19-10-2007 New arrests for internet betting in the United States

While the New York Racing and Wagering Board is discussing the approval of mWager, a new software application that allows users to place bets on horse races from their cell phones, six people in nearby Rockland County have been arrested for organizing an illegal gambling network that placed sports bets through an offshore wireroom.

A year-long investigation by local and state police revealed that the Rockland bookmakers paid a wireroom in a foreign country (probably Costa Rica) a fee of $25 to $50 for each bet placed and then kept the winnings on the player's bet or paid off the player.

In other news, web gambling consultant Joe Saumarez-Smith told Bloomberg that twelve months after the UIGEA, there are just as many people gambling online as before. "If not more," he added. "The biggest difference now is that the companies offering online gambling are privately held and operate out of countries where it is impossible to know who controls them; if you had a huge win, then the risk of not being paid is probably much higher."