Online Casino News and Information

On Saturday, The Star Canada’s largest daily newspaper, reported that Premier Dalton McGuinty’s administration is facing a $19.7 billion budget deficit. Due to this, McGuinty is looking into the possibility of Ontario expanding into the online gambling industry.

The government needs money, and sources say legalizing online gambling could bring in up to $500 million a year. The Ontario government is reporting that this would be in addition to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s $1.9 billion profit reported in 2009.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s chairman Paul Godfrey said in a Star article:

“It’s something that I would explore . . . (because) money is going out of this province to other provinces as well as offshore sites. The fact is that it’s there at the present time all around us.”

Of course there is political opposition to this solution lead by Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. He told reporters Monday,

“Listen, this guy has had two consecutive major scandals at the OLGC, they’ve gone through five CEOs, they can’t run the existing casinos let Internet gambling. They have a voracious appetite for more and more tax dollars. They can’t control the OLGC as it is. This will be a disaster if Dalton McGuinty is running an online casino.”

Like most other countries currently looking into some sort of legalized and regulated online gambling, they want to recoup the money that is currently being gambled on sites located offshore and bring that money back where it can help put money in the local coffers.

Right now, like some other Canadian provinces, Ontario is keeping a close eye on British Columbia who recently legalized online gambling. B.C. estimates that close to $100 million was leaving their area and going to outside gambling websites.

Many in Ontario are already leery of existing brick and mortar casinos after a couple recent scandals involving the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation so it may be a tough sell to convince them that they are capable of running an online gambling site. However the promise of additional monies to aid the local economy may be all the push needed.

Most are hailing the passing of HR 2267, The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act last week as a victory for getting some kind of regulation for online gambling in the U.S. The next step is getting the consideration of the full House of Representatives.

Today that next step got more support in the way of Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) who added his name to the growing list of co-sponsors to the bill that now total 70. In last week’s hearing Rep. Campbell was a active and vocal contributor. There were several amendments voting on that day a two directly involved the Congressman.

Most of Congressman Campbell’s amendments involved protecting those that play as well as minors. Both of his amendments passed by voice vote.

Amendment #7 – Rep. John Campbell (R–Cal.) – A multi-part amendment stating a) all facilities of internet gaming firms must be located in the U.S., b) States and tribes must have parallel authority, c) Bettors must be at least 21-years old, d) Age and residence of customers must be verified, e) Game odds must be posted online, f) Both legal and illegal sites must be identified by the Treasury so that financial institutions can properly allow/block transactions, g) Owners must meet licensing requirements, h) Customers must be able to self-impose loss limits.

Amendment #9 – Rep. John Campbell (R–Cal.) – Sites that target minors in their advertising will be stripped of their licenses.

Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative spokesperson Michael Waxman said, “It was good to see some new members supporting HR 2267, including Congressman Campbell, which further illustrates that this is a bipartisan bill.”

Adding another sponsor just adds to the steam behind getting this bill voted on by the time Congress adjourns this year on Oct. 8th. Though there is great excitement for adding Rep. Campbell’s name to the co-sponsors, most believe that getting some sort or resolution this year is still a long shot.

Last week the industry lost a well known and well loved member: Alan Leonard, better known as The Captain.

Allan was an affiliate since the early days 10 years ago, and most affiliates and affiliate managers are well aquainted with him.

Allan had a brilliant, warm smile that will never be forgotten by anyone who met him. He was never shy to tell you that he loved you, and he was a most loyal friend, always there to help you and cheer you up.

He helped countless people with his professional advice, friendly support and even financially.

Allan’s daughter Jessica was killed a couple of years ago in an unfortunate car accident. Allan took this very hard and wasn’t quite the same since.

Allan’s wife, Patty, has severe emphesema and is waiting for a lung transplant.

Patty and Melissa, Allan’s surviving daughter, are faced with some humongous medical bills.

We here at GamesandCasino want to do everything we can to help. We know Allan would have done the same for us in a heart beat (and has done so repeatedly for others) and we want to contribute to ensure Patty and Melissa’s well being.

