It seems like yesterday but it was an entire year ago that the Department of Justice in the USA did an about face on internet gambling laws. December 23rd 2011 just before the Christmas Holiday the Department of Justice called a spade a spade and adjusted its position regarding the federal Wire Act of 1961 stipulating the law only applies to sports betting. This confusing reversal of fortunes has created much confusion over the past year but has also cleared the decks for a revolution in online gambling happening in the USA.
The past year saw the crackdown on internet poker by the Department of Justice that exercised its muscle and shut down a number of prominent poker rooms operating in the States and subsequently after exacting a massive of amount of cash from the internet poker operators set of the Wire Act allowed individual states to offer lottery tickets to adults. The legal opinion of Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz said, “nothing in the materials supplied by the Criminal Division suggests that the New York or Illinois lottery plans involve sports wagering, rather than garden-variety lotteries. Accordingly, we conclude that the proposed lotteries are not within the prohibitions of the Wire Act.”
As recently as 2007, then U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said in congressional testimony that the Wire Act applied to all Internet gambling. “The Department of Justice’s view is and has been for some time that all forms of Internet gambling, including sports wagering, casino games and card games, are illegal under federal law. While many of the federal statutes do not use the term ‘Internet gambling,’ we believe that the statutory language is sufficient to cover it,” Hanaway said. “As we have stated on previous occasions, the department interprets existing federal statues, including 18 U.S.C. Sections 1084, 1952, and 1955, as pertaining to and prohibiting Internet gambling.” Interpretation of the law has been a bone of contention in the USA for a long time now, and the past year 2012 is no exception.
US Department of Justice Wire Act Still Affecting Online Gambling
The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency that has a regulatory body that sanctions online gambling operators. The government has signed a tax information sharing arrangement with the United Kingdom.
Allen Bell, the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, signed the agreement, under which the two will exchange an extensive range of information on tax residents, on a reciprocal basis, all done automatically. Mr. Bell issued a statement to the effect, "the nature of tax cooperation is changing and automatic exchange is becoming the global standards. The Island already shares tax information automatically under the EU Savings Directive and has recently announced that it will do so on a wider basis with the USA." The United Kingdom is attempting to arrange similar agreements with Jersey and Guernsey in order to achieve tax transparency.
Bell continued, "The Isle of Man has achieved global recognition for its proven record of compliance with current international standards of tax cooperation, with the OECD reporting to the G20 last year that the Island was one of only a few jurisdictions with all the elements of effective tax information exchange in place."
The Financial Stability Board placed the Isle of Man in the top group for international cooperation "Continuing with this approach, it is logical for the Isle of Man to embrace new forms of tax cooperation with our largest trading partner, the UK," Mr. Bell continued. "We have to send out a strong message to the outside world that we are no longer willing to consider that sort of business," Meaning there is the possibility of job losses, "We want to show the outside world that we are a genuine partner and we recognise where the debate is going and we want to be in the forefront of that debate."
The Isle of Man is recognized as being a reputable and honest regulator for online gambling operators including the worlds largest casino software provider, Microgaming.
Isle of Man Agrees to Tax Transparency for Online Gambling
Emmy-winning actor Jack Klugman, a versatile, raspy-voiced mainstay of US television during the 1970s and early 80s through his starring roles in The Odd Couple and Quincy, ME died on Monday at the age of 90.
Klugman, whose pairing with Tony Randall on The Odd Couple created one of television's most memorable duos, died at his home in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles following a period of declining health, according to his son, Adam Klugman.
"He went very suddenly and peacefully... he was there one minute and gone the next," the actor's son told Reuters, adding that the elder Klugman had "been in convalescent mode for awhile".
He said his father had lost his ability to walk and spent much of his time in bed. His wife of four and a half years, Peggy Crosby Klugman, former daughter-in-law of the late singer Bing Crosby, was with him when he died, his son said.
In addition to his TV fame, Klugman enjoyed a healthy career on the stage as well as in movies and made successful forays into horse breeding and political activism. Not even the loss of a vocal chord to cancer in 1989 could silence him for long.
Klugman gained fame for playing slovenly sports writer Oscar Madison in the sitcom The Odd Couple - a role he also had played on Broadway - and then as a crusading coroner in the crime drama Quincy, ME.
The Odd Couple, based on Neil Simon's play about two disparate divorced men forced to share an apartment, ran for five years, starting in 1970, but was never a hit during that time. Only through reruns did Klugman and co-star Randall, who played neat-freak Felix Unger, leave their mark as one of US television's great sitcom teams.
