NETeller Pulls out of United States Market

UNITED KINGDOM – As reported by Bloomberg: NETeller Plc, a payment processor for gambling Web sites, stopped handling online transactions linked to gambling in the U.S. after legislation passed
  in the country last year criminalized transfers of funds.

U.S. customers can still use their accounts for non-gambling transactions, Isle of Man-based NETeller said today in a statement. The withdrawal followed 'months of careful planning,'' the company said.

NETeller stock was suspended Jan. 16, a day after two former directors were detained on U.S. charges that they transferred billions of dollars from American citizens to overseas companies. The company said it's examining what steps it may take following the arrests in the U.S. of Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre.

``These decisions will allow the group to focus on opportunities available in the growing markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas outside of the United States,'' the company said in the statement.

NETeller also said today it had slower growth in customer receipts and sign-ups during the fourth quarter of 2006 as it prepared to withdraw services from U.S. customers. Annual revenue is expected to be as much as $260 million. That compares with $172.1 million a year earlier.

The company signed up an average of 3,493 new customers a day in the fourth quarter, compared with 3,197 a day in the previous three months. North America accounted for 74 percent of new customers in the fourth quarter. NETeller had 640,701 active customers in the period and 24 percent were located outside the U.S. That compared with 23 percent in the previous three months.

Many web gambling operators including PartyGaming, Casino-on-Net and Playtech casinos stopped taking bets from the U.S. after the country's Senate unexpectedly passed a law at the end of September that criminalized processing of credit-card payments for the industry.