iGaming News - Casinos, Poker, SportsBooks, Law

updated October 22nd

Partygaming dealt $250m US bill Online gambling group Partygaming has said that restructuring its business after pulling out of the US will cost it about $250m (£133m). The firm suspended all operations in the US after President George W Bush signed a law which effectively made online gaming illegal. The new law "fundamentally" changed its business, Partygaming said. The firm added it was optimistic after non-US revenue rose by 158% between July and September, on a year ago. However, Partygaming said that in the week since closing its US operations, revenues elsewhere fell 2%.

PokerStars threat Online gaming group PartyGaming will suffer increased competition in the short term from rivals like PokerStars that have not joined it in pulling out of the United States, its chief executive said on Friday. But Mitch Garber said that over time the playing field would become increasingly level, as payment processors started blocking online gambling transactions from the United States.

Sportingbet to take $391 mln charges after US sale British online gambling company Sportingbet Plc said it would take charges totaling 210 million pounds ($391 million) following the sale of its U.S. business, as it posted a 75 percent rise in annual profit on Thursday. Sportingbet (SBT.L) sold its U.S. operations to private investors for $1 last Friday, hours before President George W. Bush signed into law a bill banning Internet gambling.  Sportingbet said in a statement its pretax profit rose to 71.5 million pounds ($133 million) in the year to end-July. The Americas, including the United States, accounted for just over half Sportingbet's turnover of 2.06 billion pounds.

HOME GAMBLING NETWORK & Mel Molnick Declare the Passing of The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act Will Create a Financial Windfall for All Legal Gaming Operators in the USA; A HGN Patent License Will Now Be Required for All Operators Utilizing the Molnick Method for Live Gaming  Home Gambling Network, Inc. ("HGN") and Mel Molnick ("Molnick") are pleased to announce that, The passing of the Internet gambling 'ban' is now up to the individual states. Now only the Molnick USA 5,800,268 patent allows any and all electronic financial (ex: credit & debit cards) transactions from a remote location on a live game or event. With the passage of the act any operator who seeks a license from any single state must also apply for a patent license from Home Gambling Network / Mel Molnick.

Betonsports Close To Settlement With DoJ Antigua-based, London-listed Betonsports Plc told Judge Carol Jackson in her St Louis court-room on Monday that the firm had reached agreement with the Department of Justice in its civil suit against the company, U.S. v. Betonsports Plc., 06cv1064, in the Eastern District of Missouri.  The judge gave the parties a further week to complete the agreement and submit it to her. DoJ attorney Michael Fagan told the judge: "My impression is there are no substantive disagreements." Betonsports attorney Jeffrey Demerath said that time was needed to assemble the company's board in order to approve the terms of the agreement, which were not disclosed. It was understood, however, that the agreement would include repayment of some US clients.

Betonsports and 12 individuals were indicted June 1st by a federal grand jury. Charges include racketeering, mail fraud and facilitation of gambling across state and national boundaries. Trading of Betonsports stock in London was suspended on July 18th at the company's request. The company ran its US Internet business from Costa Rica and Antigua.

Founder Gary Kaplan and British CEO David Carruthers were among those indicted. Carruthers, 48, was arrested in July as he changed planes in a Dallas airport. At a hearing in August, Carruthers pleaded not guilty to the charges of fraud and racketeering in St Louis. Under the terms of a bail agreement negotiated between defense lawyers and prosecutors, Carruthers was bailed under a $1 million bond and is under house arrest in the vicinity of St Louis. An arrest warrant has been issued for Gary Kaplan.

The indictments seek forfeiture of $4.5 billion from Kaplan and the other defendants.

A number of other UK-listed companies have said that they were ceasing US operations in light of the law passed in the Congress last month which effectively bans them from taking US bets; the law was signed by the President last Friday. The DoJ says that in 2003, Betonsports web site had 100,000 active players who placed 33 million wagers worth more than $1.6 billion. It is supposed that a total of more than $4bn was wagered on web-sites by Americans last year.

Ontario to ban iGaming Advertising The Globe and Mail reported in its Thursday, Oct. 19, edition the Ontario government plans to introduce legislation Thursday banning advertisements of illegal Internet gambling websites. The Globe's Richard Blackwell writes the new law could create a huge headache for media companies. They will have to closely examine advertisements to make sure they do not include indirect links to illegal sites. The legislation will not stop advertising of free poker sites or similar sites where no money changes hands, unless those sites have links to betting sites, said Paul de Zara. Mr. de Zara is a spokesman for Ontario's Minister of Government Services, Gerry Phillips. It is not unusual for the province to ban advertising of illegal activities, Mr. de Zara said. "We don't allow drug dealers to advertise crack houses ... in the Toronto Star or The Globe and Mail, and this is the same kind of principle," he said. Mr. Phillips said the province wanted to act because of studies that show "an increasing number of young people are gambling on the Internet." He also said he has been under pressure from the province's horse-racing industry, which is concerned about a decline in business because of Internet gambling. (Ed Note – doesn’t the government of Ontario advertise its Lotto?  Ins’t that the same?  LOLOLOL)

Hollywood Poker stops accepting US players In response to approval of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Hollywood Poker announced that it would no longer accept players living in the United States.

Betfair Chooses Chartwell Chartwell Technology Inc. (TSX:CWH - News), a leading provider of gaming software systems to the online and remote gaming industry is very pleased to announce a licensing agreement with UK based betting giant, Betfair. The agreement calls for Chartwell to design and fully integrate a unique casino and soft gaming section to complement Betfair's existing exchange betting platform. The games can be viewed at www.betfaircasino.com.