Reason – After Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, experts disagreed about the extent to which it affected the legal risks facing businesses that dared to let Americans place bets online. The law created a new federal crime, punishable by up to five years in prison: accepting money in connection with “unlawful Internet gambling” while “engaged in a gambling business.” But it left the definition of unlawful Internet gambling as fuzzy as ever. Of particular relevance for the protagonists of Straight Flush, Ben Mezrich’s gripping, fast-paced account of Absolute Poker’s rise and fall, the Unlawful Internet…

Press Release – The UK’s biggest casino, the London Hippodrome, risked controversy last week with its advert in The Metro seeking Door Dwarfs – to work as bouncers at the casino’s new entrance. The casino reopened its doors in July 2012 and now welcomes 35,000 visitors a week. Of course, UK residents have no real need to go to a land based casino as they can gamble online at a huge number of different casino sites. But while the convenience of online casinos will doubtless be the main attraction for people who decide to play roulette with 32Red and the…

Forbes – Sheldon Adelson, the nation’s 11th richest person and chief executive of casino company Las Vegas Sands LVS +0.7%, says he is determined to stop online gambling in America and he will go to great lengths to battle the corporate interests pushing for it.  “I am willing to spend whatever it takes,” Adelson said in his first interview since The Washington Post revealed that he had hired an army of lawyers and lobbyists to try to convince Congress to ban online gambling. “My moral standard compels me to speak out on this issue because I am the largest company…

iGaming Business – Nigerian online gaming platform Kuluya has entered into an exclusive partnership with Nokia to launch new games on the mobile telephone manufacturer’s Asha and Lumia devices. According to the ApplauseAfrica.com news website, the two companies have joined forces in an effort to connect with Africa’s online gaming community. Kuluya currently has 65 online titles available to various African markets, including Ghana, Senegal and Kenya. “We know that gaming will explode across the continent of Africa, just as it has in the West, usurping other forms of entertainment to become a multi-billion dollar generating industry,” Kuluya’s chief executive…

iGaming Business – Greek gambling monopoly OPAP has cited new national tax laws and an ongoing recession in the country as the reasons behind a further drop in profit in the third quarter of 2013. OPAP, which was recently sold to Czech-Greek fund Emma Delta, posted third-quarter net profit of €44.4 million ($59.9 million), a 61% year-on-year fall, despite being higher than analysts’ average forecast of €37.2 million. The company said that a new 30% tax Greece had placed on gross gaming revenue had led to a major impact on results this year. However, OPAP was able to record a…

Just days before the New Jersey online gambling experiment goes live, the lawmaker responsible for pushing the issue in the first place is setting his sights on global gamblers. State Senator Raymond Lesniak plans to introduce a bill that would let international companies set up shop in New Jersey and then offer online gambling to people located outside the U.S. The idea is to play on America’s reputation for financial security: Legal gambling operations headquartered in New Jersey would presumably appear less likely to make off with customers’ money or crumble under shifting regulations. Lest he might fail to establish…

Poker News – New Jersey’s Internet gambling five-day soft launch is underway, and the failure of banks and credit card companies to process transactions has proven to be an early hurdle. After the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was enacted in 2006, many institutions implemented systems to reject gambling transactions, but now that individual states are legalizing online gaming, banks and credit card companies must adapt once again. Bloomberg originally reported that Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., American Express Co., and Paypal refuse to allow online gaming transactions due to previously established guidelines or out of fear…

Australian Gambling – LADBROKES has strongly refuted claims made by UK newspaper The Guardian that it turned a blind eye to illegal activity. Paul Pearce, an ex-employee of Ladbrokes, contacted The Guardian after it published an article claiming fixed-odds betting terminals (FOTD) were used across the country to launder money. Pearce claimed the UK’s biggest bookmaker told staff “not to mention the words “children”, “smashed” and “money laundering” in company documents for fear of exposing the scale of underage gambling and criminality in betting shops” and that the emergence of FOBTs in 2001 has meant the sector is “riddled with…