Online Casino and Gambling News: November 2009

The British media are carrying a warning from the Office of Fair Trading, which reports that hundreds of thousands of Brits have been conned by fake lottery scams. Officials say that about 140,000 people fall victim to this type of fraud each year, costing the public up to a staggering £260 million. The average loss is around £1,900 per person, but through embarrassment or other causes only six percent of victims report incidents to the authorities.

Isle of Man-based online gambling software provider Microgaming has been declared the winner of the 2009 Isle of Man Newspapers Award for Innovation and Independent Thinking.

The imminent release of the first draft of the Polish government's proposed measures to restrict online gambling activity in the country has attracted international attention as gamblers, Internet freedom advocates and online gambling companies consider the consequences.

Falling temperatures are apparently persuading British online punters that there will be a white Christmas this year, with a growing number putting money on the possibility. Part of the British festive season build-up is the annual gamble on whether snow will fall over the Christmas period, and the snowy predictions this year have persuaded bookies like William Hill to slash the price of snow in Aberdeen from 8/1 to 3/1 and snow in London to an 8/1 shot.

Whilst Congressman Barney Frank, the Poker Players Alliance, Kentucky politicians and various horseracing bodies have received widespread and well deserved plaudits for persuading the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to postpone the implementation of the UIGEA, it turns out that US financial institutions also played a key role.

Online gambling software developer, Parlay Entertainment which is focused mainly on the online bingo market, has reported disappointing third quarter 2009 losses, with revenues declining to $800,000 compared to Q3,2008 when these were $2.5 million, generating a $600,000 loss (Q3,2008: net income of $600,000).

The PoliticsFriday column in the Seattle Weekly, commenting on moves to raise up to $30 million in tax reveues by allowing four minute keno to be enjoyed in the state, highlights the apparent moral ambivalence of state politicians on the issue.

Poland's president Lech Kaczynski has signed into Polish law the restrictive measures confining gambling to casinos and phasing out slot machines in gaming arcades, cafes, clubs, shops and service stations, reports Agence France Presse.

The announcement by the Fed and the US Treasury late Friday that the December 1st implementation date for the UIGEA regulations has been pushed back to June 1st 2010 has been generally well received.

Casting the shadow of pessimism over the prospect of US legalisation as the week ended was an article in the Las Vegas Sun, which reported on a survey of 17 Internet gambling experts carried out by the American Gaming Association, which itself is maintaining a neutral stance on the issue.