1 4 July 2002

News:

The US Supreme Court decided last month not to hear the Jay Cohen case. Cohen, President of World Sports Exchange (WSE), a bookmaking company based and licensed in Antigua, will now have to serve out his 21 month sentence in a Federal Prison.

Online Auction group eBay’s proposed acquisition of PayPal, the online payment service, has signalled the end of PayPal’s growing role as a payment solutions provider for the gambling industry.

The UK financial markets, despite the general air of despondency, see a strong future for both online and off line gambling businesses. The recent successful launch of William Hill onto the London Stock Exchange is likely to be followed by several others, with attention already focussing on Gala.

Features:

All UK-based online gaming businesses face a serious regulatory challenge: how to comply with the strict laws governing the use of personal information. This article suggests a practical approach to the data protection issues affecting the e-gaming industry.

Following publication of the Gambling Review Report (the ‘Budd Report’) and Government White Paper, it is clear that the proposed liberalisation of gambling laws in the UK will offer media and other companies greater opportunities to enhance their product to the consumer and to develop new products.

In the second of a two part series, Carl Rohsler of Norton Rose examines the capital markets in the UK as a venue for e-gambling companies seeking to raise finance.

Last month I considered the kind of issues which might influence a finance house or sponsoring bank when looking at an e-gambling operation with a view to injecting capital or making an initial public offering of shares (‘IPO’). This month I am looking at the process of a UK IPO or flotation (the terms tend to be used interchangeably), the pros and cons of listing and the various routes by which they may be adopted.

With the recent launch by Ladbrokes of a website directed at German gamblers, and with e-casinos generally looking to expand their player base in Europe, Carl Rohsler compares the legal position for internet gaming in France and Germany and asks whether there is any chance of a more harmonised approach being adopted across Europe in years to come.

There has been much debate about the possible effects of new legislation on gambling in Britain. It is obvious that the proposals will change the face of the industry and all can agree about that. Opinions differ however when it comes to predicting the nature of that change. In this article Julian Harris give his take on the impact of the proposals on both online and offline gambling.

The US comprises the largest online gambling market in the world yet the legal and regulatory status of online gambling in the US is a matter of sharp controversy. In this article Frank Catania and Keith Furlong of Catania Consulting look at the trends in the US.