eGaming Review

NEWS: A date of February 14 has been set for the preliminary hearing of Steven Lawrence and John Lefebvre, the former Neteller directors arrested on January 16. During a court appearance before a magistrate at 500 Pearl Street in New York yesterday, it was decided that Lefebvre’s bail would be extended, Lawrence’s bail was similarly extended after a court appearance last week. According to Reuters, Lefebvre’s lawyer, Vincent Marella, said that the government would have to file formal charges ahead of the mid-February hearing.

PAPERS: The FT this morning quotes Lefebvre’s lawyer Vincent Marella as saying: “He is going to be contesting everything we know about the charges right now.” It also says that Lefebvre refused to comment on the charges, only saying: “end global warming.” The FT also details more about the bail conditions, saying that Lefebvre should only be permitted to travel within the southern and eastern districts of New York, and the central district of Los Angeles.

The US media has extensive coverage of the Neteller case, with the Malibu Times carrying a biography of Lefebvre as a “Malibu homeowner”, and quotes the University of Calgary campus newspaper: “Lefebvre's alma mater,” which describes him as a "man embodying the spirit of a generation." Lefebvre donated US$1.2mto its fine arts faculty in 2005. It continues by saying that Lefebvre was "a lawyer by trade and a frustrated musician by passion".

The Telegraph reports that a row has broken out ahead of what the paper describes as the deadline for a “last-ditch joint bid for the state-owned bookmaker”, Tote. The report says that the government has given an “alliance of racecourse operators, racehorse owners and Tote directors until tomorrow to make a final offer for the business that matches its £400m valuation”. However, it says that the consortium opposes the demands of Tote chief executive Trevor Beaumont that management and staff should be given 20% of the new company’s equity.

CITY: Fun Technologies’ share price is up 2p to 127.5p, 32Red has risen 1p to 38.5p and Cryptologic’s price has increased 2.5p to 1267.5p.

Posted: 25/01/2007