Regulation round-up 29 March 2016
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (23 March to 29 March 2016)
Hills losing 3,000 customers a week to self-exclusions
CEO James Henderson reveals exclusion rate and says “extensive modelling” puts annual cost at ?20m-?25m
William Hill says the number of customers opting to self-exclude or entering into a cooling-off period has risen to as many as 3,000 a week with the firm estimating the full-year financial impact could be as much as ?25m.
The operator, which partly attributed last week’s profit warning to the potential impact the number of excluders could have on its digital business, said the reduction in actives had so far set the company back ?2m in 2016.
But it would appear William Hill has been disproportionately affected by the introduction of the self-exclusion and cool-off tools, with a number of its rivals telling eGaming Review they were “surprised” at numbers reported by the operator.
“While we are expecting some impact from the self-exclusions, we were surprised to see the scale of the impact Hills is already predicting,” said one major operator.
Amaya chief Baazov hit with five insider dealing charges
Amaya CEO David Baazov says he will “vigorously contest” five charges of insider trading filed against him following an investigation carried out by the financial regulator in Quebec.
The Autorit? des march?s financiers (AMF) filed a total of 23 charges against Baazov, an employee and an advisor relating to activity in the run up to its $4.9bn acquisition of PokerStars.
The charges against Baazov include aiding with trades while in possession of privileged information, influencing or attempting to influence the market price of Amaya stock, and communicating privileged information.
Seven days in regulation:
German states reject wholesale changes to Interstate Treaty
The leaders of the 16 German states have rejected a proposal from the state of Hesse that would have introduced regulated online sports betting, casino and poker to the country.
The proposals also called for the removal of the controversial 20-licence limit for sports betting and to implement loss-limits and self-restriction protocols in place of the Interstate Treaty’s plans for a ?1,000 per month limit on player staking.
However leaders of the other 15 states rejected the proposal at a Conference of Prime Ministers earlier this month, instead calling for “minimally invasive surgery” to heal the broken Interstate Treaty.
Legal online poker on the cards in New York
New York has thrown its hat in the ring to become the next US state to regulate online poker after politicians included language that would legalise the activity in the state’s budget bill.
The budget has to be finalised in the next two weeks, and a resolution published last week confirmed language that would “authorise and regulate” online poker had been included.
The language referred to is from online poker bill S3020B, which was introduced by Senator John Bonacic back in May 2015.
PokerStars NJ license being “closely monitored”
PokerStars’ New Jersey egaming licence is being closely monitored by the state regulator following accusations of insider trading involving parent company Amaya’s CEO David Baavov made by Quebec’s financial watchdog.
The charges could not have come at a worse time for Amaya, which launched its PokerStars and Full Tilt brands in the Garden State at the start of the week after being given approval by the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) back in October.
But a spokesperson for the DGE confirmed to EGR that its investigation into Amaya was not fully complete and, like all others operating in the state, the firm currently only has a temporary egaming licence.