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Welcome to the
September issue of the G4 Newsletter
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AUSTRALIA
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Crackdown on minors in casinos
The
Queensland Government will this week toughen fines to stop people under 18
from entering and gambling in casinos.
New laws to be introduced to state parliament, which sits for three days from
today, lift the penalty for a casino operator, employee or agent who allows
a minor to enter or stay in a casino from $1500 to $7500 for the operator
and $3000 for the employee or agent.
The laws also include a maximum penalty of $15,000 for allowing a minor to
gamble or even try to gamble.
Adults who help minors enter casinos will also face fines.
The Government will also this week introduce new laws clarifying who
requires "blue card" clearance to work with children.
The blue card check is a detailed national check of a person's criminal
history, including any charges or convictions. It also examines any past
disciplinary action or police investigation information.
The changes to go to parliament will spell out in detail that anyone
providing health services to children which involve physical contact or who
provide a service to a child who is alone will be required to obtain a blue
card.
People who provide counselling or support services to a child on a
one-on-one basis or over the phone or Internet will also be required to
obtain a blue card.
But doctors and other registered health practitioners remain exempt from
the checks.
Sunday Times, AU,
21 August 2007
- The
Netherlands
-
Dutch
postal code lottery goes clear for 'psychological damage'
The
Dutch Postal Code Lottery is not responsible for the woman who claims to
have suffered mental damage for not winning any prices. This was decided by
the
Amsterdam
court yesterday. The Jackpot fell in the Hoogstraat, Heusden early last
year. Eight participants in the lottery had to share 13.9 million euros.
Helene de Gier, who lives in the same street, won nothing as she did not
purchase any lottery tickets. Together with her partner she decided to sue
the lottery. The indictment; suffering mental damage for not winning the
price, including the public character of it. “To use postal codes as
a lottery number, the Dutch Postal Code Lottery not only uses private
postal codes without permission of the people who decide not to
participate, but also emphasises the losers” was the argument. De
Gier demanded compensation for the suffered damage. The court did recognise
that a contrast can be created by the lottery in a small community like the
one she lived in. The Dutch Postal Code Lottery reacted pleased with the
end verdict.
22 June 2007, Haarlems Dagblad
- The
Netherlands
-
Minister:
Make more room for games of chance
In
order to have a good Dutch gambling policy a controlled extension of
gambling is allowed. Last month the Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin wrote
this as a response to the criticism by Euro-commissioner McGreevy
(internal market) on the Dutch gambling monopoly. The minister’s
response was sent to the House of Commons on Wednesday. One day after a
critical letter from
Brussels
that had leaked out.
According to McGreevy the Dutch gambling policy is in conflict with the
European rules. This because of foreign gambling companies being kept out.
The
Netherlands
claims that the current restrictive gambling policy is necessary to reduce
gambling addiction and illegal gambling. But in the letter that leaked out
it is shown that McGreevy is not in the least persuaded. He thinks that
extension of the numbers of games of chance in the previous years and the
increase of advertisements for gambling and sports betting are in total
conflict with the objectives of the Dutch government.
McGreevy claims that that he has been misinformed by the
Netherlands
about (the
descending) advertisement-expenditure of the Lotto. Spendings on publicity
would respectively lie in the range of 14.1 million euros in 2004, and 12.6
million euro in 2005,but according to figures mentioned in the annual
year rapports the spendings show almost half as much more. Furthermore the
number of advertisements by Lotto, according to data of the research
company Nielsen Media, have increased by 42 per cent between the years 2002
and 2004.
According to McGreevy the recently established publicity code is nothing
more than a hoax. The Euro-commissioner also places question marks at the
results of some research that suggests that the amount of problem
gamblers in the
Netherlands
have decreased.
Volkskrant, 24
August 2007
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South Africa
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Online gambling bill slated in Parliament
Linda
Ensor -
Cape Town
Proposed legislation on online gambling has been met with a groundswell of
opposition, with calls for the bill to be sent back to the drawing board
because the government has not thought it through fully.
Outright opposition to the National Gambling Amendment Bill, or concern
about its flawed nature, were the overwhelming responses by those making
submissions during a parliamentary public hearing yesterday.
The bill is intended to decriminalise and regulate interactive, or online,
gambling.
Casino Association of SA (Casa) chairman Jabu Mabuza told the trade and
industry committee there had been insufficient consultation on the
"woefully insufficiently researched" bill, which was being pushed
hastily through Parliament.
Concern was expressed about the proposal to limit the number of interactive
gaming operators. This could exclude operators from other countries and so
contravene international treaties, the committee was told.
Submissions to the committee were also made by the Financial Intelligence
Centre (FIC), which was concerned that interactive gambling could
facilitate money laundering. Casa argued that the bill needed more work as
it did not provide for the taxation of online gambling.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) criticised the negative
consequences gambling had on the poor.
The FIC proposed improvements to the bill it believed would close loopholes
left open for money laundering. The bill, it said, should include licensing
and probity checks of operators.
The regulator should also be empowered to block unlicensed interactive casinos
from carrying on business in SA and block the flow of funds to them.
The FIC also warned that the cost of regulation of the interactive gaming
industry was likely to be "substantial" because of its
cross-border nature.
Dealing with jurisdiction, the FIC recommended that licensed operators
should be required to subject themselves to domestic laws.
Mabuza highlighted a lack of tax proposals. "Whatever happens in the
industry turns on the level of taxation, which has to be fair and
equitable," Mabuza said. "There has to be a level playing
field."
