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Gamblers patronizing the Emu Casino online (EmuCasino.com) may soon be out of luck as Australian authorities threaten to shut down the site.
Since 2012, the site, which is named after the world’s second largest flightless bird, is alleged to have operated illegally from Australia where online casino-style gaming is illegal, though the parent company, EMU Inc, is based out of Panama City, Panama and licensed by the island nation of Curacao.
The registered owner of the Australian domain website is a Gold Coast hairdresser Jeff Muller, who denies any association with the venture.
“That is all news to me,” Mr. Muller told The Daily News. “I have nothing to do with this website.”
Australian domain name regulator, auDA, can shut a website down if found to be registered fraudulently as Mr. Muller is claiming.
The Panama connection is especially of interest, as The Daily News points out:
According to the Panamanian companies registry, the shares of EmuCasino are held in the names of two trust companies, which effectively obscure the identities of the Australian owners.
According to filings made to Panamanian regulators, the holding company was incorporated by a law firm known as Quijano & Associates – one of Panama’s leading providers of shelf company registrations.
Quijano & Associates competes against Mossack Fonseca – the law firm now at the centre of an international tax evasion scandal after sensitive documents about its clients were leaked earlier this month to world media.
A former Sydney web developer Adrian Loughnan, is referred to as EmuCasino’s “Head of Affiliates” on its website, and as such the only known identity connected to the venture. But if what Muller claims is true, Loughnan’s name appearing on their website is not necessarily proof he has ties to them. The Daily News, in filing its report, was unsure if he currently worked there.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
