• International Herald Tribune, Monday, October 9, 2006 12:30 PM

Recent French and German moves to curb online betting, followed by a U.S. outright ban, have had a dramatic effect on Internet gambling companies' efforts to develop their brands through sponsorship, advertising and other marketing initiatives. "The first consequence is that marketing budgets will be lowered," says Konrad Sveceny, a spokesman for gambling company Bwin. "That, of course, has effects on agency partners and other businesses."

Companies like his have collectively spent hundreds of millions of dollars to market themselves in recent years, helping to turn Internet gambling into a $12 billion annual business. They have sponsored soccer teams in Europe, poker tournaments in the U.S., and betting pools in Asia. Their ads have proliferated on London billboards and taxis, and are common on cable television here. But the U.S. measure banning credit-card transactions and online payments with betting sites could cause much of the spending in America to dry up, analysts say. "I think it's probably going to shut down Internet gambling advertising in the U.S. totally," says Joseph Lewczak, a partner at the law firm of Davis & Gilbert in New York.

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