Viewpoint MAY 2011
Lewis Pek Editor
Tel: +44 (0) 1942 879 291 Email:
lewis@gamingpublishing.co.uk
John Slattery Commercial Director Tel: +44 (0)7917 166471 Email:
john@gamingpublishing.co.uk
Karen Southall G3 Spain - Associate Editor Email:
karensouthall@gmail.com
John Carroll G3 Germany Email:
carroll@carrollconsulting.de
Lisa Nichols Sub Editor
Gareth Irwin Senior Designer
Paul Jolleys Production Manager
John Malin, David Addison, Bepi Mottes Contributors
Jennifer Pek Subscriptions Manager
John Pek Commercial Administrator
Cover Image Gareth Irwin
For sales enquiries contact: John Slattery Tel: +44 (0)7917 166471
Email:
john@gamingpublishing.co.uk
For editorial enquiries and inclusion in the June issue of G3 contact: Lewis Pek Deadline - May 10, 2011 Tel: +44 (0)1942 879 291 Email:
lewis@gamingpublishing.co.uk G3 is distributed to:
Albania, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam, US
Gaming Publishing Limited
Samson House, 457 Manchester Road, Manchester M29 7BR, UK Printing Newman Thomson
1 Jubilee Road, Burgess Hill West Sussex RH15 9TL Tel: 01444 480700 Fax: 01444 480720 email: ed@newmanthomson
Disclaimer
All contents© Gaming Publishing Limited 2011. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the publisher. While we make every effort to ensure that everything we print in Global, Games and Gaming (G3) is factually correct, we cannot be held responsible if factual errors occur. Advertisements are accepted by us in good faith as correct at the time of going to press.
The total number of
up to 30 years in jail, with the government seeking $3bn in penalties
people arrested is 11 and each of them could face
On April 15, visitors to the poker gaming sites
PokerStars.com,
FullTiltPoker.com,
UB.com/UltimateBet.com and
AbsolutePoker.com were greeted with an F.B.I landing page notifying them that the domains had been seized. Behind the scenes the FBI has arrested executives from each of the companies, including: PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, Full Tilt Poker’s Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick, and Absolute Poker’s Scott Tom and Brent Beckley, and several others. So far the total number of people arrested is 11 and each of them could face up to 30 years in jail, with the US government seeking $3bn in money
laundering penalties.
The companies have also had 76 bank accounts in 14 countries shut down which will stop the flow of billions of dollars into their sites. The sites have been accused by authorities of disguising gambling payments and deceiving banks into processing payments by creating fake companies and websites claiming to be retailers, selling items such as jewellery and, bizzarely enough, golf balls.
The irony is that the US federal government had been planning to introduce poker legislation and various states such as Nevada, California, New Jersey and Florida have looked to jump the
G3 is all about games. The games players want operators to buy. It's about the creation, the application and the ultimate experience of playing games from all types of sources, media and location. Think of the mantra - location, location, location and now think games, games, games - because without them you have no location. And without G3 you've no way of knowing what you might be missing. If you have one machine or a thousand, if you have a chain of casinos, a single site or whole arcade to fill, you need the very best products to attract your
G3 I MAY 2011 I PAGE 4 gun with intrastate legislation.
Events of the last few days justify the actions of a few companies to comply with the US, as they are likely to be the main beneficiaries assuming that licences will eventually be awarded in the US.
The reason the domains have been seized is because of the UIGEA, which was introduced by US Congress in 2006. The UIGEA made it illegal for US players to gamble for real-money online, however the mentioned sites continued to accept US players and now the owners of the sites are facing a range of charges which include illegal gambling, money laundering and bank fraud.
No one could have predicted this - not least Steve Wynn. In March, Wynn Resorts announced a partnership with PokerStars saying the two companies would work toward the passage of federal legislation to regulate gambling on the Internet. Were federal regulation to be passed, Wynn Resorts planned to launch
PokerStarsWynn.com, to be based in the U.S. However following Friday's FBI arrests, Wynn Resorts immediately announced that its was severing ties with the betting company. According to a statement released by Wynn Casinos, the billionaire decided that the short lived romance with online betting software was not worth the possible trouble it could bring. Time for a sharp exit...
What is G3? Global Games and Gaming = G3 customers - and here's where to find them.
Each issue features the latest games, in-depth country reports and special focuses on technology, innovation and creativity in the sphere of games and gaming.
G3 is a worldwide high quality monthly magazine for the games and gaming operator. It sources gaming related news, information and market statistics from around the world and delivers them direct to you each month.
Just when they thought it was safe...
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