An interesting article on OnlineCasinoNews has pointed out that millions of US gamblers are still gambling online with non-US online gaming operators despite the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

At the center of this claim is the fact that quite a few blogs seem to have been set up to help US-based gamblers get around UIGEA regulations- and quite a few US players are taking them up on it.

According to the article, two blogs in particular, USCasino.blogspot.com and UnitedStatesOfPoker.blogspot.com, provide advice on where US players stand in relation to the UIGEA law. By following the blog’s instructions, players can learn how to fund an account with a non-US online gaming operator and start playing legally.

I have not visited either site yet, so I don’t know if their advice applies to being able to play bingo online with non-US online bingo halls. It will, however, be interesting too find out how many UK-based online bingo sites are still taking on US players. Since UIGEA targets the financial transactions between players and operators, it may be still very risky for us in the UK to continue providing online bingo to US players.

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It looks like Irish airline Ryan Air is going to be the first major carrier to offer online bingo relief for those long-haul flights – it will certainly beat your average airport paperback for passing the time.
888.com is the company Ryan Air is working with to bring online gaming to the skies and I’m assuming this will mean 888.com’s bingo online product will be part of the package.  Personally, I’ve not tried out 888.com’s bingo, but any move by online bingo games into the world of long distance travel gets my vote.

What we have to thank for this welcome development is the UK’s favourable online gaming regulations that make this all possible.  But will Ryan Air’s US customers be able to play?  The temptation may be too much irrespective of what UIGEA may have to say about it.

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While the EU’s man Peter Mandelson sticks it to his US counterparts over the issue of securing US compensation following the US withdrawal from its WTO obligations to a free online gambling industry, Antigua is taking a slightly different tact.

Antigua effectively kicked off the whole WTO trade spat that has now morphed into massive compensation claims from countries whose online gambling industries have been shut out of the US market.  But Antigua’s recent approach is to try to provide US legislators with a positive look at Internet gambling while highlighting the hypocrisy of the US’ UIGEA law which effectively disrupts the popular online pastime.
Meetings have been organized between Antigua’s prime minister Baldwin Spencer and US Congressional representatives with the aim of resolving the WTO dispute.
In reality I believe Prime Minister Spencer’s trip will be a wasted one – the US has no intention of changing its UIGEA legislation and certainly has no intention of fessing up with the money currently being demanded as compensation in the WTO spat.
However, anything that may help online bingo operators offer bingo online to the US market is welcome.  One can only hope that if the EU and Antigua ultimately prove successful in pursing their claims of compensation against the US, free online bingo operators in both Europe and Antigua will be amongst those to benefit.
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While a study in the US indicates student online gambling might be on the decline, a closer look at the evidence shows this trend might have more to do with the tighter payment controls being enforced by online gambling and online bingo operators.

“You can’t just get on and give a credit card anymore,” said Dan Romer to the anti-online gambling publication Family News in Focus. “So that’s probably slowed down the enthusiasm on the part of some young people.”

Dan Romer is the associate director of Annenberg Public Policy Centre, the outfit that conducted the study.

Depending on your point of view, the study’s findings are good news or an indication that online gambling is not as a pervasive threat to our society as some fear.  Anti-online gambling groups will find themselves in an ironic situation over the study:  Do they applaud the study’s findings and therefore undermine their own argument, or do they reject the findings and continue to campaign against online gambling?

Clearly, online gambling sectors such as the bingo online sector and free online bingo games operators are doing a good job in ensuring a well regulated gaming environment that inhibits problem gambling.

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Even though the US has successfully postponed a decision till mid December on how much compensation they will have to pay for reneging on their World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations, it’s good to see that EU is continuing to pressure them on the issue.

Reports that EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is on the case on behalf of the online gambling industry in Europe is good news.  Clearly, Mandelson is keen to see the US held to account for their actions over UIGEA.  The message that he is now taking to Washington is that the US needs to alter UIGEA to stop it discriminating against European online gaming companies and online bingo halls by stopping them from operating in the US market.

The hoped for dream that the US will see sense on this issue and once again open its markets is one hoped for throughout the online bingo industry and community.  However, despite Mandelson’s efforts, it’s unlikely we will see the return of US customers who play bingo online any time soon, though we may see some online gaming operators benefit from compensation awarded against the US over the WTO thing.

In the meantime, it’s just nice to know that there are some EU reps out there who are looking after the interests of free online bingo operators.  Here’s Mandelson telling it as it is:

“When a member of the WTO defaults on its commitments, compensation is due,” Mandelson remarked to Reuters reporters. “That’s the case of online gambling.”

