Online Casino and Gambling News: March 2009

A senate panel in South Carolina heard submissions regarding the state's antiquated laws against card games this week as state legislators prepare to debate an 1802 law that makes dice or card games of chance illegal.

Gibraltar, home to many of the online gambling industry's major companies, is experiencing a tightening employment market with 100 jobs lost to date, reports the Gibraltar Panorama this week. Among companies that have reduced staff are Party Gaming and Mansion group, the newspaper reports.

The Obama Administration's new US Trade Representative at the World Trade Organisation, Ron Kirk will be under some pressure this week as the European Commission releases its report following an investigation into the discriminatory practices of US law enforcement in prosecuting European companies and individuals for alleged online gambling offences.

In a move to reduce the possibility of students developing problem gambling tendencies, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling is assisting regional colleges to identify college problem gamblers and obtain assistance for them as soon as practicable.

Football pools firm Sportech, which owns the New Football Pools comprising the famous Littlewoods and Vernons pools companies, reported this week that it is turning around 15 years of declining interest by unveiling a remarkable 39% rise in annual profits.

Seattle lawyer and Poker Players Alliance supporter Lee Rousso may have reached the end of the line in his litigative attempts to overturn the state of Washington's draconian ban on Internet poker. The feisty lawyer has been battling the state, which allows almost every form of land gambling but imposes draconian penalties on anyone caught wagering on the Internet, for the last two years.

In a bid to tighten up on suspicious Internet sportsbetting on major football games, Lithuania has signed up with a company created with the help of FIFA to help it monitor suspicious betting patterns and improve precautions against corrupt practices.

Online poker rooms on the Microgaming Poker Network have started running qualification tourneys in its newly launched Europe’s first European Championships of Single Table Tournaments (ECOSTT). The satellites will culminate in a grand finale at the Reval Park Casino in Tallinn, Estonia, from 17 to 19 July 2009.

Look out for more legal fireworks from the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) on Monday 23rd March - the civic and Internet freedoms organisation will be announcing a new action in New Jersey aimed at having the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act declared unconstitutional.

Online punters Downunder wager more money online than gamblers elsewhere in the world, reports the Melbourne Sun Herald this weekend. The newspaper references a new Canadian study by University of Lethbridge professors Robert Wood and Robert Williams which used a research base of 20,000 adults in 105 countries to reach its conclusions.