iGaming News all over the world 21.08.2010

21.08.2010, PokerStars and Full Tilt are “operating illegally”, says Bwin CEO / Californian Indian Tribes Looking to Corner Online Poker Action / Department of Justice Grabs $13.3 million From Payment Processor / Guatemala seeks to legalize casinos

PokerStars and Full Tilt are “operating illegally”, says Bwin CEO
Online poker giants PokerStars and Full Tilt are both “operating illegally” in the US, according to Bwin CEOs Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner, in an interview recently given by them to EGRMagazine.com.

Bwin has the world’s third strongest poker offering behind PokerStars and Full Tilt, and believe the only reason they are not in pole position themselves was their decision to pull out of the US market in 2006.

Teufelberger believes that the two sites haven’t any particular advantages over other poker sites, and that without their virtual monopoly on US players they would have no chance of maintaining their colossal statures in the industry.

As Teufelberger explains to EGRMagazine: “It’s not because they have premier marketing skills or premier technology, what they have is hundreds of millions of dollars from what we see as an illegal market. We would expect that once the US regulates, these two companies will not have access to the market, and once that happens we’ll then see who the leader will be. They say they’re not operating illegally but I think they are.”

Teufelberger seems to believe strongly that before long the US will deregulate online poker and that PokerStars and Full Tilt will be firmly left out of any future licence considerations in the new market. In fact, he seems to think that the only question remaining would be whether they find themselves prosecuted or not for their so-called illegal activities.

He further dismissed any possibility of PokerStars or Full Tilt being bought out by investors, as nobody bought PartyPoker’s customer database when they pulled out of the US gaming market.

However, in business as in poker, few things are certain and Teufelberger did strike a more cautious note when he mentioned that if PokerStars and Full Tilt were granted licences, then it would have been “the biggest mistake Manfred and I ever made”.

Yogonet.com / OnlinePoker.net

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Californian Indian Tribes Looking to Corner Online Poker Action
California USA is keeping it's cards close to it's chest when it comes to legalising and regulating online poker. The battle continues as the government attempts to find some common ground with other interests in the state that want to keep their piece of the poker pie on the plate.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians and twenty one native tribes in California have formed a consortium in order to claim exclusive rights to online poker there. The Morongo Band attempted to gain control of internet poker by joining with Californian commercial card rooms recently without too much success. The native tribe also voiced opposition at Congressional hearings recently basically pointing out that Federal control of the internet poker industry threatened existing native revenues and potential.

Patrick Dorinson, spokesperson for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, commented, "We have 21 tribes at this point," he added, "We anticipate by the end of the day we will have quite a few more." Concluding, that a number of tribes had, "substantial gaming interests in the state."

The California Intertribal Intrastate Poker Consortium will be one of two LLCs that will be members of the California Online Poker Association, a report from the Capitol Weekly newspaper stated. The paper also reported, "While estimates vary, it is widely agreed that hundreds of thousands of Californians play poker via illegal offshore websites, to the tune of $1 billion a year or more." The California Tribal Business Alliance is giving the Morongo Tribe a run for it's money on the issue of control. A lobbyist for the organisation, David Qunitana, told the Capital Weekly that the CTBA is opposed to any online poker deal that would turn over an exclusive franchise to any one group, stating a move of this sort would contravene existing deals the state has with tribes offering casino gambling.

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Department of Justice Grabs $13.3 million From Payment Processor
The efforts to legalise and regulate online gambling in the USA seems to take one step forward and then two steps back as the Department of Justice continues to prosecute and fine companies that were processing funds related to the activity prior to the ban. Two USA online payment processors have forfeited $13.3 million as a fine to curtail any further legal proceedings levied against them. The two companies Allied Wallet Inc. and Allied Systems Inc., both owned by Ahmad Khawaja were being targeted by the Justice Department that state the companies were money laundering. Pokerstars the giant online poker site was regarded by the government as being at the source of the paper trail for the US distribution of funds.

Pokerstars which is hosted in the Isle of Man, is alleged by the prosecution to claim that the financial transfers were made by, "individuals and entities who knew that the funds involved represented the proceeds of the illegal transmission of gambling information and the operation of an illegal gambling business." The Department of Justice insists that Allied Wallet Inc. and Allied Systems Inc were used to disguise money transfers between citizens of the USA and the Pokerstars site. A state from the DOJ read, "the transfers in question were made in order to promote the carrying on of an illegal gambling business, designed in part to conceal or disguise their true nature."

The funds were seized in June of 2009 when the case was brought to the courts. Several payment processors were targeted in late 2009, including ElectraCash, who also had their assets seized and some were even shut down completely. BetonSports founder Gary Kaplan was arrested for various violations of American gambling and money processing laws and also had to forfeit huge sums of cash to the Department of Justice. Hope is in the works for online poker in America and a possible regulated and safe environment for operators in the States may be coming soon.

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Guatemala seeks to legalize casinos
Congressman Mariano Rayo, president of the Commission of Economy of the Congress, advances with the bill that seeks to legalize the casino and games of chance activity in Guatemala. The representative consulted the project with the Head of the Superintendency of Banks (SIB), Édgar Barquín, who assured that legalization is possible.

“We estimate that it is an activity that can be regulated, as in Panama, even in South America, where an economic and financial activity is generated”, affirmed Barquín, who underlined that the proposal may succeed “if money laundering ins controlled.” The officer said that he is not boosting the project and that it was Rayo who demanded its opinion.

The Head of SIB indicated that the Administrative Division of Special Verification (IVE) has made investigations in legal lotteries and bingo halls, and in some cases “there have been suspicions of money laundering and reports have been presented before the Public Ministry.”

Rayo affirmed that just four lotteries are authorized in the country, however, “there is a huge number of casinos, lotteries and other games of chance operating ilegally”.

With regards to the reasons to regulate this sort of games, the congressman explained that the Department of the US Treasury performed a study on the matter and revealed that “us$ 183,963,000 are laundered in Central America with these activities”. The countries with more gaming activity in the region are: Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

He points that “controls must be put, so they pay taxes and they can be reported in case they commit money laundering”.

The Ministry of Government, Carlos Menocal, was consulted on the casino legalization project and he answered: “It cannot be dome; I do not know the project, or who is presenting it. Games of chance are violent and dangerous.”

When asked more details, Rayo explained that he has not ellaborated the final project. “I am in the process of obtaining queries, consensus and opinions”, he said. Then he added that he is improving the draft and expects to conclude it in a month.

Representative Rosa María de Frade, of the political party Bancada Guatemala (BG), who also integrates the Commission of Economy, underlined that although games of chance are banned, they are practised in the country and represent us$ 122,642,000 annually in money laundering”.

The representative added: “Legalization is important in order to set controls and set tax payment. IVE must establish the mechanisms to perform the investigations.”

Yogonet.com / Siglo Veintiuno (Guatemala)

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