EU to Challenge US Online Gambling Law
Good news for all of us online gamblers out there.
The European Union is threatening legal action against US legislation on online betting, describing it as "protectionist".
According to Charlie McCreevy, the EU internal market commissioner, it is a restrictive practice and that the case could go to the WTO. He also suggested he would pursue the matter with his American counterparts on a visit to the US in March.
While McCreevy's advisers believe the October 2006 law includes several "WTO incompatibilities", the ex-treme sensitivity surrounding gambling policy may reduce the chances of the Commission bringing a case.
McCreevy stressed that there was no "major momentum" behind a new WTO complaint, and his officials pointed out that a final decision on such a move would in any case rest with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner.
However, Mr McCreevy's intervention still marks a notable escalation in the Commission's approach towards the US gambling crackdown. It also stands in contrast to the body's silence on the arrests of the UK gambling executives in the US in July and September last year.
Source: Financial Times via
Gambling911
France Says Non to Online Casinos
French authorities appear to be following the lead of their American counterparts with the announcement that a top online poker room is facing a ban on advertising.
According to UK Poker News, French club, Le Salon des Ambassadeurs, has banned all images from one of the Internet’s most well-known poker rooms, PokerStars.
It appears the French are also are stepping up the offensive on online poker and online gambling in general. In September 2006 executives of sports betting site BWIN were arrested in the South of France under a version of the American Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
In another move that may be symptomatic of the ‘war’ on online gambling, the European Poker Tour (EPT) announced earlier this month that the popular Deauville portion of the tour was to be cancelled.
The tournament was scrapped at short notice, even though the EPT events in Deauville in 2005 and 2006 were well received.
Online Casino News
Google and Yahoo bend over and take it from the US Department
Google has decided to bend over and take it from the “greatness” that is the US Justice Department by imposing a global ban on casino ads.
This follows a warning by the department to Google and Yahoo for allowing online casino advertisements and promoting gambling indirectly to an underage audience through advertising pop-ups.
Yahoo is applying this to the US only, while Google plans to extend the ban globally. Mmm… Those Google employees are probably too shit scared of losing their cushy, benefits-overdosed jobs.
US online gambling site owners will probably all be found one day – hiding out and having a smoke with Bin Laden.
Anyway,
read it
Why Are There So Many Single Americans?
According to reports, 51 percent of all women live without a spouse.
I find that slightly depressing, seeing as I’m getting to that age where freezing my eggs before they go bad is sounding like a mighty fine idea.
Once again, lets revert back to the stereotypical career girl who puts so much effort into trying to beat the boys up the corporate ladder, that she has no energy or desire to pursue a fully-fledged, time-consuming marriage. Let alone kids.
As the author of the article points out, there’s Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”, Sigourney Weaver in “Working Girl” and recently Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”. All successful, but sadly single.
But the tide is turning for those poor, lonely successful business women.
Statistics show that college educated women are more likely to marry than non-college educated women — although they marry, on average, two years later.
In the past, less educated women often “married up.” Now, marriage has become more one of equals; when more highly educated men marry, it tends to be more highly educated women.
Women with more education also are becoming less likely to divorce, or inclined to divorce, than those with less education. They are even less likely to be widowed all in all, less likely to end up alone.
“Educated women used to have a difficult time,” says David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. “Now they’re the most desired.” In Princeton, where he lives, men used to marry “way down the line,” Mr. Popenoe said.
No more.
So I’m not sure if this is good news or not. Corporate-type women are becoming desirable in terms of marriage, but on the other hand, less people are getting married than ever before.
What to do?
Read:
Why Are There So Many Single Americans?
U.S. Internet gambling deposit options shrinking
While Click2Pay is still allowing existing customers to conduct business as usual with Internet gambling sites, as of last Friday, they are reportedly no longer opening new accounts for U.S. customers.
Online Casino City reports that Click2Pay would not comment on whether it would change its policy or if it has a timeline in which to do so.
Wall Street Banks Drawn Into Online Gambling Probe
At least 4 Wall Street investment banks are reportedly under investigation as part of a widening investigation into the multibillion-dollar online gambling industry.
According to the New York Times, the Justice Department issued subpoenas to firms that had underwritten the initial public offerings of some of the most popular online gambling sites that operate abroad.
The banks involved in the inquiry include HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort.
