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The second to last article. I can barely believe it. Thanksgiving is coming up, and as I mentioned I will be going to friends and we will all be eating gross amounts of food. Now this is the first time my friend has hosted Thanksgiving, usually it’s at my brothers house and they have at least 60 people over. This year will be low key because my friend doesn’t want to have so many people. She’s taken it over for the year since my brother and his family is visiting the US right now. I was given the request to make sweet potatoes, but now the request has been changed to a meat dish. I thought turkey was supposed to be the only meat on Thanksgiving, but she’s worried that there will be too many desserts and not enough real food. I was thinking Cottage Pie, which isn’t American at all (it’s British) but it’s yummy and filling and very homey. Cottage Pie is like Shepherds Pie only with ground beef instead of lamb. In other words, grounds beef with onions, garlic, herbs, carrot and zucchini (supposed to be peas, but I prefer zucchini) lining the bottom of a baking dish, then mash potatoes on top and cheese on top of that. The recipe calls for parmesan but I like kashkaval. Although I think I’ll check out Cook’s Illustrated and Martha Stewarts menus for Thanksgiving before I make my final decision. The internet gambling industry doesn’t have much to say thank you for this year. I lost my job, the US has become a no-go zone and now we have another casualty joining the ranks. Rumor has it that FireOne, the company which owns FirePay, may be closing down their Canadian operations. FirePay is one of the internet gambling industries favorite third part processors. When the anti-internet gambling act was signed by President George W. Bush on October 13th, FirePay joined the ranks of all the good online gambling establishments which voluntarily blocked US clients from their customer base. As such, they no longer have any US clients. "Close to 90% of the company’s income was derived from US customers. After FireOne said they would no longer take US business the impact was felt right away," a long time FireOne employee said. Their 3rd Quarter results were posted on November 7th and included the following statement: “The Company has embarked upon a restructuring of its operations and cost base. Restructuring costs are currently estimated to be $1.5 million and will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2006.” In other words, people will be losing their jobs. A recent Sharecast report indicated that FireOne had slumped to an all time low in Q3 after recording a non-cash impairment charge of $78.4 million bought about by the new US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. "The company was in talks with one group about sale of their U.S. business, but that went no where" The source went on to say: "I have been with the company since early 2001. I saw our call centre go from 70 people to 7 in the months after September 11. We came back from 9/11 where many companies couldn't. There were a few bumps in the road sure, but then we went to the AIM in June 2005 with Mitch." "To the company’s credit they tried to hire back as many of the staff they let go in 2001. FireOne has talent, but I just can't see FireOne getting through this crisis. " One recent departure from FireOne was Sean Briscoe, who joined Dynasty Gaming as their Chief Information Officer. The Outlook statement in their third quarter results says it all. “As a result of the enactment of the Act, our revenues will be significantly less than our historical revenues. The Company has embarked upon a restructuring of its operations and cost base. Restructuring costs are currently estimated to be $1.5 million and will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2006.” “In spite of recent events, the Company will continue to offer its multi-currency credit and debit card and FirePay electronic wallet processing to the online gambling industry originating from non-U.S. consumers and not prohibited by the Act. The Company is currently evaluating its opportunities and will continue to update shareholders as and when appropriate.” I can’t imagine how they will get out of this hole. Neteller hasn’t even cut off US customers for goodness sake. They are waiting until after Congress has ironed out the details of the bill. Technically they aren’t doing anything wrong by allowing US customers to deposit money into their system and it isn’t their fault that US clients are using them as a way around the new law. While I applaud their ethics in following the ban of US players, I also mourn their fiscal suicide. Posted on: November 22, 2006
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