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Just what do the French think they’re playing at?  French Budget Minister Eric Woerth has basically said France is not seriously considering a relaxation of its protectionist policies regards online gambling – and that means more possible arrests of online gaming company officers.

Fresh on the heels of the debacle surrounding the arrest of Petter Nylander of Unibet and the subsequent condemnation of the arrest by the European Commission, France has decided to play hard ball and signal its intentions to maintain a gambling monopoly that shuts out other European-based operators.

So the French government doesn’t want to play online bingo with the rest of us – that much is now clear to any online bingo operator.  But what will the European Commission make of these latest comments by a French government official?

“We are not opposed to a certain opening (of gambling to other EU nations) but we will remain firm on certain points,” Woerth was reported as saying by Le Parisien. He later said:  “Just because an operator is recognised in a foreign country is no reason for us to have to open our gates to them in France.  We intend to keep control of authorisations.”

And we all thought France was part of the big happy EU family, willing to play its part in breaking down trade barriers between member nations.  Don’t count on it, and if you are operating bingo online, watch out if you have any French customers.

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A report yesterday on Bingo Street has confirmed the good news that Aquagaming is going to launch a new online bingo hall.

Speaking to Bingo Street, Aquagaming account manager Greg Gomez said “As part of our efforts to restructure our business we are going to be launching a new Bingo Room shortly on the Globalcom network and it will be a 75 and 90 ball room with additional features.�

Naturally we’ll be keeping you posted on what this means for UK online bingo players and what online bingo games prizes they are offering.

Quoting from yesterday’s Bingo Street article:

Aquagaming has recently shifted Windows Online Casino onto the Playtech software platform, a powerful and popular option for many online gaming and online bingo operators. Gomez has also confirmed that the group’s Windows Casino and Windows Poker operations are doing well in the post-UIGEA, online gaming industry where they are continuing to target the burgeoning European market.

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Will online bingo halls and online bingo games operators be forced to drop the US dollar as a means of payment?

Given that a certain supermodel has recently decided she will not get out of bed for any dollars (Gisele, the world’s highest paid model now only accepts payment in anything but US dollars), is it time for online gaming companies to reassess their exposure to the falling US dollar?

Bingo online payments calculated in US dollars, whether games fees or prizes, are steadily losing their value in real terms for UK online bingo operators and players respectively.

Since the loss of the US market due to UIGEA, there have obviously been less customers who pay in US dollars, yet many online bingo halls still quote prizes in US dollars. While this may benefit the online bingo hall paying the jackpot, it actually can be seen as a loss for those UK players who win the prize. In other words, a US$ million jackpot ain’t what it used to be.

In fact, the US dollar has lost nearly 40% of its value against the Euro since the Euro’s introduction. Long known in financial circles as the world’s reserve currency, the US dollar is currently under immense downward pressure with muted talk of that it may be dropped by the oil industry as its currency of quote.

While this may not mean very much at this time for the bingo online industry in the UK where the vast majority of transactions take place in British Pounds, it may give some operators pause for thought if the US$ falls even further.

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The news that thirty land-based bingo jobs have been lost in the UK comes as no surprise given the general lack of proactive policy seen in the industry as it confronts high tax rates and a smoking ban on it cliental.

This may seem a callous call on what is a very real tragedy for those who have lost their jobs, and I would like to make clear that I have much sympathy for people facing unemployment.
However, the closing down of the Bingorama at The Ritz in Belper and The Regal at Staveley, both in Derbyshire, due to being ‘economically unviable’ has its roots in an attitude that has seen land-based bingo operators take the course of trying to maintain the status quo rather than adapt with the times.

On the other hand, online bingo and free online bingo games operators are at the forefront of the changes taking place in the gaming industry and it is my hope that some of those who have lost jobs in the land-based bingo industry will find employment in the bingo online sector.

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The release on bail of Unibet CEO Petter Nylander after his arrest by Dutch police acting on a French anti-foreign online gambling warrant can only be adding to the discomfort felt by French authorities over the debacle.  The European Commission has not been pleased with this development during a time when French authorities are trying to negotiate favourable terms for their state-run gambling monopolies.

In an act of defiance, Nylander says Unibet will continue to offer its services to French customers, something the current French gambling monopolies must find particularly galling.  After all, they now seem to be drifting into the business of offering bounties on anyone daring to challenge their EU-illegal monopolies.

There is, however, one aspect to this issue that is missing that would make it perfect for those of us tracking this story from a bingo online perspective.

Unfortunatley, a look at Unibet’s online site reveals that they do not yet offer any online bingo games or run an online bingo hall.  Hopefully this will be readdressed and French Unibet customers will be able to get a taste of the fastest growing niche game in online gaming.

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