While online gaming sites like PartyGaming and 888 Holdings operate from Gibraltar and their initial public offerings were held on the London Stock Exchange, companies that do business with them and have large bases in United States have come under scrutiny by regulators in Washington.
Read the whole story
InstaDebit follows NETeller out of US
Rumor has it that InstaDebit has ceased ALL US transactions. This applies to Money-In and Money-Out. Money Transfer will be pulled globally.
The reason for this is reportedly because Money Transfer transactions are initiated on Western Union.com and there is no control over who sees it. In order to prevent US customers using it, it will reportedly be pulled from all gambling sites immediately.
This follows in the footsteps of NETeller and Citadel who earlier withdrew from the US market.
Neteller, Citadel Shut Down Internet Gambling Transfer Service
Neteller has withdrawn from the US market, effective immediately. In a statement it said:
"Due to recent US legislative changes and events, effective immediately, US members are no longer able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling sites.
All US members will continue to be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet account to safely transfer funds to and from non-gambling merchants and are not required to close their account or withdraw their funds."
Earlier, Citadel announced that it has shut down Financial processing for non-domestic internet gaming merchants for USA consumers. Meanwhile, Gambling911 reports that with the announcement that NETeller will be leaving the US market for good, a number of online poker rooms have been left with their pants down.
Gambling911 says that over the past few years many online poker rooms and gambling sites in general have become increasingly dependent on third party payment processor, NETeller.
For Full Tilt Poker that dependency was somewhere around 75% according to records obtained by Gambling911.com. The number three online poker site was in danger of losing out to other poker venues less reliant on NETeller.
For the largest poker site, PokerStars, the dependency on NETeller was quite a bit less, hovering around 60%, though the site is double the size of Full Tilt. On Wednesday, PokerStars had 2 1/2 times the amount of real cash players than Full Tilt.
Source:
Gambling911
Former Neteller Execs Charged With Money Laundering
Former Neteller directors Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre have been charged with conspiracy and money laundering in connection with illegal gambling.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael J. Garcia says in a prepared statement that Lefebvre and Lawrence were charged in connection with the creation and operation of an Internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds from U.S. citizens to the owners of overseas Internet gambling companies.
The two men, who are also major shareholders in the company owning as much as 35 percent in outstanding shares, were arrested on Monday while traveling separately.
The complaint cites Neteller's 2005 annual report, alleging that Lawrence and Lefebvre enabled the company to provide payment services to more than 80 percent of worldwide gaming merchants.
Further, the complaint says that Neteller in 2005 alone processed more than $7.3 billion in financial transactions, 95 percent of which was derived from money transfers involving Internet gambling.
Lawrence and Lefebvre could face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted.
Source:
Interactive gaming news
NETeller Founders Arrested at Their Homes
More information is slowly surfacing regarding the arrests of two NETeller founders. The company is the biggest third party money processing company catering to the online gambling industry.
John LeFevre, founder of NETeller, was reportedly taken into custody at his Malibu home during the early morning hours yesterday, Monday January 15.
LeFevre started the hugely successful company with Steve Lawrence in 1999 but retired in 2002 in Costa Rica. Steve Lawrence served as Chairman of Neteller until October 13, 2005.
According to Gambling911.com, both founders have houses in the USA, which is why they spend a great deal of time there.
Meanwhile, online gamblers who have become dependent on NETeller, fear for the worst. NETeller was one of the few publicly traded internet gambling related firms to continue doing business with US citizens.
Source:
Gambling911.com
Can Becks sell soccer to the US?
David Beckham will be trading paella for a Big Mac and fries, large cola and a Twinkie.
America's entertainment capital welcomed a new celebrity when David Beckham agreed to join Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy in a blockbuster deal worth $250 million over five years.
Beckham, one of the most recognisable and marketable sports figures in the world, will join the U.S. club after his contract with Real Madrid expires at the end of the season in a bold move to raise the popularity of the professional game in America.
Bringing free kicks, glitz and his Spice Girl wife, Beckham is leading another British invasion, hoping to do for American soccer what the Beatles once did for pop music - make it rock.
"There are so many great sports in America," the 31-year-old former England captain said. "There are so many kids that play baseball, American football, basketball. But soccer is huge all around the world apart from America, so that's where I want to make a difference with the kids."
Right Becks…..I’m sure you’re doing it for the kids, and well…. $250 million.
Source
The WorkRave workout - for PC addicts
Spending too much time sitting at your PC every day, growing weak and pasty from not getting enough exercise?
