Yara Yarzagaray's Blog

The online poker community was abuzz with excitement over the news that Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267 online gambling bill had been marked up in the House Subcommittee with a vote of 41-22-1.  This was being heralded as the most positive outcome the online poker sector has seen in years. Not so fast say some industry experts.  HR 2267 is proposed legislation that seeks to amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for the licensing of Internet gambling activities by the Secretary of the Treasury, to provide for consumer protections on the Internet, to enforce the tax code, and for other purposes. But a handful of amendments were added to the original measure, some of which would almost certainly shut out today’s top two online poker rooms from the US market. “No one who took a bet or wager on or after the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, processed payments, or received ‘assistance’ can be licensed,” Joe Brennan, Jr. of the...

iGaming Business report has some interesting predictions Publishing company iGaming Business has released the results of a survey predicting that the online casinobusiness could grow by almost 80 percent between now and 2014. The Global Business of Online Casinos report claims that by the end of 2010, the online casino market will be worth $4.7 billion globally in terms of gross gaming yield, and will rise to $5.8 billion by the end of 2012 and to $7.1 billion by the end of 2014 - an increase of 79 percent from 2009. The report tracks recent trends and strategies of successful online casino operators, and gives a step by step history of the industry and statistics on starts-ups and expanding enterprises. It reveals that, according to industry insiders, successful online casinos cost an average of $1.5 million in start-up costs but need very few employees compared with their land-based counterparts, which can cost $300 million to set up and operate. Large non-gambling bra...

The home of many online gambling firms plans to ban internet gambling The confused status of online gambling in Cyprus could be clarified soon, with the government completing a draft law seeking to ban the pastime. Following government approval, the bill will now go forward for European Commission and domestic parliamentary debate. The irony of a nation that is the registered home of hundreds of online gambling companies banning internet casino gambling has not been lost on many industry observers; nor has the millions of dollars that the pastime attracts to the Mediterranean island. Announcing the completion of drafting on the bill, which bans internet casino games like roulette, poker, and fruit machines, the Minister of Finance, Charilaos Stavrakis, told the Cyprus Mail: “These [online] casinos have been created on every corner of Cyprus and anyone, young or old can basically gamble in the same way it is done in casinos abroad.” I...

In America, the House Financial Services Committee has voted in favour of a measure that would legalise and regulate some forms of online gambling as well as overturning an existing law that bans Internet wagering. The Committee voted 42-21 in favour of the measure which was sponsored by Democratic Representative Barney Frank. The vote doesn't make Internet gambling a foregone conclusion but it does increase the likelihood that a bill could go before the House, possibly later this year. Rather than banning online gaming websites, the new legislation would regulate US-based sites instead. A number of amendments were made to the original bill including raising the minimum age for online gambling to 21, banning the use of credit cards for deposits and prohibiting advertising aimed at young people. Bets on sporting events such as the NFL and MLB would remain off limits. The vote was welcomed by online poker advocacy group the Poker Players Alliance. 'The fact is, online poker is n...