Donald Trump Backs Legal Online Gambling in the USA
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling, online poker — Daniel Coysh @ 12:27 pm
photo credit: Gage Skidmore
Oddly-coiffed American tycoon Donald Trump made public his support for the legalisation of online gambling in the USA this week, arguing that revenue generated from online poker and other forms of the pastime should not be enjoyed by offshore companies but should remain at home.
Mr Trump said that online gambling “should be approved here,” adding: “An awful lot of money is leaving the US that should and could stay in this country.”
Mr Trump is a casino mogul as well as a property developer and could personally stand to do very well from a legalised US online gambling sector. It is believed that he is getting ready for just that, by placing Trump Entertainment Resorts on standby to open an online arm of its operations. The billionaire has already filed papers allowing him to select a joint venture partner to run future online gambling operations.
ShareSportingbet Sells Turkish Online Gambling Arm
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling, online poker — Daniel Coysh @ 2:41 pm
photo credit: JorgeBRAZIL
As we reported recently, online gambling company Sportingbet has been trying to sell its Turkish business ahead of a possible takeover by UK bookies Ladbrokes. Well talks with Ladbrokes were called off – although the Turkish sale took place just a few days later.
The $197.6 million sale to the East Pioneer Corporation, part of GVC Sports, is subject to shareholder approval, but Sportingbet hopes that the move will take the heat off its Turkish business, which had attracted political flak – not least because it was established in the Channel Islands to dodge restrictions on online gambling in Turkey.
Chief executive Andy McIver told the FT that “given our other big markets, Spain and Greece, have recently regulated their gambling markets, Turkey was the one which stood out and that has often been cited as an overhang on our equity. So it was a question of when, not if.”
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Ladbrokes Set to Make Announcement on Sportingbet Bid
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling — Daniel Coysh @ 8:51 pm
photo credit: Tim Green aka atoach
The smart money in the business world is predicting that bookmaker Ladbrokes will announce the latest news regarding its attempts to snap up online gambling company Sportingbet this week as part of its trading update.
The update is due to be announced on Thursday, and the Press Association said yesterday that Ladbrokes is now under more pressure than ever to acquire the online gambling firm, following the failure to seal a similar deal with 888 earlier this year.
The first approaches to Sportingbet were made in June, and the bookies has until 17 October to make a firm offer or throw in its hand under current takeover rules. Any difficulties in negotiating a sale will lie in Sportingbet’s Turkish online gambling operations, as this is currently trying to negotiate a sale to Gaming VC.
Once this is finalised, Ladbrokes is likely to waste no time making a firm offer for the rest of the company.
ShareKPMG to Host Manx Online Gambling Summit in November
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling, online poker — Daniel Coysh @ 12:09 pm
Accountancy giant KPMG is holding its second online gambling summit next month on the Isle of Man, to discuss the island’s potential in the worldwide online gambling sector.
The summit takes place on Tuesday 22 November at the Mount Murray Hotel in Santon, and attendance is by invitation only. KPMG Isle of Man said that “key stakeholders and decision makers” are to attend and will discuss how to ensure the Isle of Man stays “a safe place to play.”
KPMG’s e-gaming specialist Archie Watt said: “The e-gaming world has changed significantly since our last summit.”
“The actions of the US Department of Justice on Black Friday reminded everyone that the US still disapproves of online gaming. Black Friday has also shocked to the core the perceptions of online poker players – not all regulated jurisdictions are the same.”
He stressed that player protection was “at the forefront” of everything the regulator did regarding online gambling on the island.
ShareFull Tilt Poker Faces New York Civil Suit
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling, online poker — Daniel Coysh @ 12:34 pm
photo credit: Vectorportal
The US attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a civil suit against Full Tilt Poker this week, alleging that the online gambling site duped players into entrusting it with over $390 million of their collective assets, which it then used to enrich its owners and management – many of them prominent international poker players themselves.
Millions of people have signed up to the online poker site, and the company pledged to entrust their money in secure accounts. Prosecutors say that the much money was not kept there and had discovered this deception while investigating problems at Full Tilt and two other online gambling sites, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker. All three sites have been blocked to US players by the Federal government, which believes them to be in violation of fraud and money-laundering laws.
Attorney Preet S. Bharara told the New York Times that “Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company but a global Ponzi scheme.”
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Schleswig-Holstein Legalises Online Gambling
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling, online poker — Daniel Coysh @ 7:59 pm
Schleswig-Holstein became the first German state to make online gambling legal this week, possibly opening the floodgates to further liberalisation.
