Chinese Law -- China's Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate have declared that new interpretations of China's gambling law (Article 303 China's Criminal Law) that take effect this Friday will provide the ability to prosecute Internet gambling operations. Article 303 states that "whoever, for the purpose of reaping profits, assembles a crowd to engage in gambling, opens a gambling house or makes an occupation of gambling is to be sentenced to not more than three years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention or control, in addition to a fine." With the introduction of the new interpretations, anyone who sets up an Internet gambling site will now be treated as one who opens a gambling house. Furthermore, anyone who "knowingly offers capital or Internet services and telecommunications facilities to gambling participants or organizer" will be regarded as an accomplice to the gambling operation. Especially severe punishments will be delivered to gamblers or operators who are civil servants, who organize civil servants to gamble overseas or who organize juveniles to gamble. The National Coordinating Office to Strike at Illegal Gambling (the agency charged with eradicating gambling) has stated that the Ministry of Public Security will united telecom departments, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and other departments in an effort to crack down even harder on online gambling operations. The agency also revealed plans to create a judicial expertise center that would specialize in appraising electronic data to solve the problem of gathering admissible evidence of online gambling.
Mobvision -- Sweden-based mobile content and services provider Abiro has partnered with U.K.-based mobile solutions company MobVision to launch a mobile casino offering of six games: Nudge7, Roulette, Sunset Slots, Hawaii Hi-Lo, Big Apple Blackjack and Pirate Poker. The two companies say they will collaborate to apply stringent measures on age verification, fraud prevention and problem gambling (by limiting deposits to £15 per day).
Yahoo! Poker -- Yahoo! has announced that Yahoo! Poker will be the "flagship" game of its soon-to-debut PC-to-mobile Yahoo! Games network in the United States. Beginning this summer, cellular phone operator Sprint will begin bundling Yahoo! Poker in the games menu of new handsets, enabling players to play in no-limit, multiplayer tournaments from mobile devices or home computers. Players will also be able to participate in a single-player career mode that takes them through five different casinos and uses customizable avatars to represent them at the tables. Real-money wagering will not be permitted.
Casino-Club Poker -- Boss Media has signed an agreement to provide the online poker system for Gaming VC's online casino, Casino-Club.com. Boss already supplies Gaming VC with casino gaming software as well as operation and maintenance of the client server software and payment processing services for Casino-Club. Casino-Club Poker is scheduled to launch in July, and players will be pooled into the massive Boss Media poker network.
MyECheck -- California-based online payment processor MyECheck has begun offering a payment solution that allows merchants to accept checks online as a payment method. The MyECheck solution does not involve the Automated Clearing House and is therefore not subject to NACHA rules and regulations. While ACH e-checks can be reversed by the check writer anytime within 60 days of a bank statement, there is no automatic reversal mechanism for MyEChecks, which are accepted at every U.S. bank that offers checking accounts.