It’s time to get the blood flowing with the WorkRave timed break application.
WorkRave pops up and prompts you for a “micro break” or a longer exercise break at time intervals you determine. The app will even suggest anti-RSI exercises for your eyes, back and shoulders to help prevent backaches and headaches.
WorkRave
Humans on display in Australian zoo
An Australian zoo is claiming a world first by putting humans on public display in one of its enclosures.
Six humans took up residence in a disused Adelaide Zoo orangutang enclosure last week for a month-long experiment dubbed "the human zoo".
Groups of humans will spend week-long shifts locked in the enclosure during the zoo's opening hours, with the public viewing them through large perspex windows and live webcams.
Visitors are invited to vote for their favourite human, who will also be studied by animal behaviourists trying to work out ways of improving living conditions for captive great apes such as chimpanzees.
University of South Australia animal psychology specialist Carla Litchfield is spending the entire month in the enclosure with the humans.
"Part of what I do at the zoo is to come up with activities for great apes and other animals, to stimulate them behaviourally and keep their brains occupied," she told ABC radio.
"I never know what it feels like, so a month in there will give me a good idea of the smells and sounds and what it's like to be stared at by thousands of people every day."
The project will also raise money for a new chimpanzee enclosure in South Australia state, according to the zoo, which claimed it was the first time in the world that humans were being put on display in such a way. - Sapa-AFP
Source
70 (crazy?) trends for 2007
Not sure where these people get their info from, but according to JWT, the largest advertising agency in the U.S. and the fourth-largest in the world, ‘Iceland’, ‘Home-schooling’, ‘higher-waisted pants’ and ‘Multilingual cinema’ are among 70 “in” products, services and trends that will help to define 2007.
Time to lay off the green stuff a bit, people…
Here’s the list..
The 70 trends as listed by JWT, are:
1. Skype/VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocal)
2. Wii and the next-generation gaming systems
3. The business of social networking (hanging out online)
4. Pop-up stores, restaurants and bars... installation style
5. Shrinky Dink technology (TVs are flat and hidden, iPods are down to
half an ounce, speakers are smaller and less visible, and so on)
6. The rise of nanotechnology
7. Sustainable construction/green buildings
8. Hydrogen fuel cell technology
9. Veggie-bus: school buses running on biodiesel fuel
10. Trans-fat fallout
11. Reality show talent searches
12. Ohio State's freshman basketball phenom, Greg Oden
13. Fear of agri-terrorism
14. Halal foods
15. Participatory advertising (user-generated advertising and music video
competitions)
16. Premium-drink bars
17. Organic fabrics
18. Stem cell research
19. Iceland
20. Hybrid dogs
21. Locally sourced produce
22. Churchonomics: religion as big business
23. Reunions of donor insemination siblings
24. Hitting the off button: demanding downtime
25. Indian cross-over actress Aishwarya Rai
26. Home-schooling
27. Natural building materials such as stone and wood
28. Binge chilling
29. Personalized diets
30. Brand sluts
31. Modernized tradition
32. Chindia
33. Alpha moms
34. Internet TV
35. Citizen journalism
36. RSS feeds
37. Fresh Direct
38. Google domination (Google as acquirer, and Microsoft as Google
follower)
39. Mobile video
40. Rachael Ray, author and chef
41. Inconspicuous consumption
42. X-Factor's Leona Lewis
43. Dreamgirls' Jennifer Hudson
44. Environmental causes
45. Companies going green
46. Barack Obama, Illinois Senator and potential 2008 US presidential candidate
47. Soft, natural hair
48. Microgeneration (generating one's own energy)
49. Party planning for teens
50. Paying for user-generated content
51. Higher-waisted pants
52. iPhone
53. Co-branding (think Nike plus Apple)
54. Britain's Amy Winehouse, jazz/soul singer and songwriter
55. The rebirth of raves
56. Energy-saving lightbulbs
57. Cult comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen
58. Mash-ups (music, Web sites, everything)
59. Japanese apparel chain Uniqlo
60. Promoting "Brand Me"
61. Ensemble TV casts (Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Criminal Minds)
62. Multilingual cinema
63. "Kidults"
64. Transformers alien flick starring Jon Voight and Bernie Mac
65. Web-based microfinancing
66. Generosity
67. Al Gore, the environmentalist
68. Unstrategic alliances (Paris and Britney, Tom and Brooke, Bush Sr. and
Clinton)
69. Europeans getting fatter
70. Age shuffling (40 is the new 20, for example)
Whatever....
