Casino Choice UK News Archive
Gaming industry in turmoil as US bans online gambling
Late Friday evening, in a Machiavellian move that caught the gambling industry completely offguard, Senator Bill Frist succeeded in attaching his bill intended to ban online gaming onto the latest bill aimed at increasing port security. The latter bill was practically guaranteed to pass, and it did, early on Saturday morning, by a margin of 409-2. Just like that, with a clever manipulation of the rules, Senator Bill Frist, Senator Jon Kyl and the other anti-gambling crusaders had succeeded in getting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed. Had they not linked it onto the port security bill there was no way Congress could have found time to pass a law aimed specifically at banning online gaming, for on Saturday morning the house broke for the mid-term elections. Now, in two weeks time, President Bush will almost certainly sign the bill into law, and online gambling in the US will to all extents and purposes, become illegal.
Like all legislative matters however, the new law is complicated, not least in terms of enforcement. Technically speaking the act does not specifically outlaw a US citizen from gambling online within the US, but it does outlaw the payment of gambling monies to and from US banks and credit cards. How the bill affects offshore payment processing houses such as NETeller (based outside the US), is not yet clear.
What is clear is that the publicly listed online gaming companies such as PartyGaming, operators of the world’s biggest online poker room PartyPoker.com, are taking the legislation extremely seriously. In a statement issued on Monday morning PartyGaming said: “If the President signs the Act into law the Company (PartyGaming) will suspend all real money gaming business with US residents.”
PartyGaming’s share price took a brutal hit in the aftermath of the bill, falling by over 60%. All other publicly listed gaming companies suffered similarly catastrophic slumps in their share prices, with Sportingbet shares down 64% and 888.com down 34%.
It should be stressed however that not all sites are shutting down their US operations. Bodog, UltimateBet and Absolute for example, all privately owned companies, have issued statements suggesting it will be business as usual for them. And Full Tilt issued an interesting statement adding that they: “(did) not expect any immediate impact from the legislation, as the banking industry has 270 days to implement new rules after the bill is signed.”
Some good news then, but not enough to soften the mood of Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Speaking with the backing, no doubt, of every American online poker player, he said: “This last minute deal reeks of political gamesmanship. The American people should be outraged that Congress has hijacked a vital security bill with a poker prohibition that nearly three fourths of the country opposes. The millions of Americans who enjoy playing this great game will have the last voice in this debate come Election Day.”
This story is bound to develop dramatically over the next few days so keep reading to stay up to date with the whole sad affair.
Like all legislative matters however, the new law is complicated, not least in terms of enforcement. Technically speaking the act does not specifically outlaw a US citizen from gambling online within the US, but it does outlaw the payment of gambling monies to and from US banks and credit cards. How the bill affects offshore payment processing houses such as NETeller (based outside the US), is not yet clear.
What is clear is that the publicly listed online gaming companies such as PartyGaming, operators of the world’s biggest online poker room PartyPoker.com, are taking the legislation extremely seriously. In a statement issued on Monday morning PartyGaming said: “If the President signs the Act into law the Company (PartyGaming) will suspend all real money gaming business with US residents.”
PartyGaming’s share price took a brutal hit in the aftermath of the bill, falling by over 60%. All other publicly listed gaming companies suffered similarly catastrophic slumps in their share prices, with Sportingbet shares down 64% and 888.com down 34%.
It should be stressed however that not all sites are shutting down their US operations. Bodog, UltimateBet and Absolute for example, all privately owned companies, have issued statements suggesting it will be business as usual for them. And Full Tilt issued an interesting statement adding that they: “(did) not expect any immediate impact from the legislation, as the banking industry has 270 days to implement new rules after the bill is signed.”
Some good news then, but not enough to soften the mood of Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Speaking with the backing, no doubt, of every American online poker player, he said: “This last minute deal reeks of political gamesmanship. The American people should be outraged that Congress has hijacked a vital security bill with a poker prohibition that nearly three fourths of the country opposes. The millions of Americans who enjoy playing this great game will have the last voice in this debate come Election Day.”
This story is bound to develop dramatically over the next few days so keep reading to stay up to date with the whole sad affair.
Submitted: 05/10/06 at 10:37:54