Randall died in 2004.
In Hollywood, Klugman had notable supporting roles in such films as 12 Angry Men (1957), Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and Goodbye, Columbus (1969).
He won the first of three Emmys in 1964 for an appearance on the legal drama The Defenders.
Klugman and Randall each received Emmy nominations for each of the Odd Couple seasons, with Klugman winning in 1971 and 1973 and Randall in 1975.
Klugman also earned four Emmy nominations for NBC's Quincy, ME.
His character, who stepped out of his role as medical examiner to solve murders that flummoxed the Los Angeles police, never had a first name.
Jessica Simpson has confirmed the rumours surrounding her pregnancy by posting a photo of her baby daughter Maxwell playing in the sand with the words “Big Sis” spelled out.
She captioned the picture “Merry Christmas from my family to yours,” Stuff.co.nz reported.
The Irresistible hitmaker, who is engaged to NFL player Eric Johnson and gave birth to Maxwell in May, had used a tweet on Halloween in 2011 to announce that she was pregnant
In a year that saw, among others things, Calvin Ayre indicted, and Norbet Teufelberger have his second "meeting" with European police forces, the Bodog founder has tested his predictions for 2012 against the reality of another tumultuous year in online gaming.
Calvin’s main assertion that in this industry being a private company is preferred to being a listed one was played out so strongly that behind closed doors you’d find it almost impossible to find a CEO who disagrees. The constant bickering between William Hill plc and Playtech, PWin and Betfair’s withdrawal from core markets are a few of the more obvious examples.
On the flipside you see private companies like PokerStars and Bet365 Group Limited who are continuing their rise and rise. However, the Rank Group trumped it all by just coming out and saying they want to delist: No charge, guys - smart move. Once private, head east: Asia is still the promised land!
The full article can be found at CalvinAyre-com. Calvin’s 2013 predictions will be posted on December 28th.
2012 review of online gambling industry by Calvin Ayre
The Media Man agency continues to probe the online gaming and gambling sector in Australia and the surrounding Asia Pacific region...
Across the globe online gambling and gaming has become one of the most popular internet activities of any type, in many cases replacing land-based casino games.
Down under in Australia, the same trend seems to have occurred, as a Roy Morgan Research report shows that online gambling is on the rise while land-based casino games are on the general decline.
If your Crown Limited's James Packer or Echo Entertainment top brass, no wonder you are looking to further to expand online activities.
In 2010, online gambling spending research rocketed $928 million. One year later, spending jumped significantly to $1.1 billion. These statistics refer to spending at government regulated sportsbetting websites such TabCorp. The report does not take other, unregulated online gambling sites into consideration. However, Australians do play on sites such as PartyPoker, World Poker Tour and PokerStars, so they are likely spending billions more on online gambling than this report states.
On the other side of the equation, land-based gambling in Australia has seen a huge decline. From 2010 to 2011, Australians spent $1.6 billion less on traditional gambling activities with a $1 billion decline in pokies spending. This is likely due to the fact that many players have taken their gambling online. Since the online gambling world offers much more convenience to players, it is likely that it has replaced land-based gambling.
Crown Melbourne and its sister casinos, along with Sydney based competitor, The Star (owned by Echo Entertainment), are looking to bring back punters as well as casual gamblers with entertainment promotions including performing artist shows, comedians, showgirls and so the list goes on.
The debate over poker machine reform is also most likely to have had an effect on the land-based gambling market in Australia. Poker machines and other forms of land-based casino games seem to have been cast in a shaded light recently, and it appears as though the debate over pokie reform has discouraged many players from taking part in these games. Victoria’s new strict gambling rules have also resulted in a drop in pokies spending. Since passing the ATM ban for pokies venues, gambling spending has dropped by $62 million. The state has recently banned the use of headphones while playing poker machines, so it is expected that pokies spending will decline even more.
Gaming experts including the Media Man team will continue to cover the Australian casino wars - both online and offline. Gamblers, remember that the house almost always wins, so bet with your head, not over it, and have fun.
Online gaming and online gambling continues to rise in Australia, Asia Pacific region | StreetCorner-com.au
The two most richly valued companies in the financial and consumer discretionary sectors in Southeast Asia share two things in common – both are controlled by Filipino tycoons and both are building casinos by the azure waters of Manila Bay.
