What's New? - November 2009

Sources report that the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are postponing the regulations designed to ban Internet gambling, which were to take effect on Dec. 1, until June 1 of next year. The regulations would prohibit financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. The postponement will now give the US Congress time to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed by the Bush government in 2006. Read more ..

Right2bet , the organisation comprising consumers from across the European Union who believe in a citizen's right to choose, calls EU citizens to Vote now to make a difference and win your right to bet freely in Europe.

In a special article written for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill Newspaper since 1995, US Representative Jared Polis of Colorado, pleaded for ending the online gambling ban in the USA. He relates how he benefited from the freedom and growth of the Internet to create "hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in shareholder value." It is this experience which prompts him to call for an end of the ineffective attempt to ban Internet gambling in his country which has led American consumers to spend more than $100 billion annually with operators based outside the US and become victims of fraud and abuse. It has also caused loss of billions of dollars of potential tax revenue. He, therefore, applauds the initiatives of his colleage, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), to regulate the online gambling with the help of The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267), replacing the ineffective Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

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Various sources report that Gary Kaplan, the founder of the online gambling site BetOnSports.com was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison, and was ordered to forfeit more than us$ 43 million in illicit earnings as part of a plea agreement. According to the same sources, Kaplan, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2006, admitted that BetOnSports had provided gambling for US residents through the internet and toll-free telephone numbers, had 1 million registered customers and accepted more than 10 million sports bets worth more than us$ 1 billion in 2004 alone. Read more ..

Sources report that Canada's Optimal Group Inc, the company behind former payment processor FirePay, has reached a non-prosecution agreement with the United States Department of Justice over more than $2 billion worth of illegal gambling transactions for U.S customers which FirePay processed from 2004 until October 2006. According to the terms of the settlement, Optimal Group agrees to forfeit approximately $19.2 million which was earlier seized by the government from Optimal Group's bank accounts. In return, the DoJ will not criminally prosecute Optimal Group or any of its subsidiaries for any crimes related to the former processing of Internet gambling transactions originating from customers in the United States through and including 2006. It must be noted that Firepay was accused of illegal payment processing although they shut down when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed by the Bush administration. Read more ..