Now that a number of U.S States have legalized online betting it appears that both Visa and Mastercard are beginning to get back into the business of accepting online betting transactions but only within those states. Currently this is only the state of Nevada however it is expected New Jersey residents will also be able to once online betting goes live in the state.

Visa and Mastercard are already being accepted at the new poker site that was launched in Nevada, Mastercard for their part have created special codes for merchants to use in order for those transactions to be approved. This was the most efficient and easiest manner to go with however Visa for their part simply sent out letters to merchants alerting them that not all transactions using existing codes are to be declined. This will certainly cause frustration for players and will need to be adjusted in the future.
The addition of Visa and Mastercard again entering the online gambling world in the U.S is a positive step forward that will allow American players the ability to decide if they wish to use their credit cards for this purpose.

Betsson AB, a Swedish based betting company, released the results of its 1^st quarter.  The report shows a large increase in revenues but a lower level of income for operating purposes.

Betsson AB’s total revenues came in at 638.6 million (SEK). This was an increase of close to 20%. There operating income was 161 million (SEK) which was down by 7.3% overall. The reduced profits it saw from its casino operation had an impact on this which was reported to be 325.4 million (SEK). This was a result of reduced activity after a large jackpot was won from a competing casino using the same software at Betsson AB.

The report also shows that 200 million (SEK) was spent on marketing and the sportsbook side of things saw an increase of 46.9% however those margins were affected by freebets. Total income tax paid was 160.2 million (SEK) and a net income of 151.8 million was generated. This saw a dividend of 3.91 (SEK) paid per share. The total deposits for the year 2012 came in at 2,113.9 million (SEK) which was also an increase of 43.9% overall.

For the most part Betsson AB had a great year and confidence remains high.