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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Friday, 21 December 2007
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 The last thing the online poker industry needs is another scandal but at least 4 poker players of a former Playsafe Holdings licensee are not going to have a Happy Holiday this year after being pillaged by a Viking. It turns out that the publicly traded online poker company and turnkey software provider from Norway (Symbol: PLAY on Norwegian OTC) still seems to be stiffing players and at least one licensee with a second licensee reporting being stiffed as well. Playsafe Holdings owns ActionPoker.com, TigerGaming.com and online poker affiliate website WagerProfits.com.
Point-Spreads.com reported back in August 2007 that a former online poker licensee of Playsafe Holdings was getting stiffed on commissions/rake while online poker players were being refused payments. After our report circulated throughout the internet on several popular internet gambling websites, the licensee received the following instant message from Playsafe COO Ben Johansen on August 31st, 2007:
"You will receive a check for the commission earned on XXXX but client balances are my responsibility and will remain with me. Good Luck!"
Translation we will not be paying you, your players balances. To date, the licensee has not received the promised commission/rake and slow and no pay complaints are beginning to pile up.
"Our players were forced by Playsafe Holdings to re-install a Action Poker client on their desktops once we moved to a new poker network," stated the new owner of the first licensee being stiffed for close to one year. "So now our poker players are playing at Action Poker and are asking us to pay them instead of the people with their money, Playsafe! Not only does this cause issues for our brand, it is tying up our support team."
Point-Spreads.com was able to get two stiffed online poker players paid earlier this month. One of the online poker players had this to say about our efforts on his behalf:
"TJ you must pack some clout my friend as he was full of apologies. My family and myself would like to thank you in advance, there will be a couple extra gifts for the grand kids this Xmas."
We were very happy to receive this email and it appeared that Playsafe Holdings was moving in the right direction, however Point-Spreads.com has recently learned that the second player who originally requested a wire transfer had his balance transferred to Action Poker instead of the promised wire transfer. One of our biggest original concerns with Playsafe Holdings is that they appear to be using licensee's marketing dollars to grow their client base by stealing their licensee's databases instead of spending money on marketing dollars themselves.
Our fears seemed to be put at ease when Playsafe COO Ben Johansen emailed us on September 19th, 2007 saying that "we don't accept US wagers" so learning that the second player from Chicago was placed in ActionPoker.com was a shock.
At least four other slow and/or no pays are being reported to Point-Spreads.com this month, making for a total of 7 online poker players getting the shaft. Here is a copy of one of the most recent email correspondence we have received from a disenchanted online poker player:
"Hello. I play at Action Poker and I've been waiting for my payout of $2,000....I know many players are in the same situation. What is your advise? Should I take legal steps or wait a bit more? And what can be done legally to protect the customers' rights? Thank you for your cooperation."
Point-Spreads.com has attempted to contact Ben Johansen as an open line of communication was thought to have been opened but all attempts have gone unanswered in the last 15 days. Meanwhile, Point-Spreads.com has learned of a second licensee having the same no pay experience with Playsafe. In an email correspondence, the second licensee stated that "Jeremy has been stalling me since April”. Jeremy Brenes is the Licensee Manager of APG Enterprises Ltd of Costa Rica, a Playsafe Holdings company.
Online poker players, licensees, potential licensees and shareholders of Playsafe Holdings back in Norway should be made aware of what is transpiring hence the reason we are releasing this report. Anyone involved is urged to contact Point-Spreads.com immediately. Also, if any additional licensee's of Playsafe Holdings are experiencing problems obtaining commissions/rake should contact us immediately as well. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 December 2007 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 20 December 2007
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 A formal complaint filed today by European online gambling operators for claims of discrimination and violation of international trade law by the United States should encourage U.S. lawmakers to regulate Internet gambling. Legislation introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, would regulate Internet gambling and resolve the pending action by creating a level playing field among domestic and international operators.
"This complaint complements the current legislative initiatives led by Representative Frank,” said Nao Matsukata, formerly Director of Policy Planning for USTR Robert Zoellick and now a Senior Advisor for Alston and Bird LLP. “It is consistent with the effort to establish a non discriminatory market in the United States."
The action was filed under a provision of the European Union’s Trade Barriers Regulation by the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), which represents the largest remote gambling companies in Europe. RGA asserts that the U.S. Department of Justice is in violation of international trade law by threatening and pressing criminal prosecutions, forfeitures and other enforcement actions against foreign online gaming operators while allowing domestic U.S. online gaming operators, primarily horse betting, to flourish.