Before the regional authority made this bold move, Germany’s states had all followed the national government’s line of keeping it illegal in order to protect the government monopoly on sports betting and lottery gambling. It is now being hoped by websites offering online poker and other games that similar legalisation will occur in other states, heading off a move by the federal government to maintain restrictions.
The Schleswig-Holstein will implement the move from the start of next year and says that online gambling firms will have to obtain a licence and pay a 20 per cent tax on profits. Companies that have already expressed their intention to apply for lillcences include Betfair, Bwin and PartyGaming – and PokerStars is very likely to do so as well as it already has many German players.
ShareOnline Gambling Shares Psychological States With Gaming
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling — Daniel Coysh @ 7:11 pm
photo credit: InspireKelly
Online gambling enthusiasts experience the same highs and lows as online gamers playing such famous titles as World of Warcraft, according to researchers at the University of Kent.
A study by the university’s psychology department looked at the habits and mindset of 160 gamers – they concluded that online gambling and online gaming involved the same passions and the same positive and negative emotions.
A university spokesman said: “Across various life activities, studies have found that the two forms of passion show different relationships with emotions, linking harmonious passion to positive emotions and obsessive passion to negative emotions.”
Dr Stoeber added: “Because emotions are closely related to psychological well-being and the present findings showed that harmonious and obsessive passion had unique effects on positive and negative emotions in online gaming, the present findings suggest that harmonious and obsessive passion are factors contributing to, or undermining, the psychological well-being of people involved in online gaming.”
SharePaddy Power ‘Steals a March’ on Mobile Online Gambling Market
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling — Daniel Coysh @ 4:02 pm
photo credit: David Boyle in DC
Irish giant Paddy Power reported this week that it has enjoyed a 42 per cent increase in the number of people using its online gambling sites, especially via mobile devices such as iPhones, in the first six months of 2011.
The gambling group said that although its 209 Irish betting shops were reporting losses, online gambling had netted operating profits of a whopping €45.3 million – some 25 per cent more than in the first half of 2010.
Chief executive Patrick Kennedy said that the results showed that Paddy Power had “stolen a march” on its rivals when it came to mobile betting, adding: “We invested in a very good product and backed it up with TV advertising and online marketing.”
He went on to say that the number of extra “active customers”taking online gambling opportunities came to more in the first six months of this year than over the whole of the previous one.
ShareOnline Gambling Sets Sights on India
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling — Daniel Coysh @ 8:04 pm
photo credit: Tarun K Photography
With its vast population and computer savvy, any enterprise that can harness the Indian market is surely on to a good thing. This is the thinking behind many companies involved in the software applications associated with online gambling, with gaming giants 2UP insisting that the newest and most exciting online gambling market is to be found in India and sending out the call for partners in the country to help establish a firm foothold.
The excitement all began with a report by the Media Entertainment Consulting Network (MECN), which examined where the majority of new players were coming from and identified Asia and India as swiftly growing regions for online gambling. It said that the online gambling market in India was worth $60 billion in 2009 and has grown exponentially since then.
Just as many big companies have sited their IT operations in India, due to its low overheads and high rates of computer literacy, online gambling firms have been quick to spot this similar potential. The question is how long before the pioneers are facing heavy competition from every quarter?
ShareOnline Gambling Giant Signs Man City Deal
Filed under: Online Gambling News — Tags: online gambling — Daniel Coysh @ 1:09 pm
photo credit: Smabs Sputzer
Online gambling giant the Mansion Group signed a two-year sponsorship agreement with Manchester City FC this week.
The Gibraltar-based group will now be the Premier League team’s official international betting partner. It had previously been Tottenham FC’s primary sponsor, with a record £34 million four-year deal being signed in 2006. The online gambling firm’s new deal is believed to be worth some £3 million, over two footballing seasons.
Manchester City’s chief brand and commercial officer Ian Cafferky declared: “Mansion Group is one of the fastest growing and innovative companies within the gaming industry. Having them on board as our new partner is an exciting prospect and marks a new commercial chapter for the Club.”
For his part, Mansion Group chief executive Guy Gussarsky said: “With football a global game, we are looking forward to working together with the Club and helping both City and EPL fans worldwide to better enjoy their experience, using a number of new and exciting initiatives, and in keeping with the market-leading values that are at the heart of both of our organisations.”
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