News

Online gambling in the news

17 May 2007

Casino City regularly scans every corner of the Internet searching for the best insight and articles related to online gambling. We bring them to you here.

May 15, 2007

Equestrians jockey for net visibility
With Congress along for the ride, the horse racing industry is betting that online gambling will outpace current challenges to pay off handsomely at the cyberspace window. (The Politico)

May 14, 2007

Online-gambling exec pleads not guilty
The founder of international online-gambling company BetOnSports pleaded not guilty Monday to federal racketeering, tax evasion and fraud charges today, his first Missouri court appearance after being arrested in the Dominican Republic March 30. (St. Louis Dispatch)

May 11, 2007

Gambling: Women's Hottest New Pastime
It is as easy as the click of a mouse or the flip of a card, and it is well on its way to becoming America's newest pastime.(CBNnews.com)

May 10, 2007

Online gambling Q1 good for PlayTech, bad for CryptoLogic
The software providers to some of the most popular online casinos came out with their Q1 2007 financial reports. (Citizenlink.com)

May 7, 2007

US to clarify ban on online gambling
The US will use a World Trade Organization procedure to clarify its ban on online gambling, a government official, quoted by an Associated Press report said. (America's Network)

Papua New Guinea reaches for the online gambling ring
An island nation more famous for ritualized cannibalism than for internet commerce has tossed its ceremonial headgear into the online gambling ring, after its parliament approved a bill legalizing both "bricks and mortar" and internet-based casino offerings by a 61-0 vote last week.(The Register)

May 3, 2007

Papua New Guinea legalizes online gambling
With a unanimous 61-0 vote, the government of Papua New Guinea has passed a new bill legalizing casinos and Internet gambling.(PokerListing.com)

May 2, 2007

Washington State online gambling stance unchanged
A mix-up at the Washington State legislature earlier this month saw media reporting on the passage of an amendment to anti-online gambling regulations, when in fact lawmakers had okayed a motor vehicle registration bill, reports the Casino City Times. (EyeonGambling.com)

Lucky number 888 as online gambling feels the pinch
While online gambling firm Party Gaming has warned that its performance is likely to be way below expectations as it struggles to come to terms with the loss of the US market, rival company 888 has enjoyed increased profits. (Finance Week UK)

Online Gambling Site Operator Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
The operator of two online gambling sites in Texas has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, as well as being ordered to pay close to $1 million in restitution for scamming dozens of customers. (Onlinecasino.org)

May 1, 2007

NFL opposes online gambling, not just sports betting
Representatives from major amateur and professional leagues are against all forms of online gambling, including poker, and not just sports betting. (Ogpaper.org)

April 30, 2007

Senator Jon Kyl - don't bet on legal online gambling
Senator Jon Kyl writes about the proposed online gambling bill and he is confident it would go nowhere. (Ogpaper.org)

April 27, 2007

Yahoo enters world of online gambling
Yahoo is entering the world of gambling. The Internet giant has introduced real-money online poker to the games section of its UK operations. (cover.com)

April 26, 2007

Congressman Rolls the Dice
Americans place your bets, online. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) on Thursday introduced legislation that, if passed, will return legal online gambling to the United States. But some of the bill's stringent requirements will hurt startups if the bill sails through Congress unchanged. (redherring.com)

Online gambling set to quadruple by 2020
Online gambling to date has netted 40 million users worldwide and looks set to quadruple by 2020, according to Irish research company iReach. (Siliconrepublic.com)

April 23, 2007
Shares in online gambling group 888 drop
Shares in online gambling group 888 Holdings PLC dropped 5.7 percent Monday after the company announced that it had ended talks with bookmaker Ladbrokes about a possible sale of the business.(International Herald Tribune)

270-day deadline for online gambling regulations nearly up
270 days is equivalent to approximately 9 months. President George W. Bush signed a bill into law - the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act - that mandated banks to have a policy in place detailing how they could go about preventing online gambling transactions via credit cards.(Gambling911.com)

