WTO Internet Gambling alert: BetUS indictment only tip of iceberg
written May 14, 2007
The indictment involving BetUS and other companies alleges that the defendants' businesses assisted Internet gambling sites by arranging fund transfers between U.S. bettors and the sites by using Western Union wire transfers.
Brett Tolman, U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, said in a press release. ?Payment processors who attempt to hide the true nature of the transactions they are conducting AND the Internet gambling Web sites that use these payment processors will be prosecuted and brought to justice," he said in a statement."
There's no wiggle room here, any gambling web site that uses these merchants will be targeted.
It's extremely clear.
Forbes magazine did a feature story a few months back about a similar non-gaming prosecution.
Many of you may have seen a TV ad campaign involving a dork named "Bob" who has a permanent ridiculous smile because he used a bogus "male enhancement" product called Enzyte produced by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals.
The Feds went after BPN and its owner and the government didn't bother trying to prove the product was a crock. Seems the charge back rates on their credit card sales were very high and their banks tried to terminate their merchant accounts for business reasons. BPN resorted to a variety of schemes to keep credit card sales flowing by deceiving the banks about who they were and what they were selling.
That's fraud and now they are in big trouble even though no one is claiming in court that their product or advertising is illegal. If the underlying product or service is illegal that would just make things worse.
Banks have every right to say they don't want to extend credit to fund online gambling. Internet players should be free to play but equally bankers should have the freedom to not risk their money on it. The guys running these fraudulent credit card processing schemes are simply criminals who are inflicting real losses on the financial industry. I don't have any problem with the government prosecuting them and I would hope that the online gambling industry wouldn't be involved.
When we interviewed Jay Cohen about these most recent indictments, he stated, "I believe the only hope left for the Internet gambling industry to thrive in America lies in the WTO dispute that Antigua currently has with the United States. Things may get very interesting soon."
Furthermore, Mark Mendel, Antigua's lead counsel in the matter, said, "We are in unchartered water."
:scared :scared :scared
written May 14, 2007
The indictment involving BetUS and other companies alleges that the defendants' businesses assisted Internet gambling sites by arranging fund transfers between U.S. bettors and the sites by using Western Union wire transfers.
Brett Tolman, U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, said in a press release. ?Payment processors who attempt to hide the true nature of the transactions they are conducting AND the Internet gambling Web sites that use these payment processors will be prosecuted and brought to justice," he said in a statement."
There's no wiggle room here, any gambling web site that uses these merchants will be targeted.
It's extremely clear.
Forbes magazine did a feature story a few months back about a similar non-gaming prosecution.
Many of you may have seen a TV ad campaign involving a dork named "Bob" who has a permanent ridiculous smile because he used a bogus "male enhancement" product called Enzyte produced by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals.
The Feds went after BPN and its owner and the government didn't bother trying to prove the product was a crock. Seems the charge back rates on their credit card sales were very high and their banks tried to terminate their merchant accounts for business reasons. BPN resorted to a variety of schemes to keep credit card sales flowing by deceiving the banks about who they were and what they were selling.
That's fraud and now they are in big trouble even though no one is claiming in court that their product or advertising is illegal. If the underlying product or service is illegal that would just make things worse.
Banks have every right to say they don't want to extend credit to fund online gambling. Internet players should be free to play but equally bankers should have the freedom to not risk their money on it. The guys running these fraudulent credit card processing schemes are simply criminals who are inflicting real losses on the financial industry. I don't have any problem with the government prosecuting them and I would hope that the online gambling industry wouldn't be involved.
When we interviewed Jay Cohen about these most recent indictments, he stated, "I believe the only hope left for the Internet gambling industry to thrive in America lies in the WTO dispute that Antigua currently has with the United States. Things may get very interesting soon."
Furthermore, Mark Mendel, Antigua's lead counsel in the matter, said, "We are in unchartered water."
:scared :scared :scared
