Regulation round-up 11 February 2014
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (5 February to 11 February 2014)
UK Treasury: PoC tax will apply to sports bonusing
Online bookies set for disappointment as UK Treasury will confirm PoC tax must be applied to sports betting inducements
The UK Treasury is to inform sportsbook operators that the imminent point of consumption tax will be applied to free bets and bonuses, eGaming Review understands.
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm the 15% levy will be applied to all sports betting gross gaming revenue when he announces his spring Budget on 19 March.
With other verticals such as bingo and casino permitted to offer customer inducements on a tax deductible basis, sports betting will be alone in having a levy applied to free bets when the point of consumption tax comes into effect in December.
Dutch regulator continues unlicensed operator crackdown
Dutch gambling regulator the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has continued its clamp down on unlicensed egaming operators by issuing a hefty joint fine to Mansion and ONISAC.
Both operators have been punished for offering games of chance via their Casino.com site without a licence and must pay the Gaming Authorty 150,000 between them.
The KSA said the site was deliberately targeting Dutch players by offering a local language option and a Dutch payment system, namely iDeal. It also said it was unclear whether the site offered enough protection to players.
Seven days in regulation:
South African egaming to be tabled
South Africa’s new online gambling bill is expected to be introduced to parliament imminently as the country moves closer to overhauling its gaming laws, eGaming Review understands.
South African Democratic Alliance MP Geordin Hill-Lewis is to table the bill, as revealed by eGR last month, before the country’s parliament, governed by the African National Congress party.
The bill will repeal the 2008 National Gambling Act and legalise online casino products for the first time in the country while also introducing a new licensing procedure for operators, suppliers and key personnel.
Bet365 ‘free bet’ ad banned by ASA
Bet365 has been forced to withdraw an ad promoting a “misleading” free bet offer by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) just a few days after the regulator warned it would be cracking down on free bet advertising.
The advert in question, which was screened on Channel Four, offered customers the chance to win a free bet on a televised horse race should they back a winner at odds of 4/1 or greater in a previous race.
Text displayed on screen and online read: “Keep backing those winners and we’ll keep giving you free bets,” however, complainants argued the advert was misleading because they had to initially stake money in order to qualify for the offer.
Swedish advertising debate escalates
The Swedish government is to launch a consultation to assess whether national legislation can be changed to prevent or forbid advertising by foreign gambling operators.
The government kicked-off the consultation with questions in parliament regarding the implications of Section 38 of the Swedish Lotteries Act which prohibits lotteries “of foreign origin”, with another consultation planned to assess potential sanctions.
Growth in offshore advertising recently led to a heated media exchangebetween Svenska Spel and the Swedish Newspaper Publishers’ Association Tidningsutgivarna (TU) concerning foreign gambling advertisements in newspapers.
Bookies form Olympics integrity alliance
A raft of leading bookmakers including bet365, Betfair and William Hill have pledged to share information with the Olympic governing body in a move designed to stamp out fraudulent betting activity.
The agreement, which was announced last week by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), includes members of the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) as well as other European sportsbook operators.
The news of the alliance came ahead of this month’s Winter Olympic Games in Russia while the arrangement will also stretch to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
PAF to develop “early warning” system for problem gambling
à land-based PAF has kicked-off a new problem gambling research project as the operator looks to develop an “early warning” system for problem gamblers.
The research, financed by PAF and run by Anders Tengström at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, has set out to develop a new a data driven system which will detect a negative gaming habit before it has even occurred.
Paf currently has its own system for detecting a problematic gaming behavior called the Radar but wants to be even more proactive and find problematic gaming behavior even earlier in the customer life-cycle.
Wynn issued transactional waiver in New Jersey
Wynn Interactive has been issued a transactional waiver by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, giving the operator the green light to go live with its egaming platform in the state.
However in an unexpected U-turn Wynn Interactive has put plans to launch its internet gaming operations in New Jersey on hold while the market matures.
“As Mr. Wynn said this weekend, online gaming does not appear to be a good entrepreneurial opportunity,” Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver told The Associated Press. “Consequently, our plans are on hold until we understand the business opportunity.”