The French online gaming market is opening up to competition: the French Government is in the process of enacting a legislation liberalising the online gaming market under the pressure of both the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “Commission”) and the fast-moving environment on the Internet where online gambling operators are already present and offer games of chance to french consumers.

SEGA, bekannt als einer der größten Produzenten von Videospielen und früher auch Videokonsolen, ist jetzt auch mit einer eigenen Poker- und Casino-Webpage im Internet vertreten. Das Unternehmen erhielt diese Woche eine offizielle Lizenz von der Alderney Gambling Control Commission. Alderney ist eine Kolonie der britischen Krone und liegt ungefähr 100 Kilometer vor der Südküste Englands.

Minneapolis, Minnesota -The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide (and more than 15,000 in Minnesota), declared victory as news broke that the Minnesota Department of Public Safety was dropping enforcement action against Internet Service Providers that provide access to Internet gambling sites, including legal Internet poker sites.

Nachdem letzte Woche bekannt gegeben wurde, daß bei Harrah’s ein neuer Geschäftsbereich für das Thema Online gegründet wurde, hat Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment (HIE), die Muttergesellschaft von Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. nun bestätigt, daß der neue Geschäftsbereich sein Hauptquartier außerhalb der USA haben wird und in Montreal/Kanada ansässig sein wird.

Washington, DC (May 12, 2009) –The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, today praised the release of the White House Citizen’s Briefing Book, a compilation of voter-led policy proposals that includes as one of its top items the licensing and regulation of online poker.

Washington, DC (April 29, 2009) – Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance, the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, and more than 21,000 in Minnesota, today issued the following statement following the press announcement by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety...

The Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda, the first known country to establish online gambling is moving to strengthen its regulations as it relates to the industry. The Directorate of Offshore Gaming, a division of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission in the online gambling jurisdiction of Antigua and Barbuda has announced...

Harrah’s, the Las Vegas gaming group that owns Caesars Palace is to install Mitch Garber, a former chief executive of Party Gaming, as the head of a new company formed to house its internet operations and the popular World Series of Poker. The gaming giant is spinning these businesses out into a newly-created entity.

The Non-Prosecution agreement with the US authorities will be welcomed by the majority of those in the online industry as a break from the past with the opportunity now to move forward. Some operators, however, will have misgivings. The admission of guilt is unlikely to rest easy with the 'Brit' companies who have traded from a country where gambling is entirely legal.

Last March 5th, French Minister of Finance Eric Woerth gave the broad outlines of the bill on opening the Internet gambling market to competition. It will concern horse racing, sports betting and for casino games, only poker has been retained since roulette games, blackjack and slots have been officially put aside, the reason being that these are considered too addictive. The online gambling market should be legalized on 1 January 2010.

The online gambling industry is very well-placed to be resilient in the face of the continuing global recession argues Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC) in its new Interactive Gambling Report. The total global interactive gross gambling yield surpassed USD 20bn for 2008 in what proved to be a good year overall for the interactive gambling industry.

Online gamblers who apply for mortgages may have more at stake than their occasional flutters – banks are now using their hobby to reject loan applications. Michael Dowling, spokesman for the Independent Mortgages Advisers Federation (IMAF), told The Irish Times that banks now regarded online betting very negatively. He said that while any such activity appearing on a current account submitted to a bank as part of a mortgage application...