We are publishing this to encourage you to click the banner above and donate to the grieving family. The banner leads directly to Paypal and you can make a donation of any size there.

We hope you will find it in your heart to help Allan’s family survive these very trying times. Do it to carry on his spirit, he has helped many others in similair situations, now it’s time for us to step up and give back.

Big or small, any donation will help to pay for Patty’s much needed transplant. Together, we can do it!

Dominique

The merger between BWIN and PartyGaming which has resulted in the world’s largest online gambling firm has caused a ripple across the rest of the gambling industry. Online gambling firm 888 has now acknowledged it has been contacted by competitors looking to put together a similar plan.

Chief Executive Gigi Levy told Reuters that,

“This puts us in a position in which we are one of the best assets in the field — we got a few phone calls immediately from various people. Everybody in the industry is looking and saying ‘who is the best one to merge with if we need to? Party and bwin took almost a year to close the deal so we don’t see anything happening imminently but there’s definitely expressions of interest.”

Everyone is trying to get themselves in a position to take full advantage of the European markets currently opening up as new laws are passed to regulate online gambling. All eyes are on the U.S. of course as at least a step has been taken when the new Barney Frank bill passed the mark up vote last week.

Just like PartyGaming and BWIN, 888 has said it is the poker that is continuing to be hit the hardest as sites that still accept US players are taking more of the market share in this area. Some analysis feel that the merging of overseas companies will be the only way that they will be able to compete again in a regulated U.S. online gambling market.

It was announced today that two big powers in the European online gambling market will merge into one. In a reverse takeover, PartyGaming plans on acquiring Bwin Interactive in a deal valued at $1.76 billion dollars. This would create the world’s biggest traded online gambling company.

According to Bloomberg,

“The merged company, which had reported sales of 682 million euros, will be 51.6 percent owned by Vienna-based Bwin, with PartyGaming of Gibraltar holding the rest, the companies said in a statement today. The new company would be listed in London and have leading positions in online poker, sports betting, casino and games such as bingo, they said.”

So what should anyone make of this merger? Accordeing to Gianmarco Bonacina, an analyst with Equita SIM SpA in Milan this moves puts the combined company in a better financial position versus PokerStars and FullTilt as well as positioning them to take advantage of emerging markets.

Gianmarco told Bloomberg,

“From an industrial point of view this is both an offensive and a defensive move. In Europe, Bwin and PartyGaming are losing market share in poker versus Pokerstars and Fulltilt, so the combination will protect them. In the U.S., the move is offensive. They want to attack that market and are in a better position if they combine.”

Since as of yesterday, the move to regulate online gambling in the United States has been put in motion, PartyGaming Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan told reporters, “We will immediately be a leader in these markets as they open up.”  Also considering online gambling rule revisions are Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

The remaining hurdle of this merger would be to get shareholders to vote in favor of it which the board members of each company will unanimous support and ask each shareholder to vote in favor of it.

Step one passed with flying colors.  House Committee on Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank’s bill H.R. 2267 the Internet Gambling Regulation and Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act took a step today in trying to regulate online gambling in the United States.

This bill would regulate internet gambling in the U.S. as well as require operators who have gotten a license to have safeguards in place to curb underage gambling and to help prevent problem gambling. It passed a mark up vote with bi-partisan approval today 41-22.

In a press release by Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative spokesperson, Michael Waxman expressed his pleasure over the vote,

“The Committee’s bi-partisan vote to approve Chairman Frank’s legislation is nothing short of historic. With Congress bitterly divided and only a handful of bi-partisan bills coming out of the Financial Services Committee, we’re pleased Committee members from both sides of the aisle were able to come together to advance this important legislation.”

Chairman Frank reiterated a view expressed by many who have called the current law, the UIGEA, prohibition on online gambling. He argued that his bill goes beyond the monetary help it could provide the U.S. and speaks directly to the cause of guaranteeing freedom.

Representative Spencer Bachus (R – AL) stayed solidly on the opposed side arguing that the decision regarding internet gambling should be decided by each individual state rather than the U.S. government. He further said,

“After all the flak last year about shutting down the casinos on Wall Street, why would we take steps today to open up casinos in every home, every bedroom, every dormitory room, every iPod, every iPad, every computer in America?”

Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) sided with Chairman Frank saying, “This bill, if it imposes anything, imposes freedom,” Telling Bachus that the citizens in this country would have a greater choice if this bill would become law not a lesser one.

Although freedom of choice is an important issue; the revenue that could possibly be generated has also been studied. The Joint Committee on Taxation analysis showed that regulated online gambling could produce as much as $42 billion in federal government revenue over its first 10 years.  In another study by H2 Gambling Capital it showed that the online gambling industry could produce as many as 32,000 jobs over its first five years.

Before today’s vote, H.R. 2267 has gotten support from 69 co-sponsors from both parties as well as support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.  This moves the bill closer to being considered by the whole House of Representatives.

Just like it was alluded to last week in the House Financial Services hearing Barney Frank’s H.R. 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act is moving quickly through the beginning stages and already has a mark-up set for Tuesday, July 27th.

The hearing had its fair share of supporters and distracters with heated discussion’s coming from both sides. Barney Frank, who is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee certainly would not call for a mark up if he didn’t already think he had the votes to get it passed. The HR 2267 mark up is one of 6 that are on the agenda for Tuesday however making it hard to pinpoint when the vote will occur.

They’re still strong opinions on both sides of this issue. The main argument for some kind of regulation of online gambling is revenue and can be summed up by Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative who commented in a press release Friday that,

“The passage of this legislation would be a win-win as it will protect consumers, create an estimated 32,000 new jobs over five years and provide federal and state governments with as much as $72 billion in new revenues over ten years.”

The counter argument to that seems to be protecting the children, as former federal prosecutor Michael Fagan summed up,

“Any parent who’s puzzled or despaired over their child’s trancelike playing of video games during the past 20 years can readily see why Internet gambling operators are drooling over the chance to legally expand their market base into the United States.”

There are those however that break it down even further and suggest that it is not fair for the U.S. government to take away a person’s right to choose if they want to gamble online or not. It is a matter of taking away our right to freedom of choice.

Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato wrote about this view in a politico.com opinion contributor article when he said,

“The freedom to play poker is not one of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights. But when the Founding Fathers conceived of a new nation, they never dreamed that someday Congress would dream up a law to ban that particular freedom — especially when such a ban was so clearly against the wishes of the American people.

What the Founders did envision was a government that would necessarily listen to the wishes and demands of those who sent them to Washington in the first place.”

No matter what side you are aligned with, it looks like online gambling is coming to the forefront on Congress real soon, probably this year. With a little luck, freedom of choice will win the day.

After the crash of the first North American online gambling site, PlayNow.com and the final admission of the B.C. Lottery Corporation that it had a privacy breach where over 130 players had their private information seen by other players, the government today said they have no idea when the site will reopen for business.

Rich Coleman, the Housing and Social Development Minister did not give a timeline has to when the problem would be fixed and players could return to play. When he was questioned about how much the delay would cost, his has a rather non-chalet answer,

“Oh, not a lot because it wasn’t expected to be a huge revenue generator in the first couple days anyway. And, frankly, it doesn’t matter what the cost is. We had an issue with the technical side of it and it needs to be fixed.”

Originally the B.C. lottery commission re-launched the PlayNow.com site on Jusy 15th after spending $7.3 million for a redesign and to add new games. Just hours after the much anticipated debut, the site crashed. The lottery commission blamed the onslaught of traffic as the reason for the failure but later admitted they had a technical glitch that lead to private information on players being able to be seen by other player.

This time, they have added two more servers and according to Mr. Coleman, a third party will review the site and verify it is secure and ready to go.

Not everyone is satisfied with what is happening however. Shane Simpson, NDP opposition critic thinks that because the delay is taking so long, that it is an indication of bigger problems than being reported.

“What we do know now is the problems were much more significant at the corporation than let on at the beginning,” he said. “Being far too hasty in getting it [playnow.com] up when they did instead of taking their time to make sure that it was operating properly, and as a consequence it is going to cost us more money than if we would have done it right in the first place.”

