For many UK online bingo players, Katie Price is the well known and popular face of Foxy Bingo, so I’m sure we will all offer our sympathies for her husband’s plight as he battles with a suspected case of meningitis.

Ms Price’s husband, Peter Andre, was struck down with an illness on Saturday and is currently receiving treatment at East Surrey Hospital. The distressing news comes soon after Ms Price’s son suffered burns in an accident that saw her maintaining a bedside vigil. We can all only imagine how awful this must be for her and her family and I’m sure you will join me in wishing her husband a speedy recovery.

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What, with US authorities gunning for online gambling with the arrests of former e-wallet founders and operators, it does seem we live in a time when it would be prudent to check who exactly is dealing with our financial details online.

This is, I feel, the case with the launching of a new e-wallet Omega Internet Solutions, a Panama-based company that is keen for you to pass your hard earned money through their internet facilities.

The trouble with Omega Internet Solutions is that it is very difficult to get any real details concerning their corporate structure and I, for one, would have difficulty trusting my money to someone or some institution I don’t fully know.

In the end most online bingo players will agree it’s all about trust and with UIGEA taking toll of some of the better known financial entities on the net, it seems the online financial market is going to see more of the likes of Omega popping up.

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It will come as a timely reminder to online bingo operators that regulations concerning the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) come into force in approximately two month’s time.

With the arrival of UIGEA late in 2006, the online gambling and online bingo industry suffered huge disruption and large scale losses worldwide due to a pulling out of the US market by most operators.
UIGEA is essentially a tool for the US Treasury and Attorney General to prevent or disrupt online financial transactions to online gambling companies.

Recent news from the US shows a concerted attempt by Congressman Barney Frank to have the law overturned and this is applauded, especially since UIGEA has recently been labelled one of the worst internet laws by major US media watchdog, Media Channel.org.

One can only hope that Congressman Frank is successful in his attempts to repeal the law and we can see a return of the US market. However, once the law’s regulations come into effect, it’s likely we’ll see more of the same disruption for at least the short term. It may even have to wait for a new US administration to come into power before people who enjoy playing online bingo see any improvement.

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For most of us in the online bingo community, and in the online gaming community at large, it is most encouraging to see that things over in the US are starting to move regards getting rid of the UIGEA law that has been such a terrible blight on online gaming.

The work of Congressman Barney Frank in setting in motion an effort to repeal this law seems to have caught the imagination of US online game players everywhere. It may be a matter of only two weeks before his motion to repeal is introduced.

While UK players get to enjoy and play online bingo in a well regulated environment, we might spare a moment to offer our support to those US players trying to win back the right to enjoy the pastime of their choice.

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A report by the Gaming Intelligence Group indicates political developments in Germany regarding restrictions on sports gambling are taking a positive turn.

An agreement between the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union has seen the proposal of the abolishing of the state monopoly on sports betting. If this comes to pass then it’s only a matter of time before other European countries with similar practices start to follow suite.

The Gaming Intellegence Group report says fiscal policymakers from both unions believe that the liberalisation of sports betting should be accompanied by a special incentive tax. This is proposed as a way of providing continued funding for sport, charities and culture.

The move will bring Germany into line with an EU commission directive urging member states to open their online gambling industry to foreign companies operating within the EU. This will pave the way for online bingo and other forms of online gaming to provide a greater range of choice to German gamers. While online bingo already enjoys a well regulated environment in the UK, it augers well for the industry as a whole that German politicians are making moves in the same direction.

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Austrian gambling group Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG has released disappointing results that have revealed a full year loss of Euro 539.6 million, compared to the previous year’s profit of Euro 6.4 million.

This is hardly surprising in light of the impact suffered by most online gambling concerns thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in America.  With the loss of the US market, many big names in the industry have taken a hit.  Bwin’s results have already seen shares drop by just over 4 percent in reaction.

The company had already estimated that costs associated with the closure of its US business would be around Euro 5.5 million.  These are big numbers, yet it can be said there is light at the end of the tunnel as action to repeal UIGEA gathers momentum in the US.

Those companies that have not been killed off by UIGEA and have sought to survive through diversification can only have gotten stronger.  This has been the case for a number of online bingo halls and operators. Once UIGEA is done away with, the return of the American market will make this industry stronger than ever.

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Two people in the UK have recently been arrested over the issue of ‘piggy-backing’, the practice of logging on to someone else’s unsecured wireless internet connection.  While the arrests have only resulted in an official warning, for people who spend a lot of their time online piggy-backing has become a contentious issue.

Online Bingo players with unsecured wireless connection in their home risk people accessing their internet accounts and possible committing identity theft.  For some out there, though, the attitude is that if the connection is on the air, then it’s supposedly fair game to log on. However, this can lead to charges by the police of dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services with intent to avoid payment.

With up to one quarter of all wireless networks in the UK left unsecured, it’s only a matter of time before someone finds themselves the target of a criminal investigation resulting from use of their internet account.  Let’s hope most online bingo players using a wireless home system have taken the precautions to keep their systems safe.

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Reports from the US that Covers.com, a successful online gambling site, has had to let go of 28 of its employers is testament to the destructive effects of the ill-conceived Unlawful Internet Gambling Entertainment Act (UIGEA).

The company is owned by Sports Direct and has been operating with great success for past 11 years, according to a report on the Eye on Gambling portal. However, with the introduction of UIGEA, things have changed.

The financial hassle factor brought on by implementation of UIGEA has effectively crippled many online gaming enterprises including online bingo and its effects have rippled out to include Europe and Asia.

One can only hope that the 28 people now out of a job will be able to regain their positions should attempts to repeal UIGEA prove successful.  The work of Congressman Barney Frank is to be applauded in this regard.  But how many more jobs will be lost before things get better?

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The effects of the loss of the American market, thanks to that country’s UIGEA laws, seem to be having a spill-over effect.  Results being reported from Germany show one well known company, AIM listed VC Gaming, is struggling with tax losses of Euro 28.8 million.

The same company achieved profits of Euro 12.8 million last year, sot what’s the problem?

Simply put, Germany is still very unclear on how it will proceed regards its regulation of the online gaming industry, including the playing of free online bingo.  This is despite a well documented insistence by the European Commission that all EU member states start to open their online gambling markets.

What this is forcing German companies to do is to look to other markets and diversify their operations, a trend that is bound to spread as certain European countries continue to practice monopolistic state-run gambling operations.  Italy’s recent relaxation of its gambling laws has made it an obvious destination for companies like VC Gaming who also hope to offer an online bingo service as part of its product range this year.

The migration of companies to more friendly market environments will be the loss of those countries who seek to maintain their old monopolistic gaming systems.

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Having lived in Hong Kong for many years I feel I’m qualified to comment on one feature of Chinese society and that is their love of gaming as a pastime.  For many Chinese, gaming is the essence of their idea of sport and provides many with one of the pleasures life has to offer.

In keeping up with things in Hong Kong, it’s impossible these days not to factor in things happening in China.  Hong Kong is now a part of China proper and recent moves by the Chinese authorities to associate gaming with internet pornography in their latest crackdown is distressing.

The creation of “virtual cops� to monitor internet activity  in China masks an insecurity on the part of Chinese authorities in which online gaming is a convenient scapegoat. Could it be that we are to see a similar crackdown in Asia to that of the US’ now infamous UIGEA laws?  And what will this mean to the fledgling online bingo industry and those of us who travel regularly to this part of the world and look forward to an occasional game?

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