Wednesday, October 04, 2006

The shares of several Canadian-based online gaming companies plunged in mid
afternoon trading today after U.S. Congress approved new legislation aimed
at restricting most forms of online gaming. As of 2:15 p.m., the shares of
leading software company Cryptologic Inc. fell $4.58, or more than 19 per
cent, to $20.05 in midafternoon trading, a week after the Toronto company
said it will move its head office from Toronto to Dublin. The U.S.
legislation, part of a port securities bill passed by the House and Senate
on Saturday, prohibits the use of credit cards, cheques and electronic fund
transfers for online gaming. Other Canadian companies affected by the new
leglislation are Vancouver-based Chartwell Technology Inc., whose shares
fell 40 cents or 18 per cent to $1.75; software firm Las Vegas From
Home.com, whose shares slipped one-third to 10 cents; and Internet Bingo
firm Parlay Entertainment Inc., whose sharese lost 11 cents or 9.5 per cent
to $1.05 in over-the-counter trading. The new legislation comes even after
years of lobbying by both conservative U.S. politicians and by casino owners
in the powerful gaming industry. Casino owners have been worried about the
steady growth of the online gambling industry, which may cut into their
business. In all, the global online gambling market is expected to generate
$23 billion (U.S.) in revenue by 2009, compared with about $8.4 billion in
2004, according to a recent analyst report.