Source
Internet search and find -- from your car
Find yourself in an unfamiliar neighborhood and craving a freshly baked croissant? Fear not! Yahoo! and Dash Navigation have announced plans to combine online searches for local businesses with global positioning satellite (GPS) guidance systems for cars.
The Dash Express service -- to be rolled out in California in the spring and nationwide later in the year -- will enable users to search for local services or businesses from their car seats and then be guided to chosen destinations.
Yahoo! and Dash billed the alliance as a GPS industry first. The service will allow motorists or passengers to search by business names or related terms to glean local options from the internet.
For example, a Dash user that types "croissants" as a search query will get a list of bakeries, cafés and stores in the area that sell the pastry.A user could type "plumbing supplies" in the search box and be routed to nearby hardware stores.
"For the first time, drivers will be able to leave their homes knowing that they can easily find whatever they need -- right from their car," Dash chief executive Paul Lego said in a release. "It's that simple."
-- Sapa-AFP
Via:
Mail and Guardian Online
Typo Turns Romantic Visit Into Traveling Nightmare
Tobi Gutt, a 21-year-old German tourist, wanted to visit his girlfriend in Australia for New Years. He booked a flight online and packed his t-shirts for the summer weather. He was so eager to see her. In fact, he was in such a rush that he didn't notice that he'd accidentally typed "Sidney" instead of "Sydney" into the travel website when making his plans. And he didn't realize it until he had traveled, oh, just a little bit out of the way:
Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake. "I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."
Poor Tobi spent three days at the airport in Billings before his family and friends sent him enough money to buy a new ticket.
I guess it could happen to the best of us...
[
Via]
2007.. The Year for Poker Greatness
Didn't do much blogging over the festive season, I'm afraid...
But I DID however brush up considerably on my poker skills. Took part in quite a few freeroll tournaments at
River Belle, (do yourself a favor and check it out) and didn't do too bad (if I may say so myself...!)
I also picked up loads of tips and tricks and made some great poker buddies. I've learnt how to set up private tables and are now also hosting poker parties with my friends. (who've also discovered the joy of online poker!) And it's all online!
Hopefully 2007 will be THE year for poker greatness.
Bloggers must disclose sponsored posts
Honesty required from those who get paid by advertisers to writeIt’s not just a case of writing nice stuff about some product and getting paid for it, anymore. Companies have been paying bloggers to review products, write about it, rave about it and get some word of mouse going.
But things are a changin’….
NEW YORK - A company that helps advertisers connect with bloggers willing to write about their products for payment will now require disclosures amid criticism and a regulatory threat.
Before this week, advertisers were barred by PayPerPost Inc. from telling bloggers they can't disclose the sponsorship, but bloggers were able to decide on their own whether or not to do so. Under the new policy, bloggers must disclose that they are accepting payment, either in the write-up or in a general disclosure policy on the blogger's Web journal.
"Ever since we launched, there's been a lot of controversy about disclosure," said Ted Murphy, PayPerPost's chief executive.
Besides other bloggers questioning the ethics of receiving payments without disclosure, the Federal Trade Commission said in a Dec. 7 staff opinion that failure to disclose could, in some cases, violate consumer-protection laws on deception. The FTC did not single out PayPerPost or say whether it would launch any investigation.
David Sifry, founder of the blog search site Technorati, praised PayPerPost's move.
"Overall, this is an encouraging and long-awaited change," he said. "I think that people have learned that without trust, all posts become suspect. ... By encouraging honesty and transparency in sponsored posts, PayPerPost adds (some) clarity to the waters they muddied when they launched six months ago."
PayPerPost lets advertisers tell bloggers about word-of-mouth marketing opportunities such as a new gadget or shoe. Advertisers set a price of $5 or more per post, and willing bloggers respond. The better the price, the more quickly spots fill up. The Orlando, Fla., company brokers the payments.
Bloggers are free to trash products or write neutral reviews, but advertisers can specify whether they pay only for positive write-ups.
Advertisers include News Corp.'s Speed Channel and OfficeMax Inc., Murphy said.
PayPerPost may lose some advertisers with its new policy but believes the transparency will be better in the long term, Murphy said.
"Your bigger advertisers, clients that we really want to go after, the Fortune 500, the Fortune 1000, we saw they were requiring disclosure anyway," he said.
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