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- Europe
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Call for more EU
‘urgency’ following Nylander arrest
The
European Commission should act with “more urgency” over the
violation proceedings brought by the EU’s Competition Commission
against the French, following the detention of Petter Nylander under an
arrest warrant issued by the French authorities, says a Swedish MEP.
Christofer
Fjellner, a representative from the Swedish Conservatives at the European
Parliament, said he hoped to meet with competition commissioner Charlie
McCreevy later this week.
He said
of the French moves: “The French were given two months to respond (to
the Commission’s findings against them). Now it seems the French are
going to use the two months to violate fundamental human rights. It makes
the matter even more urgent.”
Nylander
was detained last night by Dutch customs officials when boarding a plane to
London.
Unibet
have said this morning that they hope Nylander will be released today. Mark
Davies, managing director at Betfair, said there was “no
question” that the EU would be aware of events. “They will be
asking why has this happened?”
Fjellner
noted the French authorities had detained Nylander using a European arrest
warrant, “meant for use with organised crime and terrorism”. He
accused the French of using the warrant as a “political tool in an
effort to prolong the (French gaming) monopoly.” He added:
“This is intimidation.”
One
industry insider said the arrest of Nylander should act as a “wake-up
call for (Charlie) McCreevy”. They added: “It’s about
time the French realised this is the 21st Century and not the 19th. It’s
ludicrous.”
E-Gaming Review, 23 October 2007
- France -
Sporever resumes advertising for
online games
Sporever
Group, specialized in providing sports news to new media and quoted on the
Paris Stock Exchange, stated on Monday after publishing its first semester
2007, that its “Internet cluster” (27% out of 7.708 ME
turnover) had yielded an operating margin of 15%, “penalized by the
lack of advertising for online gambling during the first semester”.
During the last quarter of the
financial year 2006, Sporever
decided to suspend any activity linked to online gaming advertising. Which
represented a “reduced
profit” of € 300.000”.
In terms
of sports betting, the situation didn’t get any better since the last
quarter of 2006. Legally speaking, we can even say that it got worse in France
since the law on prevention of delinquency was voted by the Parliament and
published in the Gazette on March 7. This law allows Home and Budget Secretaries to prohibit any
fund flow coming from gambling websites and thus aims at preventing winners
to recoup their winnings. Above all, advertising online gambling is
prohibited, and those websites doing it, including remote gambling sites,
are liable to prosecution. Any advertising is punishable by a fine of € 30.000. The Court can bring
the amount of the fine to four times the amount of the advertising budget intended for
the illegal transaction “. This provision should come into force ‘six months after
the coming into effect of the present law’. Theoretically, since
September 7th, there shouldn’t be any more advertising for
online casinos, sports betting, horse racing and poker websites hosted in France.
Sporever
Group doesn’t seem to get worked up about infringing the law and said
that since August, they “resumed
advertising for online betting and showed great interest for the
statements made by the European Commission and the French State
regarding the possible opening of this market”. Sporever has no
intention of leaving it at that and states having “already made the
necessary arrangements to position itself as a credible candidate to obtain
an operating license for sports betting on the French territory’.
Sporever
Group was interviewed by Journal des Jeux d’Argent on this illegal
situation but did not answer the questions.
Journal
des Casinos, 8 October 2007
- France -
French court rules on 30 year old
casino case
A French
appeal court jury decided that French casino heiress Agnès Le Roux
was murdered in October 1977 by her lover, jean-Maurice Agnelet, a Nice
lawyer. The appeal court jury had heard that the missing woman had fallen
under Agnelet’s influence soon after inheriting part of her
family’s casino, Le Palais de la
Méditérranee, in Nice. She voted for
another casino company to take over Le Pailas.
Casino
review, November 2007
- France -
1.6m-euro jackpot
paid out in France
France’s biggest ever progressive jackpot
fell on October 14, netting the winner 1,611,921 euros. It was won by a
54-year-old woman from Choisy-le Roi on the southern outskirts of Paris, a regular of
the Casino Barrière Enghien-les-Bains. She said that she would now
be able to realize her dream of buying a house and of replacing her
son’s car. The jackpot had been building since May 28 and was won on
a three-euro stake. The same
night another large jackpot of 72,112 euros was paid on a Tower of Power
machine off a six-euro stake.
Casino
review, November 2007
- The Netherlands
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Prize State Lottery only on a
sold ticket
From 1
January 2008 prices in the State Lottery are only drawn on lottery tickets
that has actually been sold. Only the jackpot is drawn out of all possibly available
lottery tickets.
