Regulation round-up 2 September 2014
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (27 August to 2 September 2014)
Ladbrokes ad caused “serious offence”, says ASA
World Cup ad featuring Christ the Redeemer statue in a purple Betdaq robe deemed inappropriate by the advertising watchdog
Ladbrokes has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) for causing serious offence with an advert it ran during the World Cup for its online subsidiary Betdaq in which the Christ the Redeemer statue was featured wearing Betdaq colours.
The advert, which ran on the Betdaq website, showed a digitally enhanced image of the statue in Rio de Janeiro wearing a purple robe with Betdaq superimposed on to it. Text on the advert stated: “World Cup 2014 “ Bet with Betdaq.”
The advert received a single complaint, with the complainant saying the use of an image of Jesus Christ to promote gambling would cause offence to Christians.
Ladbrokes said that it did not intend for the ad or the use of the image to cause offence, and that as a result of the complaint had removed the ad from the website and would not use it again.
Denmark faces calls to offer bingo and horseracing licences
The Danish Online Gambling Association (DOGA) has called for the liberalisation of bingo and horse race betting to be included in upcoming amendments to the Danish Gambling Act and the Danish Gambling Duty Act.
Speaking to eGaming Review, chief executive of DOGA Morten Ronde said he was hopeful the government would regulate the online gambling products currently monopolised by operator Danske Spil.
“By now it is quite evident that the licensing model has prevailed over the old monopoly model and that while the numbers on betting and online casino are growing soundly the numbers for the lotteries are declining year by year,” he said.
Seven days in regulation:
UK government launches levy consultation
The UK government last week launched a ten-week consultation into the future of the horseracing levy as sports minister Helen Grant described the current system as being in urgent need of reform.
The racing levy, which was established in 1961 in order to help fund improvements to the sport of horseracing and veterinary research, is collected from UK bookmaker profits derived from the sport with amounts set by the Bookmakers’ Committee.
Earlier this year, the government announced it would widen the levy so that offshore digital operators would also be required to contribute to the fund, however, the government is pushing for greater reform to ensure the levy remains fit for purpose in the longer term.
Poll results: Operators unconvinced by India potential
India must regulate more products than just poker for operators to consider it a market with potential, respondents to last week’s eGaming Review poll have said.
eGR previously reported that India’s Supreme Court is to assess the legality of online card games to determine whether they contravene anti-gambling laws, with local operators arguing that games such as poker require an element of skill and as such should be legalised.
Observers believe there is a good chance that the court could rule in the favour of operators meaning India, with a huge population and growing economy, may soon become a regulated online gambling opportunity worth considering.
Regulated Swedish market shows further decline
Sweden’s regulated gambling market has shown further decline in H1 2014, with revenues shrinking 3% year-on-year following decreases in casino and poker verticals continuing the decline recorded during the regulator’s Q1 results in May.
According to figures released by the Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen), gross turnover for the first half of the year stood at SEK19.3bn (£1.6bn) while gross gaming revenue slipped 11% year-on-year to SEK7.8bn (£678m).
Joakim Rönngren, communications manager at the Gambling Authority, said the Swedish market was a “slow process for most players” noting that Svenska Spel, the country’s monopoly operator, saw revenues dip 5%.