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-Canada-
Gambler can’t return to
casinos.
Man lacks control, says board in denying re-application
A
problem gambler who was banned from entering any casino in Nova Scotia has lost
his application to reinstate his access privileges.
The man
is identified only as Mr. X in a Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board
decision released Tuesday.
According
to the 16-page decision, the man made a request for voluntary exclusion
under the province’s casino regulations on March 30, 2004.
On March
16, 2005, the man applied to be allowed back in the casinos.
A
hearing was held before the board on Sept. 8, 2005, and the man was
subsequently granted access on two conditions: that he be
subject to a six-month probationary period, and that the casino operator or
the provincial alcohol and gaming division could step in at any time and
suspend his privileges, if the circumstances warranted.
Gaming
officials did just that on Dec. 6, 2005, after discovering the man had
gambled away more than a fifth of his net worth in just three months.
By
tracking the man’s Player’s Club card, a membership points card held by regular casino patrons, gaming
officials found that the man had wagered $85,499, losing a net amount of
$5,358. Based on the man’s net worth, which he provided in his
initial reinstatement application, that
represented a loss of more than 21 per cent.
Casino
officials, acting independently from the province, also stepped in on Dec.
21, 2005, and banned the man from the establishment.
Upset by
the decision, the man applied again for reinstatement but was denied.
"It
is the board’s opinion that Mr. X does not have the ability to
control his gambling activities," the decision says.
"If
the board had not intervened during his probation, and his gambling losses
had continued at the same rate, Mr. X could have lost his entire net worth
over the next 12 months."
The man
must now wait until Dec. 21, 2012, before he can apply again for
reinstatement.
Halifax Chronicle Herald, 23 January 2008
-China-
Chinese gamble for pride, says UM
professor
Macau – Chinese are known around the world for having a passion for
gambling, and unlike some might think, it’s not for greed, but part
of their culture.
Assistant
professor at the University of Macau, Desmond Lam, sat down with the Macau Daily
Times to explain what it is that attracts thousands of visitors from the
mainland and Hong Kong to Macau, for the
sole purpose of gaming.
What
might seem as somewhat bizarre, Chinese gamble for pride, because
“wealth is something to be proud of” in the Chinese culture,
Mr. Lam said.
When
mainlanders from small villages who move to big cities and become wealthy,
go back to their home towns and are paraded by villagers for their
accomplishment, is something to be proud of.
“Those
are the kinds of values we have. We have to work hard to get something. We
have to earn the wealth and fame in order to honour
our ancestors,” Mr. Lam said were some of the major psychological
reasons that mainlanders come to Macau to
gamble.
“Hong
Kong residents are more interested to come to Macau
to gamble for excitement,
but not
to say that they are not looking to win, everybody wants to win,” Mr.
Lam said, adding that although no actual survey had been carried out on the
market in the mainland,
“the observation is that they gamble for greed, everybody
knows that, the winning part is very very
important to them.”
According
to the assistant professor, when one is rich, one gambles for
entertainment, however this doesn’t apply to all.
“But
when you’re rich you gamble in a different way than when you’re
poor,” Mr. Lam said.
But the
fact that Chinese gamble to become wealthy and honour
ancestors, does not mean that they are heavier gamblers then the rest of
the world, Mr. Lam said, adding that Australians are very heavy gamblers in
terms of average per capita expenditure.
Macau Daily Times, 17 January 2008
-France-
Online games: Partouche launches
a paying backgammon website
The
website dedicated to backgammon by Groupe Partouche did not stay long as a
simple showcase window and gaming information website. It just switched to
a paying model, we learned on Tuesday 22 January, on the sidelines on the
ICE exhibition presently taking place in London. The website belongs to a
subsidiary of Partouche Interactive, located in Gibraltar.
Patrick Partouche, the groups chairman who was
interviewed by Journal des Casinos,
said that he informed the various official actors in France of his decision to
launch this website which, in theory, is illegal as money games are normally
prohibited by law.