The lofty valuations of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and Belle Corp., measured by forecast earnings multiples, show the size of bets being laid on the Philippines' ambition to join Macau and Singapore among the ranks of Asia's top gaming destinations.
Buoyed by stellar economic growth and one of the world's top performing stock markets this year, the casino rush is starting with the slated opening in March of port magnate Enrique Razon Jr.'s $1.2 billion Solaire property.
But it also comes as the government is investigating bribery allegations related to Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada's bid to build a casino in the same Manila Bay development, shining an unwelcome spotlight on President Benigno Aquino III's drive to shed the Philippines' reputation for corruption.
Razon, chairman of Bloomberry and the third richest man in the Philippines, has said the investigation has had no impact on his development.
"Mr. Okada, being a foreigner, maybe didn't know exactly how to operate in the Philippines, but the administration now with President Aquino has created serious credibility on the corruption front," Razon told Reuters at his coffee-and-tan hued office in Manila's port area.
A short distance away, 6,000 workers are racing to finish the 15-story, 500-room Solaire resort. Rows of slot machines and crystal chandeliers in plastic wrapping cover the main gaming hall that will soon see an inflow of eager punters.
Part of a tourism project that the government hopes will draw in millions of foreigners each year, Solaire will be the first of four resorts to open over the next three years within the 100-hectare (250-acre) complex.
Other projects include a casino owned by the country's wealthiest man, Henry Sy, who controls Belle, together with Macau operator Melco Crown, owned by Australian billionaire James Packer and Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho.
Thriving local market
Challenges include Manila's dilapidated infrastructure and general concerns over both safety and corruption – problems that have limited foreign investment in the Philippines for years.
But a thriving local casino market, where residents are free to gamble and operators enjoy strong government support, means investors remain optimistic.
Average bets at Manila's gambling venues are only around P40 ($3), compared with Macau where gambling tables often have a minimum bet of 300 patacas ($38). To change that, Manila is aiming to increase the use of junkets to bring in high-rollers from China and the rest of Asia.
Junkets – intermediaries who work on behalf of casino operators, loaning credit to players and helping them bypass currency restrictions – are prevalent in Macau where they account for more than 70 percent of total gaming revenue.
The Philippines is offering lower gaming taxes and lucrative payment terms to the junkets, which face increased regulation and scrutiny in their home turf of Macau.
Paul Joseph Garcia, chief investment officer at BPI Asset Management in Manila, said the jury was still out on whether the Philippines would be successful in luring junkets.
"I am still not that confident about our ability to attract the foreign VIPs, the junkets from Macau and other players from the region. We have a chance of getting some market share, that is for sure," said Garcia, adding he would wait for lower share prices before increasing BPI's exposure to Philippine gaming.
Regulated by government body PAGCOR, which itself operates 13 casinos, gambling has been entrenched in the Philippines since the 1800s when the country was a Spanish colony.
Casinos, basketball betting, bingo and juetung – an illegal numbers game that implicated two former presidents for accepting bribes – are popular with both low and high income residents.
"I come after work and meet my friends, it's nice for us to socialize," said Will, a 60-year-old Manila resident as he entered the Resorts World casino, owned by Genting Hong Kong Ltd. and Philippine property tycoon Andrew Tan.
With a shopping mall, a theater featuring broadway shows, hotels including a Marriott and a high stakes VIP club and a cavernous mass gambling floor, the glitzy Resorts World contrasts with PAGCOR's Casino Filipino branches where elderly locals play bingo on plastic chairs beneath fluorescent lights.
On a recent Sunday night the property's VIP floor was filled with Chinese gamblers playing baccarat while Mandarin-speaking waitresses served drinks.
High rollers
Razon's Solaire, which will open with 90 VIP tables and 200 for mass gamblers, is also vying to attract moneyed Chinese to its oceanfront casino. Bloomberry is in talks with more than two dozen junket operators and is aiming to have more than 50 percent of total revenues from the VIP segment after a year.
Heavy traffic and an overburdened, 40-year-old main international airport are hurdles that Razon's group is preparing to overcome as it seeks to lure high-rollers away from the strongholds of Macau and Singapore.
"We would fly them in privately from Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, places like that," said Razon who commutes around the city in a black Jaguar. The 52-year-old only takes a helicopter if he's late or in a hurry, he adds with a smile.
Brokerage CLSA estimates the Philippine gaming market will reach $3 billion by 2015. While Macau raked in more than 10 times that amount in 2011, the Philippines is seen more closely matching Singapore which made $5.7 billion in 2011.
Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan are also mulling gaming legislation. For the next few years, however, investors view the Philippines as a more immediate alternative.
That has helped push Bloomberry's forward price earni
Two of California's most important industries are having a little problem: they can't get along. And they may never get along.
Hollywood is the world's entertainment capital. Silicon Valley is the world's technology capital. Hollywood represents Southern California and "laid back" Los Angeles. Silicon Valley, meanwhile, represents the nerdy, youthful energy of hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area startups. Riches abound in both realms.
Hollywood has been making people rich for a century. It’s old money – mansions and Malibu.
Silicon Valley’s riches are much, much newer. People there care more about the size of your brain than the size of your house.
Despite that, Hollywood and Silicon Valley realize that they need each other. But their business models are fundamentally incompatible.
Hollywood wants to keep content under copyrighted lock-and-key and avoid the fate of the music industry and the news business: Thorough technological "disruption" by the likes of Apple, Google, and Facebook. Silicon Valley wants content to be freely available, plugged into the manifold platforms it launches at a frantic pace.
The biggest battle so far occurred in 2012, over anti-piracy legislation. Congress nearly passed the Stop Online Piracy Act, "SOPA," under lobbying pressure from the Motion Picture Association of America and other Big Content advocates. Only an 11th hour push by Silicon Valley and Big Tech, including a 24-hour Wikipedia blackout, turned the tide and killed the legislation.
There will likely be many more such battles in 2013.
Increasingly, the site of these battles won’t be California, but Washington — as Hollywood and Silicon Valley look to the nation's capital for the power brokers who can determine their fitfully shared destiny.
In June 2011, the US state of Nevada legalized its online poker gambling industry, and in Dec 2011, it created a regulatory framework for the same, giving casino gaming companies the power to run online poker rooms in Nevada.
Prominent in Nevada’s business world is its gambling industry, the interests of which the regulatory bodies and lawmakers of Nevada wished to protect as online gambling became more and more popular. Just two months before the governor of Nevada approved its interactive gambling bill, the federal government cracked down on three major offshore online poker companies—Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker—and drove them out of the US online poker market.
While some casino gambling companies of Nevada decided to create their own poker gaming software, others decided to get into partnerships with gaming content developers and software providers to run online poker business. Existing offshore online poker rooms, for instance, were given the opportunity to seek Nevada poker licenses so that they could supply their software to Nevada-based land casino gaming companies. Several companies have already partnered with Nevada-based businesses and now stand the chance of gaining access to a large global pool of players. Unfortunately, 2012 no longer offers any more chances for a federal online poker bill to be passed. However, the regulatory body in Nevada received and processed applications for online poker licenses from several casino companies. While some of them already received a Nevada poker license, others will be heard in early 2013.
However, all casino companies in Nevada do not plan to run real money online poker rooms. Some of them want to offer free poker games to attract customers to their land casino businesses. Since Nevada has a very small population, running online poker rooms in Nevada will not fetch large profits. Land casino companies, therefore, are just preparing to grab a larger share of the market in case online poker gets legalized at the federal level in 2013. Meanwhile, other US states are planning to legalize online poker in 2013, and if the federal government does not pass a federal poker bill, states will create their own laws for online poker, which will make things confusing.
Some of the casino companies that have expressed interest in online gambling are Gaughan Straight Holdings, Inc., Caesars Entertainment Corp., Station Casinos, LLC, MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts, Boyd Gaming Corp., Golden Nugget, Inc., Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., and others.
Casino Companies to Start Running Online Poker Rooms in Nevada Soon
The mobile phone has been around a long time but it has evolved into something far more sophisticated than early developers could ever have imagine. The smart phone is one intelligent piece of equipment that has capabilities and uses that most of us are totally amazed by. As the world wide web changes from a seek and use process to specific applications the mobile phone has become a powerful micro-computer in a very small package. The need for speed has become the techno race of the decade with each new addition of smart phones making the last ones look like snails.
The games are lightning loaded and responsive in a way that holds the imagination in the palm of the hand. The newest trend that keeps the spin going is the social gaming phenomenon sweeping the internet and now it will include real money punting and poker. Social media applications are making money for developers who see the potential for social gaming. Facebook and Zynga are venturing into the business of real money gambling games with the hope of monetizing what is already showing profits for online gambling operators all over the world. Mobile and social gambling put together is a magic combination that is sure to attract many new players.
