Regulation round-up 31 May 2016
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (25 May to 31 May 2016)
Czech senate ushers in new gambling framework
Legislative bill, which will allow foreign operators to enter the market, receives unanimous senator backing
Czech politicians have overwhelmingly backed a new gambling bill, opening the country’s doors to foreign competition for the first time.
Following a debate in the Senate last week, 42 senators voted to introduce a new law which will enable operators based outside of the Czech Republic to apply for online gambling licences – 23 senators abstained from the vote while no one voted against.
The country’s president Milo?? Zeman now has 30 days to sign-off the new law and in turn kick-off the licensing process, with the liberalised regime expected to go live in January 2017.
At present, only operators based within the country’s borders and those operating land-based businesses can offer online gambling products, which has so far limited the market to just five licensees and judged to have breached EU competition law.
Betclic secures first Portuguese sports betting licence
Betclic Everest Group has gone live in the Portuguese online gambling market after becoming the first operator to secure one of the country’s new sports betting licences.
The Paris-headquartered firm launched in Portugal last Wednesday (25 May) under its flagship Betclic brand having officially obtained its fixed-odds sports betting licence earlier that morning.
As the first operator to go live, Betclic will be subject to a basic tax rate of 8% on turnover up to ?30m, while turnover over that figure will be taxed based on a formula (Rate=[8% x (annual gross revenue/?30m)] /100) and capped at 16%.
Seven days in regulation:
Russia approves law to increase bookies taxes one hundredfold
The Russian Federal Assembly has approved a first reading of a law which would increase taxes for online bookmakers in the country one hundredfold.
The legislation, which was introduced by the country’s Ministry of Finance at the start of April, could require bookmakers operating online to pay between RUB2.5m and RUB3m (?30,000 to ?40,000) a month – more than one hundred times higher than existing fees for bookmakers.
Russia-facing bookmakers would also be required to pay a 13% income tax on a customer’s winnings, which the player is currently responsible for.
Greece approves 35% GGR tax rate
The Greek government has approved a 35% GGR tax for operators as part of an effort to address the country’s crippling economic problems.
The new rate replaces a proposed scalable 30-35% GGR duty for the 24 online operators with interim licences and will be applied retroactively from 1 January 2016.
The amended provisions ensures a level playing field in the online gambling market with the 24 online operators paying the same betting duty as the monopoly OPAP.
Poland to legalise online slots in regulatory overhaul
The Polish government has revealed plans to legalise online slots for the first time as launch of the country’s new regulatory framework continues to gather pace.
The Ministry of Finance announced a draft amendment to the government’s impending legislation which included allowing licensed operators, subject to responsible gambling, to offer online slots games.
Online poker would also be liberalised under the current proposals, while offline slots would come under the jurisdiction of a state monopoly.
Brazil “likely” to pass gambling bill by end of Q1 2017
Brazil is likely to approve its new gambling bill by the end of Q1 2017, according to sources in Sao Paolo.
The country is under the guidance of a stand-in president who is reputed to have a pro-gaming background and also faces the issue of a national debt of around $56bn.
“This is going to increase the pressure over the creation of new sources of income,” said Daniel Xavier, a gaming consultant in Sao Paulo and former head of games in Brazil for GVC Holdings.