Regulation round-up 20 May 2014
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (14 May to 20 May 2014)
UK Gambling Bill enters into law
Legislation which will move the UK to a point of consumption regime receives Royal Assent as countdown to implementation begins
The UK moved closer to adopting a point of consumption (PoC) framework for online gambling after the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill was finally passed into law.
The Bill, which received its first reading 12 months ago, was last week given Royal Assent and kick-starts the countdown to a regime which will see UK-facing operators regulated by the UK’s regulatory body.
The Gambling Commission previously stated the new framework would come into force “at least three months” after had Bill received Royal Assent, which now equates to a go-live date of mid-August at the earliest.
“This is a welcome step forward – bringing the 85% of the remote gambling market currently regulated overseas within the Commission’s remit will provide us with direct access to and oversight of all commercial gambling provided to those in Britain,” Philip Graf, chairman of the Gambling Commission said.
Google lifts PartyPoker search ban
PartyPoker’s online visibility received a boost last week after Google appeared to lift a penalty which had been preventing the brand from appearing in Google’s search results.
The search engine handed down the penalty last month after PartyPoker was suspected to have violated the company’s linking guidelines through the purchasing of links aimed at increasing its online search rankings.
As a result, the bwin.party brand is thought to have missed out on significant traffic during the period as Google searches using poker-related terms such as ‘online poker’ failed to produce any links to the PartyPoker site.
Seven days in regulation:
Winamax receives sports betting licence
Winamax has received regulatory approval from l’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) to launch an online sportsbook.
The five-year sports betting licence will enable the Paris-based company to offer pari-mutuel and fixed-odds betting via the Winamax.fr domain.
The operator was unable to discuss its sportsbook plans further when contacted for comment but it has recently begun a recruitment drive for sports-related positions.
Swedish regulator escalates Unibet sponsorship row
The Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen) is prepared to take the organisers of the Stockholm Marathon to court in its attempts to terminate its sponsorship deal with Unibet.
The warning came after Lotteriinspektionen said the marathon organisers had failed to respond to requests for information on the Unibet agreement “ a deal the regulator views to be in violation of the Swedish Lottery Act.
Lotteriinspektionen had originally asked the organisers to respond to its request by 24 April but has since been forced to issue a formal deadline of 30 May, the day before the marathon takes place, after which it would then seek a court injunction.
European Commission report criticises sports betting right claims
A European Commission (EC) report has warned of practical and legal issues with giving sports organisers the ‘right’ to consent to operators offering bets on an EU-wide basis.
The study, which was commissioned by the European Union’s executive body, was particularly critical of the French sports betting ‘right’ which it said had failed to increase financial distribution to sport or prevent match fixing.
Under the current French model all sports betting operators are required to obtain the consent of the relevant sports bodies in order to offer bets on their events.
Dutch national lottery eyes online diversification
The Netherlands’ national lottery Staatsloterij will launch a number of new online gaming products through third-party suppliers when the market re-regulates early next year.
The diversification will be part of an attempt to “meet the changing demands of consumers” with a host of international operators looking to enter the market next year.
While Staatsloterij has not yet revealed the nature of these games, eGaming Review understands that they will not initially include casino games such as slots and blackjack despite new regulation due to come into force early next year which will legalise such products.
Canbet hands back UK operating licence
Beleaguered bookie Canbet appears to have raised the white flag after the operator handed back its UK operating licence in the face of crippling financial debts.
According to the UK regulator, the predominantly Australia-based Canbet “surrendered” its licence earlier this month as the operator continues to try and raise the funds necessary to pay back customers and other commercial debtors.
“On 7 May 2014, Canbet was removed from the Commission’s licence register after surrendering its operating licence,” the Gambling Commission confirmed in a statement.
Poll results: Egaming ads need a more responsible approach
The egaming sector needs to take a more responsible approach to marketing if it is to prevent a potential government-led crackdown on advertising, according to the majority of respondents to this week’s eGaming Review poll.
Around 80% of respondents said operators needed to change advertising tack, with 56% calling for minor change and 25% of the opinion a major change of direction was required in order to starve off the potential implementation of restrictive measures.
Just 19% of readers felt operators were already advertising responsibly and believed there was no need for any kind of marketing crackdown.