From www.Setgo.com

Patrick Ralls from Adultstudios.net writes:

I can't believe you havn't picked this story up. It's very major. Uncle Sam sends out subpoenas To Gambling Portals and radio advertisers. They want all records on ad sales dating back to 1997. The part you show focus on is they are trying to even get webmasters who are affiliates od casinos. They are going to try to say that if the webmaster gets a percentage(partenership) of the players losses, then they are acutally part owner of that casino company. I don't know if I explaned that right. But this means, If one is an affiliate....technically one is part owner of a casino. One would be receiving revenues from the casino operations based on profit and loss.

That means adult sites will be next. webmasters who use partnership programs will technically part owner of a porn company. Better check what State your servers or host are in because some states will start to prosecute for selling porn in there state.

This might be bigger than you think. I worked in the online gaming industry for 4 years in the Caribbean. adult and gambling have the same issues happen to them, but at different times.

Uncle Sam sends out subpoenas
Reed Holmes


Media outlets across America are being subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice to hand over all information related to online gaming advertisers dating back to 1997.

"They're going after everybody. It's pretty broad," said law professor and Internet gambling expert Nelson Rose. "It looks like they're going after every publication that took Internet gambling ads, even if they're no longer taking them, like Gambling Times."

It appears the subpoena is targeting websites, newspaper and magazine publishers as well as radio and TV broadcasters. The subpoenas are apparently a part of a grand jury investigation that's being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Missouri.

Because grand jury investigations are ultra-secretive, little information is known about the nature of the investigation. However, Rose said the U.S. Attorney is not necessarily going after the companies who are being subpoenaed.

"It doesn't mean that these people are targets, but they could be," said Rose, who has obtained a copy of the subpoena. "I don't know if they're doing this mainly to scare people or they're going to try to make some cases."

If the goal is to scare people, the subpoenas have already had an effect. Some radio broadcasters have reportedly dropped offshore sportsbook ads, as have a number of sports gambling-related websites.

"I know that a couple - Don Best and Jim Fiest - who have taken sportsbook ads completely off (their sites)," said Pete Fiutak, editor of Collegefootballnews.com (CFN). "I don't think we're going to do that quite yet."

CFN was one of the websites who was served a subpoena regarding its sportsbook advertisers. The subpoena is seeking information only; CFN was not ordered to take its sporstbook ads down.

"We're just going to comply in every way and do whatever they want and go from there," said Fiutak.

Besides scaring people, the U.S. Attorney could also be attempting to build a case that businesses and individuals who accept and run online casino and sportsbook ads are aiding and abetting illegal gambling activities.

The subpoenas have sent shock waves through the online sports gambling industry, particularly among companies based in the United States.

"It's pretty serious," said Rose. "There is an Internet gambling conference that was scheduled for the very beginning of November in Orlando and they just cancelled it because it was basically going to be a lot of lawyers and executives, and the lawyers are having to deal with this rather than go to a conference.

"When you get subpoenas from the U.S. Attorneys and they tell you it's for the grand jury, you've got to take it seriously."

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US Court Subpoenas Gambling Portals

At least one portal site has been subpoenaed to appear in a U.S. federal court in relation to advertising online gambling services. The subpoena, handed down Sept. 10, 2003, could be part of a wide-scale investigation.

Interactive Gaming News has obtained a copy of a subpoena to testify Oct. 29 before a grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri. The operator of the portal site provided a copy of the subpoena on the condition of anonymity.

The court has asked the operator to turn over all commercial and financial information from Jan. 1, 1997 to the present related to the advertisement of online casinos and sports books.

Rumors that the court had served a number of portal operators and other media outlets (some of them major) swirled for several days before the aforementioned subpoena was obtained.

Among information requested in the subpoena was all the "names and all identifying and contact information you have for every point of contact for each such gambling advertiser."



The subpoena also calls for the turning over of any information about advertisements placed on TV, radio or cablecasts. The court, through the subpoena, asks for any accounting records including accounts receivable or accounts payable. They also ask the portal to turn over records of sales calls, telephone records, contracts, invoices, records of negotiations pertaining to payment, e-mail correspondence (both incoming and outgoing), financial transactions, annual gross revenue for the site, information on how advertising revenue was received and the names of financial institutions and account numbers pertaining to the business.

Finally, the subpoena calls for the operator to turn over any notes or correspondence relating to the legality of accepting advertising from online casinos and sports books. The subpoena cites letters from DOJ officials to a handful of trade organizations advising them not to accept advertising from such business since it could be in violation of federal law.

One such letter, to the National Association of Broadcasters from Deputy Attorney General John G. Malcolm, was attached to the subpoena. (Click here to view a copy of the NAB letter.)

This it not the first time the Eastern District of Missouri has been involved in an investigation into activity related to online gambling. In a case settled July 25, 2003, U.S. Attorney Raymond W. Gruender went after PayPal Inc. for illegally processing online gambling transactions for customers in the district between June 2000 and November 2002. PayPal, which ceased processing for online gambling services in November 2002, agreed to pay a $10 million fine.

They have been going after the online gaming industry for years. The only reason gambling took off was because of Pay Pal. You used to be able to charge deposits on your CC. So a lot of people would max their cards out, gamble, lose, then call their CC for a chargeback. Banks and Credit Cards companies got slammed with chagebacks in '99. so the major banks stop gambling deposits in 2000

Pay Pal was the only thing that save online casinos. Now they they depend on Western Union and Neteller.

I would imagine the physical gaming community may be against that (although I was too lazy to read the entire post). If they go after affiliates, whats to stop them from going after a tourism magazine that sells ads to a casino, or all the sports radio stations (clear channel watch out!).

Thats some interesting shit.