Online Casino and Gambling News: April 2010

One of the Internet gambling industry's most respected pioneer software companies, Boss Media, was this week awarded the eCOGRA software certification following a rigorous on-site review. The firm, which is now part of the GTechG2 group along with sister companies Finsoft, Dynamite Idea and St Minver, was started in 1996 by entrepreneur Joel Wikell in Växjö, Sweden and historically has experience in both the operational and software provider sectors, although it is now focused on the latter.

The American enforcement noose may be about to tighten around the Internet's second largest online poker site, Full Tilt Poker, according to reports over the weekend in the respected Financial Times newspaper in the UK. The newspaper claims that a Manhattan federal grand jury is probing the online poker company to determine whether there has been any violation of money-laundering laws in the United States.

Speculation and hopes that the latest Massachusetts legislative proposal aimed at introducing two land casinos would not outlaw online gaming in the state were dashed when it was introduced by House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

Hawaiians with a yen to gamble refuse to be frustrated by island bans, reports the Financial Post in an interesting article over the weekend. Instead, large and growing numbers of them head off regularly to Las Vegas.

The Nashua Telegraph reports that New Hampshire state governor John Lynch is considering the intra-state legalisation of online gambling as one option to close the budget gap currently facing the New England state. Governor Lynch's spokesman, Colin Manning, said Friday that the governor will unveil his plan after the Easter break....and the legalisation of online gambling is one of the vehicles he has been reviewing.

The Las Vegas Convention And Visitors Authority's latest visitor profile research has shown that the average gambler budgeted $481 per trip last year compared with $532 in 2008 and more than $555 in 2007. Average hotel spending per night was down 25% year-on-year to approximately $76, while the mean cost of a tour package in 2009 dropped 14% compared with 2008 to $640.

You would think that one clash with US law enforcement agencies would be more than enough for any suspect, but the Philadelphia media this week reported on two Montgomery County, Pennsylvania men who were in trouble again for allegedly continuing to operate a sports betting ring across the United States.

Swedish state gambling monopoly Svenska Spel and ICU Intelligence have signed a contract enabling Svenska Spel to purchase all shares and assets in Playscan AB, a subsidiary of ICU Intelligence.

Online gambling software developer Playtech chose April 1st as the launch date for its new real-money action Italian online bingo network. The company has already established a significant presence in the Italian market with the successful iPoker.it network, and its latest Bingo venture has been designed to fully comply with Italy's gaming regulator, the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS).

The UK Gambling Commission has commenced a review under section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005 and, under section 118 of the Act, has decided to suspend that part of Operating Licence number 000-002604-R-104107-004 issued to GameAccount Global Limited relating to remote casino activity, whilst the review takes place.