A settlement between the US Department of Justice and London-listed internet gambling operators may finally be in sight. It is two years since gambling over the web was banned in America, yet negotiations with the likes of Sportingbet and PartyGaming had until recently been making painfully slow progress. The DoJ’s starting point seems to have been the repatriation of all money made by these companies in America before their withdrawal, coupled with a short spell behind bars for certain directors and founders.

That would have been an extraordinary outcome, given that the negotiations related to the period before the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act was passed in October 2006, when the worst that could be said about online gambling was that it was a grey area.

The word in the industry now is that some form of payment that does not bankrupt the companies concerned is under discussion.

It would not be the first time that the fearsome DoJ has put the frighteners on an industry only to settle for something much less draconian.

For the operators, this would wipe the slate clean so that individuals connected with the companies could travel to the US without fear of arrest and, if the ban is ever lifted, the companies could return to the biggest gambling market in the world.

For the US Government, a deal would provide a bit of cash at a time when it might need to find a few more billion to bail out some banks.

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