Builders of New Online Gambling Site with Motown Theme Said to Exclude Players from United States

t has been reported by Detroit newspapers that the new online site with the Motown theme has had to exclude local players because of federal and state laws barring online play. The Hitsville online casino and poker room sites part owner Herb Strather, has had to keep United States and Michigan State players off of his new site.

Strather is one of the partners that own MotorCity Casino L.L.C, owner of Hitsville, the site introducing the Motown theme. According to Strather no United States citizens will be allowed to bet on that site. While being turned away from setting up cash accounts, United States players will be encouraged to play at the Hitsvillecasino.com and Hitsville poker.com sites with play money.

One of the Detroit newspapers reported that in 70 other countries, as well as Great Britain in the approaching months, it is legal to bet online. It has been determined by analysts of the Gambling industry that worldwide revenues for online gambling are now approaching over $10 billion a year. The Hitsvillepoker.com site was last week averaging 5 to 6,000 players.

Gaming and regulatory law attorney Ellen Whittemore, who was hired by the Hitsville sites to assure their compliance with U.S. law, says that the site employs a sophisticated Internet protocol address tracking system to make sure that their site is operating legally.

They use the vendor WagerWorks to supply this service. According to Whittemore, they have the most cutting edge technology to handle this.

It is Strather’s hope that this new site while bring a revival of interest in Detroit’s music legacy at both a national and international level. To accomplish this he brought in former Motown musical stars as well as non-Motown stars to include their photos, names, and music to the new sites.

He didn't  succeed however, in getting permission to include the brand name of Motown on the new sites in this online venture since the label is owned by Universal Music Group, and it and EMI, which owns the song copyrights, would not allow the sites to use their music.

Knowing that Motown headquarters on West Grand Boulevard was the home of Motown during its glory days, and knowing that it was referred to as “Hitsville”, Strathers got use of the name since it was available. In 1972, Motown moved to Los Angeles after which its ownership was changed a number of times.

Strather says that the main idea is to take advantage of the Motown aura, the sound and the strong music legacy that is Detroit’s.

Hitsville Venture L.L.C., the company that owns Hitsvillecasino.com and Hitsville poker.com, celebrated to inauguration of the new sites with a party in Detroit for 700 guests last September. The party was held at the mansion once owned by Motown entrepreneur Berry Gordy.

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