Online Casino Spotlight

Foreign gaming operators looking to explore the Chinese market are going to have to look elsewhere. Chinese regulators have taken the step of banning foreign investment in their online gaming industry. The announcement was made last week by the country’s General Administration of Press and Publication. The organization is responsible for overseeing the web content in China.

An emerging market

The move by Chinese regulators is a blow to many gaming operators around the world. The nation is ripe for development and growth related to the online casino industry. It is estimated that 300 million Chinese residents use the internet an average of 18 hours per week. The latest measures will slowdown China’s online gaming market, which had been expected to grow 30 to 50% this year to $3.5 billion to 4 billion, according to GAPP’s forecast.

However, the nation has been seeking to monitor online content more aggressively in recent months. In July, China’s Ministry of Culture banned games featuring gangster themes or mafia-type gang activities. About 45 games have been banned over the past few months due to violent content. There is a belief that China has been unhappy with the influence that the foreign interests have had on the country’s online content. “In recent years, some foreign companies tried to get involved in China’s online game operations in various forms, which caused severe disorders in China’s online game industry,” said Kou Xiaowei, vice director of the technological and digital department of GAPP.

Control of content a key

China is trying to do something that seems to be an impossible task. Policing the internet seems to be a difficult mission. The attempt to block foreign companies from getting involved in online gaming could be only a small part of the process.

The GAPP has developed a broad view of how to control the world wide web. The content issues have extended to the actual location of where the games are manufactured. The new policy even blocks foreign companies from joining forces with domestic corporations.

The most recent announcement states that without the appropriate permissions from the government,  neither individuals nor organizations may run an online gaming business.

NetEase caught in the middle

The major Chinese online gaming company NetEase has been in the crossfire of the new legislation. The playing of their popular World of Warcraft game was blocked for nearly two months due to a change of operator. The game is also being censored for scenes of violence.

There is uncertainty about whether or not NetEase received clearance from the GAPP before launching the latest version of the game on September 19th. The issues have led to a sharp decline in stock prices for the company in recent weeks. The Nasdaq-listed company is the third largest online gaming company in China. It has a share of nearly 13% of the online gaming industry in the country.

PayPal, the major online payment solutions provider, is getting back into the online casino industry in a significant way. The company has struck a deal with European payments provider Neovia. Under the new deal, PayPal can be used as a payment method for users of Neovia’s Netbanx payments system. Netbanx became the first online payment service provider in the UK in 1996. Neovia is used by more than 1,500 egaming sites based out of the United Kingdom.

Getting back in the game

PayPal has grown steadily as an online payments provider during this decade. The company claims to have over 75 million active accounts in 190 markets around the world. Their financial services are offered in nearly 20 currencies. PayPal’s parent company is the the eBay company.

The deal with Neovia is a change in strategy for PayPal. The company basically stepped away from the online casino industry back in 2002 under pressure from the United States government. PayPal was deemed to be in violation of the US Wire Wager and Patriot acts for transferring funds to offshore gambling sites. Under a settlement in 2003, eBay paid a $10 million penalty to the US government.

Neovia has also had their issues with the US government. In 2007, under the trading name of Neteller, the company had to forfeit $136 million to the United States for violations that were similar to the PayPal infractions. Neteller admitted to to operating an “unlicensed money transmitting business” while participating in the promotion of “unlawful transactions” between gaming operators and their customers in the United States.

A big deal

Paypal has gradually been getting back into the online casino market since 2006. The new deal is the most significant sign that PayPal is embracing the opportunity to regain a prominent place in the ever growing online casino industry.

“We are delighted to have signed this strategic partnership with Netbanx – one of the leading market payment service providers. Netbanx has a great merchant portfolio and this partnership offers PayPal an excellent way to reach this significant audience. Netbanx provides secure online credit card and debit card payment solutions and with PayPal its customers can keep their financial details secure and choose whether to fund the transaction either from a bank account or from a credit card,” said PayPal general manager of merchant services Cameron McLean. The company enables players to receive and send funds on the web without disclosing financial details, via their credit cards, bank accounts or account balances. Still, Paypal will not accept wagers from players based in the United States.

“We are pleased to be able to add PayPal to the range of payment options available to our merchants via our Netbank Payments Gateway, giving their customers more choice in how they want to purchase goods online. The PayPal option is fully integrated within Netbank, meaning that there is no integration required for merchants who have already migrated to our leading Netbank Unified PayPage checkout technology,” said Neovia’s Dan Starr.

French legislators are in the process of discussing a bill that would end a state monopoly on online gambling. The proposed bill is being evaluated in the French parliament this week. If passed, the legislation would allow privately owned websites to offer wagers on horse racing, soccer and poker.

The country is under a great deal of pressure from several forces to implement the legislation. It is estimated that about 3 million French citizens are illegally wagering at online casinos based abroad. Under the proposed law, private firms would obtain a permit from a newly created regulator. The firms could then set up websites offering wagers on skill games like horse racing, poker and sports contests.

Great potential for French market

According to consulting firm MECN, the French market could be worth nearly 2 billion Euros in gross revenues by the middle of next decade. The report is based on five key factors:

Liberalization-The legislation is expected to be in place by next summer.

The importance of the French market-Among casino operators and industry experts surveyed in the report, 80% indicated that France was relevant and important to their future endeavors.

Onlne poker-Nearly 80% of the casino operators in the survey are looking to secure a French poker license.

Market size-The licensed market in France last year totaled 70 billion Euros with a gross revenue of over 8 billion Euros.

Potential-The market has unlimited growth potential in poker and sports betting.

