Sportingbet makes final payment

UPDATE 1-Sportingbet makes final payment under settlement with US DoJ

Says made final payment of $6 mln

* Reviewing opportunities to re-enter U.S. market

March 27 (Reuters) - Sportingbet Plc made a final payment of $6 million to the U.S. Justice Department, as per a settlement reached in 2010 over alleged illegal internet gambling, and said that it was reviewing opportunities to re-enter the market.

Under the settlement terms the Justice Department had agreed not to prosecute the online gaming firm and its units for any crimes, apart from tax violations, related to Sportingbet's internet gambling business with U.S. customers from 1998 to 2006 in exchange for a settlement payment of $33 million.

"This final payment formally closes any risk which the company may have faced from its former activities in the U.S.," Chief Executive Andrew McIver said in a statement.

McIver also said that he saw several opportunities to re-enter the U.S. market, and that the company, which has more than two million customers in 30 markets across Europe, Australia, Canada, South America and South Africa, was reviewing these.

In an opinion made public late last year, the Justice Department reversed decades of previous policy that had held that online gambling in all forms was illegal under the Wire Act of 1961, a move that could spur web gambling in the country.

Shares of the company, which operates in three segments -- sports betting, casino gaming and poker -- were up about 1 percent at 39.5 pence at 0816 GMT on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange.