Important! Contact your congressman now.

More newsworthy follow-up...

U.S. detains CEO of sports-betting site
Pete Harrison

July 18, 2006 (Reuters) Shares in online gaming company BetonSports PLC were suspended today after its CEO was detained in Texas and the FBI ordered four telephone companies to cut off its operations.

BetonSports said it had been unable to contact CEO David Carruthers, who is being held in Fort Worth, but had seen a U.S. indictment "alleging various criminal acts against multiple defendants."

The detention of Carruthers is a blow to the $12 billion-a-year Internet gambling industry. He had led a campaign against a Republican-written bill to crack down on online gambling.

BetonSports said it was urgently trying to clarify the situation and assess the impact of a temporary restraining order on its business in the U.S., its biggest market.

Shares in companies across the sector fell by as much as 19%, while some British gaming executives said they were reviewing whether to travel to the U.S.

"This comes a week after the extradition of the NatWest Three, and a lot of companies will be looking at their travel plans," said leisure analyst Wayne Brown at Altium Securities, referring to three former British bankers extradited to the U.S. last week.

The three pleaded not guilty in federal court to fraud charges linked to a deal with defunct energy giant Enron Corp.

The U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday that BetonSports was among 11 individuals and four corporations facing various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

The founder of BetonSportscom, Gary Kaplan, 47, was also charged with 20 felony violations, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, it added.

"BETonSPORTS.COM and other gambling Web sites operated by Gary Kaplan and his co-defendants offered gamblers in the United States illegal wagering on professional and college football and basketball," the indictment said.

The FBI has instructed four telephone companies to stop providing services to BetonSports, the company said, citing the DOJ.

The U.S. has also filed a civil case ordering BetonSports to stop taking sports bets and to return money held by U.S. customers in their gaming accounts. A hearing in the case could be held within 10 days.

Shares in the company fell 15% yesterday after U.S. authorities detained Carruthers while he was changing planes in Dallas on Sunday on his way home from Britain to Costa Rica.

 

Scary Part of This Bill

One part of this bill that 'Scares' me the most is the fact that if it passes the Senate the government will be able to 'work' with ISP's to effectivley block all gambling sites. Making it impossible for anyone in the U.S. to get to the site.

 

Dealer:

Of course the scary part is the SWIFT act.

Homeever the house bill pertained to using credit cards. Again most credit card companies, facing losses of none payment, stopped their use for on line gaming. The Senate is unlikely to consider the bill in the short session and there will have been a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Additionally, the sports bet guy, came back to the states from his island paradise, where he couldn't have been touched and continued to live the life of Riley, to generate a test case on the entire issue.

None of this is dead one way or another, but my money is on a legalized on -line gaming in the US that is taxed. Now I'm not smart enough to figure out how that will happen, but for the money involved, again, I BET it happens.

 

This is not a joke !!!

We would like to process your withdrawal as soon as possible, however,
we will require some form of photo identification for security purposes.

Due to new tighter security procedures instigated by our Government of
Antigua and Barbuda, we have been asked to obtain full verification of
our casino members. This is now a standard procedure which most
financial institutions are now complying with.

We understand this can create some inconvenience for you, but
verifications are now necessary. We trust you will understand these
precautions, and assist us by sending a scan or fax photo identification
document from both of you (passport or drivers license), plus a document
confirming your name, address and birthdate.
Fax no. +1-268-481-4104 (Antigua).

Once we have a verification this will expedite future withdrawals.

We apologize for this inconvenience, but from experience, we have had to
implement these new security procedures. We look forward to your reply
as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Patrice Ahrensburg
--
Global Player
support@global-player.com
Phone: +1 268 481 4111
Fax: +1 268 481 4100

 

Hey BigTex tell your sponsors that this won't fly. You have to send ID in to get your money back but no questions asked when depositing, if they are going to accept it without ID, then they don't need it to withdraw. Also most people use Neteller or firepay, you are already verified.

 

What sponsor?

Pokernut if you go read the posts in the online section under "Way to go Global-Player" you'll see that this is becoming common at other online casino, (as per Ken's post).

As for sponsorship Global-Player doesn't sponsor me, they just host some satellites for me like the cruise tournaments.

Do you even play at Global-Player pokernut? If so under what screen name? And if you don't the need for ID won't effect you anyway.

 

photo Id to get your $ from GPC

I agree with pokernut regarding not requiring ID to make deposits. Or they could at least provide a pop up warning players that they will have to provide photo ID if they want to withdraw.

I believe that gambling on the internet is illegal in most if not all US states.

Furthermore it is illegal not to report gambling winnings on your Fed and state tax returns.

A photo ID might provide proof of who you are and where you live!

I don't like it at all.

tgun

 

Am I going nuts

In the age of Idendity Fraud would anybody in their right mind fax or email such personal details about themselves (see BJFAN post).

Just ring your credit card/debit card company and see what they say.

Andy

 

Across the pond

I just can’t understand why the US and the UK are going their separate ways on Internet gambling.

Around the same time David Carruthers, CEO of BetOnSports is arrested in Texas, the British Government set out proposals to allow online gambling sites and the new eagerly awaited “super-casinos” to advertise themselves in 2007. Although certain restrictions will apply, such as suggestions that gambling will not help you solve your financial problems or improve your sex life (Damn. Never realised that).

It’s ironic that the US authorities now send out a warning message to online gambling companies around the world when only last year the UK government passed a new Gambling Act relaxing the rules on gaming. Even our own Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott became embroiled in a scandal with his links to American billionaire Philip Anschutz who wanted to build a casino on London’s Millennium Dome site.

So why are we poles apart at the moment? Whatever George and Tony have been discussing recently it ain’t casinos.

I can’t under stand why are the US lawmakers are trying to bring in legislation on gambling sites when they have the hugest casinos in the world.

However, I read somewhere that it doesn’t hurt to grandstand on moral values with mid-term elections coming in November. It appears the proposed legislation suits vested interest and I found the following quote.

“If you are cynical, you might surmise that the current incumbents such as the Native American casinos who contribute heavily to the lobby groups might have something to do with what’s going on,” said Ed Barton an analyst with Screen Digest, a research group.

Hope you can enlighten me.

Andy

 

My three cents

Being Canadian has certain benefits. You can smoke pot ( I prefer red wine)without fear of being thrown in jail and our government is a little softer on internet gambling. At the very least, American laws on internet gambling will not apply to us (I hope). I suspect that the U.S. massive casino lobby must behind the current attempt to legislate internet gambling.:joker: :joker: :joker:

 

You must however be very jealous....

I didn't realize that you were our neighbor to the North. I have had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time in the Montreal area as well as in British Columbia with short trips to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Although I otherwise had most enjoyable visits, the general conditions of (legal) blackjack games there must have made you somewhat jealous of games available in certain parts of These Unitied States. However that must now be surpasssed....you all must be VERY JEALOUS of our new and colorful TEN DOLLAR BILL!

Chips

 

Little jealous.... cont.

Glad you enjoyed your visits to Canada. You are quite right in that there are no longer any playable BJ games in our Casinos. There are however some decent monthly BJ tournaments in the East with full payback to the players and no requirement for side action.
In the 1990's and early 2000's I did log in some 150 trips to Las Vegas, played lot's of tournaments and took full advantage of those juicy double decks dealt down to 20 cards. Alas, I do miss the good old days .....:joker: :joker: :joker:

 

PokerChamps.com a site owned by Gus Hansen has locked out all US players, this means you also lose access to withdraw your money. You can email support but thus far they have not emailed anyone back. Another online site that will probably keep the money like Dutch Boyd's site did.