A Look Back at 2006

30 January 2007
See also:
Top Stories of 2006
The Best and Worst of 2006
A Glance at 2007

January

January 6 - PokerStars appears to be up for sale.

January 10 - The EBA and the RGA challenge Italy's gambling policy.

January 12 - Lottomatica and GTECH merge.

January 16 - Tasmania awards Betfair a betting license.

January 30 - Casino City drops its First Amendment case against the U.S. Justice Department.

February

February 8 - Betfair Australia opens for business.

February 13 - betandwin is forbidden from taking bets from customers in Cologne.

February 14 - PartyGaming and Empire Online settle their legal dispute

February 16 - U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte re-introduces his I-gaming prohibition bill.

February 16 - Gambling is officially left out of the EU Services Directive.

February 24 - Italy requires ISPs to block nearly 700 recognized online gambling sites.

February 28 - PayPal welcomes Betfair customers.

March

March 1 - A prohibition bill emerges in Canada.

March 14 - The European Commission threatens action against six EU member states because of their bans on foreign gambling.

March 22 - SkillJam acquires WorldWinner.

March 23 - The Nevada Gaming Commission passes regulations to mobile gambling at casino resorts.

March 28 - Washington becomes the latest U.S. state to ban online gambling.

April

April 3 - The U.S. deadline to comply with a WTO ruling in a dispute brought by Antigua and Barbuda comes and goes with no action taken.

April 4 - The European Commission sends official requests for information on national legislation restricting the supply of sports betting services to seven member states.

April 18 - PokerStars considers an LSE float.

April 24 - Belgium considers I-gaming regulation.

April 26 - The U.K. Gambling Commission says it will loosen advertising restrictions.

April 27 - The American Gaming Association calls for a one-year congressional study commission to evaluate the impacts of online gambling.

May

May 10 - Italian ISPs come out against the country's new I-gaming restrictions.

May 28 - Betfair makes inroads in Victoria.

June

June 7 - The four founders of PartyGaming sell off 200 million shares, raising a total of £232 million.

June 14 - Jersey passes I-gaming legislation.

June 22 - New York's Legislature approves Internet horse race wagering.

July

July 10 - Racing Victoria Limited grants Betfair permission to publish its racing fields, effectively enabling Betfair to match wagers on racing in the state.

July 11 - German authorities want to block betandwin's football sponsorships.

July 11 - The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Goodlatte/Leach prohibition bill.

July 17 - BetonSports CEO David Carruthers is detained in Dallas.

July 18 - London I-gaming stocks are walloped in the wake of the BoS bust.

July 24 - France's FDJ battles to preserve its monopoly.

July 27 - Wagering records are shattered by World Cup 2006 betting.

August

August 3 - PartyGaming enters the sports betting business through the acquisition of Gamebookers.

August 11 - BetonSports shuts down its U.S.-facing operations.

August 28 - German authorities decide that the lotto and totoblock--and its 16 state operators--have infringed German and European Union competition laws.

September 7 - Peter Dicks, a non-executive chairman for Sportingbet, is detained in New York.

September 14 - The U.S. I-gaming prohibition bill is taken up in the Senate and Majority Leader Bill Frist leads the charge.

September 15 - The co-CEOs of bwin are detained by French authorities.

September 30 - The United States Senate approves the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

October

October 2 - I-gaming stocks plummet following the passing of the U.S. ban.

October 12 - The European Commission launches three new infringement procedures against member states.

October 23 - Three U.S. lotteries offer Internet subscriptions.

October 25 - Efforts to outlaw advertising for Internet gambling heat up again in Ontario

October 30 - Chartwell and Parlay call off their merger.

October 31 - Nations participating in a U.K. summit call for I-gaming regulations.

November

November 6 - The Alexander First Nation in Alberta, Canada, establishes a gaming commission to license I-gaming operators.

November 6 - Merger talks heat up in the I-gaming space.

November 15 - Criminal charges are leveled against several individuals in connection with an alleged billion-dollar-a-year sports gambling operation.

November 15 - Canada may be under pressure to align itself with countries leaning toward regulation as its southern neighbor outlaws it.

December

December 1 - The South African province of Guateng blocks a Swaziland-based I-gaming operation.

December 5 - A Turkish bill addressing cyber crime includes penalties for involvement in I-gaming.

December 8 - Las Vegas Sands announces intentions to offer online gambling services.

December 22 - Ontario's online gambling advertising ban is passed with no restrictions on 'dot-net' advertising.