The
consequence will be a major reduction in the number of prices. The total
prize money – each month about 26 million Euro – will remain
roughly the same as before.
The
State Lottery is making these changes as a result of criticism. At this
moment every month 18 million lottery tickets participate in every draw,
while on the average only 3 million lottery tickets have been sold. If the
prices are drawn on unsold lottery tickets, they aren’t distributed
but are being published anyway. A lot of ticket buyers feel being
wrong-footed because of this. It looks like the State Lottery distribute a
lot of big prices, like twenty times € 50.000 and twenty times
€ 100.000. However, the most (16 or 17 out of 20) winning lottery
tickets are not sold. Actually each month only four people receive € 50.000 and the same
number of participants receive € 100.000. In the new system, the
State Lottery, only draws winners
out of the 3 million sold lottery tickets. Despite the winning
lottery tickets are reduced to
four, the number of winners is in fact the same as in the old system.
Therefore the distributed money
is the same as before.
The new
system has no consequences for the first prize and jackpot. The first price
of 1 million Euro was already
drawn on lottery tickets that actually had been sold. However for the
jackpot also the not sold lottery tickets are part of the draw.
Haarlemse
Dagblad, 31 October 2007
- The Netherlands
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Gambling companies fight against
tax increase
For the
moment the Dutch government cannot use the extra income that it thinks to
collect with the new gambling tax on slot machines. The gambling industry
will fight against the new tax measures even if they have to go to the
European Court of Justice. As
long as those procedures are ongoing, the government can
not collect the controversial taxes.
Annette
Kok, chairwoman of the VAN (the Dutch association for slot machines owners
and arcades), uttered this threat yesterday on the eve of the financial
considerations in the Dutch Parliament. The government expects to receive an
additional 200 million euro on
a yearly basis with this action. Furthermore, this measure is going to be
introduced much faster – on 1 July 2008, instead of 2009 –
because the government has granted the request of the parliamentary
majority to have schoolbooks
for free next year already.
Red
marks
According
to a lawyer office Spigthof, a consultant to the industry, it is a
reasonable option to fight in court against the proposed gambling tax.
According to calculations of consultancy firm KPMG the gambling business
will quickly take a fall in the red marks. If the current sales tax is
going to be replaced by gambling taxes, the combined gross profit of 121
million euro will turn over in a loss of 51 million euro.
Dismissals
”It
is impossible for the companies to coop with the new measures“,
according to Mrs. Kok, who is also a member of the Board at JVH Gaming, the
largest slot machine company of The Netherlands. She thinks JVH has to fire
750 employees next year.
Also
Holland Casino the State controlled casino company fears the new measure
and thinks employees have to be fired as well.
Elsevier
Fiscaal, 3 October 2007
- Spain
–
Bwin in Spanish joint venture
Bwin and
Betbull have announced a joint venture in Spain
to take advantage of the regulation of betting shops in the Madrid region
scheduled for next year.
The deal
will mark Bwin’s first foray into land-based bookmaking. Bwin is
presently the main shirt sponsor with Real Madrid. The company signed a
four-year E35m deal with the club in the summer.
In a
statement, Betbull said no further financial details would be released
until the application process was complete. The partnership hopes to launch
its first shops in the first quarter of 2008.
Simon
Bold, director at Betbull, said: “The forthcoming year will see the
fruition of many months of planning and fine tuning of our betting products
and systems for the Spanish market.” Bold mentioned the company would
hope to expand further in Spain
as and when other regions liberalise along the Madrid lines.
UK high-street bookmaking giants Ladbrokes and
William Hill have also announced plans to take advantage of the
liberalisation in the Spanish regions. Each has announced joint ventures
with Cirsa and Codere respectively.
E-Gaming Review, 19 October 2007
-
Sweden
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Swedish
monopoly announces 1.4bn profit
Sweden's Svenska Spel made
a third quarter profit of nearly 1.4 billion Kronor, a rise of 92 million
Kronor against the same period last year. The state-owned gaming monopoly
said that overall profits for the first three quarters were up 19 per cent
on 2006, to over 4 billion Kronor.
Gaming Industry News, 25 October 2007
- United Kingdom -
How to pick a horse in a paddock
Sir Clement Freud, who is
related to most other Freuds, has owned racehorses for most of his life. He
would not still be working had they run faster
Gambling: there is but one
rule. If you mind losing money more than you enjoy winning it, keep away
– play solitaire, move to Bognor Regis, whatever.
I have always believed that
betting within your limits is wholly pointless. To spend time, energy and
intellectual capacity working out which horse/dog/athlete is going to come
first, then backing your opinion with insufficient ammunition to realize
the price of a case of decent champagne, is pathetic.
