Financial Services Committee Approval a First, Washington Insider Says
Although the Payment Systems Protection Act was vehemently disapproved by some House Financial Services Committee members, one insider saw yesterday’s 30-to-19 vote in favor of sending the act in front of the full House as a positive step.
The newly approved bill, HR 6870, which was revised by the committee's chair, Barney Frank, takes online sports betting completely off the table and leaves all other forms of gambling for the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board to define.
J. Daniel Walsh, an Internet gambling lobbyist, saw the bill's passage as a good step and said it was the first time a committee has voted affirmatively for anything supported by the Internet gaming industry.
“I think it sends a good signal to the people writing the UIGEA rules -- how the committee wants them to proceed,” he told IGamingNews by telephone this morning. “It sets the table for next year.”
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For ESI, the Sun also Rises
Following a costly settlement with the United States and new deal with 888 Holdings, Anthony B. Greening, the chief executive of ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., told IGamingNews that his company is on the rebound.
It's been one hell of a ride for the British Columbian group, as its flagship Internet gambling money-transfer arm, Citadel Commerce Corporation, withdrew in January 2007 from the American market -- a market from which 97 percent of Citadel's revenue was derived.
Following 14 months of negotiations with Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, ESI agreed in June of this year to a $9.1 million deferred prosecution agreement -- this to avoid facing charges of "conspiracy to conduct illegal Internet gambling."
"I think it was a very good achievement to obtain this settlement with the D.O.J.," Mr. Greening said by telephone this afternoon, "and with the type of agreement that's typified by the 888 announcement, I think a new dawn has come."
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Weekly Statistics from Bloomberg.com: ESI Entertainment Systems Inc.
Listing: Toronto Stock Exchange
Low Close: 9 Canadian cents
High Close: 9 Canadian cents
Weekly Change: None
Market Capitalization: 1.2 million Canadian dollars
Gaming VC: Sports Betting Hot, Bingo Not
Kenneth J. Alexander, the chief executive of Gaming VC Holdings, told IGamingNews this morning that although the company's largely Italy-focused sports betting proposition has driven first-half growth, initial results from bingo -- a more recent addition to the stable -- have been disappointing.
Still chief among company's revenue segments, however, its Germany-facing casino offering generated revenue of 108 million euros, down 6 percent against the first half of last year.
"Well, I think the first half of 2007 was a pretty exceptional trading period for Casino Club (its dot-com casino)," said Mr. Alexander, when asked about the year-on-year decline. "And also, there were some heavy losses by high rollers in that first quarter of last year."
In May 2007, the company discontinued its direct-mail marketing services to German residents and has since transitioned to online affiliate marketing, which Mr. Alexander said has kept casino player volumes steady.
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Weekly Statistics from Bloomberg.com: Gaming VC Holdings