Ontario Operator Opines -- Sports book and gaming operator Bowmans International (BI) is speaking out against the Canadian state of Ontario's move to ban advertising for dot-net sites. The dot-net legislation is currently before the Ontario legislature, and also includes language that would prevent betting and gaming companies from sponsoring teams and clubs. Robert Haggis, legal counsel for BI, said the company had hired lobbyists in Ontario to persuade lawmakers to "listen to reason." "We can advertise through dot-net at present," Haggis said, "But they have decided to attempt to outlaw that. What is happening in Ontario is going beyond the Federal code, and we think that can be challenged." At present, Haggis said that at least one other gaming company was lobbying against the legislation in Ontario.
New Code, New Alliance? -- Tessa Jowell, secretary for the United Kingdom Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), will on Oct. 31 host representatives from 32 nations in an effort to garner support for a "code of conduct" for Internet gambling companies. The code would be the first international measure taken to regulate the industry after the U.S. enacted prohibitive legislation on Oct. 13, 2006. Bloomberg News reported a draft of the agreement included the statement, "Remote gambling should not be a source of crime," also that remote gambling "…should be fair to the consumer and that the protection of children and vulnerable people should be a key objective." Jowell recently criticized the U.S for attempting to impose a "new prohibition" against online gaming, arguing that the measures taken by President George W. Bush and Congress will catalyze crime by forcing the industry to operate illegally from nations without Net regulations.
Hidden Danger -- According to a CBC report, delegates attending last week's Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention conference were told unregulated Internet gambling adds to the growing problem of addiction. An estimated 200 compulsive gamblers commit suicide in Canada every year, said Terry Flynn, a director of spiritual care at the Bellwood Health Services facility in Toronto. According to Flynn, the growth of unregulated Internet gambling is making the problem worse. "It's hidden," he said. "You can lie about it and tell people you're doing your homework or that you're researching something, but in fact you're getting into deep trouble."
Seniority Survey -- Internet gambling resource Web site 777.com today released the results of a survey, which asked I-gamers how long they had been gambling online. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents answered that they had been gambling online for less than a year, with nearly 20 percent answering "a year or two." While the majority of players relatively new " . . . to the world of Internet gambling . . . the big surprise . . . is that 22 percent of all players have actually been playing online since the industry began over eight years ago," the company said in a prepared statement.