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January 05, 2007
Two leading British online casino companies were among several other bookmakers to be awarded licenses for online casino operations involving horse racing and sports betting in Italy.
In addition to these online casinos who received official operation licenses, the companies also received new licenses for running centers across the country, in cafes, bars and run by newsagents, which feature and host horseracing and sports betting centers.
One of the online casinos groups added in its statement that it would continue to buy new licenses in Italy. The European country is becoming a new frontier for many online gaming companies around the world as they search for a new market to replace that of the United States.
Since the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, many online casinos are closing their doors to American gamblers and moving their services to other nations. Sometimes, as this case shows, with success.
The licenses owned by this online casino group include 33 operating licenses for horse racing, 58 for sports betting as well as betting centers and 51 for franchises.
Meanwhile, one of Austria’s leading online casinos groups claimed that it had not required licenses in this tender as it already owned a license for online casinos sports betting in Italy and was not looking for licenses for betting centers. However, the firm did confirm that it would be interested in winning an Italian license for online casino gambling and poker.
 January 03, 2007
Stock values of the gaming industry's major companies experienced double- and triple-digit increases in their average daily prices compared with 12 months ago, according to data from December. Although, December also saw the beginning of sea change in control of two large casino operators and hints that others might follow suit.
According to Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm which compiles an index that charts the average daily stock prices of nine publicly traded gaming companies, its index reached an all-time high in the month because of the proposed $27.8 billion buyout of Harrah's Entertainment by two private equity groups and a planned management-controlled $4.7 billion buyout of Station Casinos.
"Gains within the gaming sector were driven by proposed ownership changes rather than operational performances," said Brian Gordon, a partner in Applied Analysis, said Friday. "Proposed privatizations were the principal drivers of valuation growth."
Gordon said the Applied Analysis index, which ended the month at an all-time high of 461.66 points, almost 39 points higher than November, mirrored the performance of gaming stocks on Wall Street. In November, the index jumped almost 42 points.
"Recent valuation rises also outpaced the broader market," Gordon said.
Deutsche Bank Managing Director Andrew Zarnett, in a report to investors on Dec. 20, said he expects the gaming industry to exhibit solid growth in 2007. Increased spending by casino patrons, he said, will continue to fuel solid gaming revenue increases.
"We expect this performance to continue to improve through the rest of the year and to experience an upswing in 2007 and 2008 as new projects drive increased visitation," Zarnett said.
Other economic indicators weighed into the stock price valuations. Las Vegas visitor volume was reported at 3.4 million in October, giving the city a modest year-over-year increase of 1.1 percent for the first 10 months of 2006.
Decemder 27, 2006
According to leading online publication, the latest way to avoid the prohibitive measures outlined in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) could be to use checks. The Techworld publication indicates that many US gamblers are looking for such ways to circumvent the ban considering the fact that it does not criminalise individual gamblers.
Current enforcement is based on the blocking of card payments by banks, but Techworld maintains that alternative payment methods may be successful.
"If you send a check in, you'll be fine. There's no way it's going to stop," the publication quotes former New Jersey gambling regulator Frank Catania as saying.
Others suggest that the online gambling market, now worth several billion dollars per year, is too big to ever be stopped effectively.
"I have no doubt the private operators will pick up the slack," said Tejinder Randhawa, an analyst for Evolution Securities in London, speaking to Techworld.
Decemder 24, 2006
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