Legal Stuff -- Earlier this week Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reintroduced his bill from last session that would prevent Nevada's sports books from taking bets on college and amateur sports. "Congress must take action to close the loophole in our current law that allows just a handful of states to serve as a national clearinghouses for betting on our youth," he said in a statement. A law was passed in 1992 that make sports betting illegal in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon, although Nevada is the only state that allow bets on amateur games.
US News -- U.K.-based bookmakers commented on the U.S. movement to prohibit online gambling in an article on Silicon.com today. Ed Pownall, a spokesman for Blue Square, told the publication that while the United States is "holy grail" territory for his group, it has never accepted U.S. bets on the premise that should America ever hand out online gambling licenses; they probably won't be given to those companies who disobeyed prior prohibition. Pownall said the U.S. government could be a powerful foe in nothing if not the payment transaction arena. "While (the U.S. government) may not have the authority or the jurisdiction to enforce this ban, they do have the power to pressure credit card companies and payment companies into withdrawing all support for people trying to place bets online," he said. "They have already won the battle with PayPal and cutting people off at this level can prove very effective."
New Stuff -- Boss Media delivered VictorBingo.com, a new online bingo product, recently to Victor Chandler Worldwide. Peter Bertilsson, managing director of Boss Media, said the addition of a Victor Chandler bingo site is important to building the "Boss Bingo Network," a system of linked sites where players meet and mingle. Gill Leivesley, managing director of Victor Chandler's games division, said the new site is user-friendly. "As a non-download product, Victor Bingo is easier to use than most of its online counterparts," Leivesley said. "There's no time spent installing bulky bingo software. Instead, players simply click and play direct from their browser."
Making Deals -- Net Entertainment today announced an agreement with Betshop.com. The site will use Net Entertainment's non-download casino software and will offer a multi-lingual sports book with a U.K. betting license.