Regulation round-up 28/02/12
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (22 February to 28 February 2012).
Wright and Steinberg introduce new Cali bill
New egaming legislation is poker-only for two years, after which lawmakers may be permitted to add more games.
California Senators Rod Wright and Darrell Steinberg have jointly introduced new intrastate egaming legislation for the Golden State.
Under the terms of Senate Bill 1463, “eligible entities” would be entitled to apply for 10-year licences to offer online gambling to Californian residents aged 21 or over, while any unlicensed operator offering online gambling to residents of the state would see their activities punishable as a misdemeanour.
The bill only applies to poker for the first two years following its proposed implementation, although after the two-year period comes to an end “The department may phase in other games allowed under the California Constitution and the Penal Code.”
It makes clear that no operator which has taken US bets since 31 December 2006 would be eligible for a licence, although it does not rule out those operators which pulled out of the US market following the passage of UIGEA, regardless of whether they have reached a settlement with American authorities.
AAMS bosses appeal 7.4m suspected bribery fines
The former head of Italian regulatory body AAMS and the current director of games have been fined a total of 7.4m as part of an ongoing investigation into gaming machine operators’ failure to comply with regulation.
Giorgio Tino, who left his role at the regulator in July 2008, has been fined 4.8m, while director of gaming Antonio Tagliaferri has been hit with a 2.6m penalty. Both men are alleged to have not taken any action against 10 local operators who are said to have failed to ensure their gaming machines were connected to AAMS servers in order for the regulator to calculate the tax each company should pay.
Tino’s wife Anna Maria Barbarito was also named in the case, with prosecutors claiming she accepted gifts from gaming operators which amounted to bribes.
Seven days in regulation:
AAMS reveals huge sports betting decline in January figures
Italy’s online sports betting revenues have nosedived in the last 12 months according to regulator AAMS’s latest figures, which show significant decline in almost all verticals, though strong performance in poker and casino helped the market grow slightly compared to the same period in 2011.
Fixed odds sports betting saw a 71.7% year-on-year decline in gross gaming revenue (GGR), down from 18.96m in January 2011 to 5.36m, with amounts wagered down from 137.8m to 105.1m, down 24% from the previous year. An industry-wide horse racing industry strike, which saw market-leader Snai’s revenues for the vertical drop 50%, hit horse betting GGR, which declined by 54.4% for the month to 0.56m. Totalisator betting also saw GGR decline by more than half, down 51.7% with amounts wagered falling 26%.
Iowa bill clears committee stage
Iowa Senator Jeff Danielson’s egaming bill has passed the committee stage by 11 votes to four, moving regulated online gambling in the Hawkeye State one step closer.
The bill had already been unanimously passed by a three-man subcommittee earlier this week, and will now move on to the full Senate.
Senate majority leader Mike Gronstal, a Democrat, told Iowan broadcaster KCRG that the legislation had “a 50-50 chance” of passing through the Senate.
ARJEL committee seeks regulatory reform
French regulator ARJEL has announced the formation of a committee of external consultants to investigate more effective methods of regulation and prevent sports betting numbers from declining any further. This will be followed by the authority separately submitting reports on ways to expand and improve four key areas of the current regulatory framework including reinforcing player funds and licensing skill games.
ARJEL board members Laurent Sorbier and Jean-Luc Pain will jointly chair the committee which will look into the regulation of the online gambling sector and new technologies.
Federal regulation to happen “this year,” says MGM boss
Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, revealed that he expects federal poker legislation to pass this year, saying the casino operator will be “out the gate as soon as anybody” once it passes.
Discussing MGM’s results for the three months ending 31 December and full year 2011, Murren was bullish about the prospect of regulation, but admitted that it was difficult to gauge when it would be likely to pass:
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if. I do believe it will be passed at the federal level, and I do believe it will be passed this year, but that’s my opinion and one that’s shared by a lot of people that are close to this,” Murren said.
Boyd CEO: regulated US egaming “further off than we had hoped”
Boyd Gaming chief executive Keith Smith admits that a federally regulated egaming environment in the United States is “a little further off than we had hoped”.
Speaking at an earnings call following the land-based casino operator’s fourth-quarter results, Smith noted that despite uncertainty over the timeframe of a federal bill, “We are well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity”.
Smith’s comments appear to represent a response to the exclusion of online gaming measures from recent payroll legislation in Washington DC, a move which many commentators are convinced means no bill will pass until 2013 at the earliest.
Egaming bill introduced in Mississippi
Mississippi representative Bobby Moak has introduced a new bill aimed at creating “The Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act of 2012″.
The bill has now gone before the house gaming committee in the Magnolia State, although a timeframe for its discussion is yet to be set.
Among the provisions included by Democrat Moak is a pledge “to impose an additional license fee in the amount of 5% on internet wagering gross revenues per calendar month.”