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Learning English - Words in the News 04 October, 2006 - Published 10:31 GMT Online gambling | ||||||||||||
Shares in online gambling companies have lost more than half of their value on the London Stock Exchange today, following a move by the United States Congress aimed at banning Internet betting. This report from Matthew Davies: While there have been moves to clamp down on Internet gambling in the United States for some time, this latest action by Congress was a little unexpected. The legislation was actually tacked onto an unrelated bill regarding security at American ports. All the bill needs to come into effect is the signature of President George Bush - and that's likely to happen within the next two weeks. As a result, shares in some of the big companies involved in this sector have taken a significant battering, losing more than half of their value. The world's largest online casino, 888, has already suspended its operations in the US - and another company, PartyGaming says it'll follow suit once the bill is signed into law. It's a huge blow for these companies - this is a six billion dollar a year market - PartyGaming generates as much as 78 percent of its revenues from the United States. For 888, the figure is around 50 percent. However, while the immediate future of these firms looks bleak, many experts say that the desire on the part of punters to gamble means that, in time, ways around these new laws will probably be found. Matthew Davies, BBC to clamp down on legislation tacked onto to come into effect taken a significant battering follow suit a huge blow revenues bleak punters Do a comprehension quiz about this story |
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