Established online gambling operators such as bwin.party digital entertainment have teamed up with the social games developer Zynga to offer social gambling with style and professionalism soon to be available in the United Kingdom. The investors in the trend are rapidly catching the wave by partnering with or supporting game developers and security providers. The cry that there is gold in those hills has morphed into there’s gold in those cell phones with opportunities a plenty for the savvy tech investor. Watch the little screen for improvements in gaming gambling and social networking coming to a mobile devise near you.
Online Mobile Social Gambling Hits The Streets in Style
Four New Jersey state senators have authored a letter to Governor Chris Christie, asking him to act rapidly in signing a measure into law that would add New Jersey to the growing ranks of states that have formally authorized various forms of online gambling.
Online poker is among the gambling forms approved under the final version of S1565, which sailed through the New Jersey State Senate last week on a 33-3 vote.
As with an earlier, 2011 gambling bill, the measure now faces its final hurdle in the form of a signature by Christie. In 2011 the Governor vetoed an online gambling bill. A similar fate is a possibility for S1565, though both political and economic factors are now more strongly behind the measure.
Christie has 45 days from the final passage of the bill by state legislators to veto the measure. If he does not act by the February 3 deadline, the bill will become law. Of course, the bill would also become law should Christie choose to sign the bill before then.
The letter of support, signed by NJ State Senate President Steve Sweeney, bill co-sponsor Ray Lesniak, and Senators Jim Whelan and Jeff Van Drew, urged a rapid signing, noting, “[W]e cannot afford to wait any longer for implementation.”
The letter also wasted no time in invoking the economic carnage caused by Hurricane Sandy as an added reason for prompt signing.
The letter’s authors also cited an American Gaming Association study asserting that in 2010, online gambling was a $30 billion industry globally, with the US accounting for less than 15% of that total. “New Jersey must act quickly to take advantage of the market demand,” wrote the senators, “as we have the potential to realize hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from this program.”
The early-to-market push remained the letter’s primary focus, with the senators wrapping up their appeal with the following: “We urge you to sign the legislation immediately. New Jersey cannot afford to miss another opportunity to lead on this front.”
New Jersey Senators Urge Governor to Sign Online Gambling Legislation | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
Jahmene Douglas and James Arthur may have gone head-to-head in the X Factor final, but the singers are still close.
Runner-up Jahmene still counts winner James as one of his closest friends from the competition, but says he'll wait until January to spend time with him.
"I know that his schedule is going to be absolutely crazy. So I'll just give him some space and harass him in the New Year!" Jahmene said.
The former supermarket worker was known for his soul and gospel singing style, but doesn't see his career as being stuck to one genre.
"I think my album would be so mixed. Think of Whitney Houston's My Love Is Your Love album - that kind of mix between ballads, gospel and R'n'B, a bit of jazz," he said.
"I'm just trying to get back that music from the olden days, because I'm missing it."
As part of The X Factor final, both James and Jahmene recorded a single, with only the winning contestant's song to be released. James' version of Shontelle's Impossible became the fastest selling single of 2012.
Speaking about his own track from the final showdown, Jahmene said: "I'm hoping to release Let It Be. It would be a shame to let it go to waste."
Both contestants are scheduled to appear on The X Factor tour, along with five other finalists, including second runner-up Christopher Maloney and controversial contestant Rylan Clark, in January.
A Department of Justice ruling — and subsequent congressional inaction — may force Mississippi leaders to tackle something they are loathe to address: online gambling.
Casino gambling has flourished in Mississippi since it was legalized in 1990. But the Bible Belt state has had an uneasy relationship with the industry, and most state leaders since have vowed to keep it contained to the few areas where it’s allowed now.
But gambling is — has — spread to every hamlet in the state. It’s only a mouse click or push of a button on a smart phone away. It’s not taxed or regulated, and it threatens Mississippi’s legal casino industry, which is already hurting from the recession.
A Department of Justice opinion last year on the 1961 Federal Wire Act — used since the Kennedy Administration to fight book-making and interstate betting — has several states moving to legalize online gambling, others unsure what to do and the casino industry very worried.
The Justice opinion, answer to a question about whether Illinois and New York could use out-of-state processors to sell in-state lottery tickets, said states are not prohibited from authorizing non-sports gambling online within their own borders. It also appears to clear the way for states to form compacts to allow interstate online gambling.
A federal appeals court had reached roughly the same conclusion about the Wire Act in 2002, but the Department of Justice until last year had taken the position all online gambling was illegal in the U.S.
