Cappers Buzz

Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:34PM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said on Thursday he will give details in the coming weeks on possible legislation to repeal a ban imposed last year on online gambling.

In an interview, the chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee said he is in no hurry and plans to consult with others on the matter.

“I’m not ready to give you more details, but I will be by next week or so. We’ll talk more about it later. There’s no urgency on it,” he said.

Internet gambling in the United States was effectively banned last October when President George W. Bush signed legislation outlawing gaming financial transactions.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Democrat said on Wednesday Frank was considering legislation to repeal the ban but had not drafted a bill and had no timetable for action.

The ban has hammered the stocks of online gambling companies such as Britain’s PartyGaming Plc.

PartyGaming shares jumped sharply on Frank’s remark on Wednesday but gave back gains on Thursday to close down almost 5 percent at 40-3/4 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

U.S. prosecutors have launched a probe into Internet gambling. The U.S. Department of Justice has demanded information from some of the world’s biggest investment banks as part of the investigation, according to banking sources.

There have definitely been some crazy happenings in the offshore sportsbook world this month, but I found this idea to be one of the wildest:

Press Release:

One of the many online gaming companies seeking shelter from a U.S. crackdown on their business thinks it may have found a novel strategy: buying its own country.

BetCRIS Sportsbook, a Costa Rica-based firm that allows customers to bet on everything from the Super Bowl to the Oscars, is mulling acquiring Sealand, a self-declared independent “principality” whose territory is a 650-square-yard wartime fort sunk in the waters of the North Sea, six miles off the coast of England.

Eric Williamson, head of international operations for BetCRIS, admits the idea “sounds crazy” but said it’s a sensible response to the U.S. government’s efforts to stop overseas gaming companies pitching their services to U.S. customers online.

Last September, the CEO of Bet- onSports, a publicly traded British gaming company, was arrested on his arrival in New York for allegedly flouting Louisiana’s anti-online gaming laws.

Buying Sealand, Williamson says, would mean “we could write our own laws, and it would be pretty hard to extradite us.”

“It’s sound business strategy,” agrees Michael Tew, a principal at Capital HQ, a New York consulting firm.

“Why not give it a try?”

Sealand was conceived in 1967, when a former army major, Roy Bates, seized control of the abandoned World War II anti-aircraft platform that he had been using as a base for his pirate radio station. He declared Sealand an independent “nation” with himself as prince.

Since then, even though Britain has expanded its territorial waters to include Sealand, British tolerance for eccentrics has extended to Bates’ principality.

But now Prince Roy, aged 85, has retired to Spain and wants to sell Sealand, perhaps for hundreds of millions of dollars.

And while Williamson scoffs at the price, he said BetCRIS might be willing to fork over a price “in the tens of millions” for the ability to set up a Sealand HQ.

One sticking point: So far, no government or international body has offered Sealand diplomatic recognition.

Williamson admits this won’t do.

“We would need to go the full route and get diplomatic recognition, so that we can be sure no outside source can intervene in our affairs.”

Interesting article in the “Vancouver Sun” about the BoDog founder, Calvin Ayre:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d46ca742-2446-4be3-9d9e-eaa7c8d7ebc6&p=1