G2E Boundary Online Betting Site

G2E Boundary Online Betting Site

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No one would confuse today's popular gambling website with Bergsy Siegel's flamingo.

But the U.S. government's decision to crack down on internet gambling will be felt this week when big names from the ground gambling industry gather for the annual Global Game Expo trade show and convention in Las Vegas.

At least five internet companies have pulled out of the Las Vegas show, and industry experts say the recent arrests of web gambling executives make it difficult for online game operators to come to the U.S.

"I think this trend started this summer with executives starting to be arrested and jailed," said Sue Schneider, publisher of Interactive Gaming News.

David Carruthers, the former chief executive of BetOn Sports, one of the world's largest internet gambling companies, was arrested by U.S. authorities in Dallas in July when he traveled to Costa Rica, where the company's offices are located.

Carothers, 48, has since pleaded not guilty to mail and wire fraud and racketeering charges. Several other company officials have also been arrested and Bet On Sports has been barred from accepting businesses within the United States.

Beton Sports reached an agreement with the Justice Department last week to end all operations in the United States. Beton Sports, Carothers and 10 other company officials are still facing charges related to illegal gambling.

Schneider's company, River City Group in St. Charles, Missouri, organizes web gambling trade shows in Canada, Europe and Asia.

"If we were to work in the U.S., we probably wouldn't have a big turnout," she said.

Justice Department spokesman Jacqueline Resch said people who run online gambling sites that take bets in the U.S. could be exposed to prosecution.

"Obviously, the Justice Department sees online gambling as illegal," Lesh said, "and if you're operating illegally, you're doing it at your own risk."

Officials from the American Gaming Association, one of the partners organizing the G2E, said 15 online companies have signed up for the event, but only 10 are planning to attend. Online companies attending the event, which runs through Thursday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, will be located in what organizers call the iGaming Business Pavilion.

Online cancellations are only a fraction of the more than 750 companies participating in G2E.

But Frank Fahrenkoff, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, said the government crackdown on internet gambling, including a bill that would ban banks and financial companies from handling Americans' online gaming transactions, signed by President Bush in October, represented the "puritan spirit" of American politics.

"There are 15 percent of hardliners who are against all forms of gambling for moral reasons," said Parenkov. "There is still a Puritan spirit that runs through the United States."

One web operator said he would not come to the convention because he is more likely to find new businesses in Europe than in the United States.

"We're focused on Europe and we won't go to G2E because we believe many of our potential customers won't," Pontus Lindwall, founder of Stockholm-based internet gaming software company Net Entertainment, said in an email.

A spokesperson for MGM Mirage, one of the few established land gambling companies to have dabbled in internet betting, said government restrictions to prevent Americans from gambling online continued to make it too cumbersome.

The company operated an overseas site from 2001 to 2003. It used a registration process that blocked access from the United States.

But the security also slowed the access of other gamblers from other countries. The hoops have made it easier for potential gamblers to use the competitors' sites.

"What you had to go through became so cumbersome that we couldn't do business," said Gordon Absher, a spokesperson for MGM Mirage. 실시간 바카라사이트

But Asher said he thinks U.S. companies like MGM could benefit if the U.S. regulatory climate changes.

"From a player's point of view, the opportunity to participate in a site that has the MGM Mirage brand will be attractive," he said.