The American Gaming Association and numerous religious and anti-gambling groups are having kittens over the opinion. They’ve called on Congress to sort things out. But the current Congress couldn’t pass a ham sandwich and has delayed action even as Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and other states move to set up legal online gambling to help fill state coffers.
Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the AGA, in a recent column penned: “Unless Congress acts now, this country is about to see the largest expansion of legal gambling in its history. And it will happen in a fashion almost guaranteed to result in inadequate oversight — resulting in a future tangle of problems for law enforcement and U.S. consumers.”
Dec. 29 -- Like the fictitious country of Duchy of Grand Fenwick in the 1955 cold war satire 'The Mouse That Roared,' a tiny Caribbean nation with less than 90,000 population has declared war on America -- a war it expects to win.
It isn't a nuclear holocaust that Antigua and Barbuda want, but a trade war over the right of the twin island nation to export Internet gambling to paying customers in the United States -- a right Antigua says it is entitled to under the rules of the World Trade Organization, but that the U.S. Justice Department opposes.
While some U.S. officials look at Antigua's lawsuit with the WTO as without merit and even frivolous, Antigua's Finance Minister Howard Lovell says his country is deadly serious about the damage the American Justice System has done to Antigua's economy.
Lovell is seeking $3.4 billion in damages, claiming America violated an international trade agreement with the WTO that opened the door for countries like Antigua to export Internet gambling to Americans who make up more than half of the world's Internet wagerers.
Using the services of a Texas-born attorney who presently practices law and lives in Ireland, Antigua and Barbuda are relying on a series of rulings in their favor by the WTO. The two island federation has given the case to a WTO arbitration board to determine damages.
Before the U.S. Justice Department took its unprecedented action of shutting down off-shore Internet gambling operations, more than 3,000 citizens of Antigua and Barbuda were employed in Internet gaming operations. Today that number has shrunk to around 400.
'It is not in our interest to have a fight with the United States,' Lovell said. 'But we believe that as a sovereign nation, we are entitled to all the rights and protection of the WTO. My country has exhausted all other possibilities and believe it is time to pursue sanctions.'
Antigua and Barbuda have an ace in the hole the federation plans to use if the United States doesn't cover its economic damages. It isn't a bomb or a series of rockets, but it could be a formidable weapon.
Lovell said his country plans to turn the tables on America and seize its right to America's intellectual properties such as copyrights, music, movies and software to compensate for the perceived damages against Antigua and Barbuda.
The WTO sided with Antigua in 2007 and awarded the federation the right to target such valuable intellectual copyrights and trademarks as compensation for its economic losses stemming from the Justice Department's actions.
While Antigua is claiming huge losses to its economy and wants to impose a $3.4 bill on America for economic losses and punitive damages, the WTO capped the limit it would sanction at $21 million annually. America offered a trifling $500,000 per year, which Antigua and Barbuda summarily rejected.
Antigua is a former British colony. The island's income from tourism was devastated by a series of destructive hurricanes over the past decade. That decrease coupled with the U.S. Justice Department's action has 'driven us over a fiscal cliff,' said Lovell.
The Antigua-Barbuda economy was also hammered by the 2009 collapse of Stanford International Bank founded by Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, who was convicted fraud. The bank was once Antigua's largest private employer.
It is the WTO's position that America has violated the international trade laws by targeting online gambling without equal application of the law to U.S. operators who offer online betting on horses and dog races.
In 2006, the U.S. Justice department forced American banks and credit card companies to stop processing payments to online gambling businesses that operated outside America's shores.
Lovell said Antigua and Barbuda have been closely following America's complaints against China for pirating and selling fake products that wind up being sold to U.S. consumers. The United States has threatened to take China to the WTO to have the dispute resolved.
'Antigua has played by the rules,' said Lovell. 'All we want is for America to do the same.'
Ironically, many Americans are just as upset over the U.S. Justice Department's actions of shutting down the offshore gambling casinos and betting services as Antigua.
On Friday, April 15 of this year -- it is known as Black Friday -- the U.S. Department of Justice basically shut down the Internet poker industry for alleged violations of the UIGEA law. While some small sites still serve the U.S. market and allow wagering on horse and dog races, millions of Americans were prevented from playing Internet poker.
Stanley Sludikoff, who publishes Poker Player Magazine, said the Internet gambling issue is far from over.
'The U.S. Justice Department claims that only sports betting is illegal under the Wire Act,' Sludikoff told The Observer. 'Yet people are still being prosecuted under other statutes.