Let us now concentrate on
making money at a racecourse. There are those who bet because of the
horse’s name, the color of the silks worn by the jockey, the number
on the saddle cloth. If that goes with being at odds of less than 33-1,
coming from a reasonably successful yard and being ridden by an inform
jockey, then there’s no reason why not.
And don’t change your
mind – absolutely nobody wants to know that you nearly backed the
winner.
If you go to a racecourse,
it is a bit pointless to sit in the restaurant and watch the action on the
TV screen behind the bar. You can do that at home, where you are likely to
eat better food and sip less expensive drinks. Before each race, visit the
parade ring and look at the horses as they are led around, mounted and
cantered to the start. They mostly look alike, until you examine them with
care. Some are grey, others range between dark brown and light chestnut,
and many have blazes of white on their faces or legs. None of this has
anything to do with how they run. Very fat horses – said to show a
lot of “condition” – are best avoided. In a sprint race,
go for the one that has the biggest bum, as long as he looks well (shiny
coat) and the stable lad/lass manifests an aura of cheerfulness.
Make your selection and bet
with whichever bookmaker gives the longest odds. An elementary knowledge of
mathematics is necessary here: 11-10, 6-5, 5-4 and 11-8 may all be
available somewhere. Smart folk take the 11-8.
The sure way to come home
poor is to have the same bet on every race. Vary your stakes: £500
(which in racing terms is “a monkey”) on one race, then a
proper heavy bet on another in respect of which you feel more strongly.
Back to win, not each way (which means first, second or third), if the odds
are 10-1 or less. Don’t bet to win money – bet to fly first
class to Las Vegas
and stay at the Wynn hotel, or to buy a large white truffle or a gold watch
with platinum hands and diamond movement. When you lose, modify your
expenditure for a while, like a few nights of dinner at McDonald’s or
Nando’s.
Sunday Times, 21 October
2007
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United Kingdom
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Aspinall
wins appeal
A
‘big fish’ at Aspinall’s
has won his appeal against a High Court ruling to pay back £2m racked
up in one night at the casino. Fouad al-Zayat is reported to have lost
£23m over 12 years. The court heard that after a dispute in March 2000,
al-Zayat dishonoured a cheque for £2m. The judge ruled he had an
arguable court case as Aspinall’s delay of six years before
attempting to sue him was an unlawful offer of credit. Lord Justice Sedley
said: “Piqued at the club’s failure to change a croupier, Mr
al-Zayat, although he was undoubtedly good for the amount, dishonoured a
cheque for £2m which he owed for gaming chips. Aspinall’s,
instead of burning their bridges with Mr al-Zayat by suing him on his
cheque, permitted him for another six year to go on gambling so that he
could lose millions more pounds to them. Then, at the last permissible
minute, they sued him.”
E-Gaming
Review, 22 October 2007
- USA -
WTO dispute: EU urged to stick to
its guns
The EU
has been urged to continue to press the US for significant compensation
in regard to the ongoing online gaming-related World Trade Organisation
(WTO) dispute.
Speaking
at a press conference held ahead of the looming 14 December deadline for
the US and the EU to
come to an agreement with regard to compensation over the US
withdrawal from its GATT’s commitments, Clive Hawkswood, chief
executive at the RGA, said: “The EU clearly hasn’t accepted the
first offer. But it needs to do more. The UK is clearly a big player. We
want the UK
government to press the EU to hold a strong line.”
Previous
reports have suggested the EU has made demands for trade concessions worth
somewhere in the region of US$80bn.
Hawkswood
said he had led a “high-level delegation” to meet EU trade
commissioner Peter Mandelson, including representatives from a number of UK
gaming companies. However, he refused to name who had joined him in the
recent trip to Brussels.
Nao
Matsukata, former director of policy at the office of the US Trade
Representative, said the WTO was in uncharted waters following the
unilateral action from the US
to withdraw from its GATT commitments.
The
dispute derives form a complaint from Antigua and Barbuda. The deadline
for a resolution to this dispute is 30 November. Antigua is claiming
US$3.5bn in trade concessions; the US is believed to have offered
US$500,000.
Matsukata
said “we are seeing history in the making” with regard to the
dispute. “This is undermining the rule of law at the WTO,” he
added. “It puts into question the credibility of the
organisation.” He added that the EU should focus on the “matter
of principle” highlighted by the US moves.
Raul
Herrara, trade specialist at Washington DC law firm Arnold and Porter, added that the recent
move son the part of the US
were “unprecedented”.
E-Gaming Review, 30 October 2007
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