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It seems that the Sweden’s tax authority wants to clamp down on online gambling affiliate. Accoriding with a report from Gaming Intelligence Group the Skatteverket – Sweden’s Tax Office has issued “a request for information to the country’s internet infrastructure providers as part of their ongoing investigation of online commerce. Of notable interest to the tax authority is the income generated by online gaming affiliates active in the Swedish market. The Foundation for Internet Infrastructure, issuer of the country’s .se top level domain, along with web hosting companies and internet service providers are obliged to share their confidential customer information with the tax authority under the request, or face the possibility of substantial fines for failing to do so.”
Of course, many affiliates have gone offshore, – but th eTax guys want to use Xenon program, a web spider used to find evidence of tax evasion by the authorities in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The tax rate could rate as high as 57%Â anbd more penalties could be addded. The tax authorities say there are more than 5 billion swedish krowns not taxed Internet operations winnings…
Wouldn’t be easier if they had a clear-cut framework with lower tax rates ?
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Those 3 domains are still up for sale according , after the Casino Affiliate Convention in Amsterdam that took place at the end of the last week.
CasinoWire confirmed that interested buyers of these websites should email their offers to sales at moniker.com, where bids will be considered by the sellers.
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 This was the highest price paid for a gambling domain name at the Casino Affiliate Convention in Amsterdam that took place at the end of the last week.
Other important sales were made on these domain names :
betsmarts.com and sportsbookpros.com 18,500 USD
Spades.net 5,000 USD
VegasCasino.net 4,800 USD
BettingOdds.com 3,630 USD
FreeBlackjack.net 2,400 USD
Sportsbook.vc 1,800 USD
AboutPoker.com 1,200 USD
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The PayZ EU is a new electronic money solution, based in Gibraltar, part of the company Datisi Limited Company.
The processor offers a payment solution for buyers and sellers alike. Consumers may use the service to send cash to others or pay for goods and services offered over the internet including sensitive industries such as online gambling and online pharmacies. Sellers may also use this medium to accept payments for a variety of goods or services offered on their websites as well as for distribution of affiliate commissions & payments.
PayZ EU is designed for the worldwide market but will initially be marketed exclusively towards The Canadian, UK, French, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian markets.
According to Datisi Limited : “We decided to focus on the Canadian and European markets in order to offer PayZ EU customers superior customer service in markets where we have a fixed presence.”
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Austrian online gaming operator bwin Interactive Entertainment AG reported the gross gaming revenue, which is total betting volume minus customer winnings. This came in at euro 381.8 million in 2006, up from euro 144 million in 2005.
It also reported a net loss for 2006 because of depreciation charges related to its Swedish acquisition Ongame.The net loss came to euro539.6 million , against a net profit of euro6.38 million in 2005.
Bwin said it booked an impairment charge of euro516.6 million for its Ongame unit, which has had a 70 percent revenue slide since Internet gambling was effectively banned in the U.S. last year. Bwin bought Ongame in 2005.
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The electronic money solution Ukash has recently explanded their operations in Europe. Ukash is an e-wallet that works already with gambling sites, such as Ladbrokes, 888.com, PartyBets and bwin and was available until now in UK, Germany and Spain.
According with their official press release, Ukash is now available in 16 additional European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.
Basically, Ukash is a pre-paid card, a voucher that can be purchased by cash at retailers or through the buyer’s bank, and the 19 digit voucher number can be despatched to the buyer via email or SMS for immediate online use at any company that accepts this.
The information has already been picked up by some blogs that have explained the system.
Ukash is very safe, since the 19 digit code is unique and it was created by Smart Voucher Ltd., a company authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution.
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If you wanted to bet on one of the companies listed in the FTSE, probably the best option would have been PartyGaming. Not because this is the parent company of PartyBets and Gamebookers, but because PartyGaming has performed great this year, after they withdrawn from the US market due to legislation issues. The PartyGaming shares has raised with 66c this year thus leading to company to the top of FTSE 250.
PartyGaming, that also has promoted brands such as PartyPoker, PartyBingo or PartyGammon, seemed struck hard last year after losing 76 pc in just a couple of months.
According to the statement given to Telegraph by Darren Sinden of Lite Trading a number of factors have put PartyGaming back on a winning streak. “Since the start of the year, talk of consolidation in the sector and hopes of a possible reversal of the worst of last autumn’s US gaming regulations, combined with figures from the company showing that it is seeing recovery in its core markets, have led to a pick-up. “
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The UK e-money provider Moneybookers ( aff) will be bought by Investcorp Technology Partners, a leading private equity investor in small and medium-sized technology businesses in North America and Europe.
According to the official press release , the ammount paid for Moneybookers first UK electronic money provider was 105 millions EUR. Moneybookers is regulated by Financial Services Authorities and has almost 3 millions subscribers.
Moneybookers is present in a lot of european countries where Paypal does not provide its services and enables online merchants and e-commerce consumers to securely and instantaneously send and receive payments online through a Moneybookers‘ e-wallet facility.
Moneybookers is also very popular in the betting sector, facilitating payment to major online bookmakers such as Gamebookers (aff).
Dr. Nikolai Riesenkampff, Moneybookers’ Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Investcorp and are looking forward to this new partnership. The Investcorp team is committed to supporting us to develop and aggressively grow Moneybookers’ business and market share in Europe and has been quick to recognise and understand the huge opportunities in the online payment space.”
Hazem Ben-Gacem, Managing Director at Investcorp, said: “We are excited by the opportunity to partner with Moneybookers.com and team up with Nikolai and the rest of the management team to support Moneybookers as it continues to grow its market share. Our objective is to do what is necessary to create Europe’s largest e-wallet facility within the next two to three years.