Regulation round-up 9 September 2014
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (3 September to 9 September 2014)
Ladbrokes, bwin.party, Betfair among German licence recipients
European egaming giants and local operators feature on list of 20 firms to receive sports betting licence from German regulator
Ladbrokes, bwin.party and Betfair head up a list of 20 operators to receive a German sports betting licence.
The trio of big names find themselves among a list of domestic operators such as mybet, ODS ODDSET and Digibet, as well as predominantly land-based firms such as Admiral Sportwetten.
However, several of the online gambling sector’s biggest names are noticeable by their absence.
A Ladbrokes spokesperson said the company was pleased to have secured a licence in the country, but said it would wait to see the next steps in the regulatory process before detailing the company’s plans for the market.
Trio of operators shut down UK-facing verticals
SBOBet, 12Bet and Mansion are to close parts of their UK-facing businesses this month ahead of the UK’s new licensing regime, which comes into effect on 1 October.
All three operators have addressed customers this week informing them of the changes, requesting that they withdraw funds from accounts ahead of their respective closures.
With the 16 September UK licence application deadline fast approaching, off shore operators have been forced to review their UK-facing operations with the jurisdiction preparing to introduce a new costly regulatory regime and 15% profit tax.
Seven days in regulation:
Singapore closes in on online gambling ban
The Singapore government has unveiled a new nationwide gambling bill which will seek to prohibit all forms of online gambling in the Southeast Asian country.
The first reading of the Remote Gambling Bill was presented in Parliament by the Ministry of Home Affairs with the stated aim of regulating remote gambling to “maintain law and order and protect young persons and other vulnerable persons”.
Provisions featured in the bill include introducing website blocking measures, criminalising all remote gambling activities and a complete ban on online gambling advertising and promotions.
PokerStars: Lack of harmony killed California bill
PokerStars claims it was not to blame for online poker legislation failing to get across the line for another year in California and suggests the lack of universal support for legalisation was the real reason for the lack of progress.
The operator has been blamed by some spectators in recent months, many of whom claim the ‘bad actor’ clause keeping out operators who accepted US bets post-UIGEA is one of the last remaining hurdles preventing a legal online poker framework.
However PokerStars and its tribal casino partner Morongo, spent the summer lobbing lawmakers in California over the clause and continue to label it a thinly veiled attempt at barring the firm from entering the market.
Legal challenges cast doubt over German sportsbook launches
The decision to grant 20 operators a German sports betting licence is likely to be challenged by unsuccessful applicants casting doubt over exactly when licensees will be eligible to launch in the country.
Last week eGaming Review revealed the list of 20 successful licence applicants, including the likes of Ladbrokes, bwin.party, Betclic and Betfair, but with a number of big names having seemingly been rejected.
Among those eGR understands to have unsuccessfully applied for a licence are German land-based bookmaking giant Tipico and a number of major online operators including BetVictor, with several operators expected to mount legal challenges against the licensing process in the coming weeks.
Titanbet launches UK site
Titanbet is to migrate its UK-based customers onto a new Titanbet.co.uk site over the course of the next week as part of the operator’s plan to secure a licence for the UK’s new regulatory regime.
In an email to UK customers, operator said the new Antigua-licensed site would be operated by PT Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of Playtech, and it is believed the new site will be run separately from Titan’s main dot com site.
All UK customers’ open bets and account balances are to be transferred across to the new site, ahead of the final deadline for transitional licence applications, which will enable operators to continue to trade unaffected throughout the licensing process.
Belgian regulator blasts European Commission’s “liberalizing mentality”
The Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) is preparing to launch a formal objection against the European Commission’s (EC) recently published online gambling recommendation, after describing its own position on gaming to be “diametrically opposed” to the “liberalising mentality” of the EC.
The recommendation, published on 14 July 2014, proposed a set of measures the EC said it believed would allow EU Member States to implement common, high-level consumer protections for online gambling players across the Union.
However, the BGC has hit out at the Commission’s stance, insisting that Member States should be left to protect their citizens by means of their own regulatory regimes as developed in accordance with the European Court of Justice.
Betfair money back ads banned by ASA
Betfair was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority today over two “money back” offers with the regulator calling the promotions misleading and banning them from appearing again in the same format.
A box on the top of the “Football” tab on the website featured a picture of Betfair’s octopus with text that stated: “World Cup “ all markets “ all customers money back if England lose in any group stage match in Brazil.”
A similar advert ran on the Betfair home page for Andy Murray during Wimbledon, which featured a picture of Murray and text that stated: “2014 Wimbledon “ first bet only money back if Murray wins.”
Schleswig-Holstein must break away from Inter State Treaty, say politicians
Politicians in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have proposed a break away from the country’s controversial Inter State Treaty, arguing it to be at risk of collapse under widely expected legal challenges.
Hans-Jorn Arp of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany Party and Free Democratic Party chairman Wolfgang Kubicki said the Hessian Ministry of the Interior’s (HMI) attempts to regulate online sports betting had been a failure.
In a document sent to the HMI in July this year but only released last week, Kubicki condemned the efforts of the regulatory body and said the Inter State Treaty had become an “economic programme for illegal operators”.