Two of Britain's leading online gaming companies may owe the United States millions due to the U.S. ban on I-gaming.
PartyGaming and 888, both listed on the London Stock Exchange, voluntarily entered into talks with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in June regarding each company's activities stateside prior to the October 2006 enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
Since then, the companies, which shut down their U.S.-facing operations after the UIGEA was enacted, have reportedly been in "secret meetings" with the U.S. government, in the hopes of working out a deal in the wake of the arrests of executives from BetonSports and Neteller.
Neteller executives Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre have since pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy to promote illegal gambling by providing online gambling payment services to U.S. residents.
Meanwhile, Neteller, which was under investigation, but not charged, settled with the DOJ in July and agreed to pay the U.S government $136 million.
On July 30, the company also initiated the return of $94 million owed to its U.S. customers, whose account access was frozen throughout the course of the DOJ investigation into the company.
According to ThisIsMoney.co.uk, the DOJ could try to repossess the profits--$900 million and $120 million, respectively--Party and 888 earned from their U.S. facing businesses.
Sources for both companies, however, told the news source that neither is in a position to surrender that amount of money, which could effectively put them out of business.
In May, Party issued a prepared statement warning that profits would be significantly lower than market expectations. It will release its interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2007 on Aug. 29.