Regulation round-up 17 April 2012
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (4 April to 10 April 2012).
Treasury opens POC tax consultation
Government department begins accepting comments on policy design and potential impact of proposed legislation to tax online gambling operators at a point of consumption rather than current levy on place of supply.
The UK Treasury has published and begun accepting comments on the policy design and the potential impact of proposed legislation to tax online gambling operators at a point of consumption rather than the current levy on place of supply.
Following Chancellor George Osborne’s budget announcement last monthconfirming plans to tax operators offering bets to UK customers at a point of consumption and the Treasury’s initial remote gambling taxation review last autumn, the government department said it would be “grateful” for respondents’ contributions to the review process. The Treasury’s website explains that the views of those involved in this process will “help shape the final policy design of the reform” which the government plans to introduce in December 2014.
The coalition government also plans to introduce an amended regulatory framework, which will require remote gambling operators, wherever they are based, to hold a Gambling Commission licence in order to advertise, and provide services, to British customers, at the same time as the new POC duty comes into force. These changes to the regulatory regime would also require primary legislation.
The consultation “Taxing remote gambling on a place of consumption basis: consultation on policy design” seeks comments on further details of the proposed design characteristics of the regime, the Treasury’s site says.
Italian market decline slows in February
The Italian egaming market has shown signs of recovery after a difficult January with gross gaming revenues (GGR) across all products growing 7.7% in February, according to figures released by Italian regulator AAMS, though a number of verticals have seen further decline in revenues.
The market saw revenues rise to 78.6m, up 21% on January’s takings of 65.2m, with skill games, card games and game of chance continuing to perform strongly, posting GGR up 55% year-on-year to 46.5m for the month. However, after posting revenues of 52.5m from skill games, card games and game of chance in January this year, GGR declined 11.4% month-on-month.
Fixed-odds sports once again declined with GGR down 23.6% from 33.5m in February 2011 to 25.6m this year, but up 377% on this January’s takings of 5.36m itself a 71.7% year-on-year decline. Only a strong performance from skill games, card games and game of chance prevented an overall decline in January, with a 49% increase in GGR seeing revenues rise to 52.5m, helping the market grow by 0.8% year-on-year.
Seven days in regulation:
Cali Senators ready compromise bill
California Senators Rod Wright (pictured) and Darrell Steinberg will amend and re-introduce a compromise bill later this month in a bid to appease a number of powerful tribal casinos and card rooms, eGaming Review has learned.
A number of large tribal casinos and card rooms, as well as other interested parties, have voiced their concerns over Senate Bill 1463, including the type of organisation that would be allowed to obtain a licence, and the cost of the licence fee itself. As a result several Californian policy makers are known to be preparing a series of responses to these objections with amendments and a compromise bill set to be announced later this month.
The bill was introduced in February this year, stating that “eligible entities” would be entitled to apply for 10-year licences to offer online gambling, although this would be poker-only for the first two years.
Spanish egaming association announces new members
Spanish egaming body La Asociación Española de Juego Digital (Jdigital) has revealed the first companies to have joined the association, with a mixture of 26 suppliers, affiliates, foreign and international operators becoming members.
Operators such as Paf, PokerStars and Betfair have all signed up, alongside service providers including Gtech, Paysafecard and Interxion. They join Spanish land-based operators including Casino Ocio Online and Grupo Orenes, and affiliates including Educapoker and Pokerstrategy.com.
“This diverse membership reinforces the primary purpose for which the association was formed: to bring together a wide variety of players in the digital gaming industry to jointly promote the creation of a secure and competitive market,” the organisation said in a statement today.
Opinion: Halting Nevada
The failure of California, New Jersey and other gaming states to quickly legalise and implement internet gambling systems will likely give Nevada gaming operators such a big head start those states may never catch up.
Nevada has legalised internet gaming, drafted regulations, and is poised to offer games to players this year. Initially gaming will occur only within the state’s borders, however there are two paths which would legally allow the state’s casinos to offer games to citizens in other states. First is the “federal approach”, where Congress passes authorising legislation to create a national model.
In the “lame duck” session of Congress at the end of 2010, Senator Harry Reid introduced federal legislation that was laden with preferences for the Nevada gaming entities. The preferences were there because, at the time, the Nevada casinos weren’t ready to enter the marketplace. While that bill failed, at some point there will surely be another, and that legislation will not have preferences for the Nevada casinos because they won’t be necessary.
Israel court overturns police anti-gambling order
A Tel-Aviv court has ruled that a police order banning citizens from accessing gambling sites should not have been allowed.
According to newspaper the Times of Israel, the block, instituted last year, represents an infringement of freedom of information rights.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country had complied with a police order last June, however not-for-profit group the Israeli Internet Association (ISOC) launched a petition opposing the order in August.
Cake and Merge block Utah residents
US-facing poker networks Cake and Merge have moved to block new sign-ups from residents of the state of Utah.
The decision follows Representative Stephen Sandstrom’s anti-gambling bill in the Beehive State, which was signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert late last month.