Coy_Roy
10-11-2006, 10:31 PM
Publicly traded online gambling firms were no safer than private operators
With all this talk of a bill to curb internet gambling doing little but to send the industry back to the stone age by forcing publicly traded companies to go private, many would argue the industry is better off....including Gambling911.com, which saw way too much bureaucracy getting in the way of publicly traded organizations.
The Times of London meant well when they wrote:
Instead of being able to play poker or have a bet on a college football game on a website owned by a public company adhering to strict standards of conduct and financial probity, his constituents will be entrusting their money to faceless private companies based in offshore locations such as the British Virgin Islands.
If the new generation of internet gambling companies refuse to pay out winnings, there is nothing that American punters will be able to do about it. More importantly, because their ownership structures will be opaque, they will have no reputations to protect and there will be nothing to prevent them preying on the young and the vulnerable — the very people that the likes of Senator Frist have cited in their lobbying ahead for the controversial Bill.
But here is where they are mistaken: The so-called "new generation" that the Times of London are making reference to are in fact the "old generation", companies that have withstood the test of time, overcoming every obstacle that is thrown their way. And in many ways, these privately held companies are more trustworthy than their publicly traded counterparts.
The industry through the years has policed itself, perhaps better than most other industries. The only thing the online gambling sector in places like Costa Rica have been unable - or perhaps unwilling - to do is choke off the numerous fly-by-night operators that dot the internet gaming landscape. But even those are few and far between.
The vast majority of top name privately held online gambling companies have now been in business for nearly 10 years. Some, like BetCRIS.com, were established offshore in the 1980's. BetCRIS.com, Grande, Bowmans and Intertops all emerged during that decade and continue to go strong.
Since 1996, only three major established online gambling companies had folded out of several dozen up until July of this year: Sports International in 1997, Aces Gold/Sports Market in 2002 and Blue Marlin in 2003. These were all at one time thriving businesses that somehow went awry and would most certainly fall into the Times of London's description of "prying on the young and vulnerable".
But in July of this year, BetonSports closed shop and became the largest online gambling company to do so. Nearly 1000 employees were let go and hundreds - if not thousands - of players were left waiting to be paid as of press time mid October. BetonSports.com was a publicly traded company.
The irony, the stunt BetonSports pulled essentially rendered publicly traded online gambling firms useless prior to any bill being passed. These companies harped on regulation, yet the privately held online gaming establishments seemed to be doing a much better job of self-regulating. It was a privately held company - BetCRIS.com - which took over non-US accounts from BetonSports.
The verdict is not out on BoS just yet, even though more and more people close to that company believe they are completely broke with all funds tied up in assets.
It is a private group of investors that is taking the initial steps of approaching the Antiguan Gaming Board about buying out all the BetonSports US accounts. The current Board of Directors can care less it seems.
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Christopher Costigan, www.gambling911.com (http://www.gambling911.com)
Originally published October 12, 2006 8:59 pm ET
With all this talk of a bill to curb internet gambling doing little but to send the industry back to the stone age by forcing publicly traded companies to go private, many would argue the industry is better off....including Gambling911.com, which saw way too much bureaucracy getting in the way of publicly traded organizations.
The Times of London meant well when they wrote:
Instead of being able to play poker or have a bet on a college football game on a website owned by a public company adhering to strict standards of conduct and financial probity, his constituents will be entrusting their money to faceless private companies based in offshore locations such as the British Virgin Islands.
If the new generation of internet gambling companies refuse to pay out winnings, there is nothing that American punters will be able to do about it. More importantly, because their ownership structures will be opaque, they will have no reputations to protect and there will be nothing to prevent them preying on the young and the vulnerable — the very people that the likes of Senator Frist have cited in their lobbying ahead for the controversial Bill.
But here is where they are mistaken: The so-called "new generation" that the Times of London are making reference to are in fact the "old generation", companies that have withstood the test of time, overcoming every obstacle that is thrown their way. And in many ways, these privately held companies are more trustworthy than their publicly traded counterparts.
The industry through the years has policed itself, perhaps better than most other industries. The only thing the online gambling sector in places like Costa Rica have been unable - or perhaps unwilling - to do is choke off the numerous fly-by-night operators that dot the internet gaming landscape. But even those are few and far between.
The vast majority of top name privately held online gambling companies have now been in business for nearly 10 years. Some, like BetCRIS.com, were established offshore in the 1980's. BetCRIS.com, Grande, Bowmans and Intertops all emerged during that decade and continue to go strong.
Since 1996, only three major established online gambling companies had folded out of several dozen up until July of this year: Sports International in 1997, Aces Gold/Sports Market in 2002 and Blue Marlin in 2003. These were all at one time thriving businesses that somehow went awry and would most certainly fall into the Times of London's description of "prying on the young and vulnerable".
But in July of this year, BetonSports closed shop and became the largest online gambling company to do so. Nearly 1000 employees were let go and hundreds - if not thousands - of players were left waiting to be paid as of press time mid October. BetonSports.com was a publicly traded company.
The irony, the stunt BetonSports pulled essentially rendered publicly traded online gambling firms useless prior to any bill being passed. These companies harped on regulation, yet the privately held online gaming establishments seemed to be doing a much better job of self-regulating. It was a privately held company - BetCRIS.com - which took over non-US accounts from BetonSports.
The verdict is not out on BoS just yet, even though more and more people close to that company believe they are completely broke with all funds tied up in assets.
It is a private group of investors that is taking the initial steps of approaching the Antiguan Gaming Board about buying out all the BetonSports US accounts. The current Board of Directors can care less it seems.
---
Christopher Costigan, www.gambling911.com (http://www.gambling911.com)
Originally published October 12, 2006 8:59 pm ET