Regulation round-up 06 June 2012
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (30 May to 06 June 2012).
Breaking news: First wave of operators receive Spanish licences
bwin.party, 888, bet365, Sportingbet, Codere, Cirsa, mybet, GTECH G2 first to be notified “ Sportingbet claim award negates “part of” Codere injunction.
The first wave of operators have been awarded licences to operate in the regulated Spanish egaming market due to open next Tuesday with only three companies said to have had their applications rejected, eGaming Review understands.
Sportingbet claims the deal “Negates part of the injunction” against its Miapuesta brand, brought by Codere in March, and allows Sportingbet to begin operating “when the market opens”.
eGR also understands bet365 and GTECH G2 have also been awarded respective operator and supplier licences. GTECH G2 is set to dominate the supplier side in Spain with a total of 14 client contracts predominantly with local land-based casinos looking to launch online poker, casino and bingo offerings.
Both bet365 and Sportingbet are understood to have settled back-tax debts with the Spanish Tax Office in advance of the dot.es market opening in earnest next Tuesday, with Sportingbet confirming a 17.2m outlay earlier this month.
Exclusive: Gib body hires lawyers to fight UK tax proposals
The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA) has spent more than half a million pounds as it prepares to fight the UK government’s plans to impose a 15% point of consumption tax on operators at the end of 2014.
eGaming Review has learned from a number of sources close to the matter that 23 out of the 24 members of the GBGA, all Gibraltar licensees, have each paid an average of £22,000 to hire two experienced QCs to prepare a legal case that will aim to either stall or preferably abolish the coalition’s bid to tax UK-licensed operators at the point of consumption instead of the current point of supply. eGR understands that the only operator not to take part is bet365.
David Vaughan CBE, of the Brick Court Chambers, and Kevin De Haan, QC with the Francis Taylor Building are the lawyers in charge of building a case for the Gibraltar body.
New Jersey online gambling bill vote delayed until Autumn
A vote on online gambling in New Jersey will not take place until Autumn, according to the bill’s sponsor Senator Raymond Lesniak.
Lesniak (pictured) had been aiming to have his bill approved in a Senate floor vote yesterday.
The Senate did approve mobile bets in Atlantic City casinos though as a vote passed 34-0 in favour of Senator James Whelan’s bill.
Seven days in regulation
Spain warns licensees over migrating player accounts
The Spanish General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has issued a press release preventing licensees from carrying dot.com player balances over to their dot.es sites just hours before the issuing of licences.
It explains that: “Gambling operators have to provide the funds to players who were holders of a user account linked to a dot.com domain in the process of opening up user records under [the new system].”
Spanish market opening delayed
The General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has delayed the launch of licensed dot.es sites until 5 June, sources in Spain have confirmed to eGaming Review, however, the regulatory body is still expected to hand out licences as planned this Friday.
The DGOJ has reportedly decided to delay the opening of the market in order to give approved operators a five-day period in which they will be required to register a technical contact “ either a person or company “ with the regulator’s databases and systems.
PokerStars moves Dutch players to dot.eu
PokerStars has moved Dutch players over to its dot.eu client where they will join those from Finland, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.
The move took place yesterday with the Dutch-language Pokernews mini-site reporting that players using the mobile client have been required to delete their existing version and download the dot.eu variant. However, player pools remain shared with the dot.com site so there is no change in terms of liquidity.
Poll results: in-play only likely addition from IGA reform
The majority of eGaming Review readers expect Australia to regulate in-play betting by the end of the year as the country reviews its Interactive Gaming Act (IGA).
Nearly two thirds of those polled (63%) anticipate the review to bring about changes to in-play laws, just one year after the country implemented a ban on the advertising of live odds on sports broadcasts.