Casino Blog

Turkey-Cyprus-Britain authorities cooperate to end gambling site

11 people out of 39, 2 of whom were women, were set free and 28 were committed for trial on Friday the 30th of May when it was suggested that they had built up a gambling and betting website in Britain, so breaking the law.

The activities of the website ‘www.superhabis.com’ was being watched closely by the Turkish police and it was established that there was a considerable amount of earnings generated from illegal online gambling and that these gains were released by the transfers between the banks in Britain, Ireland, Switzerland and northern Cyprus.

39 people were taken into custody following the arranged simultaneous operations to seven addresses in Turkish city centres.

70 computers, 7 hard disks, 1,155 CDs/DVDs, 33 memory cards, 134 bank credit card and deposit books with documents together with 1,191.40 grams of gold, 368,800 TL, US$10,371 and 4,550 euro earned from the crime were all taken as evidence.

It was declared that 16 people’s account transactions and transfers abroad were investigated by the Administration of Turkish Board of Financial Crimes Investigation (MASAK) and they were confirmed as receiving money illegally and that their property holdings were awarded an injunction.
It was revealed that Baris Kum, who had committed suicide on the 6th of November 2006 after gambling away the gained money belonging to his close relatives, was also using this website and that his family is suing the site owners.

Still thinking of illegal gambling site?

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Canada’s ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., whose subsidiary Citadel Commerce is a popular online poker and Internet gambling payment processor, will pay more than $9.1 million as part of a deferred-prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors in a probe of illegal online gambling.

In a press release Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said the online-payment company will avoid being prosecuted on a conspiracy charge if it avoids further wrongdoing for 18 months. As part of the agreement, the company has agreed to cooperate fully with the government’s probe.

ESI, through its wholly owned subsidiary Citadel Commerce Corp., processed more than $2 billion in illegal gambling transactions for hundreds of thousands of U.S. customers of Internet gambling Web sites between 2002 and January 2007, prosecutors said. The Web sites, which were mostly located outside the U.S., provided sports betting, casino and poker games online. (more…)

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France will begin issuing authorisation for online betting operators from the second half of 2009 after agreeing with the European Union to open up the market, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Friday.
The comments follow a meeting between Woerth and Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy this week to discuss proposals that would avert court action against France by the EU over restrictions on online gambling.
Brussels has given France a final warning to change its gaming rules or be taken to the European Court of Justice. (more…)

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In America, a survey by the Oregon Department of Human Services has found that 33 percent of teenagers have gambled online for free.
According to the Statesman Journal newspaper, there are around 1,700 gambling sites offering everything from casino games and poker to bingo with the state’s study showing 94,659 twelve to 17-year-olds had taken part over the last year for free.

Officials stated that they were worried by the results of the survey because the free sites introduce teenagers to gambling and may groom them for real-money games. (more…)

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Austria licenses Austria-based companies to offer lottery services and casino gaming via remote channels (Internet, mobile phones, and interactive television). Only Austrian residents are allowed to play at sites.

Austria views remote bookmaking services as an extension of state-licensed land-based operations. Both domestic and foreign-based license holders are permitted to offer services via remote channels.

Austria is one of nine European Member States whose gambling legislation is under investigation by the European Commission for potentially being over-restrictive with regards to EU free trade laws. Austria permits its licensed companies to advertise in the country but forbids foreign-licensed companies from doing so.

Websites hosted in Austria:
Expekt Sportsbook & Supertoto
GoldBet Bookmaker (more…)

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South Africa’s Parliament approved a new internet gambling law to regulate an industry plagued by crime and vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing, parliamentary papers showed today.

A memorandum attached to the National Gambling Amendment Bill said the interactive gambling industry was currently unregulated and “generally plagued” by crime. “This situation has resulted in a considerable loss of revenue to the national fiscus and compromises the country’s reputation as a responsible global citizen,” it said. (more…)

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Cyber World Group, owners of some of the world’s largest online casinos including Golden Palace Online Casino, have pleaded guilty to charges of illegal gambling in a landmark case which challenges the rights of the Mohawks to award gaming licenses.