Taiwan's largest-ever online gambling website uncovered
Prosecutors and police yesterday uncovered Taiwan's biggest-ever online gambling website, which allegedly recorded total "revenues" of over NT$1.5 billion within half a year, and found police officers were involved in the scam, according to Panchiao District Prosecutor's Office.(China Post Online)

April 21, 2007
Bank trouble for PokerStars
The most popular - and populous - online poker room around, Poker Stars.com has been the subject of worried forum postings following a series of bounced checks to players, and this week the issue was addressed by the online poker information portal Poker-King.com.(Online-Casinos.com)

April 20, 2007
Internet gambling a 'risk' for Parkinson's patients
Internet casinos, poker, and other online games can result in secret debts that can destroy a family, they say. (Middle East Times)

April 12, 2007
Frank attacks online gambling ban
Rep. Barney Frank said Thursday he would start pushing to lift a U.S. ban on online gambling in the next few weeks, but said it was too early to make any concrete move to lift restrictions ruled illegal last month by the World Trade Organization.(Boston Globe)

April 9, 2007
Fantasy sports an addicting and growing hobby
Listen closely at the office, and you're bound to hear it a buzz of excitement one day, a cry of frustration the next.(Pantagraph)

Bars find ways to deal poker hands legally
It almost sounded like crickets chirping in the countryside at twilight.(El Paso Times)

April 8, 2007
Harrah's backers OK $17.1B casino buyout
Harrah's Entertainment Inc. shareholders approved a $17.1 billion buyout Thursday by two private-equity groups in the largest deal ever to take a publicly held casino company private, officials said.(Home News Tribune)

April 4, 2007
FBI Checks Gambling In Second Life Virtual World
FBI investigators have visited Second Life's Internet casinos at the invitation of the virtual world's creator Linden Lab, but the U.S. government has not decided on the legality of virtual gambling. (Reuters)

BetOnsports Founder to Be Sent to U.S.
A U.S. federal judge ruled Wednesday that BetOnSports gambling Web site founder Gary Stephen Kaplan should be extradited to the mainland United States to face a 22-count criminal indictment.(AP)

March 30, 2007
Gambling interests spend millions in lobbying
Casinos, Indian tribes and other groups spent millions lobbying Congress last year as lawmakers considered bills to ban wagering online and off Indian reservations. (USA Today)

March 30, 2007
BetOnSports founder apprehended in Dominican Republic
BetOnSports.com founder Gary Stephen Kaplan was arrested late Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Friday. (St. Louis Business Journal)

March 28, 2007
Sportingbet to move online gambling operations offshore
Online gambling company Sportingbet PLC, forced to quit the U.S. after lawmakers effectively made the business illegal, said Wednesday it will transfer the group's operations to the Channel Islands. (Macon.com)

March 30, 2007
WTO rebuffs U.S. on Internet betting ban
The U.S. has failed to change its ban on Internet betting to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that said the legislation unfairly targets offshore casinos, the global trade body said Friday. (Business Week)

March 20, 2007
Miami Couple Plea In $3.3 Billion Online Gambling Operation
A Miami, Florida, executive and his wife, charged with participating in an unlawful online gambling operation that booked more than $3.3 billion in wagers over a 28-month period, have pleaded guilty to felony charges in the case. (North County Gazette)

March 19, 2007
March Madness in the Corporate Culture
Last week, Johnny weighed several important factors in order to make a difficult and potentially costly decision. Could Florida pull off the impossible and win back-to-back championships? Would this be the year Kansas avoids choking and actually lives up to their reputation as a top-seeded team? Or better yet, would a freshman lead Ohio State to victory? If at this point in the column, you're uncertain what I'm referring to, don't worry — a few days ago I would have been in the same club. But, I am wising up and learning — welcome to March Madness! (FOX News)

March 14, 2007
Rep. Frank mulls proposal to repeal online gambling ban in U.S.
The chair of the House Financial Services Committee is considering legislation that would overturn the ban on online gambling passed last fall. (Las Vegas Sun)

