Online Gambling shakeup and the little people.

[Ian_go]

Much has been written on the impact of the recently introduced US anti-igaming legislation. To the companies who counted on US customers for the bulk of their income, the consequences have been nothing short of devastating. These companies have lost millions of dollars in revenue, and in some cases have had their stock valuation reduced to a third of what it was pre-September this year when the US senate voted on the anti-igaming bill. At time of writing SportingBet's AIM share price was at 45.50p.

For investors who had LSE codes SBT (SportingBet), PRTY (PARTYGAMING) or 888 (888 Holdings) the effect was obvious. A huge reduction in the value of the stock meant a contraction of any portfolio contained these stocks. Fortunately the average investor's portfolio contains a very limited percentage of aggressive funds and online gaming stocks fall into that bracket.
But what of the employees of these companies? With any downturn of business, a reduction in operations and marketing is often the where the "human" cost is felt. Recently, Gibralter based gaming outfits Gaming and 888 both announced layoffs. Australian based online gambling operator Lasseters Corporation Ltd announced that it has closed its entire Brisbane customer service operation. These are just the reported firings. Even for those non-PLC US facing companies there was a HR cost. For those buying media, more