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AUSTRALIA
Churches in Australia have launched a task force pressing for reform to gambling laws. Representatives of the Uniting, Catholic, Baptist and Anglican churches as well as The Salvation Army say that 90,000 Australian players of poker machines are problem gamblers, losing an average of AUD21,000 (€15,200) each year. Further, they say, knock-on social costs of problem gambling reach AUD4.7bn (€3.4bn) annually.
CYPRUS
The Cypriot government is standing by its plans to ban online gaming despite warnings from politicians opposed to it, who say that it would give an effective monopoly on gambling to the Greek state-owned operator OPAP. The government says that prohibition of online gaming would wipe out the involvement of criminal enterprises. OPAP’s brands include Joker, Proto, Kino and Lotto.
EUROPE
The European Union has published its green paper on online gambling, which will serve as a basis for discussion of future regulation. Fewer than 15 percent of Europe’s approximately 15,000 online gaming Websites are properly licensed, and a “significant unauthorised cross-border market” exists, the EU said – including sites not licensed at all in the EU, and others which are licensed in one member state but also operate without authorisation in others.
But critics have charged that the green paper does not go far enough in developing a pan-European approach to gaming regulation. Sigrid Ligné, secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association, said: “We welcome the Commission coming forward with a green paper and a factual discussion on all aspects of online gambling. We are deeply concerned, though, that the focus of the paper seems to be on a national rather than an EU approach despite the clear cross-border nature of this sector.”
GREECE
The Greek government has released a draft of its proposed law legalising video lottery terminals (VLTs). It is the second time that Athens has tried to introduce such legislation.
Under the proposals, stakes will range from €0.10 to €5, with an 80 percent payout rate. Up to ten decade-long licences will be granted, for a total of 25,000 devices – roughly half the number recently licensed in Italy, but significantly more per head of population. It is not yet clear what tax regime will apply.
Greece is also seeking to legalise online sports betting.
INDIA
A new gaming commission is being established to oversee casinos in Goa. a move that was first proposed in 2009. The state has around 20 gaming venues.
JAMAICA
The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission is cracking down on the sale of illegal tickets for the CashPot lottery. Several arrests have been made.
MALAYSIA
Authorities in the state of Selangor have affirmed that they have no plans to outlaw lotteries or regulate gambling more tightly than at present.
MALTA
New regulations from the Lotteries and Gaming Authority include reclassification of some fruit-machine-type games as gaming devices, defined as those which give cash prizes, rather than amusement machines.
“Amusement machines with real games or card games shall be considered illegal unless unequivocally proven otherwise to the satisfaction of the authority,” the law also says.
Amusement machine charges are capped at €1 or €2, depending on the type of machine. Gaming machines with cash payouts can charge up to €5, with an 85 percent payout and jackpots capped at €2000.
Different licence categories will apply to game manufacturers, distributors, premises owners and system operators.
Premises licensed for gaming devices must be at least 75m distant from schools, playgrounds, sports facilities, places of worship and certain other institutions.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch government has confirmed that it will issue licences for online gaming.
RUSSIA
Police have closed down around 400 illegal casinos in Moscow this year. In one instance, the casino contained several poker tables, a roulette wheel, and dozens of slots.
SPAIN
José Antonio Martínez Sampedro, chairman and CEO of the Spanish gaming group Codere, has called on the government to take action against unauthorised online operators.
UK
The minister for social development in Northern Ireland, Alex Attwood, has called for an overhaul of gaming laws in the country. “The current regulatory system is fragmented. Close supervision of the industry is needed to keep crime out of gambling, protect the vulnerable and promote fairness. I welcome views on creating a single licensing body with new powers to impose penalties on gambling operators for breaches of licensing conditions,” he was quoted as saying.
Among his proposals is a change in the law to allow betting shops and bingo halls to open on Sundays. He also suggests attracting online operators to Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Philip Graf has been appointed chairman of the UK’s Gambling Commission. He will also be chairman of the new body created by the planned merger of the Gambling Commission and National Lottery Commission. He was formerly chief executive of Trinity Mirror Group, a major newspaper publisher in Britain, and later deputy chairman of Ofcom, the TV, radio and telecoms regulator.
U.S.
The Nevada Resort Association is arguing for a change in local law so that some businesses currently classed as taverns would be reclassified as gaming businesses. In reality, it says, they are slot arcades, but because they are legally treated as taverns they pay no gaming tax, only a per-machine fee.
The Resort Association suggests that regulations should require a tavern to have a 50-cover restaurant and sell liquor by the glass, among other criteria.
Meanwhile, just as the state looked poised to legalise Internet gambling – and perhaps open the floodgates to that happening across the U.S. – New Jersey’s governor Chris Christie has vetoed the legislation.
Instead, he proposes to hold a referendum on the question in November, echoing the public ballot which led to voters approving the introduction of land-based gambling in Atlantic City in 1976. Christie’s concern, reportedly, was that the legislation as drafted could allow businesses such as bars and nightclubs outside Atlantic City to offer online gambling. He’d prefer to see it limited to operators in the ailing east coast gaming resort.
Meanwhile, online poker – if not the full panoply of e-gaming – continues to slowly gain respectability across the U.S. In Iowa, a Senate committee has approved a bill authorising the game; it will now go before the full Senate. California and Florida are considered likely to follow.
And in Nevada, the state’s Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has okayed a partnership between Caesars Entertainment and parts of the 888 e-gaming operation. Commentators see that as significant because, although online gaming (apart from sportsbooks) is technically legal already in Nevada, the state has not yet issued detailed regulations for operators – meaning it can’t, in practice, be offered. The NGCB decision, though, could be a step in the direction of doing just that.
