Anti-egaming bill hits early hurdles

[AAAA]

EGAMING Review Magazine...you may need a password to view it!


Online gaming shares received a hefty shot in the arm in early trading today amid talk that the latest attempt to strengthen prohibition of online gaming in the US had hit significant opposition.
At one point on Thursday, PartyGaming’s share price was up over 9% to 141.5p, while Sportingbet was up 28p or 7% to 408.5p and BetonSports gained 5.75p or 3.85% to 155p. Online payments company Neteller, meanwhile, saw its share price benefit as well, rising 8.7% or 64.5p to 805.5p at one point.

Representative Robert Goodlatte’s Internet Gambling Prohibition Act (HR 4777) was reported to have met with a lack of support when it came before a House Judiciary crime sub-committee yesterday, April 5.

Representative Bobby Scott slammed Goodlatte’s bill as attempting to create “an enforcement nightmare for financial institutions”. His comments were backed by First State Bank vice-president Sam Vallandingham who said the added burden of having to monitor transactions for online gambling would be too much for the banking industry.

Analysts noted the sub-committee session had also highlighted the confusion amongst the bill’s proponents over possible carve-outs for activities such as online wagering on US horseracing.

Greg Feehely, head of research at Altium Capital, noted that no vote was taken and that no second hearing had been scheduled, meaning there would be up to a two week delay.

“Overall, industry watchers noted that opponents of the bill were said to have been quite pleased with yesterday’s hearing,” he added. “The fact there is confusion on carve-outs and delays is fantastic news.”