| Real
Casinos> 2007
- Real Casinos News Archive>
No More Online Turks For Party Gaming
Major betting group withdraws it's services
to the Turkish online gambling market
Publicly listed online gambling group Party Gaming, has withdrawn
online gambling services from subsidiaries such as Party Poker.com
and Party Casino.com from the Turkish market in response to legislative
developments in that country.
In a notice to the London stock exchange this week the company
announces the move and claims that it "....has taken all reasonable
steps to ensure that customers in Turkey are denied access to any
of the group's gaming sites."
The group reassured investors that Turkish online gambling does
not represent a significant portion of its revenues and the withdrawal
will have little material impact on results.
Following the introduction of recent legislation which prohibits
certain forms of online gaming from being offered by any unauthorised
domestic or foreign company to citizens in Turkey, the e-wallet
Neteller pulled out of the area and Austrian giant bwin announced
a temporary withdrawal. Bwin said at the time it was pulling out
of the Turkish market as a gesture of goodwill. The company generates
around 6 percent of its gross gaming revenues from Turkey.
Turkey is not yet a full member of the European Union, although
it has aspirations in that direction, and it could fall foul of
the European Commission's determination to ensure safe and non-discriminatory
freedom of trading in goods and services between member countries.
Gambling in the country is largely the preserve of the IDDAA in
which government has a significant stake. Earlier this year Charlie
McCreevie, head commissioner for the European Commission served
notices on several EU European members that seek to ban foreign
gambling from EU member states whilst allowing domestic and state
involved action.
|
