Regulation round-up 17 July 2012
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (11 July to 17 July 2012).
EU regulators meet to discuss unified legislative framework
Delegates from ARJEL, AAMS, DGOJ and Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa meet to formalise cooperation and discuss liquidity sharing for certain products.
Representatives of the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese regulators attended a meeting in Barcelona yesterday to begin formulating plans for a shared regulatory framework which would also see the countries pool liquidity for certain products.
The key aim of the meeting was to establish a strategy to launch a system which allows each regulatory body to exchange information on companies operating in each territory, as well as sharing market data and legislative proposals in order to gauge the success of different products in each market.
The representatives from AAMS, ARJEL, the Spanish General Directorate for the Regulation of Online Gambling (DGOJ) and Portugal’s regulator and monopoly operator Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa explained the objectives of the meeting a statement which described gambling regulation across each jurisdiction has having a shared goal, which “makes possible an operational cooperation aimed at laying the foundations for a better protection of the ends provided for by the legislation and for exchanges on the licensing criteria in each jurisdiction.”
ARJEL signs MoU with UK Gambling Commission
The heads of L’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) and the UK Gambling Commission have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise cooperation and information sharing between the two gambling regulators.
“In the absence of a harmonised regulatory framework for online gambling, and despite the differences in approaches, bilateral cooperation agreements between regulators allow for more transparency in ensuring a fair and socially responsible regulation,” ARJEL president Jean-François Vilotte said in a statement this morning.
Similar to the agreement signed between ARJEL and Italian regulator AAMS last year, the MoU is designed to combat collusion, preserve integrity, ensure player protection, and effectively supervise licensed, and ban illegal, operators as well as protecting sporting integrity.
Seven days in regulation:
Monopolies Commission attacks German State Treaty
The German Monopolies Commission (Monopolkommission) has become the latest body to attack the controversial State Treaty on Gambling, concluding that a “fundamental overhaul” is necessary.
In a statement the Monopolkommission explained that the Treaty amounted to an “attempted monopolisation” of the market which is ineffective in combating gambling addiction. Under its terms, 20 sports-betting only licences will be issued to private operators, who will then be subject to a 5% tax on turnover, with online poker and casino banned, while lottery operators will be taxed on around 20% of turnover, effectively making it all but impossible for private operators to complete with the newly-formed national lottery, Gemeinsamen Klassenlotterie der Länder (GKL).
The 20% turnover tax imposed on lottery operators was condemned and described as “significantly suppressing” competition to State-owned organisations, which the Commission recommended by scrapped and replaced by private suppliers which are selected through a tender process. It explained that it “sees no sufficient reason why the sale of lottery products may not be socially acceptable in the private sector. State lottery operators should therefore withdraw from lottery sales, and private sales sites should be monitored by regulators by the granting of concessions.”
Churchill Downs prepares major poker push
Churchill Downs (CD) is in talks with potential software partners to become both a major B2B and B2C player in the US online poker market, eGaming Review can reveal.
eGR has learned that the Kentucky-based racing operator is in talks with a number of providers including Playtech and Ongame to launch its own poker network. It has also applied for a service provider licence in Nevada.
A source close to the matter said the company plans to join forces with a series of partners in order to pool liquidity on its own network, on which it will also launch its own poker product. It would then approach a third party provider to power the network on its behalf.
Turbopoker move approved by ARJEL
French regulatory authority ARJEL has cleared the way for NetBet owner Itechsoft to take over the running of the turbopoker.fr domain.
Turbopoker was previously owned by Iliad Gaming before the Chilipoker joint venture pulled out of the French market earlier this month.
Players who held accounts with Iliad Gaming’s chilipoker.fr site have seen them transferred to turbopoker.fr following the shutdown of the former. eGR understands that Turbopoker.fr accounts for approximately 60% of the ipoker.fr network.