Gambling Online Is A Grey Area… Unless You Live In North Dakota
READ MORE: Laws, Legalities, Online Gambling
Think you got it bad when your mom won’t send you $20 via Neteller to get your football picks in for the week? While that does suck, at least you’re not North Dakota’s own Jeffrey Trauman, who’s profiled for his dumb luck on Poker Player Newspaper:
Jeffrey Trauman has made history. As best I can tell, he is the first, and only, person who has actually been charged and convicted of online gambling…
According to Jeff, he was charged with “placing a wager over $500,” a misdemeanor in North Dakota. Rather than fight it, he pleaded guilty, was fined $500 and given a one-year deferred sentence, and split to Kentucky…
Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Bud Myers is reported as saying that Jeff “went a little beyond” the $500 minimum. The police searched Jeff’s house in April 2003 and discovered $43,000 in cash in one desk drawer… (and he) had another $300,000 in overseas accounts. Jeff thinks his problems started because he was too honest. Since sports betting was his major source of income, he put “professional gambler” as his occupation on his federal tax return.
Lessons learned? Don’t move to North Dakota, don’t tell the IRS you’re making big money in Antigua, and when Bud Myers comes a knockin’, make sure you hide your $43K a little better than Jeffy did.
Busted for Betting Online [PokerPlayer Newspaper]
Party Gaming: Who Wants To Be A Kajillionaire?
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
As the Party Gaming IPO floats aimlessly toward its eventual ruin(we’re kidding, of course…kind of), many investors are ignoring the warnings about the Party Gaming IPO’s potential to flop and diving in anyway. Today’s Party Gaming’s initial share value was set at 116p. Trading immediately began about 10% higher than that, around 126.5p. By the end of the day, the stock closed at 129p and made its owners billionaires.
However, not all is well in the Party Gaming camp as many are scrutinizing the IPO because of its extremely high risk—mostly because close to 90% of its profits come from U.S. customers and the U.S. and now Canada are threatening legal recourse against the site. Many experts also feel that because Party Poker is the biggest chunk of Party Gaming’s empire there is too much competition within the online poker community for it to stay in that position. The Times of London maintains its assessment of the Party Gaming IPO from an investor’s quote in the story. Justin Urquhart Stewart at Seven Investment Management, a wealth manager, said:
“There is not much difference between buying shares on the first day of trading and taking a punt on the 2.30 at Newbury…It is much better to wait until the stock settles down a bit — you can see how the market reacts to it, giving you a clearer indication of how it might do.”
Patience is never something gamblers are good at, but we highly suggest people find some in this instance. Besides, do we really want a man named Dikshit to get even richer?
Investors Gamble on Flotations {Times UK]
Party Poker IPO [Party Gaming]
Previously: Party Gaming IPO May Put Us In The Clink [Oddjack]
Party Gaming IPO May Put Us in The Clink
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
As the Party Gaming IPO edges closer and closer to making its owners rich, investors should be wary of some of the inherrent risks and the rising potential US interference once it goes through. Because 87% of Party Gaming’s gambling profits come from American gamblers—and because it’s technically illegal in the US—Business Week reports that the Justice Department may pursue more creative measures to infiltrate the billion dollar online gambling boom:
[T]hose include squeezing the middlemen who facilitate Net gambling and arresting execs from gambling sites if they set foot on U.S. soil. “We have to keep looking for new and innovative ways to investigate and prosecute,” says the official.
Hmm…now could we technically be considered middlemen? It appears that way. That’s why we’ll throw a whole bunch of money at the New York Yankess and New York Mets Subway Series this weekend to set aside for our bail. That’s what we call “synergy”.
Looks Like a Sure Thing, But… [Business Week]
Previously: US Can’t Stop the Party Gaming IPO Conga Line [Oddjack]
US Can’t Stop the Party Gaming IPO Conga Line
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
It turns out that maybe there won’t be a United States cockblock on the Party Gaming IPO afterall. Experts in a recent article speculate that some of the threats being heaved by US officials may just be that. According to a story in Reuters, U.S. law enforcers are unlikely to pursue PartyGaming— or any other online gambling company—due to unresolved legal questions. And one expert noted that the chances of a U.S. crackdown are so “remote that the chances approach those of being hit by lightning.”The Party Gaming IPO is still on track for June 27 and promises to be the largest one on the London Stock Exchange in four years.
Don’t Bet on Web Gambling Crackdown, Experts Say [Reuters]
Previously: The Party Gaming IPO Debate Continues [Oddjack]
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The Party Gaming IPO Debate Continues…
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
Even before the U.K’s Guardian weighed in on the Party Gaming IPO stand-off, a business columnist at the Daily Telegraph in London had already panned the Party Poker meisters initial public offering in last Sunday’s paper. Author Luke Johnson is no slouch himself when it comes to the gambling trade, having recent bought a half-dozen greyhound tracks in England, several years after co-authoring a book called “Betting to Win.”
