Casino Poker Bonus Blog

By Rachel Stevenson

United States senators are preparing to launch a new attack on
onlinegambling in a move that threatens to damage PartyGaming,
the online poker company planning a £5.5bn float in London
this month.

A bill being drafted by Jon Kyl, a Senator for Arizona and
long-time opponent of internet gambling, seeks to ban credit
card companies from dealing with online gaming groups in a
bid to crack down on the rapidly growing industry.

As the US has no jurisdiction to challenge directly offshore
internet gambling companies such as PartyGaming, which is based
in Gibraltar, senators are trying to shut down the industry by
stopping banks from handling all online betting transactions.

If the bill is successful, it would also hit other UK groups
such as Sportingbet,which has two-thirds of its customers
in the US.

Senator Kyl has the support of the powerful American Gaming
Association (AGA), which represents land-based casinos.

Banning online casinos and internet betting would remove the
biggest competitive threat to their businesses.

The move would also appease the World Trade Organisation, which
earlier this year said the US was in breach of international
trade agreements by preventing offshore gaming companies from
targeting US customers while allowing some internet betting on
its shores, such as on horseracing and online state lotteries.
The WTO said the US must ban all forms of internet betting or
open up its doors to foreign gaming groups.

However, competing interests in the US gambling industry may
scupper the bill. It will be challenged by the equally powerful
US horseracing industry, the Native Americans whose reservations
are home to several gambling centres, and by state lotteries,
which sell billions of dollars'worth of tickets online. They
are set to demand exemption from the bill.

A spokesman for PartyGaming said: "There seems to be no combination
of exemptions that would be acceptable to all those who have an
interest in this bill. PartyGaming does not believe the current
proposals will gain sufficient support to be enacted."

This is the eighth attempt by Senator Kyl to attack the online
gaming industry in the US. Previous proposals have struggled to
achieve political agreement.

The attack on banks follows attempts by the US Justice Department,
which has already been pressuring institutions such as the Bank of
America,Chase and American Expressto stop handling internet betting
transactions. The department has also issued threats to advertisers
and media groups which have carried online gambling promotions.

News of the fresh assault on internet gambling comes as PartyGaming
gears up to begin attracting potential investors. It is due to
publish its listing prospectus later this week and investors
will be scouringthe document to assess the legal risks to the
business.

The company maintains that online poker is not illegal in the US,
only online sports betting.

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