General casino industry related articles that may well be of interest. These articles vary from general casino news, to regulation and well, just pretty much anything I want to write about to be honest. If you want information specific to individual casinos, then the Online Casinos section is where you should probably be heading.
From the 10th November 2008, all online casinos that use Microgaming software - and that’s most of them - will no longer be taking USA casino players. However, players with accounts opened before Sunday 9th November 2008 will be able to continue playing.
Click here for more information and casinos that this affects
Not good :(
In a move that follows on from the ongoing Internet censorship case being bought by the Governor of Kentucky to limit Internet access to Kentucky residents, online gaming software giant Microgaming becomes the latest company to “play it safe” and has implemented a system-wide block on all Kentucky domiciles.
As of this week, no resident of Kentucky is able to play at any gaming company that uses Microgaming software which accounts for a large proportion of the properly regulated online casinos and poker rooms previously available in the State. Additionally, one major licencee
Check out this Wagerworks (IGT) page from their website. Now I love Wagerworks games, don’t get me wrong but honestly this is their “Plan For Success” (Sales pitch!):
An interesting development in my inbox this morning. It appears WIlliam Hill casino is ditching the Cryptologic casino platform and moving to Playtech, while at the same time merging with the infamous CPays brand and the lesser known offshoot Webroute Services.
Interesting and probably good too. For those that don’t know, CPays are a very aggressive and generally unpopular online casino operator who manage a few brands. I’ve never liked them myself - they are happy to have spamming affiliates and do whatever it takes to get players and keep them, and complaints are numerous. Whenever I came across a website with their brands on I intuitively knew the affiliate cared more about their commissions than about the players they were trying to inform. They are very closely linked to Playtech and recently, Webroute Services appeared
In a move few thought would happen, the legal processes started rolling today to censure online gaming websites that are deemed undesirable to USA citizens. In a Kentucky ruling delivered today, Judge Thomas Wingate gave the go-ahead for up to 141 domains in the online gaming sector to be siezed unless they agreed to block access to Kentucky residents within 30 days (Upd: extended deadline December 3rd).
The domains are no backstreet domains either. They include industry giants such as Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Golden Palace, Bodog, Absolute Poker and Microgaming among others. Observers have been quick to point out that should this go through, the precedent of website censorship will be set in the USA and could in future extend to any
The Republicans have come out and said that they want to ban online gambling. I quote:
“Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the law prohibiting gambling over the Internet.”
Source: http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/Crime.htm
So there you go - can’t get more black and white than that. Family values though? Not so sure…if you look at the track record of the Republicans up to now, they have advocated State lotteries, land-based casinos and horse racing via carveouts to existing legislation. So it’s all smoke and mirrors - grab the moral vote while keeping the home-based gambling operators sweet. Have your cake and eat it.
They just need to be honest. It’s about keeping the US $ in the USA. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with protecting the “family”. If it was, they would ban gambling outright on land and in the virtual world.
Many casino regulars already know that Wagerworks, a wholly owned subsiduary of IGT UK, have a strict policy when it comes to certain countries signing up to play their games online for real money (or even free play for that matter). In fact, the list of countries that cannot currently play at Wagerworks casinos seems as big as the list of ones that can!
In amongst this is Canada….alhough the laws for Canadians are a bit fuzzier. In Canada, alledgedly, there is no law to outright ban online gambling, however some casinos see the law there as so woolly and grey that they don’t wan to take the risk. In addition, banking legislation is such in Canada that
The 2006 UIGEA strikes! The long-standing and reputable Aussie based Lasseters has decided to close it’s online casino with immediate effect as a result of the changes in US law made 2 years ago this month.
“Following the announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange on 9 September 2008, the Directors have taken the subsequent decision to cease the operations of Lasseters Online Casino due to our inability to compete and retain our market share since the closure of the US market in October 2006.”
It came rather suddenly with everyone being emailed today. Turns out that they just can’t compete since the US introduced laws to prevent the flow of cash in and out of online gambling operations from players. That law is under increasing scrutiny with several politicians realising it’s folly are backing a new law to stamp on the original one. Quite right too as the perpetrators of the original UIGEA just didnt’ think it through - well they probably did, but votes rain down quicker on the moral high grounds. ”Ooh I know…let’s take steps to prohibit gambling and hope it goes away”. Or put another way, “Ooh I know…let’s get rid of the reputable operators and let the thieves in through the back door”. Brilliant Holmes!
D’oh!
And so here we have the first really high-profile reputable casino going down. No doubt the UIGEA politicians will pat themselves on the back at how well they are protecting their flock. Meanwhile some dodgy clip-joint will fill their place.
And the wheels of the universe keeps turning…
Now this is pretty serious stuff for ANY domain name owner or company trading online, irrespective of market, product or jurisdiction.
The State of Kentucky (actually, strictly speaking it’s a Commonwealth) has recently won a court judgement to seize control of 141 domain names that are related to gambling and shockingly, ICANN have agreed to hand over the domains! We’re not talking small companies here either. Golden Palace, Microgaming, Carmen Media and many more. This is causing serious waves in the industry, needless to say but has much more far-reaching repercussions beyond the online gambling market. Although it’s pretty straightforward for most to just switch domain names, there are two major knock-on effects of this landmark ruling which if enforced after the appeal on the 7th October, should worry many, many companies and doman name owners across all areas of industry.
Firstly, regards gambling, the residents of Kentucky are now even more open to fraud from illegal gambling operators than they were already
Most experienced online gamblers will be familiar with Neteller, the eWallet that is accepted at just about every sportsbook, casino or poker room going. Excluding US residents of course. Well anyway, they just launched an affiliate program which may be of interest - Neteller Affiliate Program - with a bounty for every new account holder on their first succesful transaction. Frankly, it’s not a great bounty at £20 a throw, but at least it’s something.
I’ve used Neteller for years and apart from the odd frustration, it’s served me well. It’s generally the quickest way to get money in and out of the merchants and can be treated like an offshre bank account to a degree. They are based in the Isle Of Man