“The operators will focus on online poker and sports betting because they expect the French market to outstrip even the success story of the Italian online poker and betting market,” according to a statement from MECN.

The wheels are in motion

“We have chosen a middle way which I think is just and efficient, a controlled opening up of the market,” Budget Minister Eric Woerth told parliament. “I want to put an end to these parallel universes. I want to put an end to the jungle of illegal sites,” he said.

Under the current laws in France, two state-owned organizations handle legal online gambling operations in the country. The state makes about 5 billion Euros per year from gambling at race tracks, licensed cafes and the internet. Woerth has indicated that France could generate 1.5 billion Euros annually from taxes tied to the pending legalization.

In addition to pressure from private gaming firms and the European Union, there are several top soccer clubs in Europe pushing for the bill to go through. The soccer organizations feel that their sport would benefit by giving their fans a chance to place wagers on matches at their websites.

The bill is critical for online gaming corporations in the United Kingdom. Their profits have been down in recent years but the French legislation would be a major jump start for their operations over the next few years. Several major gaming companies in the UK saw their revenues decline by over 25% in the first-half in wake of the worst recession since World War II.

Originally founded in 1997, PartyGaming is one of the largest companies in the world of online gaming.  Though it specializes in both sports betting and online casino games, the company is best known for its efforts in the poker realm, particularly the extremely popular PartyPoker.com poker room. Once the biggest poker brand in the world, its market share has diminished over the years, but it remains as the global industry’s fourth largest poker room.  In 2006, PartyGaming launched PartyCasino, a popular casino site that strengthened its reputation and popularity amongst the online gambling community.

PartyGaming is governed in the jurisdiction of Gibraltar and currently employs more than twelve hundred people in its network of poker sites and casino rooms.  Collectively, this staff of highly skilled professionals make sure the games function correctly while performing regular monitoring to ensure the reliability of the systems.  Best of all, they help to uphold the high standards of fairness that gives players a real shot at winning.  In fact, the year of 2005 was a good one for customers as PartyPoker hosted over one billion hands of pokers and paid out more than $45 million to its players.

PartyGaming Safety and Security Features

PartyGaming software offers a ton of remarkable features to enhance the gaming experience, focusing its efforts towards the market of responsible gamblers.  The vendor takes a serious approach towards online gambling and various measures to ensure that minors to do not have access to their software.  PartyGaming tries to close its door to problem gamblers and puts an emphasis on security to ensure that personal and financial information remains safe and private.  This is accomplished by using a stable and secure platform equipped with industry standard 128-bit SSL encryption.  Player data is secured when in transit and when residing on servers to make sure it remains confidential and is not leaked to third-party sources.

PartyGaming takes security one step further with a player identification system and other mechanisms to ensure the safety of the player’s account, thus dramatically reducing the probability of fraud.  Players are only allowed a single account and an efficient system behind the scenes performs regular monitoring of the poker tables and game rooms.  PartyGaming is committed to the safety of its customers and takes action against players caught participating in fraud and other malicious practices.  Aside from ensuring safety and security, the vendor is dedicated to efficient payment processing and providing players with the best competition and some of the most generous bonuses in the industry.

World-Class Support

PartyGaming provides its players with some of the best support in the industry, making it easy to get the help you need 24/7.  The company recently expanded its platform to reach more players across the globe with multilingual gaming solutions that help it service customers in more than 190 countries.  As of 2006, the firm hads approximately 750,000 loyal customers playing for real money, and all were located outside of the United States.

Everyone is now familiar with the popular Sin City slogan of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”  For many, Las Vegas is that great escape from the real world.  Naturally, some visitors would prefer that all of their gambling and recreational activities remain sacred.  In a sense, the same holds true for the realm of online gaming as having privacy is a must.  This article will give you several tips to keep in mind when examining the privacy policy of an online casino site.

Privacy for Email

It is critical to make sure the online casino’s privacy policy covers email communications.  The company should clearly state that it will not distribute spam to your email address or solicit it to third-party sources.  Your email address should only be used for matters pertaining to your casino account or newsletters and promotional offers you agreed to receive.  Under no circumstance should it ever be given to an outside company or auctioned off for sale.  To put it simple, your email address should only be a communications medium between you and the casino operator.

Efficient Sign-in Systems

Online casinos require that you submit a great deal of personal information upon signing up for an account.  This generally includes your name, home address, email address and phone number.  You will have to fork over even more details if you want to fund your account with real money.  While this can be a hassle and scary for some, it is a requirement that must be met in order to place a wager. Even though there is no getting round this aspect, it is still advisable to find a casino that ensures privacy with a system that requires you to enter these details only once, opposed to every time you want to make a wager.

Be Aware of Cookies

There are many sites that rely on cookies to keep track of the players who register at the casino.  This helps them automatically recognize you the next time you pay a visit.  However, the basic functioning of cookies could be a privacy concern.  You could always disable cookies through your browser but there may be a few consequences.  While most sites allow you to access the normal casino features, others will be limited in terms of functionality because their gaming software requires the use of cookies.

These are just a few of many important factors that must be considered when evaluating the privacy policy of an online casino.  Although each operator has different policies, all should be designed to keep your information safe.  Because you will be required to comply with an agreement before signing up, this would be the perfect opportunity to speak with someone at the company to make sure the privacy policy lives up to your standards.  If the person cannot answer your questions to satisfactory or you find something in the policy that sound right, simply move onto to another casino site.  Rest assured, there are plenty of suitors that can provide you with the level of privacy and security you need to feel comfortable.