But the
French position on this matter is changing and discussions with the
European Commission in Brussels
should resume at the beginning of April. For now, Paris received a formal notification
regarding online sports bets and horse racing. But negotiations could be
extended to other Internet gaming sectors such as casinos, backgammon or
online poker.
Well,
precisely, Groupe Partouche should soon be concentrating on online poker.
In fact, Partouche just purchased the software from Red Planet Gaming, who
were crowned with a
Gaming Awards in their category on Monday night. Partouche
Interactive should be adapting this software to the French market and
quickly launch a paying version based on this technology.
www.journaldescasinos.com, 22
January 2008
-Germany-
Ban on Online
A ban on
online gambling in Germany
has come into effect after all of the country’s 16 states voted at
the end of last month to approve a new law preserving the state monopoly on
lotteries.
Operators
Bwin, Fluxx and Tipp24
have all criticized the developments. However, Tipp24 said in a statement
last month that it did not see its business model being threatened by the
news, as it expected the ruling to be overturned.
eGaming Morning Snapshots, 2 January 2008
-Germany-
EGBA calls on EU to overturn German ban
The
European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has called on the European
Commission to overturn Germany's
ban on internet gaming. Sigrid Ligne, EGBA's secretary general, said the law directly
contravenes EU law on the free movement of services adding the EU should
take "swift action".
A statement from the
organisation said: "We urge the Commission now to fast track our
complaint and launch infringement proceedings against Germany,"
ATE Online, 16 January 2008
-Jamaica-
Kids hooked on gambling
HOW did
harmless childhood games such as jacks, marbles, 'lastic'
and money football cause a "chronic" gambling problem now being
identified among many Jamaican children?
A recent
study on 'gambling among children and adolescents in Jamaica' found that a
growing number of children have been skipping school to spend their days
betting on crown and anchor, Cash Pot, horse racing and playing slot
machines in bars.
Children
as young as 10-years-old have raised the stakes,
spending all they have in the hope of being a winner at gambling.
According
to the study, 10.7 per cent of children surveyed were problem gamblers,
while an additional 9.6 per cent were classified as at risk of problem
gambling. This meant that one in five adolescents is either a problem
gambler or at risk of becoming one.
"Further
work needs to be done to better understand the link between the informal
childhood games and problem gambling," explained Sonita
Morin Abrahams, executive director of RISE (Reaching Individuals through
Skills and Education), the organisation which commissioned the study.
The Jamaica Observer, 2 December 2007
-Norway-
Responsible gambling to counter Norway ban
Expekt, Ladbrokes,
Betsson and Unibet have launched
‘Responsible Gambling’ in Norway, a code of practice to promote
responsible gambling and highlight the Norwegian government’s
proposal to ban its citizens from transferring funds to foreign online
gaming companies. If the proposal became law, Norwegian customers would be
banned from betting on football or cross country skiing through the
internet.
Bent Svele of Unibet said that the
issue was about freedom of choice and the decisions by Norwegians’ to
do what they wanted with their money. Svele
added: “The Norway
government says it is to do with problem gambling but really it wants to
protect its gambling monopoly by preventing foreign operators from
accepting funds from Norwegians.”
Hans
Martin Nakkim of Betsson said such a measure
would have no impact on problem gambling in Norway and would represent a
threat to socially responsible gambling rather than being a precondition to
it.
An
expert panel set up by the Norwegian Board of Technology earlier this year
showed it would be easy to bypass such legislation, while criminal gangs
could step in to fill the vacuum left and take advantage of operators not
being allowed to accept Norwegian bets.
Nakkim said:
“We hope through this campaign to direct attention to these consequences
and we want to initiate a broad dialogue with regard to what regulations
and measures are required and which have potential to work best in
practice.”
eGaming Review, 21 December 2007
-Spain-
Europe to get its own Las Vegas.
