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July 11, 2007
A Canadian man who helped create a company to process Internet gambling transactions pleaded guilty to a U.S. federal conspiracy charge Tuesday, about two weeks after another founder of Neteller PLC entered a guilty plea of his own.
John David Lefebvre, 55, a Neteller co-founder, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where prosecutors are trying to stop companies that operate overseas from violating U.S. laws against web-based gambling. Neteller PLC is based in the Isle of Man.
In a plea deal, he agreed to co-operate with prosecutors and testify if necessary. He also agreed to be partly responsible for the US$100 million the government is seeking in restitution. Although the conspiracy charge carried a potential prison term of up to five years, co-operation in the case was likely to greatly reduce any potential sentence.
The government has said that nearly all of the $5.1 billion in transactions processed in the first half of 2006 involved online gambling - and most of the revenue was generated by U.S. customers.
Lefebvre said he agreed in 1999 to help create a set of companies that became Neteller. Although the companies were originally created to enable the transfer of money online, the majority of the business eventually focused on Internet gambling transactions, he said. By March 1, 2004, the company had nearly 170 employees, 600,000 member accounts and 1,000 merchants registered. He said he later "came to see that providing online services for gambling customers in the United States was wrong."
Neteller co-founder Stephen Lawrence previously pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy, saying he learned as well that providing payment services to online gambling websites serving customers in the United States was wrong. Both men were arrested in January after a probe of the company. Days after the arrests, the company, which was founded in 1999, stopped handling transactions for U.S. customers. Lefebvre and Lawrence are no longer on the company's board of directors.
 July 10, 2007
A review of gambling regulation and age limits, advertising policies, and the impact of technological change (online gambling) will be called into action in England, where it has been found in a new research that over 100,000 youth (aged 11 – 15) are gambling addicts. According to official research reports, the gambling age limit in England should be raised from 16 to 18 years of age.
Britain is currently the only country in the world permitting children of all ages to play on slot machines (with jackpots of up to £5), and allow 16 year olds to buy lottery tickets, scratch cards, and participate in football pools. A similar research commissioned by "Oflot" – England's lottery watchdog – in 1998, revealed that a staggering 75 percent of children play the fruit machines, which contributes to 3 percent of the under aged problem gamblers. Also, 1 percent suffers from scratch card addiction. A spokeswoman of the Camelot National lottery operator explained that this is "a problem facing many sectors".
The study was conducted by Conservative leader David Cameron's policy commission on social justice and lead by a top gambling expert. Mr. Cameron is expected to support the commission's findings. Psychologist research has time after time proven that the younger a person starts to gamble, the more chance they have of developing problems, and in compliance, the Tories have agreed that "the age limit for all forms of gambling should be raised to 18".
The professor gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, Mark Griffiths, has concluded in his report that labor's recent Gambling Act will increase the number of addicts, which today exceeds 300,000 adults. The labor party's approach to gambling has been criticized as a betrayal of the party's founding principles. Also, under Labor's Gambling Act the number and sizes of casinos will grow from 140 to 157. It is believed that the widespread research into the causes of social breakdown currently being conducted, will give rise to a rebalancing of tax and benefit systems in favor of families and marriage by Tories.
The report also calls for a thorough analysis of gambling in the new media and latest technologies, including internet, mobile phones, and interactive television. It stated that the single most important measure would be to raise the legal age of gambling; "At the very least, there should be a review of slot machine gambling to assess whether it should be restricted to those over 18 years of age". Possibly the most important aspect in the issue's urgency is the fact that overt signs of problem and addiction do not occur until late in the gambler's professional career. Discussions and deliberations are now expected to take place in light of this alarming evidence.
July 03, 2007
A founder of payment processor NETeller pleaded guilty on Friday to a conspiracy charge over the handling of billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds.
Stephen Lawrence, 47, during a hearing before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan, also agreed to cooperate with the government. Lawrence, who is also a former chairman of the company, faces a maximum sentence of five years on the conspiracy charge for his role in the operation of the payment processor.
NETeller co-founder and former President John Lefebvre was also charged in January. The case against him is still pending, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said in a statement.
July 02, 2007
Process of test is going on well. We have finished game tests. Rois casino will be opened soon.
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