{"id":1141,"date":"2007-01-23T08:58:02","date_gmt":"2007-01-23T13:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/gambling-shares-plummet-again-as-doj-goes-after-euro-banks\/"},"modified":"2007-01-23T08:58:02","modified_gmt":"2007-01-23T13:58:02","slug":"gambling-shares-plummet-again-as-doj-goes-after-euro-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/gambling-shares-plummet-again-as-doj-goes-after-euro-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling Shares Plummet Again as DOJ Goes After Euro Banks"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — Shares in European online gambling companies fell as much as 14 per cent yesterday on news that U.S. prosecutors had launched a probe into Internet gambling.
\nThe U.S. Department of Justice has sent subpoenas to about 15 investment banks across Europe and in the United States, requesting information as part of a probe into gambling companies including Britain’s PartyGaming PLC and payment networks such as Neteller PLC, banking officials said.
\nThe banking officials, who spoke on condition that they not be identified by name because they were not authorized to do so, said that the subpoenas were received shortly after Christmas.
\nDresdner Kleinwort, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings and JPMorgan Chase & Co. declined to comment on reports they were among the banks to receive subpoenas. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. officials did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday.
\nThe United States effectively banned online gambling last fall when Congress added a provision to a bill aimed at improving port security to make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to settle payments to online gambling sites. U.S. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law Oct. 14.
\nSeveral Europe-based online gambling companies collapsed after the decision and those still operating continue to reel from the costs of exiting the United States.
\nSportingbet PLC and Leisure & Gaming PLC both sold their U.S. operations for a token $1 (U.S.). World Gaming PLC directors resigned, leaving the company in the hands of administrators.
\nPartyGaming PLC, the world’s largest online gambling company, and Betonsports PLC were among the others to suspend all real money gambling activities to customers in the United States.
\nBritish-based Neteller, which essentially acts as a middleman between gamblers and offshore betting operations, said last week that it stopped handling gambling transactions from U.S. customers.
\nThe company’s move came three days after former directors were arrested and charged in the United States with funnelling billions of dollars in gambling proceeds to overseas betting operations.
\nGambling stocks, already worth only a fraction of their values before the U.S. ban, slumped further yesterday on news of the probe.
\nIn London, Leisure & Gaming shares fell 0.75 pence to 11.5 pence (26 cents). PartyGaming shares were 3 pence lower at 27.75 pence. Sportingbet stock slumped 6 per cent to 35 pence. 888 Holdings stock slipped 4.25 pence to \u00a31.16. Neteller shares were suspended last week.
\nThe British government has been strongly critical of the U.S. position on Internet gambling, with Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell likening it to a new form of the 1920s Prohibition on alcohol.
\nSource Toronto Globe and Mail<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON — Shares in European online gambling companies fell as much as 14 per cent yesterday on news that U.S. prosecutors had launched a probe into Internet gambling. The U.S. Department of Justice has sent subpoenas to about 15 investment banks across Europe and in the United States, requesting information as part of a probe … Continue reading Gambling Shares Plummet Again as DOJ Goes After Euro Banks<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}