'All of the states seem to be waiting to see what will happen with the bill sponsored by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyle, which will be taken up in the next Congressional session in January 2013.
'Too many parties want to share the potential revenue to see this industry vanish. They include major casinos, North American Indian Tribes, state lotteries, social gambling networks, countries like Antigua and Barbuda, and greedy entrepreneurs.'
Sludikoff said he believes 'Antigua can put people back to work by operating subscription sites like the World Poker Tour, which is basically a poker tournament site.'
In actuality, playing online poker is not illegal in America except for a few states like Utah, Washington State and Missouri which have expressively outlawed it.
A growing number of states, including Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada, have already passed legislation to permit Internet gambling within their borders, but to date none have yet done so.
'They're waiting to see what happens with the Reid-Kyl bill,' said a spokesman
Neil Rideout of New Waterford, owner of Saratoga Oceanic Development Group Inc., said his company has been awarded a contract worth almost $1 million to build an online gaming system for Lions Gaming Inc., a Belize-based company.
“We are looking at creating ten programmer jobs in New Waterford to start. We just don’t have any place in the community here to house them right now,” he said.
“We might have to relocate those off-island in the beginning, then relocate the jobs back here after we build up enough resources to house these jobs.”
“We would need high-tech facilities to house these programmers.”
Rideout said this project will be in full production in three weeks and completed in 90 days.
“We feel confident we are going to be able to do this in 90 days because we are architecting it, making sure it is robust, stable, has a nice shell around it and that Lions Gaming will be first and foremost in online gaming in Belize.”
Lions Gaming Inc. is a corporation in Belize dedicated to providing the casino experience worldwide. Lions Gaming will offer online gambling and is in the process of securing locations to build structural casinos as well.
The contract will see Rideout’s company provide software development, consulting, security and maintenance for the online gaming project.
The project is expected to accommodate upwards of 250,000 clients, include sports betting, slots, craps and poker.
“We look forward to a long and equitable relationship with Lions Gaming, well beyond the scope of this contract,” Rideout added.
Rideout credited Revenue Canada’s scientific research and experimental development tax incentive program for its assistance with his company.
“Revenue Canada is an amazing government organization that is there for your development fees. It is unbelievable what they have done for us.”
Saratoga Oceanic is a development firm formed 10 years ago, that has pioneered multicast video conferencing and advanced reliable forms of content delivery, with offices in Germany, Australia and the United States.
In July 2011, Rideout was awarded the patent for Placecom, a software product that offers video conferencing for up to 100 people at a time.
“This is only the beginning for communication products to be developed in New Waterford,” he said.
“We look forward to a dynamic video-conferencing product set to be released out of here in the next year.”
Jason Foulger, of Spanish Fork, Utah, one of the in-house lawyers retained by Lion’s Gaming Inc., said Lions Gaming is owned by a couple of different individuals who wish to remain anonymous at this time.
“There are a couple different entities involved in it. I am kind of the attorney/project person in charge of this,” he said.
“I am basically going to be the front of the company at this time for everyone — the project manager.”
“Neil is heading a team up that is going to be doing the software and implement it for online gaming,” he added.
“We are just contracting with him,.”
Local company has online gaming contract - Atlantic Business - Cape Breton Post
The online gambling world has many interesting aspects that are not necessarily apparent to the average player. For instance there are many books out on the subject that range from online gambling for dummies to research articles that explain problem gambling issues and technical topics. While Online-casinos-com can provide excellent reviews and information for players on internet sites offering gambling of all sorts there is lots of info out there for those who like to read real books.
The Routledge International Handbook of Internet Gambling, edited by Robert J. Williams, Robert T. Wood, and Jonathan Parke is a source that provides some interesting reading. This particular handbook delves into the history of online gambling and how certain jurisdictions impose different rules and regulations. The handbook has topics that range from how poker rooms operate to the stats on cheating prevalence. The book also lists by nation its current gambling laws and status and the date when and if online gambling was legalized or prohibited. There is a section on payment mechanisms and the reliability of these organizations.
All in all the handbook does include every aspect of the industry in a comprehensive and readable way. Another online gambling sector that is very popular throughout the world is sports betting. From TRC Asser Press comes a specific book on the subject of sports betting and the law. Edited by Anderson, Blackshaw, Siekmann and Soek this international guide to the law in most jurisdictions points out the various changes and the uneasy relationship sports betting and gambling has. As everyone knows sports betting is enjoyed by millions around the world but is subject to a number of serious difficulties as unscrupulous and corrupt individuals and organized crime attempt to make money by match fixing and gambling on the outcome. Reading about the laws in each jurisdiction can advise the punter on the dangers and benefits of the pastime. Reading about online gambling can be a valuable source for the scholar and layman alike.