March 12, 2007
Wall Street's poker gamble: All-in with WPT
Poker may not seem as hip as it was just a few years ago. And nobody's feeling that more than shareholders of WPT Enterprises, operator of the World Poker Tour. (CNN Money)

March 9, 2007
The Politics of Fantasy Baseball
While I don't know which senator is the biggest baseball fan, I'm fairly sure I know which one baseball likes best. It's Arizona's junior senator, Jon Kyl. (New York Sun)

Calvin Ayre No Longer among the richest
Absent from this year's list of Forbes Wealthiest people: Internet Gambling guru Calvin Ayre. (Gambling911)

March 7, 2007
Shares of online gambling company Sportingbet soar on preliminary takeover approach
Austria-based online gambling group BWIN Interactive Entertainment AG said Wednesday it has made a "very preliminary" takeover approach to Sportingbet PLC. (San Diego Union Tribune)

Mobile gambling to hit $16bn by 2011
The value of bets placed via mobile phones will reach $16bn globally by 2011, according to the latest market analysis. (ITWeek)

March 5, 2007
D'Amato Never Folds
For years, Alfonse M. D'Amato, the former Republican senator from New York, was the host at a Thursday evening poker game at his Capitol Hill office, playing with other lawmakers, staff members and lobbyists late into the night over pots that ranged from a few dollars to a few hundred. (New York Times)

March 4, 2007
Trouble in Turkey
It looks as if Austrian public company Bwin was on the money last week when it expressed concern over the development of new Turkish anti-gambling laws. (Online-Casinos.com)

March 3, 2007
How high-living founder of BetonSports fell, fled
Gary Kaplan used to throw lavish parties in Costa Rica and plaster the name of his thriving online-gambling company on buses in New York. Now, the founder of BetOnSports PLC and the multibillion-dollar industry he helped spawn are in much-reduced circumstances — the man on the run, the industry in disarray. (The Wall Street Journal via The St. Louis Dispatch)

March 2, 2007
How high-living founder of BetonSports fell, fled
Gary Kaplan used to throw lavish parties in Costa Rica and plaster the name of his thriving online-gambling company on buses in New York. Now, the founder of BetOnSports PLC and the multibillion-dollar industry he helped spawn are in much-reduced circumstances — the man on the run, the industry in disarray. (The Wall Street Journal via The St. Louis Dispatch)

Bwin puts temporary halt on Turkey gambling offers
Austrian internet bookmaker bwin.com said on Friday it would temporarily withdraw its online gaming offers from Turkey after a new law was passed on Feb 28. (Reuters)

Feb. 14, 2007
Mobile Gambling: Will the US Join a Growing Market?
Placing bets and buying lottery tickets via a mobile phone is projected to grow into a $16.6 billion industry by 2011. Europe and Asia currently lead the way, but American carriers and lawmakers have been reluctant to climb on board. Could careful regulation and better age verification approaches give the U.S. a toehold on the market? (TechNewsWorld)

Band's online gambling bid has outside chance
There is a glimmer of hope the Alexander First Nation can successfully fend off a showdown the government has threatened over the band's attempts to create a haven for online casinos, legal experts say. (Edmonton Journal)

February 9, 2007
CryptoLogic sells online gambling software to Dutch casino operator
Canadian gambling software provider CryptoLogic has announced a three-year contract to provide online poker and casino software to Holland Casino, a casino operator in the Netherlands. (Canada.com)

February 8, 2007
Initiative To Address Responsible Online Gambling Procedures Proposed
A new global initiative and international code of conduct to address responsible Online Gambling procedures is under discussion by the industry following a top-level roundtable discussion held at a recent London trade show. (UK Casino Times)

February 7, 2007
Online poker a women's game?
A new study by eCOGRA, an online gaming industry standards authority, finds that more women are playing online poker than ever. (EarthTimes via PRNewswire)

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February 6, 2007
Is online gambling a terrorist front?
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. (Las Vegas Business Press)

February 5, 2007
Playboy enters online poker market
PlayboyGaming.com is the new home of Playboy's online casino offerings, including a poker room that opened on January 22nd as part of the Cryptologic Network. (PokerNews)