“We applaud the efforts of the RGA and agree that Congress should take action to end the current discrimination against foreign online gambling operators,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative .
The RGA complaint comes in the context of an increasingly contentious trade dispute over online gaming resulting from Antigua’s World Trade Organization (WTO) victory over the U.S. earlier this year. After the W.T.O. ruled that the U.S. had violated trade rules in barring Antiguan online gaming operators from the U.S. market, the U.S. withdrew its W.T.O. obligations with regard to free trade in the gambling area. Earlier this week, the European Union and several other countries, including Japan, Canada, and Australia, agreed to accept compensation from the U.S. for the withdrawal of market access. However, the trade concessions do not address charges against the U.S. for discriminatory and protectionist practices against foreign online operators that took place before the withdrawal of the commitment.
"The U.S. decision to pursue the compensation negotiations with these countries was unfortunate,” Matsukata said. “This filing by the RGA is a welcome development; it is an effort to restore integrity back into the international trading system."
“It is unfortunate that the Administration has unilaterally acted to resolve the WTO Internet gambling dispute by continuing to block E.U. operators from accessing the U.S. market,” added Sandman. “It is time for the U.S. to end its hypocritical practices that discriminate against foreign online gambling operators, while allowing U.S. gambling operators to accept bets for certain forms of gambling. Regulation of Internet gambling should be supported as a means to resolve this trade dispute.”
A provision of the E.U.’s Trade Barriers Regulation allows any E.U. company or association to complain against obstacles to trade in other countries, which the E.U. must then investigate. After the investigation, the E.U. could pursue discussions with the U.S. to find an appropriate solution to end the discrimination. If the parties cannot settle the matter themselves, the E.U. could bring a case against the U.S. to the WTO on the claims. |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Wednesday, 19 December 2007
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 Internet giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to pay a total of $31.5 million to settle with the United States Attorney's office in St. Louis for taking ads from internet gambling websites.
"This is a very profitable business that had a lot of money to spend on marketing," stated U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway. "I do think it will have a major impact. Obviously these are three of the largest online organizations in the world."
As part of the agreement, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling. The three internet giants already stopped taking such ads approximately 4 years ago. The settlement reached today was finalized after a year and a half of negotiations between the tech companies and federal prosecutors.
"It is a shame that the United States continues to taking such draconian measures against the internet gambling industry while they were found to be violating international law by the WTO earlier in the year," stated an executive of a US facing online sportsbook that spoke to Point-Spreads.com after the news broke of the fines. "We miss doing the PPC advertising on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, but have already transitioned away from that sort of marketing years ago."
The entire internet gambling industry is waiting for a ruling from the World Trade Organization over what sort of sanctions and relief will be handed down to Antigua & Barbuda. The tiny island nation has asked the WTO to grant $3.4 billion in annual relief since finding that the United States ban on internet gambling is illegal under international trade laws. Yahoo's $7.5 million share of the settlement includes a $3 million forfeiture and $4.5 million in public service ads over three years. Google is to pay $3 million, less than half its average daily profit of $11 million.
"While we did not admit any wrongdoing, the Department of Justice has advised that online gambling is illegal in the United States and ads to promote it are improper," stated Google spokesperson Jon Murchinson. "Google voluntarily discontinued running such ads, which were a very small part of our AdWords business, in April 2004."
Microsoft's $21 million portion of the settlement includes a $4.5 million forfeit, $7.5 million to be paid to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and $9 million in public service ads over a three-year period starting next year.
Hathaway is the same U.S. Attorney leading the prosecution of BetOnSports PLC , David Carruthers and Gary Kaplan. BetOnSports PLC pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges while the cases against former CEO Carruthers and company Founder Gary Kaplan are still pending. |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 13 December 2007
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 The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) announced today that it has filed its objections with the Department of Treasury over the agency’s proposed regulations regarding the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The new law, attached in the waning minutes of the 109th Congress to the unrelated Safe Ports Act with very little input from Members of Congress, is a misguided and potential harmful attempt to regulate Internet content.
iMEGA believes UIGEA and its proposed regulations establish a dangerous precedent for denying Americans’ First Amendment rights; that it will stifle online innovation and commerce; that it will inadequately protect children by eliminating the established safeguards offered by banks and credit card companies; and that it will have a chilling effect on the privacy rights of Internet users. iMEGA has made asserting and safeguarding Americans’ civil liberties in the online world part of their core mission.
