Regulation round-up 16 December 2014
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (10 December to 16 December 2014)
Norway liberalisation still on agenda, says lawyer
Cecilie Haavik, partner at law firm DLA Piper, expects government will ignore recent gambling report and continue with plans to liberalise market
Norway’s government will continue with plans to liberalise its online gaming market despite the release of a report last week recommending ways in which its current monopoly system might be strengthened, a leading egaming lawyer has said.
Cecilie Haavik, partner at law firm DLA Piper, told eGaming Review the Ministry of Justice-commissioned study, which detailed a number of measures to further restrict unlicensed online gaming, would have little impact on the whether or not the government would decide to open up its gaming market to more operators.
“I believe the Minister will quickly put this paper into a drawer and go on with the plan regarding a slight liberalization of the present lottery act,” Haavik said. “The government has an ongoing hearing process regarding changes in the law which will go on undisrupted by this expert report,” she added.
Gambling and horse racing licences within Norway are exclusive to monopolies Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto respectively, but the study found that up to 42% of Norwegians believed foreign betting companies were “allowed” to offer online gambling products to players in the country.
Google facing penalty over Russia advertising breach
Online behemoth Google has today been told to discontinue all gambling related advertising in Russia with immediate effect after being accused of breaching the country’s advertising codes by publishing an ad for an online gambling product.
The warning came from Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) which in a statement released this morning said would now prepare an administrative offence case against Google, which is likely result in a financial penalty of between RUB100,000 (£1,200) and RUB500,000 (£6,000).
According to the statement, Google said the banned advertisement was likely to have been due to sophisticated advertising bots able to finds ways to bypass its AdWords filters.
Seven days in regulation:
Dutch regulator “overwhelmed” by interest in online market
The Dutch Gaming Authority has been left “overwhelmed” by the number of operators expressing an interest in the soon-to-be regulated online market although many may be unable to meet “strict” licensing requirements, according to DLA Piper gaming lawyer Robin de Wit.
Last week, the regulator’s chief executive Marja Appelman revealed the regulator had received around 130 expressions of interest from operators hopeful of obtaining a licence, roughly the double the number of submissions it had originally anticipated.
According to de Wit, the regulator has received interest from businesses of all shapes and sizes but warned as many as half could be unable to meet the costs and other requirements associated with future licence applications.
Greek regulation “hopelessly inconsistent”, says EGBA chief
European Gaming and Betting Association secretary general Maarten Haijer is calling on the European Commission to intervene in what he describes as a “hopelessly inconsistent” regulatory situation in Greece.
Haijer’s comments come after OPAP chief executive Kamil Ziegler last week partly attributed his company’s disappointing Q3 results on “adverse conditions” caused by 24 egaming firms operating in Greece under interim licences.
According to Ziegler, these licensees operate in a “very grey zone” and directly led to the underperformance of OPAP’s nascent online sportsbook.
Betclic and NetEnt among firms poised to enter Spanish market
Betclic-Everest Group and NetEnt are among the list of 12 firms to have applied to enter Spain’s online gaming market, eGR understands.
Last week Spanish regulator La Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) revealed it had received applications for general licences from a dozen firms during its recent licensing window, which closed on Tuesday (9 December).
Gala Coral brand Eurobet yesterday confirmed it had applied to re-enter a market it exited in 2011 and eGR understands Betclic, NetEnt and the Novomatic Group also feature on the list of new applicants.
Irish betting tax hit by Malta setback
Ireland’s plan to introduce an online betting tax will be delayed until 2015 after Maltese authorities raised a number of concerns related to the country’s Betting Amendment Bill.
The Bill, which has suffered a series of delays since first being tabled in 2011, aims to introduce a 1% turnover tax on all bets placed online within Ireland’s borders in a move which would bring remote gambling in line with the land-based industry.
It had been thought the Bill was on course to be passed before the end of the calendar year having been submitted to the European Commission for inspection during the summer.
Committee of Advertising Practice issues advertising guidance
The UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has issued guidance on targeted gambling adverts and urged operators to take “all reasonable steps” to ensure ads are not directed at children.
In a note issued this week, the regulatory body discussed targeted adverts presented to consumers via email, social media and print advertising that had previously been subject to scrutiny by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).
CAP discussed several individual cases in which operators had either been referred to or found guilty of a breach of the advertising code by the ASA and clarified controls operators need in place in order to ensure advertising remains compliant.
Attempt to introduce US egaming ban suffers setback
Attempts to introduce a federal egaming ban in the US through the restoration of the Wire Act appear to have been quashed for the year.
Momentum for the ban, which would block operators from offering online gaming in the country, including in the three states where it is already legal, has come from billionaire land-based gaming mogul Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson had hoped the bill he backed would be passed by Congress in the dying weeks of the 2014 legislative session by being attached to must-pass financial legislation.
Dutch regulator dismisses claims of impropriety
The Dutch Gaming Authority has defended its decision to open a pre-registration window for operators interested in the Netherlands’ soon-to-be regulated online gaming market as it was revealed the regulator had received 130 responses to date.
Opposition politicians in the country recently questioned whether the Kansspelautoriteit’s (KSA) request for interest was “improper to parliament” with the Dutch remote gambling bill yet to be passed.
But speaking to eGR, Jan Suyver, chairman at the KSA, said that the “informal” pre-registration process, which got underway on 1 December, was “in no way in anticipation of the bill” and reiterated that full applications would only be submitted after the bill had been adopted.