Bit from the US -- Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, minutes apart, turned in their resignations today. Lindsey is best known among the I-gaming ranks for stating in a letter in October to then Senate Majority Leader Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., that the Administration is in favor of banning Internet gambling.
Not Quite Makin' Deals -- British gaming company Stanley Leisure's bid to buy fellow British gaming company London Clubs International has been met with rejection. Stanley had teamed with Hg Capital, offering to jointly purchase the struggling company for £250 million. Stanley was to take over LCI's London properties, while Hg Capital would have assumed control of regional casinos and foreign interests. LCI said the offer was "subject to a long and unacceptable list of pre-conditions".
Bit from Malaysia -- BBC reported today that police in Malaysia have broken up a "major illegal gambling syndicate" accused of organizing online wagering on European football matches. The gang, which allegedly took bets often as high as US$750,000 on matches played in the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, is believed to have links to England and Hong Kong.
On the E-commerce Front -- While I-gaming companies all over the world scramble to find effective transaction processing methods, Slovakia's exclusive lottery operator has found a solution that seems to be working quite nicely. The company, TIPOS, launched its Internet games at www.tipclub.sk on Sept 1. Customers fund their accounts by depositing money directly from Slovakian banks; credit cards are not accepted.