What's New? - June 2008

Online betting: Can the European Commission enforce the principles of the EU Treaty?

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) and the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), two prominent lobbying organizations of the online betting industry in Europe, have raised doubts whether the European Commission is capable of enforcing the principles of the EU Treaty regarding free movement of services across the EU. They are referring to the situation that several EU states have not yet amended their gambling laws to put an end to the breach of the EU treaty. Theses laws have been challenged by the Commission during the last 15 months, but the non-compliant EU states have not been brought to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Read more ..

EU opposes the gaming bill drafted in Estonia

As reported by the Baltic Business News, the European Commission has opposed the new gaming bill drafted this week in Estonia, saying that it may violate in part EU's principles of free movement of services.

Frank and Paul anti-UIGEA bill rejected by House Financial Committee

Various sources have reported that a 32-32 vote in the House Financial Services committee defeated an amendment to the bill HR 5767, the ‘Payment Systems Protections Act’, offered by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) HR 5767 was introduced by Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul to suspend regulations introduced under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006. King's amendment would have required Congress to define ‘unlawful Internet gambling”, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System, in consultation with the Attorney General, to develop new regulations to implement UIGEA that are less burdensome for U.S. financial services companies.

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US Congress Passes on i-Gaming Legislation

Key Congressional Committee Reaches Stalemate on New Regulations to Enforce Internet Gambling Ban

Congress Refuses to Define Illegal Online Gambling

Lawmakers disagree over defining online gambling

Frank and Paul anti-UIGEA bill rejected by House Financial Committee

Congressional Lies: Like Bluffing With All Your Cards Exposed

Lou Krieger, well known in the poker world for his popular books and columns, says in his blog that the statements of Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala) in an editorial published by the The American Banker on the eve of the US Congress debate on i-Gaming legislation are as false as a poker player trying to bluff with all of his cards exposed! Rep. Bachus' editorial is entitled: “Viewpoint: Blocking Web Gambling Rules Would Be Mistake.”

Paris judge rejects football club's claim of commercial free riding by betting websites

EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association) reports that a Paris court has rejected the claims of Paris Saint Germain Football Club that the use of their brand by the two online sports betting companies bwin and Unibet constitutes act of counterfeiting and commercial free riding. Read more ..

House Committee to Vote on Suspending Internet Gambling Ban

On June 24, 2008, the US House Committee on Financial Services will vote on the legislation H.R. 5767 to prohibit the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing or implementing any regulations related to the current ban on Internet gambling, as required by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). Read more ..

Spain to license egaming operators by 2009

Spain is in the process of creating a legislation that will allow gaming operators throughout the EU to legally develop their activities in Spain by 2009.Senior representatives from the National Gaming Commission of Spain, the Spanish tax authorities, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and the gaming offices of each of Spain’s 17 regions met last week to initiate the process. As a result of this legislation, non-authorised operators in Spain will likely face enforcement action. Read more ..

Turkish government to privatize state lottery

The state-owned lottery Milli Piyango in Turkey is going to be privatized. The winning bidder will be awarded a ten year contract on a revenue sharing basis. Various international companies like Italy’s Sisal, Greece’s OPAP, Australia’s Tattersall, US based Scientific Games and Camelot, as well as Gtech and Intralot are expected to bid, besides Turkish comnpanies like The Dogan Group, Cukurava Group and Is Yatirim. Read more ..

US to answer EU probe by 23 June

US is going to answer the formal probe by the EU into US gambling ban by 23rd June.Read more ..

Ladbrokes welcomes Dutch referral to ECJ

The Dutch Supreme Court took a decision on June 13 to refer an ongoing case of Ladbrokes against Dutch gambling monopoly De Lotto to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This case relates to an appeal against an injunction taken out in 2002 that prevented Ladbrokes from accepting sports bets from Dutch citizens. The Supreme court has asked the ECJ to guide them on how they should deal with the case in the context of European law. Ladbrokes has welcomed that the Dutch courts have finally recognized that their betting laws must be viewed in the context of European law. Read more ..

WTO is being pushed into new territory by the gambling dispute

Marcia Coyale has written a very informative article in The National Law Journal on the broader implications of the ongoing gambling dispute between the small island, Antigua and Barbuda, and the giant world power, the United States of America. The staff reporter of the journal narrates the development of this dispute from its beginning in March 2003, when the Caribbean island initiated a WTO (World Trade Organization) complaint against the USA alleging that various US federal laws were violating commitments contained in the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by barring foreign participation in U.S. Internet gambling markets, to the present day, when "the various twists and turns taken by the dispute since 2003 — some occurring just in the past few weeks — could make this one of the most significant trade disputes in the history of the WTO." The US decision in 2007 to withdraw completely from its GATS' commitments on gambling services expanded the dispute beyond Antigua. According to Naotaka Matsukata, senior policy adviser in the Washington office of Atlanta's Alston & Bird and a former U.S. trade official, this act greatly undermines the US negotiating ability. "Whether it's climate change or anything else, there will be a question of whether the U.S. is fully behind its commitments. We're talking about a congressionally ratified treaty here." Read more ..

An example of the arbitrariness of U.S. gambling law UIGEA

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), the online gaming industry offering fantasy sports consists of more than 100 companies, including major players such as ESPN and Yahoo! Sports, and they generate about $500 million in revenue each year, mainly from participant fees and advertising. Online fantasy sports cover all the popular sports like baseball, football, golf, hockey and cricket, and is a growing industry in the USA. The participants in fantasy sports choose real players for pretend teams that compete against each other based on the players' real-world performance. They can win prizes as high as $25,000. Yet the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) includes a specific exemption for fantasy sports, provided the prizes are determined in advance and the imaginary teams do not correspond to any real teams. Is fantasy sports legal because playing it requires knowledge and skill. But so do sports betting and poker, which are considered illegal according to the UIGEA.

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Anti-UIGEA support grows in the US Congress

Bill 5767, introduced to the United States House of Representatives early last month by Congressmen Barney Frank from Massachusetts and Ron Paul from Texas, which would block implementation of the anti-gambling law UIGEA, has now 19 co-sponsors, the latest being Representatives Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee and Steven Rothman, a Democrat from New Jersey. The implementation of the UIGEA would make it illegal for financial institutions to carry out transactions between US citizens and operators of online gaming sites. Read more ..