Governor Chris Christie now has the power to provide the state of New Jersey with online gambling options. “Bill S1565″ made it through the state senate and now awaits the Governor’s signature. Four senators in the state have sent a letter to governor Chris Christie in the hopes that he will act quickly in signing the bill into law.
The bill made it through the senate with a vote of 33-3 last week and Christie now has 45 days from the final passage of the measure veto it. If he does not make a move by February 3rd the bill will become law. However, the bill could also become law if the Governor chooses to go ahead and sign the measure.
The letter was created by NJ State Senate President Steve Sweeney, along with Ray Lesniak, Jim Whelan and Jeff Van Drew. The letter stated that the state can no longer afford to wait for the implementation of online gambling. The letter also mentioned the economic issues since Hurricane Sandy as another reason for a quick signing.
The letter, which can be read here, had a primary focus of an early to market push. The senators strongly urged the governor to sign the legislation immediately as they feel as though the state of New Jersey cannot afford to miss another opportunity to be a leader in online gambling development in the United States.
It will be interesting to see if the letter gives Christie the final push needed to sign the measure into law or if the measure will be put on hold, or even vetoed.
New Jersey Senators Create Letter Asking Governor to Sign Online Gambling Bill Into Law
The year is complete and we all move on to 2013. The end of the earth didn’t occur as the calendar the Mayans created ran out without apparent incident. The year was full of US Department of Justice crackdowns and flip flops. The Full Tilt Poker fiasco so called Ponzi scheme was a bizarre story of failure and fraud. The winner was PokerStars which somehow managed to come through the Black Friday episode with more than it went in with. Besides taking over Full Tilt, its biggest competitor it also didn’t feel the pinch of the crackdown whip. PokerStars has a golden horseshoe where the sun never shines it seems.
On the European front the European Commission took dissenting countries that held on to their monopolies to task without much effect. The online operators that were shut out of Greece, Germany and Belgium made lots of noise via their representative organizations but received no real satisfaction for their vocal and formal complaints. America is slowly finding that political changes in their country move at a snail’s pace as Nevada and the big casino operators take the wheel to legalize online poker in Nevada. New Jersey’s Atlantic City needs online gambling badly but the state continues to drag its feet.
It was a year that saw gambling reform in Australia where the government decided it had to step in and slow the spending habits of Ausies on their beloved video poker machines. This was much to the dismay of club owners and pubs that enjoy the revenues. Sports was again the big topic as match fixing in India and Italy and other countries such as China during the London Olympics again destroyed the integrity the sports industry depends on.
Good things came about too as Denmark, Spain, Belgium, and others liberalized their gambling laws to comply with free e-commerce in the European Union. The continuing saga of Antigua and Barbuda and the USA’s non compliance with the World Trade Organization’s judgement tops the list as something that is just plain unfair. Watch this space for the latest news in 2013, it’s a wild ride that just gets more interesting, mobile, social online gambling, and more.
Online Gambling In 2012 A Wild Year of Flips and Flops
The past year saw the crackdown on internet poker by the Department of Justice that exercised its muscle and shut down a number of prominent poker rooms operating in the States and subsequently after exacting a massive of amount of cash from the internet poker operators set of the Wire Act allowed individual states to offer lottery tickets to adults. The legal opinion of Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz said, “nothing in the materials supplied by the Criminal Division suggests that the New York or Illinois lottery plans involve sports wagering, rather than garden-variety lotteries. Accordingly, we conclude that the proposed lotteries are not within the prohibitions of the Wire Act.”
As recently as 2007, then U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said in congressional testimony that the Wire Act applied to all Internet gambling. “The Department of Justice’s view is and has been for some time that all forms of Internet gambling, including sports wagering, casino games and card games, are illegal under federal law. While many of the federal statutes do not use the term ‘Internet gambling,’ we believe that the statutory language is sufficient to cover it,” Hanaway said. “As we have stated on previous occasions, the department interprets existing federal statues, including 18 U.S.C. Sections 1084, 1952, and 1955, as pertaining to and prohibiting Internet gambling.” Interpretation of the law has been a bone of contention in the USA for a long time now, and the past year 2012 is no exception.
US Department of Justice Wire Act Still Affecting Online Gambling