Promise of good online casino news from America

Last week saw online casino news reports from America which had a dramatic effect on the share prices of nearly all our quoted online gaming companies, and confirmed the rumours which have been circulating for several weeks now that American legislators were about to relax the ban on online casino gambling and internet poker. The US Department of Justice ruling does not specifically overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which currently bans all financial transactions associated with online gambling, but many appear to believe that it does open the way for several States to legalise internet poker and some other casino games. The effect on our major online casino operator’s share prices was a massive £500 million leap in value in just one day, although Brian Mattingly of 888 Holdings was cautious pointing out that there had been false dawns before. Nevertheless he was optimistic that 888 Holdings and other online casino operators on this side of the Atlantic would be able to benefit from any relaxations in the strict American internet gambling laws. America was of course the world’s biggest internet gambling market before the reinforcement of the 1961 Wire Act by the UIGE Act which precipitated the withdrawal of all our publicly quoted online casino operators from America in 2006. Clearly any access to this market in the future, even on a limited scale would be the best casino news in a long time. Also announced this week was the retirement of Michael Constantine from the board of 888 Holdings. Mr. Constantine was an independent Director on the board and there was no movement in the share price as a result of the announcement.