Industry news

[Andy]

BetOnSports Founder Pleads Guilty, To Forfeit $43.7 Million (BETonSPORTS PLC)

What I find incredible is that he is going to Prison for doing what a lot of sites are still doing, ie Accepting US wagers.

Also the figures are quite something, 1 Million registered customers! Employing 1,700 people! I mean that is hell of a lot and makes you realise what a blow to the Industry losing the US market was and how much it will explode back into life when (if?) Obama pulls his finger out and legalises it.

[snoopy]

BetOnSports Founder Pleads Guilty, To Forfeit $43.7 Million (BETonSPORTS PLC)

What I find incredible is that he is going to Prison for doing what a lot of sites are still doing, ie Accepting US wagers.

Also the figures are quite something, 1 Million registered customers! Employing 1,700 people! I mean that is hell of a lot and makes you realise what a blow to the Industry losing the US market was and how much it will explode back into life when (if?) Obama pulls his finger out and legalises it.

Andy what sort of impact will this have on other books? i.e. if they start getting a bit squirmish about taking US customers wont this impact on them making payouts or am i reading too much into this?

[Andy]

This is not "new" news as such he was arrested in 2007 along with the Directors of SportingBet and a few others unfortunate enough to be passing through the US at the time.

Its no different now than before I was just suprised at the sentance he got and the amount of employees they had.

[Nintendo2k]

According to EGR there are talks going on between BWIN and PartyGaming, but both companies are not saying anything at this time. According to the article, however, PartyGaming has "repeatedly said it is looking for a major sports betting platform so it can complete a strong product suite in the key egaming verticals of poker, casino and sports betting. "

According to the article, one of the reasons for this would be because "(...) a Bwin-PartyGaming merger would be “exceptionally strategically compelling”, with Party benefiting on the sports side of its product offer and Bwin gaining from Party’s in-house casino capabilities."

Both have very large poker networks so a merger would be ideal if they want to take on the US facing PokerStars Network.

Bwin, PartyGaming dismiss new merger speculation | eGaming Review

&

Bwin, PartyGaming and the trouble ahead... | eGaming Review

[musicbox]

Thanks for that, Nin. Yeah, would be useful to probably keep using Andy's BOS thread for any industry news to keep these in one place so just altered the title so it's less specific and put it in the player support area -keeping up to date is a form of support I guess!

Be an interesting one to keep an eye on anyway so thanks again

[Nintendo2k]

Some key paragraphs:

The bill has been designated as an urgency measure, meaning it would go into effect immediately upon legislative passage and signature by the Governor. A non-urgency measure would not go into effect until 1 January 2011.

This urgency status of the bill reflects California’s pressing need for tax revenues to plug its huge and growing budget deficit, set to reach to US$19bn by the end of the current financial year.

Florida and New Jersey are the other cash-hungry US states currently considering intrastate egaming systems as authorised under the 2006 federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The act banned deposits relating to internet gambling already illegal under other federal, state or tribal gambling laws.

The state and federal holiday on Monday means SB 1485 will appear before California legislators on Tuesday 1 June 2010, the day final UIGEA regulations compelling banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions to “prevent payments to businesses in connection with unlawful Internet gambling” come into force.

Hopefully this will come to be, and hopefully it is a sign of more to come with states launching online sportsbetting also. But on its own this looks like good news for the poker players in California. Now to hope they pass the bill and that Arnold signs it.



California introduces long-awaited internet poker bill | eGaming Review

[Nintendo2k]

William Hill is to close its telephone betting subsidiary in the UK in favour of a cost-saving operation in Gibraltar, it announced this morning.

The bookmaker said the move was in response to other betting exchanges and telebetting operators “enjoying significant tax advantages”. It paid £265m in UK taxes and levies in 2009.

....

William Hill Online, partnered with service provider Vertex, will continue to service all William Hill telephone customers, it said in a statement. Vertex will take over its Sheffield -based call centre, while William Hill’s Leeds operation will close with staff being offered alternative positions.

The new telephone betting business will be run by the company’s online division with customers able to use their telephone betting account for online transactions.

Read the full story here:
William Hill moves telebetting to Gibraltar | eGaming Review

Will be interesting to see if this means no more seperate telephone + online accounts.

------------

Also for any Norwegians out there:

Sportingbet have announced today that they will no longer be accepting deposits or new clients from clients based in Norway. If you have an existing balance with them you need to contact them via e-mail or telephone.

[Nintendo2k]

Not entirely unexpected, but still this is a big one --

PartyGaming and Bwin will merge to create the world’s largest listed egaming company, the firms announced to the London Stock Exchange this morning.

Bwin will be the majority shareholder with 51.64% of the newly merged business, while PartyGaming will own the remaining 48.36%. The company will be listed on the LSE. Bwin is currently the largest publicly listed egaming company with a market cap of around €1.4bn, while PartyGaming is second with a market cap of £1.1bn.

Read the full story:
Breaking News: PartyGaming and Bwin to merge | eGaming Review

[Andy]

More details:
Announcement by bwin regarding proposed Merger

Everyone seems very positive about it all, I suppose it is quite a good fit but will really make sense if (When?) the US market opens up again.

[leofer]

Source: PartyGaming, bwin eye U.S. after £2.1 billion tie-up* - Yahoo! News UK