5 7 July 2006

News:

The remote gambling industry has been trying in the last two weeks to work out the significance of the 17 July arrest of David Carruthers, the then Chief Executive Officer of AIM listed BetonSports, and of the 22-count indictment charging 11 individuals and four corporations, including BetonSports, on various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

More than one hundred operators, suppliers and advisors will attend World Online Gambling Law Report's Emergency Briefing in London on 4 August 2006, which will analyse the legal background and significance of the recent action taken by the US authorities.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have launched a public consultation on 18 July,on proposed new rules for regulating gambling advertisements in the UK.

Features:

The United States Department of Justice has certainly sent a message to the remote gambling industry with their arrest of David Carruthers, former Chief Executive of BetonSports, and the 22-count indictment charging 11 individuals and four corporations including BetonSports, on various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

The recent arrest in Fort Worth, Texas, of David Carruthers, the British (now former) chief executive of BetonSports.com, is reflective of the US government's current position towards online gambling, even if directed, housed, and operated outside of the US. In this article, Thomas M. Durkin and Amy Marlyse Burgert, partners, and Ryan P. Farley, senior associate, from Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw in the US, look at the rationale and procedures in such criminal prosecutions.

On 11 July 2006, the US House of Representatives, by a 317-93 vote, passed a bill that, for the first time, would expressly render illegal or otherwise prohibit the vast majority of internet gambling in the US. The bill must now be approved by the US Senate. This article, by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, discusses the substance of the bill, what might be expected as the bill moves to the Senate, and the potential impact on US WTO obligations.

The extradition to the USA of the 'NatWest Three' has raised concern regarding the extra-territorial reach of the US Government and the fairness of the extradition process. Mark Spragg, a partner at Jeffrey Green Russell, who represents the 'NatWest Three', analyses how the Extradition Act 2003 works.

Lindsey Greig and his colleagues, with great prescience, asked me in the second week in July, before David Carruthers' arrest, to prepare this article, (because they were aware that, before my second spell as Shadow Gambling Minister, I was the Shadow Home Office/Constitutional Affairs Minister who took the legislation,which became the Extradition Act 2003, through all of its Committee stage, clause-by-clause scrutiny, for the Opposition).

As online gaming businesses face the prospect of having to contend with increasingly complex regulations, they may have to consider the prospect of moving their offshore business onshore, in order to ensure the optimum balance between maximising profitability and minimising their tax obligations. In the second part of three articles, Paul Eagland and Martin Dane of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, examine the position of moving to the UK.

Alderney has recently introduced a new regulatory framework in order to further enhance the island's reputation as one of the top jurisdictions for the operation of eGambling services. Crown Advocate Richard McMahon, Director of Civil Litigation, States of Guernsey, who has acted as Legal Adviser to the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, sets out the framework's key provisions.