Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The Local regulator of Jamaica's gaming sector says legislation passed by the United States congress last weekend to end Internet gaming there would not affect the island's $40 billion gaming and betting industry.

Jamaica's largest gaming operation also said there would be no impact, though it has a deal to operate an online gaming operation in Central America, starting next year.

The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) said there was no online gaming operation here.

But there was at least one entity, now shuttered, that took bets in the past from Montego Bay.

No permission

"The commission has not granted any permission for online gambling in Freeport Montego Bay, or anywhere else in the Jamaica," a BGLC inspector told the Financial Gleaner.

Last Saturday, U.S. legislators approved a ban on Internet gaming, making it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.

Leading gambling companies operating in the United States - most of which are European based, such as PartyPoker.com, Sportingbet and 888 Plc, immediately said they would contemplate pulling out of the U.S. The congressional move could shave US$6.5 billion off company values, according to media reports.

Supreme Ventures Limited, which for the nine months to July 31, 2006, made a net profit of $129 million from $12 billion of revenues, said its business would be unaffected.

"We are not involved in offshore or online gaming so it will not have any impact on us," said Sonia Davidson, vice-president for the group's corporate communications.

"No one can bet on our product with credit cards."

Real-time transaction

Supreme's franchise deal with Supreme Gaming, a Guatemalan company, goes into effect in February 2007. The agreement was made in July 2006.

But Davidson emphasised that online gaming in the Caribbean operated differently, saying patrons will see their transaction online in real time, paying as they play.

Gamblers have to make their payments from terminals similar to current the set-up at Supreme Ventures.

The U.S. legislation, said David-son, seeks to curtail the purchase of "debt using credit cards."

In a boom of 2005, many online gaming companies with the bulk of its patrons from the U.S. set up operations in locations such as Costa Rica and Antigua in the Caribbean for fear of prosecution in the U.S., where the legal status of online gaming and betting was uncertain.