Another score is settled by the Department of Justice
Posted by Carl Barnett on 03 Feb 2010 at 15:02
Firm agrees to pay $19.2 million over gambling payment processing
Canadian company Optimal Group is to give up around $19.2 million to the US authorities as part of an agreement over the processing of online gambling payments.
The firm was behind former payment processing entity FirePay, and has signed a non-prosecution deal with the Department of Justice after agreeing to hand over the cash.
GamingIntelligence.com says Optimal Group confirmed it used FirePay to process more than $2 billion in US gambling payments illegal under America's Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
According to a statement, although the actual online gambling sites were based outside of America, most of their customers were based in the US.
As part of the deal, the Department of Justice has agreed not to bring prosecution for crimes related to the gaming payment processing.
Optimal is no longer involved in processing payments and now concentrates on toys and electronics.
The deal is similar to one reached in August between PartyGaming and the American authorities.
The online gambling provider agreed to hand over $105 million in exchange for admitting it provided web gaming to US customers before the 2006 Act was passed.
PartyGaming, which is behind PartyPoker, was also granted immunity from prosecution for its pre-2006 US operations under the deal.
