iGaming News all over the world 10.04.2010

10.04.2010, Cake Poker Network Exits French Jurisdiction / Media Companies Benefit from Online Gambling in France / Two Online SportsBooks Shut Down in USA

Cake Poker Network Exits French Jurisdiction
The Cake Network is a Dutch Antilles based online poker network, in the top ten in the online poker sector. Cake Network is owned by it's parent company Cake Gaming N.V. and is hosted by Cyberluck, a Curacao based Regulating and Gaming Licensing & Hosting provider also licensed in the jurisdiction of the Netherlands Antilles. Other network partners include Sportsbook.com, Red Star Poker and BetUS with the Cake Network currently is at 35 partners including the well attended, Doyles Room which just came on board in 2009. Cake Poker has recently announced that the network would be dropping all players residing in France. This includes every site on the Cake Network such as Doyles Room, the Greek, Sports Interaction, Power Poker and many more casinos and sports books that use the casino or poker platform.

Cake has responded with a statement “Due to new French legislation, players in France will not be able to play for real money from April 9th. Players will of course be able to access the Cashier after April 9th so that they can withdraw their funds. We are looking into obtaining the relevant licenses to adhere to the new legislation as a matter of priority and once the circumstances change, we will be in contact to let all players concerned know. We do hope to welcome French players back to our software soon. I apologize for the inconvenience caused.”Basically this looks like a reshuffling of the deck in the French online gambling market.

As France becomes a regulated environment for online gambling companies those that want to get a piece of the action are attempting to comply with the new rules set out for the industry there. France is requesting all gambling sites that want to accept players from France to apply and obtain a proper licence. Newly entered text in the law is asking for French players who wish to play at a gambling site, must sign up at the site, only after the site has been licensed by the government. A finalized version of the wording of the law, has gone through the Nation Assembly with approval and will be reviewed by the European Commission before getting the signature of approval from the President at the end of April 2010.

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Media Companies Benefit from Online Gambling in France
The newly liberated French online gambling market has spawned a number of spin off benefits for companies other than just the online gambling operations. Media outlets such as television, newspapers and magazines are all garnering business because of the new market. Internet betting firms need to drive customers to their offerings that are on the web so these traditional means of advertising are usually employed in the process.

In order to compete Ladbrokes from the UK teamed up with Channel CANAL+ and online betting giant Bwin renewed a partnership with L'Equipe sports news publications. Now Metropole 6 Group, reportedly France's second most watched television network has struck a deal with the French online gambling group Mangas Gaming. These activities are to be subject to the betting companies achieving licensing status with French regulator ARJEL which has yet to begin. The collaboration between M6 and Mangas and it's subsidiaries Everest Poker, Expekt, Bet-at-home and Betclic, will go for four years minimum.

Everest and Betclic are to present their services on M6's network of websites, and sponsor poker and sports content across M6's nine digital channels. Nicolas Béraud, Mangas group's chief executive officer, said: "We are delighted about the visibility M6 will provide to our brands and services on both its channels and websites, especially in the poker segment." Managing Director of Metropole 6, Valéry Gerfaud, said: "We have chosen to actively participate in the growth of the online gaming industry by joining our forces to the leading French sports betting and online gambling group and providing our know-how in contents creation and interactivity."

In order to keep online gambling in the public eye many companies have successfully made arrangements with large newspaper chains and television networks including Eurosport TV and the The Poker Channel, and the UK interactive television and the internet gambling group NetplayTV.

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Two Online SportsBooks Shut Down in USA
The authorities in the USA that have been following illegal gambling operations for the past 32 months have now put their investigation into arrest mode. The New York Police Department’s Organised Crime Division have charged 38 individuals with operating illegal online sports gambling businesses. Richard A Brown, Queens District Attorney Brown was backed up by members of the NYPD, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Broward County Sherriff’s Office during the press conference that explained the proceedings. The defendants allegedly ran online sports betting websites and a toll-free phone number to distribute and collected wagers through out the USA. If the accused are found guilty a prison term of up to twenty five years could be sentenced. It is estimated over $170 million in wagers had been collected during the time the police were investigating the activities of these businesses. Charges will include money laundering, promoting gambling, conspiracy, and enterprise corruption charges. Millions of dollars in property and large quantities of cash have been seized during the raids on the various individuals homes and businesses. Arrests were made in Arizona. Florida, New York, Louisiana, and Nevada. Modern technology, was the main tool used by the accused operators of the online sports books. Brown revealed there were five gambling websites as far as they knew that were big enough to handle large volumes of wagering from anywhere in the USA. Brown commented, “Unfortunately for the defendants, the law enforcement community is just as adept in using new technology to stop those involved in such criminal pursuits,” adding, “Today’s arrests close down two highly lucrative gambling operations and send a loud and clear message that law enforcement will keep up the pressure.” The pressure should be on the US government to clarify it's position on online gambling and bring needed legislation to the country and make online gambling a regulated and licensed form of entertainment.

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