don’t need to give up either… the little island of Antigua is fighting the US stance on online gambling too and the rulings so far by the World Trade Organization supports Antigua’s claims. It doesn’t mean the US will abide by their decision, we’ll have to wait and see for that, but all in all, it’s a very small ray of light shining just a little brighter with this ruling from the ECJ.

UK online gambling stock rose earlier this month amid speculation that US Congressman Barney Frank was going to introduce legislation calling for a review of UIGEA. Now new gossip floating the current rise in UK gambling stock credits the speculation that charges against Lefebvre and Lawrence, Neteller founders arrested in February and held in the US are about to be dropped.

In GUARDIAN Unlimited’s Lunchtime Market Report for March 14th, Nick Fletcher stated “Elsewhere the gaming sector was in demand. 888 added 4p to 120p on talk that Ladbrokes was about to come out with its bid, although some traders doubted this, saying Ladbrokes had been distancing itself from a move on 888 recently.

Other tales to explain the buoyancy in the gaming world included a suggestion that charges against the founders of online payment group Neteller, suspended at 176p, were about to be dropped in the US. Alternatively there were hopes the US would introduce a new bill to water down some of the more draconian anti-online gaming measures. There was even talk that Gordon Brown was planning tax breaks for the industry in next week’s budget.

Whatever the reason, PartyGaming put on 3.5p to 41.5p and Sportingbet 2.5p to 58.25p.”

San Francisco Chronicle
Tom Somach, Special to The Chronicle
Monday, March 12, 2007

Thinking of going online and wagering on a few games in the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament?

Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to, but he’s having trouble stopping anyone.

The government’s latest effort to get Americans to stop gambling via the Internet has been largely ineffective, according to the online gambling industry.

In autumn, Congress passed — and President Bush signed into law — the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. U.S. lawmakers can’t crack down on the online betting sites because most operate from foreign countries, so they instead moved to cut off the flow of money.

The law makes it illegal for American financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, to transfer funds between U.S. citizens and online gambling sites that offer sports wagering, poker or casino games.

If online gamblers can’t get money to the online sites to gamble with — and more importantly, can’t collect their winnings — they’ll stop gambling, lawmakers figured.

They figured wrong.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT San Francisco Chronicle

Declaring Internet Gambling was not covered by Presidential Drecree 1602 which deals with penalties for illegal gambling, the city prosecutor’s office dismissed the illegal gambling charges brought by the Nationl Bureau of Investigation against British Grand Vision International in Clark, Phillipines.

The Inquirer reported the official statement “PD 1602 was made into law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, when computers were the sizes of several filing cabinets and had the computing power of a wristwatch calculator,” and “The former President may have been a brilliant man, however, no amount of genius can foresee the development of this technology. Thus, it would be a tenuous stretch of imagination to assume that he foresaw the development of the Internet and the million and one uses people have put into it and that he envisioned PD 1602 to apply to alleged Internet gaming.”

The dismissal was largely based on the fact that there were no physical players. Illegal gambling activity has to have a dealer and a player to fall under the PD 1602. “One could not charge the dealer alone without indicting the supposed bettor.”

The NBI has filed a petition for review of the case.

THE REGISTER
By Burke Hansen in San Francisco → More by this author
Monday 12th March 2007

House of Cards-Although the Chinese government recently announced a purifying moratorium on internet cafes – the same week the Communist Youth League penned a contract with leading gaming developer Playtech to provide software for large scale internet-based gambling tournaments – the cadres in Beijing know that internet cafes are only an embodiment of something much larger and more threatening, according to the Financial Times.

The government took its assault on the internet gaming world a step further this week with an announcement that it perceives the explosion in virtual currencies used in a variety of online gaming forums – everything from Second Life to World of Warfare to virtual poker rooms – as a serious threat to its national security.

“The People’s Bank of China will strengthen management of the virtual currencies used in online games and will stay on the lookout for any assault by such virtual currencies on the real economic and financial order,” the government statement read.

Such currencies have been used in the United States to circumvent the tentacles of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which prohibit American financial institutions from processing transactions for internet gambling companies. The Chinese are particularly concerned with the wildly popular “QQ Coins”, issued by Hong Kong messaging and game provider Tencent, which are used by two thirds of Chinese internet users and which can now be traded or accepted as currency by third party companies.

MORE - READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT THE REGISTER

SKY.com
Tuesday March 13, 2007

Casinos, betting shops and online gambling sites will be able to advertise on television under new rules announced today.

The change in the rules come into force in September as part of the Gambling Act 2005.

However, commercials must comply with a code which aims to ensure they are “socially responsible”.

This means the adverts must not imply gambling can be a solution to financial problems and must not be directed at children or young people.

As with alcohol commercials, they must not link gambling to seduction, sexual success or enhanced attractiveness.

Neither must they suggest it is a rite of passage nor that it can improve self-image or self-esteem.

The new rules also lift a ban on radio adverts for betting and gaming - including bookmakers, betting companies and gaming machines.

They were drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice.

They will be policed by the Advertising Standards Authority which will investigate any reported breaches of the new code.