Regulation round-up 19 June 2012
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (13 June to 19 June 2012).
DGOJ announces full list of Spanish licensees
Total of 53 licences awarded “ all provisional until definitive certification issued by regulator.
The Spanish General Directorate for the Regulation of Online Gambling (DGOJ) has published the full list of 53 licensed operators following the opening of the country’s egaming market on 5 June.
As expected the majority of major European operators were granted approval when the licences were handed out on 1 June. The likes of William Hill, Sportingbet, Paddy Power, 888, bwin.party and Bet365 all obtaining licences for poker, bingo, casino and sports betting. Betfair, which has been licensed to offer sports betting and casino, is yet to apply for a poker licence but is known to be in the process of considering its network options.
Leading UK bingo operators Tombola, Gamesys and Rank Interactive have all been awarded licenses, however it is unclear whether Rank has been approved to offer bingo with the DGOJ’s official list of licencees only listing the company as being approved for to offer roulette and juegos complementarios, or ‘soft’ or ‘complimentary’ games, such as card games other than blackjack, baccarat and roulette.
A number of Spanish operators have secured approval including Codere, which brought an injunction against Sportingbet’s Miapuesta brand, resulting in a delay in the UK operator’s launch in the regulated market.
Italian austerity drive forces AAMS to merge with Customs Authority
The Italian egaming regulator L’Amministrazione autonoma dei monopoli di Stato (AAMS) is to be merged with the country’s L’Agenzia delle Dogane (Customs Authority) as Mario Monti’s government seeks to cut costs in order to boost Italy’s ailing economy.
The move will see a newly-formed entity entitled the Customs and Monopolies Agency take responsibility for regulating Italy’s land-based and online gambling markets, as well as control of the production, distribution and sale of tobacco products in the country, both formerly overseen independently by AAMS.
The decision to merge the two authorities is understood to be behind the departure of AAMS director general Raffaele Ferrara earlier this month. Ferrara is expected to be reassigned to a different department in the country’s Ministry of Finance, with head of the Customs Authority Giuseppe Peleggi to take charge of the Customs and Monopolies Agency. A new deputy director-general is to be appointed to oversee gaming and tobacco directly, but no official announcements have been made so far.
Exclusive: Gambling Commission dismisses social regulation rumours
The UK Gambling Commission has moved to quash rumours that it is investigating ways of regulating social gaming in a similar fashion to real-money gambling, but admits that it is forced to monitor the sector due to technological advances “testing the boundaries” of the 2005 Gambling Act.
Rumours that the Commission was examining the social gaming sector emerged over the weekend in UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday, with its corporate affairs manager John Travers telling the publication: “We are monitoring developments and assessing any wider implications for licensing objectives,” going on to say that social gaming was “at the perimeter” of current legislation.
When contacted by eGaming Review the Commission’s corporate affairs officer James Cook supported Travers’ comments, but explained: “The key question for the Commission is whether or not a gambling-style product on a social gaming website is gambling as defined under the Gambling Act 2005 “ more often than not it isn’t.”
Seven days in regulation:
Bwin loses Belgian court case
Bwin.party brand bwin has lost its appeal against its inclusion on Belgium’s egaming blacklist after a Brussels court found that its request had “no legal merit”.
The operator, which was one of 10 new names added to the country’s blacklist last month along with fellow London-listed companies Betfair and William Hill, had called for the Belgian Gaming Commission to remove it from the list and unblock Belgian customers from accessing the dot.com site.
Opinion: Farewell to AAMS
As part of a strategy aimed at reducing the costs of the Ministry of Finance, the Italian government decided to ‘disband’ the Italian gaming authority AAMS transferring all its functionalities to the Customs Authority to be renamed as “Agency of Customs and Monopolies“.
Formally AAMS will not exist anymore, but the decree providing this measure clarified that all the personnel and functionalities of AAMS will be transferred to the newly renamed Agency of Customs and Monopolies.
Exclusive: Illinois casinos put brakes on egaming bill
Illinois’ egaming bill was pulled last month because casinos did not want to host online gambling through a state lottery platform, Illinois Casino Gaming Association (ICGA) executive director Tom Swoik has told eGR North America.
Senate President John Cullerton introduced an amended version of HB 4148 on 15 May proposing the creation of a new Division of Internet Gaming in the Illinois Lottery, which would offer internet wagering on its own egaming platform, but took it off the state’s Executive Committee agenda before the 31 May procedural deadline.
Poll: Does the social gaming sector need to be regulated?
Despite rumours that the UK Gambling Commission is considering regulating the social gaming market in the same way as real-money gambling being quashed by the authority last week, there have been suggestions that stricter controls are both necessary and inevitable.
Last week the Commission’s corporate affairs officer James Cook told eGaming Review: The key question for the Commission is whether or not a gambling-style product on a social gaming website is gambling as defined under the Gambling Act 2005 “ more often than not it isn’t,” suggesting that there are no current plans to introduce legislation.
Fahrennkopf: US Congress is “dysfunctional”
The United States Congress’ opposition to federal online gambling is unlikely to change any time soon, American Gaming Association (AGA) CEO Frank Fahrenkopf told the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee yesterday.
In a presentation to the Commission’s 11-member panel, Fahrenkopf suggested that Rep. John Campbell’s HR1174 and Rep. Joe Barton’s HR2366 bills, currently in Congress, appear to be dead in the water. The AGA is still lobbying for a federal bill and remains hopeful that a third bill “ this time for poker only “ will be introduced soon, he said.
Cali bill pulled from Senate hearing
Online poker bill SB 1463 was pulled from the California Senate Governmental Organisation Committee agenda at the last minute yesterday, despite recent amendments raising hopes of greater support for the legislation.
The bill was scheduled to be first on the agenda at the hearing in Sacramento, however its sponsor Senator Roderick Wright, who also chairs the committee, announced the bill would not be heard at all. According to reports, the announcement was followed by a max exodus with the majority of the crowd heading for the exit as a result.
Delaware’s egaming bill passed by State House
A bill which would authorise online gambling in Delaware including casino games and sports lottery has been passed by the state’s House of Representatives.
HB 333, known as the Delaware Gaming Competitiveness Act of 2012, permits the sale of instant-win lottery games, and tickets for the Powerball and Mega Millions draws, while casino games such as slots and blackjack would also be permitted. All games would be under the control and operation of the Delaware Lottery.