So far, there is still confidence on the lottery corporation as Premier Gordon Campbell said in a recent press conference,

“I think we always have to be vigilant. We have to learn from all the mistakes that are made and when mistakes are made, I think that’s exactly what they’ve tried to do.”

For now, B.C. gamblers must wait.

In three months the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will turn 4 years old.  The regulations put in place to govern how to enforce this law just came into effect in June and now, finally, Barney Frank and his bill  HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act is moving forward to try and change it.

Wednesday, a hearing was held by the House Financial Services Committee that allowed financial institutions (who currently carry the burden of enforcing most of the UIGEA policy), representatives of law enforcement as well as gamblers themselves to all testify in an attempt to change the internet gambling laws in the U.S. Most viewed the hearing as a step, albeit a small one towards changing the US views on online gambling but the hearing also showed there is still strong opposition as there where at times tense moments and a lot of heated debates.

Speaking for the Credit Union National Association, Ed Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer for the Discovery Federal Credit Union talked about being for some sort of online gambling regulation stating the current law is to ambiguous to fully be affective,

“In short, the law (UIGEA) makes credit unions and other financial institutions liable if transactions with illegal Internet gambling providers are approved,” said Williams, “but it does not provide us with a definition of ‘unlawful Internet gambling,’ much less a list of illegal Internet gambling providers.”

One of the heated exchanges during the meeting came from Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) who is against the regulation being set forth by Barney Frank when he spoke about the Indian Nations in America. He claimed that Native Americans would, “de facto be giving up their sovereignty if they agreed to a 2% tax to the federal government on online gambling profits.”

This raised the eyebrows of Lynn Malerba of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut who will soon become the chief of the tribe .  Malerba strongly disagreed with Rep. Baca and told the congressman that she would welcome a 2% tax on such things as the tribes slot revenue because currently it is around 25%.

The tensest part of the day was during the Poker Players Alliance representative Annie Duke and the panel, particularly, when Rep.  Spencer Bacchus (R-AL) brought up the scandal that involved UltimateBet and noted the affiliation of Duke and the site.

Duke turned the tables on the Congressman however saying that the scandal was precisely the reason the federal government should be involved in online gambling,

“The site self-regulated and refunded all the money to its customers. I would prefer to have something like HR 2267 so that the government could oversee that regulation. I think that the customers of that site were lucky that they were playing under a site with new management that behaved in an honest way and refunded them,” said Duke. “The one individual who perpetrated the crime and breached the software has not been prosecuted because unfortunately there is no jurisdiction to do so.”

Most claim that despite some of these exchanges that the meeting was positive and though there may be some changes to the original writing of the bill, Barney Frank is expected to bring the bill back to the committee for a mark-up and vote in the next couple of weeks. If he garners enough votes in committee, this legislation can then be slated to go to the full House of Representatives for debate.

Though we thought it was the high demand of players that were trying to access the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s new gambling site Playnow.com that had it shut down Thursday morning shortly after a much heralded launch. We find out now it was a privacy breach that was the cause of the shut down.

It was revealed that the breach was pretty significant as some players were able to see personal information of other players such as names, contact information and even credit card and bank information. Some even reported the ability to gamble with other player’s money.

The Lottery Corporation however blamed the shut down on high demand and made no mention of any security breach at all publically till four days later. The BCLC CEO Michael Graydon knew about the security breach Friday, the day after the site was shut down. It was revealed that 134 gamblers had their privacy breached and were contacted by BCLC officials. Graydon said he didn’t feel going public at the time with this information was necessary.

He told CBC Radio on Wednesday,

“As we continued to investigate after the site was shut down we found that the data crossovers had happened in a number of locations. The first thing that we did was contact the privacy commissioner and let them know that there may have been a privacy problem.

At that point, our public became our players, and not the general public. The site was closed down. There was no ability for further transaction and we felt it important that we communicated directly with our players with the level of detail they expect from us in regards to what had happened.”

You can read here that during the launch on Thursday that the site was being heralded as a safe and secure option for B.C. residents to gamble online. Currently there has been no word on when the PlayNow.com site will be re-opened.