“These proposed regulations will limit Americans’ freedom to use the Internet as they see fit in the privacy of their own homes,” said Edward Leyden, President, iMEGA. “While UIGEA is intended to protect minors and problem gamblers, the law ironically makes these groups more vulnerable by targeting US banks and credit card companies, whose identity verification, fraud prevention and credit profiling systems protect online consumers every day.”
“How does this make children and problem gamblers safer?” Leyden asked. “The fact is, it does not, and is certainly not worth the trade-off in our First Amendment rights the law demands. This is a dangerous precedent that must be corrected to preserve our digital civil rights.”
iMEGA noted in its filing that it was alarmed by the agency’s refusal to define exactly what an “unlawful gambling transaction” is, and was equally alarmed that the required determination would be delegated on an ad hoc basis to the entity or person having a “customer relationship” with an Internet gaming concern.
In addition, the regulations would, if implemented, exert a chilling effect on Internet innovation by imposing unprecedented burdens on the financial system, and risk stifling the growth of electronic commerce.
“The Internet is indispensable to our economy and our freedom,” said Leyden. “We implore the Congress to join in a bipartisan effort to preserve Americans “Digital Civil Rights” and to enact legislation that will guaranty these rights and prevent future abuse.”
Download the full IMEGA Document |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 December 2007 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Wednesday, 12 December 2007
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 Holding back-to-back i-gaming events in Malta the last week of November proved to be a terrific networking and educational opportunity for the delegates of both the i-Gaming InDepth: Skill Games & Bingo and World Poker Congress. Sue Schneider, CEO of Clarion Gaming US, noted, "We were extremely pleased with the level of hospitality evident in Malta. It made for not only some memorable networking events, but we also got a chance to see why businesses in this industry are gravitating to the island".
The week kicked off with the second annual collocated InDepth Skill Games & Bingo conference sessions. Delegates participated in presentations and panel discussions on each sector, which focused on monetizing these games and player development among other pertinent topics. While the sessions looked at global initiatives in both sectors, a particularly incisive session was presented by U.S.-based tax attorney Rob Bossart, who argued that several internet gambling regulatory bills currently before the U.S. Congress required significant emendation if they are to be sensibly implemented.
Bridging both events was a spectacular evening of networking at the just-opened Sky Bar. Indeed, i-gaming delegates christened the venue, as the party sponsored by the Malta Lotteries & Gaming Authority was the first event held at the Sky Bar. Feedback from delegates about the arranged networking activities was widely hailed as one of the most attractive aspects of these boutique events.
The second annual World Poker Congress, initiated to bring the online and land-based poker industries together to discuss crossover potential and learn from each other, opened with a lively presentation by World Poker Tour co-founder, Steven Lipscomb who humorously produced a melon with a face drawn on it to represent Jeffrey Pollack, who intended to participate in the keynote discussion but was regrettably unable to attend at the last minute and instead provided a videotaped presentation. Said Mr. Lipscomb, "The growth of the World Poker Conference is a testament to the essential maturation of our industry ˆ and helps us all believe in a robust future for poker enterprises around the world. I simply can‚t say enough about what Sue and her team are doing to bring us together. I enjoyed the conference, saw old friends, made new friends and had a fantastic time. People should participate in this dialogue ˆ it will help us create the future together."
Another well-received speaker was this year's fifth-place World Series of Poker finalist and U.K.-based professional poker player, Jon Kalmar, who offered an in-depth look at the rapidly developing Internet poker industry from the player's perspective.
Delegates of WPC were then treated to a festive boat trip to the Casino di Venezia, courtesy of BMIT, where they were provided with dinner and a chance to watch some of the industry's own participate in the Ongame Network-hosted poker tournament. Walking away with the bragging rights and a beautiful Maltese-glass vase provided by the Malta LGA was Christer Larsson of pokerevent.se.
The organizers, Clarion Gaming, were pleased with the turnout at both events and plan to hold these events in some type of collocated fashion again in 2008. "These events were aided in large part by our local partners eBusinessMalta.com and we would like to sincerely thank them and the Malta LGA for their efforts in drumming up support. We'll certainly be back in Malta in some capacity in 2008," noted Mrs. Schneider.
For more information, visit www.clariongaming.com, www.igamingindepth.com, or www.worldpokercongress.com. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 December 2007 )
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