To ensure consistency and fairness, interactive operators ought to pay a
rate of tax no less than that paid by other sectors of the gambling
industry.
Another concern was that interactive gambling operators should be subject
to the same stringent requirements as other operators, for example, on
black economic empowerment, probity and prohibitions on underage gambling.
The association said unless online gambling was dealt with on the same
terms as other forms of gambling it should be dealt with under another law
instead of its provisions being incorporated into the National Gambling
Act.
Cosatu called for the bill to be rejected as it was opposed to the
expansion of legalised gambling.
Business Day, 23 August 2007
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Sweden
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Swedish
government plays for time as it defends monopoly
The
Swedish government this week rejected the European Commission’s (EC)
claim that it violated European law and defended the protection of its
state monopoly Svenska Spel by saying that Swedish laws were proportionate,
provided social protection and prevented crime.
The EC had asked the Swedish government in late June to justify its
policies towards private online betting and gaming operators as they
violated European law under Article 49 of the European Treaty regarding the
free movement of trade and services. The Swedish government will be taken
to the European Court of Justice as a result of the stance it has taken,
although a decision on the case is unlikely to be reached before 2010.
The news was not unexpected by those involved in the online gaming
industry. A disappointed Petter Nylander, chief executive of Unibet, said:
“It looks like the market will be opened up by European Commission
rather than the government and it doesn’t make any political logic
(for the Swedish government). However, from a financial point of view, the
gambling monopoly is one of the biggest cash cows for the government and it
doesn’t want to change the current set up.”
Sources in
Sweden
told eGaming Review that the
move was merely a ploy to buy the government more time. One source said:
“There is friction within the government because it got to power by
promising tax cuts on real estate and wealth. By holding onto Svenska
Spel’s monopoly for at least another two years, it keeps in place
huge tax revenues which make up the shortfall from any cut in other taxes.
The government knows the European Commission is a slow moving animal so
really this is a cynical move to play for time.”
Martin Arnell, analyst at Stockholm-based brokers Carnegie, said:
“Short- to mid-term we see no large implications on Unibet and
Betsson. Longer term, we expect the European gambling market will be more
open which could open up for additional marketing channels and further
reduce the perceived political risk.”
On Tuesday, the European Commission gave
France
and
Greece
a two month extension to respond to the reasoned opinions it sent them back
in June over their protectionist measures relating to online gambling and
betting. The new deadline for those two countries is now 29 October.
eGaming Review, 31 August 2007
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United Arab Emirates
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Five billion
dollars
Dubai
World, a state enterprise from the
Gulf
State,
invests 5 billion dollars in the American casino operator MGM Mirage.
Approximately half of the investment is used for MGM Mirage shares, the
other half goes to CityCenter, a large casino project in
Las Vegas which is presently built.
CityCenter, that among others exists of a hotel with four-thousand
guestrooms, 2,700 apartments, and fifty-thousand square meters of shopping
centre, will become a joint-venture of Dubai World and MGM Mirage.
Earlier this month a daughter company of Dubai World bought the
New York department
store Barneys for 1 billion dollars. Last year another daughter company was
forced to give up the exploitation of American ports and became
headline news.
They had bought the American ports from P & O for 7 billion
dollars, but the American congress blocked the agreement because it could
provoke terrorist attacks.
Volkskrant, 24
August 2007
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United Kingdom
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Remote gaming
duty introduced
On
Sept 1 HM Revenue and Customs will introduce a tax on gaming profits of
remote gaming operators on September 1, to coincide with the full
implementation of the Gambling Act 2005.
The remote gaming duty will be 15% of a remote gaming provider’s
profits at the end of each accounting period.
All remote gaming providers with an operating licence are liable unless
already liable to another
UK
gambling duty. Remote gaming duty is also chargeable on the illegal
provision of remote gaming in the
UK
. Examples include a
position, in
Great Britain
, where the provider is not licensed to provide such gaming or, in the case
of
Northern Ireland
, where remote gaming provision is prohibited
ATE Online, 15
August 2007
-
United Kingdom
-
Unibet to
partner with
Liverpool for next three
years
Unibet
has signed a partnership with
Liverpool
football club to be the Merseyside club’s exclusive betting and
gaming partner for the next three years.
Unibet will develop a Liverpool-branded gaming site that will be launched
later this year and will offer sports betting, poker, casino and other
Unibet products.
Unibet will also be running a series of competitions with prizes including
VIP tickets, signed shirts and stadium tours.
The Swedish bookmaker already had perimeter advertising boards at the
club’s Anfield ground and has now entered the
UK
betting
market by signing up with one of the most recognised football clubs in the
world.
eGaming Review, 24
August 2007
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United States
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Ohio one step closer to being gambling-free
By
Bryn Hough
TALLMADGE --
Ohio's Governor has given the go-ahead
to crack down on gaming parlours with the hope of driving their machines
out of state.
In
Tallmadge,
two parlours have been so successful that they've generated more than
$87,000 for police education and training.
Even with those dollars coming in, Mayor Christopher Grimm says he would
love to see and end to gambling in his city.
"The impact you have on this type of business is much greater than the
$87,000 we receive. And the negative impact the city receives from having
them in our community."
Ohio's
attorney general has issued an emergency ruling, making it a crime to
market gambling devices as "games of amusement."
Marc Dann plans to send letters giving establishments three days to take
their machines out of service.
Akron/Canton News, 23 August
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