Online Gambling Press

Online gaming companies in Europe were dealt a blow on Monday as the European Union accepted a US offer to open some other services markets as compensation for shutting foreign companies out of America’s lucrative gambling industry. The EU said the bilateral deal would provide European businesses, such as TNT of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post of Germany, with unspecified new opportunities in the US postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors. The US had also made concessions in the testing and analysis services sector.

Costa Rica has reached an agreement with the United States in a dispute about online gambling, trade officials said on Thursday. As a result Costa Rica has dropped its request for arbitration at the World Trade Organisation , they said. The dispute arose after Washington announced in May last year that it would withdraw gambling from services it had opened up under a 1994 world trade deal. Under WTO rules the United States then had to offer access in other services to any of the WTO's 151 members who wanted it.

Macao's casino industry will likely see record gross revenues of 83 billion patacas (USD 10 billion) in 2007, an increase of 46.5% over last year, according to local news reports. The casinos' gross receipts were expected to reach 8.1 billion patacas (USD 1.03 billion) in December according to a senior official of Macao's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The official added that the Las-Vegas-style casino resort MGM Grand Macao, opened on Dec. 18, recorded gross receipts of 51.5 million patacas (USD 6.6 million) in its first two days of operations. The opening of MGM Grand has added to the number  [ Read More ]

The European Commission dealt a blow to European online gaming companies on Monday when it accepted a U.S. offer of openings in other sectors as compensation for closing U.S. gambling market to foreign firms. European firms such as PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment had hoped the European Union executive might shun a settlement and fight on instead to restore their ability to operate in the world's biggest market. “A bilateral agreement was signed in Geneva, which provides EU service suppliers with new trade opportunities in the U.S. postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors,” the commission said  [ Read More ]