Regulation round-up 16 October 2012
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (10 October to 16 October 2012).
Tilt confirms Isle of Man licence
Operator pledges to have restored all non-US player accounts in time for 6 November relaunch.
Full Tilt Poker now officially operates under an Isle of Man egaming licence, the operator has confirmed in a statement.
The statement, also distributed to players via email, confirms that “In the coming weeks we will be completing the restoration of all non-US player accounts…in preparation for re-launch day.”
When PokerStars agreed to acquire the assets of its former rival in July, it confirmed that it would be pursuing a licence in the same jurisdiction in which its flagship site operates, and it transported relevant computer hardware to the island from its previous base in Guernsey.
Full Tilt was previously licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, however its licences were initially suspended in June 2011before three of its four licences were revoked in September last year.
Exclusive: Stars repayment of Italian FTP players unresolved
Italian regulator AAMS is yet to reach a resolution with PokerStars on the operator’s reimbursement of Full Tilt Poker’s former players in the dot.it market, eGaming Review has learned.
With less than a month remaining before the relaunch of its former rival in non-US dot.com markets, PokerStars has come to an agreement with other regulators in terms of the repayment of players in territories where FTP will not be operational, with players permitted to transfer their balances to PokerStars’ relevant dot.country client. It is unclear how much is owed to players in Italy.
Full Tilt will not be relaunched in Italy, France, Denmark, Spain, Estonia or Belgium, where PokerStars holds dot.country licences under its main brand, while players in other territories (excluding the United States) will be able to either play or withdraw funds when the site goes live.
Seven days in regulation:
Austrian player wins 950k case against Bet-at-home
An Austrian gambler has won a High Court appeal against bet-at-home which has seen the Betclic Everest subsidiary ordered to pay 950,000 (£764,000) to compensate for the player’s online roulette losses.
Maltese licensee bet-at-home, which has also been awarded licences in Italy and Schleswig-Holstein this year, is not licensed to offer roulette in Austria, where betting and gaming tax was introduced in January 2011, and Austrian newspaper Der Standard reports that this represented the reasoning for the court ruling.
Lawyer Christian Horwath, representing the unnamed player, described the decision as “groundbreaking” and said: “The Austrian law has been applied – this is essential and protects players very positively.”
ARJEL and DGOJ premiers formalise agreement
ARJEL president Jean-François Vilotte and Spanish director of gambling Enrique Alejo have confirmed that the French and Spanish regulatory bodies have finalised a cooperation agreement.
The deal, first reported by eGaming Review last month, is similar in scope to ARJEL’s bilateral agreements with Italian regulator AAMS and the UK Gambling Commission and will cover the sharing of information and what ARJEL defines in a statement as “Comparisons to increase the effectiveness of the regulation including the exchange of information and alerts.”
However Villotte and Alejo confirmed that, in its current format, the agreement will not bring about the pooling of poker liquidity, with Vilotte explaining, “These agreements between regulators allow networking without abandoning standards and high standards of regulation”.
Mybet chooses Dictao for Schleswig-Holstein testing
Schleswig-Holstein licensee Mybet has selected Paris-based company Dictao for IT compliance testing ahead of its operation and marketing of sports betting activities in the German Land.
Formerly known as Jaxx before rebranding earlier this year, the Kiel-based operator was among the first wave of operators to be licensed in the jurisdiction along with Betfair and Die NordwestLotto.