Online Casino and Gambling News: March 2010

A Pennsylvania couple who hosted poker games in a garage and were charged but acquitted by a local court are back at square one this week after an appeal by the authorities to the state court of appeals was successful.

The Bulgarian publication Novinite reports that negotiations have been successfully concluded to base gambling tax at an across-the-board rate of 10% in the Eastern European country.

The weekend saw the publication in the Sunday Zaman publication of an interesting article on Internet gambling, and the fight which European betting groups are waging against a government ban on the pastime imposed in 2006.

After months of uncertainty, the ownership of Britain's national lottery operator, Camelot, has been settled in a £389 million deal with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. The agreement will now go before the National Lottery Commission for final approval.

On June 1st, the postponed regulations supporting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act come into effect, obliging financial institutions to block financial transactions with ill-defined "illegal" offshore gambling sites. Yet already the industry is seeing examples of the much-warned about 'overblocking' caused by the act's lack of precise definition, coupled with the low experience levels among financial bodies expected to enforce the legislation.

According to a new Finnish report, online gambling games are becoming widespread, with the border between gambling and digital entertainment becoming increasingly blurred. Reviewing the report, YLE.fi comments that almost any kind of online game can be converted into a high stakes gamble, where players bet money against game outcomes.

After protracted legal fight and ten years of dispute, Loto Quebec has reached an out-of-court settlement with 120,000 plaintiffs in a class action involving exclusion of problem gamblers.

The latest UK budget announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling this week holds no unpleasant surprises for the gambling industry, although other soft targets like the tobacco and alcohol industries were as usual hit with increased duties.

The French state gambling monopoly Francaise des Jeux has announced its acquisition of LVS, a software provider and supplier to the French giant. The sale comes only months after FdesJ commissioned an online fixed odds sports betting platform from the software firm.

Washington, the state that has the dubious reputation for the most draconian anti-online gambling laws in America, has struck at an online gambling site allegedly taking NASCAR betting. According to local news station KXLY, Washington State Gambling Commission agents have arrested a Spokane Valley man believed behind an online NASCAR gambling site that exchanged thousands of dollars in illegal winnings to participants over the last decade.