Europe gets its own Las
Vegas.
An amusement metropolis is to be built in Spain,
in a desert near Zaragoza, between Madrid
and Barcelona.
The complex is expected to have the capacity for 35 million visitors
annually.
The whole project, called “ Gran Escala”
(large scale), will have 32 hotels with casino facilities, two theme
parks, a race track and a stadium.
In addition there will also be an equestrian centre, a golf course
and residential areas.
Volkskrant, 5 december
2007
-Spain-
2,2 billion euros in the Spanish
Christmas lottery
Last Saturday the Spanish lottery distributed a record amount of 2.2
billion euros.
The grand prize of three million euros was called El Gordo ( the fat one) and the
winning ticket number was 6381.
Because each ticket was sold 185 times, the winnings were divided 185
times. The tickets with the number 6381 were spread all over of the
country.
Tickets for the second prize (one million euros) were mostly sold in
Barcelona.
Children from an orphanage drew the winning numbers during a live
television broadcast. The Spanish Christmas
Lottery is the oldest and largest in the world and the absolute
winner is the Spanish tax authority: 700 millions euro flow into the
treasury.
Algemeen Dagblad,
22 December 2007
- The Netherlands
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Holland Casino wins responsible
operator reward
Holland Casino, a gaming company
that runs all 14 of the Netherlands'
casinos, has been given the award for being the most socially responsible
casino operator at this year's Gaming Awards.
The organisation defeated the UK's
Opera House Casino, France's Groupe Partouche and
gambling giant Harrah's Entertainment to the prize.
"Holland Casino has adopted the tenets of Responsible Gaming Policy
within its strategy, in order to render the organization's place 'at the
centre of society' visible to all," said Dick Flink, the company's
chief executive.
He added that the company was "extremely proud of [the] international
recognition" provided by the award.
Johan van Kastel, Holland Casino's vice president of security and risk
control was on hand to accept the accolade.
The formal name of the Netherlands-based operator is the National
Foundation for the Operation of Casino Games and it opened its first
casinos between 1976 and 1979.
www.intercasino.co.uk, 23 January
2008
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United Kingdom
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- USA -
Bill would ban military slot
machines
Washington – A Bill in Congress seeks to
eliminate military slot machines overseas that take in $130 million a year,
mostly from soldiers.
The
bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tennessee, named the bill after
Army Warrant Officer Aaron Walsh, a decorated Apache helicopter pilot who
became addicted to gambling on military slot machines.
Walsh
eventually was discharged from the Army. He committed suicide after several
failed attempts to break his addiction.
The
Defense Department uses slot machine revenues to pay a small portion of its
morale, welfare and recreation programs.
David
said the money raised off the gambling of soldiers is not worth the risk.
“If
American men and woman are willing to serve our country overseas we should
not be dependent on them to pay for recreational activities they
deserve,” David said in a written statement. “The risks are
simply too high and too many to ask that of our soldiers.”
The
bill’s introduction comes after Walsh’s story was featured in a
CNN investigative report. His widow, Carey Walsh, described how her
husband’s life spun out of control while the military refused to
intervene.
“The
military has this culture of taking care of their own,”
Carrie Walsh told CNN.
”But it seems like when it comes to this, they just profited from
his addiction and then they threw him away.”
Carrie
Walsh said that in 2005 her husband lost more than $20.000 in military slot
machines. He went AWOL, only to be found sitting in front of a video slot
machine on a military post in Seoul.
He was
forced to resign from the Army and spent time homeless on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 2006,
Walsh returned to Maine
and tried to reconnect with his wife and their two small children,
but his gambling addiction continued. On September 26, 2006, Walsh, 34,
went to Maine’s Baxter State Park
and killed himself with a gunshot to the head.
The Army
operates 3,000 slot machines on overseas posts, raising $130 million in
revenue each year. Other branches of the military operate their own gaming
programs.
CNN, 16 December 2007
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