Ongoing uncertainty over online gambling will make many executives from this gaming sector wary of making travel plans. With two top executives from UK listed companies and two from an Austrian one being detained and charged in the US and France respectively, other operators are likely to stay close to home. Empire Online, with US$250 million available to make acquisitions, has delayed its plans until the future of the online gambling industry is a little clearer. Ritz Club in London on Friday closed its online gaming site.

Peter Dicks from Sportingbet is due to appear today at a court in New York to hear whether he will be extradited to Louisiana, from whence came the warrant for his arrest. Louisiana is one of the few American states to have specific laws against online gambling. According to the state’s police division of Gaming Enforcement, there are warrants out for three other Sportingbet employees, and other online companies and their executives are under investigation.

Online gambling executives have not necessarily been keeping a low profile. Sportingbet executive director Nigel Payne has said that the opposition to Internet gambling is more for reasons of commercial interest that for protection against problem gambling. Bwin co-chief executive Manfred Bodner claimed that a United States of Europe was needed to face the United States of America. Bodog mogul Calvin Ayre commented that as the United States has clearly stated that it wants to stop international companies from accepting wagers from US citizens it was surprising to find that Internet gambling executives had been travelling to the US.

Three states in Germany as well as France are insisting that their gambling monopoly is required to protect their citizens. Norway, Holland, Italy and Finland are being challenged in the courts of the European Union on state monopolies. Online gambling companies are unwanted competition that drains tax money from governments. Shareholders in listed online gambling companies are getting edgy following the moves in the US and France, and share prices have fallen recently – losing £2.4 billion (US$4.5 billion) in value since the end of June. Revenue and players, however, continue to grow.

Yesterday an attempt to get an Internet gambling bill to ban online gambling attached to a must-pass bill in the US Senate was blocked. The bill has passed in the House but has provoked some opposition in the Senate. Online gambling companies are closely watching the US political moves and in the European Union will continue to press for fair access to gambling markets. (E-09.27.06)

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