Neteller Doing More Than Online Gambling These Days

Despite a crippling year in 2007, the online gambling eWallet, Neteller, is looking optimistic for 2008. In a recent interview with internet gaming journal, "eGaming Review", Neteller's current Chief Executive, Ron Martin, made a terrific "casino gambling analogy" when he referred to the events of 2007 as a means by which the company could "clear the decks" and move forward in 2008 without any surprises waiting in the wings.

And in 2007, when the U.S. Department of Justice (or should I say State's of New York and Louisiana) were taking down CEO's of online gambling outfits left and right, a "surprise" certainly was waiting in the corner and hanging over the ansy head of the gaming industry's top payment eWallet. Considering how large the U.S. facing online gambling industry was (and still is), Neteller's fortune largely depended on the U.S. market.

These days, however, Neteller has been focusing on the European and Asian markets. Fortunately, the company did not stack all of their cards in the U.S. market, and so despite taking a huge hit in North America (Canada included), the wounded online gambling veteran allocated the remainder of its resources.

Martin contends there are still many challenges for the company in 2008. However, as Neteller realigns its business operations, which include a plan to add more non-gaming clients to its portfolio, thus diversifying its revenue and making the eWallet more scalable for its online betting customers. In other words, not to abandon it's ongoing gaming services, Neteller's goal is to become a non-gaming merchant facing eWallet in the coming year.

Even after the large settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which the company made its final payment of $38.25 million in order to clear on January 16 of this year, Neteller still managed to produce pre-tax profits of US$9.4 million (little over half a million beyond expectations of financial analysts). With stock trading already showing growth over the first three months this year, the sky's the limit in 2008 for Neteller.