Maybe the real strategy by Party Gaming is to paint their Party Poker logo over even more of London’s black cabs. The grassroots marketing competes with David Beckham’s sunglasses and cabs painted with adverts for travel to Florida’s Keys. Just in time for summer! We give a slice of bullshitty, urban legend American graduation speech advice to Brits falling for the Key West ads: don’t forget the goddamn sunscreen.
Let the Public Place its Bets [Times Online]
Previously: Party Gaming Execs Could See the Clink [Oddjack]
Party Gaming Execs Could See the Clink
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
The multi-billion dollar Party Gaming IPO stand-off continues as the Londoners are still planning to float the IPO in 11 days. PartyGaming, owners of the incredibly popular Party Poker online poker rooms, are still trying to seek some sort of loophole in the US system that would prevent them from facing federal indictment. But it appears the high profile case could force the feds to bitch-slap the sassy Londoners back to earth if they continue to operate in the US, according to The Guardian newspaper:
According to the [US Justice]department, online gambling operators[PartyGaming Executives]such as [Ruth] Parasol, 38, her husband, James Russell DeLeon, 39, and their partners, Indian computing experts Anurag Dikshit and Vikrant Bhargava could face prosecution under three federal statutes: the Interstate Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act and the Travel Act. These carry penalties of between two and five years’ imprisonment for each offence. The company prospectus, published yesterday, concedes that its activities “are considered to be illegal by the relevant authorities” in the US, but says case law has established that online poker sites are excluded from the legislation controlling gambling. It also says its four founders have travelled in and out of the US with impunity.
Will this speedbump cause a rift between Tony Blair and George W. Bush if the cock-block continues? Be prepared to see thousands of British troops leaving Iraq in the next month.
Online Gambling Tycoons Face Jail Threat [The Guardian]
Previously: PartyPoker IPO: Holy Crap That’s a Lot of Donuts [Oddjack]
North Dakota May Change Name to Antigua
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
A spunky North Dakota representative, obviously beckoned by the hell hounds of Satan, has pushed forward a controversial new bill that would make online gambling legal in North Dakota. According to a post on a Wired News blog, Republican Representative Jim Kasper from Fargo, has introduced two bills which he estimates will bring close to $75 million into the state. Many of Kasper’s colleagues are leery of the proposal and will most likely widdle Kasper’s spirit down to a nub or have him drawn and quartered. But, online gaming proposals are also currently being put together by legislatures in Nevada, Georgia, and Illinois, according to the article.
Online State [Wired Blog]
Another Reason Why European Countries Will Hate Us
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
Remember that whole bajillion dollar Party Gaming IPO and the supposed watershed impact it could have on online gambling? Well, according to UK newspaper The Observer, it might not happen and it’ll be all our fault:
Partygaming, the Gibraltar-based owner of the world’s biggest online poker site, may be forced to pull its £5.5 billion London float as fears grow about the legality of internet gambling in the United States. Analysts at blue-chip US institutions who would be expected to buy shares in PartyGaming said this weekend they will not automatically back the firm and will need convincing that the US government will not harm the company. Online gambling is illegal in America. The situation could force PartyGaming either to lower its target price or possibly pull the float altogether.
You can almost hear the collective spirits of Party Gaming executives slowly dying.
US Gambling Laws Threaten Float [The Observer]
New Law Could Kill Net Horse Betting. For real.
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
There is a new enemy for Internet gamblers around the world and his name is Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) who has cobbled together a new law designed to go after our esoteric little off-shore friends in Antigua.
The cleverly titled “Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2005” would effectively prevent credit card issuers, banks, and other financial institutions from transmitting money related to online wagering and authorize a wide array of federal and state law enforcement agencies to go after the offenders.
What makes this internet gambling bill different than the other 90 million laws shuffled around the Senate is this one does include horse racing tracks—which were exempt from many other proposed internet gambling bills.
As big a hit as it would be to track owners like Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment , passage of the Kyl proposal in its current form could essentially wipe out operators like Youbet.com and TVG.Shiver…
Plan could cripple Net horse betting [MarketWatch]
Related:
The Future of Internet Gambling Laws
You Bet [YouBet.com]
Magna Entertainment [Magnaent.com]
US Still Squeamish About Online Gambling
READ MORE: Legalities, Online Gambling
It’s amazing that the United States is still considered the forefront of cultural supremacy even though some of its laws are so antiquated and idiotic, it makes the Draconian era look like goddamn Hedonism II. Take, for instance online gaming, which is making shitloads of money that the U.S. can’t touch because the country refuses to regulate something it can’t control. Well, now London is about to set initial public offerings on two major gaming sites (888.com and Partygaming.com) and completely be one step ahead of the US in actually making money off one of the most lucrative industries in the world.
And while the U.S. investigates online gambling, it should also do something about that prostitution law. I mean, what better way to finish off a long day of online gambling than to get a $100 blow job?
One day, everything will be a wager, from a hand of poker to the likelihood you'll be struck down by a bioterror attack before the next brain backup. One day. For now, there's Oddjack. It's a sneak peek at the future of gambling.