CBC in Canada yesterday confirmed earlier speculation that the Quebec government has launched an attack on internet gambling activity in Kahnawake, enclave of the First Nation Mohawks. Hundreds of online casinos and poker rooms are licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), which has so far enjoyed the right to award gaming licenses and regulate their licensees.

The Mohawks claim the Canadian Constitution, which protects traditional native rights, gives them the right to provide hosting for any online gaming company they choose to license and regulate. The KGC has already licensed almost 450 online gaming companies and is widely considered in the industry to be a fairly strict regulatory body. Tribal leaders claim that 60% of the world’s online gambling traffic runs through its servers.

The Quebec provincial government has apparently decided the gravy train is over for the First Nation Mohawks, fining Cyber World Group $2 million for having their servers based there. Cyber World has pleaded guilty, setting a worrying precedent for KGC-licensed online gaming operators. (more…)

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With the recent growth of the online gambling industry in europe, online casino operators are now under pressure to commit to the recent licensing jurisdictions as the stress on proper regulation increases following the recent presentations at EiG (European iGaming) Expo in Barcelona.

As online gamblers and operator’s battle through legal complexities in the US, competition across Europe is great as operators are paying more attention to this blossoming region. The need for acceptable standards and licensing have never been stronger, says Andrew Beveridge, CEO of eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance).

The “white list” has been published in the UK and is leading the way forward, and is providing inspiration for online gambling companies to comply with the licensing jurisdictions. And as an independent online gambling regulator eCOGRA have provided a working stage for the jurisdictions.

eCOGRA has invested over $3 million to lay the groundwork for most jurisdictional requirements including the areas of game fairness, customer service, responsible gambling, management integrity, operational efficiency and accounting best practice.

“We’re aware that there are inter-nation and perhaps political difficulties in reaching a harmonized form of detailed international standards and regulations among national licensing jurisdictions,” said Beveridge at the Barcelona conference.

“But the main prize is surely a safe and fair online gambling environment for the players? That is our goal in promoting practical standards on which we can all agree and the inspection and monitoring necessary to ensure compliance.”

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“Studies don’t do much,” Frank is quoted as saying in the Journal. “What’s to study? Whether or not I should be able to make my own bet with my own money?”

Berkley and Jon Porter, both Nevada representatives, introduced the bill in June which calls for a one-year study of the Internet gambling industry by the National Academy of Sciences in order to identify the proper response of the United States to the growth of Internet gambling.

The bill has 64 cosponsors, in comparison to Frank’s bill which has garnered 38 cosponsors so far. Despite his own thoughts on a study, Frank is one of those cosponsors.

Frank’s bill seeks to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act that was passed into law in 2006, by enacting his bill which will legalize and create a regulation and licensing process for online gambling companies wanting to do business in the United States.

Frank’s bill would help bring the United States back in line with its World Trade Organization obligations as well. Currently the nation is in violation of them; the WTO has ruled more than once that the United States is contravening trade agreements with its ban on online gambling.

Instead of changing federal law to come into compliance, however, the United States is choosing to face the penalties for breaking the agreement and is working to alter its WTO agreements to exclude online gambling.

Those penalties may add up to big money being taken from the United States. Antigua and Barbuda, which initiated the case with the WTO, is asking for $3.4 billion in compensation for the loss of the U.S. online gambling market.

The tiny island nation was a major hub for several online gambling companies with customers in the United States. The $3.4 billion is only its first claim against the U.S. for violating trade agreements. It can also seek compensation if the U.S. changes its WTO agreements.

To get that compensation, Antigua and Barbuda has submitted for the WTO’s approval a plan to ignore U.S. copyrights, which would allow them to duplicate software, movies, music and more from U.S. companies.

Even if Antigua and Barbuda is granted the billions of dollars in compensation, Frank says in the Las Vegas Journal that it wouldn’t have a significant impact on the U.S. Internet gambling ban. (more…)

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