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…

The Guardian – Ofcom research finds 1.39m gambling ads ran in UK last year, compared with 234,000 in 2007 when sector was deregulated. The number of gambling commercials on British TV has rocketed from 234,000 a year to nearly 1.4m annually since the deregulation of the sector six years ago, according to new research. Media regulator Ofcom on Tuesday published research showing that viewers were bombarded with 1.39m gambling ads ran last year, with under-16s exposed to an average of 211 ads each. This is an increase of nearly 600% since the Gambling Act 2005 came into force in September…

iGaming Business – UK bookmaker Ladbrokes has insisted it is still “within range” of reaching analysts’ profit forecasts for 2013 despite ongoing speculation that it could be forced to cut estimates further due to what it described as “recent adverse sporting results”. “Ladbrokes notes market speculation with respect to recent adverse sporting results,” Ladbrokes said. “Current expectation for Group performance for 2013 remains within the range of analyst EBIT forecasts for the full year (£138 million – £151 million). But with a key part of the sporting calendar ahead it is extremely premature to speculate on the outturn for the…