Online Casino News
By Keila Brown | 16th January 2012 | Online Casino News
The current problems going on with the Euro throughout Europe’s Eurozone is starting to wreak havoc on casinos throughout Switzerland, especially in Ticino, which is near the Switzerland – Italy border and has the largest concentration of casinos found anywhere in Europe. While Ticino is no Las Vegas, it does have a number of casinos, include the largest in Europe.
The federal government of Switzerland mandates that the casinos pay a percentage of all profits to the state. And while they were still able to provide some money to the federal government, it is not as much as they have been able to. Between the newly created smoking ban in casinos, coupled with the current economic crisis and the introduction of video lotteries throughout Italy, the casinos have lost a minimum of 40 percent of their gross gaming revenues.
The situation is made even more difficult because employees as well as suppliers are paid in Swiss currency, Francs, while most people play the games in Euros, which has lost approximately 25 percent of their total value since the onset of 2010. While Italian players still use the same amount of Euros, the Euro crisis means much fewer Swiss Francs.
The casino will not cut out services to their clients, but will have to reorganize internally a bit without compromising quality. The casino does not want people to stop coming. They are also hoping that soon the economy will be in an upswing and the Euro crisis will dissipate.
One final measure to aid the casinos will be to try to renegotiate the profit revenues given to the federal government. Currently, casinos pay close to 50 percent to the government. However, the Swiss government rebuffed the request to change the amount paid.
There are no exact predictions for the future if the Euro crisis continues other than that the Ticino casinos will have start reducing investments and costs if the exchange rate does not start going in their favor.
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By Dror Pumper | 12th January 2012 | Online Casino News
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ recently released Global Gaming Outlook, the Asia Pacific Region will be the fastest growing in terms of the casino gaming industry over the next five years. The gaming revenue is said to increase from $34.3 billion US to a projected $79.3 billion US by 2015.
However, despite these numbers, the online casino industry is currently illegal in Singapore. Jonathan Galaviz, a gaming analyst said that the governments in the area should really try to seize this growing opportunity rather than push it away as there is huge growth in online gaming. The report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers said that there is a very strong argument right now in the area that as consumers continue to engage in websites offering illegal online gambling opportunities, it is much better to provide licenses and tax it, rather than allowing unlicensed operators to continue to amass large amounts of revenue.
Galaviz said that the Singapore government should do some serious research regarding the issue of online gambling and bring it up during policy discussions. However, not all gaming analysts have taken the same approach as Galaviz. Felix Ling, a senior partner and casino consultant at Platform Asia Management Services said that by legalizing online casinos in Singapore, it will create a devastating social impact. Derek da Cunha, the author of “Singapore Places its Bets,” agreed with Ling. He stated that if online gambling were to be legalized in Singapore, it would bring in new players who do not really know what online gambling is. The social consequences would be that people, rather than work, would be using their computers only for gambling purposes.
But the “social consequence” argument is not as strong as people would like to believe. If it was a strong argument, then how could it explain the opening of two brick-and-mortar casinos in Singapore in 2010? These casinos have amassed over $4.4 billion US in 2011. Think about what kind of revenue online gambling could bring in? It seems as though Singapore would like to think that online gambling is a much bigger evil than physical casinos.
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By Dror Pumper | 10th January 2012 | Online Casino News
With Denmark recently deregulating their online gambling industry, witnesses are marveling as the sector continues to open up. As of January 01, 2012, Denmark will officially be a brand new online gambling licensing jurisdiction. Denmark also signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with licensing bigwig the Isle of Man, mainly to learn how to be a successful licensing jurisdiction. This agreement will be formalized as well on January 01, 2012. Denmark has also created a similar agreement with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission as well.
In the Czech Republic, the accidental passing of a new piece of legislation has the country doing some massive backpedaling. Recently the parliament’s lower house passed legislation stating that video lottery terminal operators would be offered a €77.7 million tax break. This has created much firestorm in the media. A 20 percent tax on the video lottery terminal revenue is also cites to become split between three groups – local municipalities, education, and charities as to be determined by the local gambling industry. However, it was originally only supposed to be split between the municipalities and the education. But the controversial wording has everyone up in arms right now.
Lastly, Greece has recently passed a number of laws that look as though they will be challenged by the Remote Gambling Association in court. It is to take place at the beginning of the New Year. However, with this last year not faring well for Greece in terms of their economy, no one knows if 2012 holds anything much better, especially as far as the online casino industry is concerned. Cyprus also looks like it could be changing very quickly. While it is currently considered a haven for not just British retirees but also the remote gambling industry, things look like it could be changing for the latter, and not in a positive direction. Stay tuned for the New Year to find out more.
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By Keila Brown | 20th December 2011 | Online Casino News
And the online casino industry continues to boom as some of the biggest players online start showing their interest in this lucrative industry. One of the biggest players starting to pique interest is the largest social media network website in the world – Facebook.
Facebook has already opened their doors to allowing online casinos to purchase advertising space on the website, but now the website is in talks with a variety of online casinos, consultants, and gambling experts to determine whether or not it should create real money gambling opportunities. According to a report from eGaming Review, Facebook is currently looking for new streams of revenue and the online gambling industry is looking for brand new ways to access the growing public. This could, therefore, become a very convenient match for both parties. However, it said in the report that it could take quite a bit of time before Facebook and the online gambling companies interested find an appropriate agreement regarding age verification procedures and revenue sharing.
As previously mentioned, this new announcement follows the heels of a decision made last month when Facebook decided to amend advertising guidelines to allow advertisements from online casino companies. Those who are for this new decision note that Facebook is already a leader in non-monetary online gaming. The Zynga-powered games in Facebook’s portfolio include games like Zynga Poker. However, those who are opposed to this say that it could be opening up a number of problems related to underage gambling. They believe it is irresponsible promotion, allowing children to think that it is only “fun and games.” However, James Bennet, the editor of eGaming Review said that while Facebook is searching for new streams of revenue and the online gambling industry looking for new markets, there is much work to be done in regards to age verification and the percentage of money the online casinos would have to give to Facebook.
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By Keila Brown | 13th December 2011 | Online Casino News
While Belgium may be heaven for most when it comes to food and beer, it has been one hell of a nightmare as far as online gambling has been concerned.
Beginning in January of 2012, Base, Belgacom, Mobistar, and Telenet, four of the major internet service providers in Belgium, will begin to block access to any illegal gambling websites. Working alongside the Gaming Commission in Belgium, two lists will be created, known as the ‘white list’ and the ‘black list.’ The white list will contain all the gambling websites that have current licenses with the Gaming Commission, and can therefore continue on with their legal online activities. The black list, on the other hand, will contain all the gambling websites that currently do not have a license from the Gaming Commission, or have a license that is currently suspended. The internet service providers have received these lists from the Gaming Commission so they will have the ability to block all illegal gambling websites.
It is currently estimated that approximately 30,000 to 40,000 online gambling players throughout Belgium utilized websites that have a license. However, there are around 150,000 players that are using gambling websites that do not have a license. This is exactly where the Gaming Commission looks to target. According to Peter Naessens, the Gaming Commission’s head of their regulatory unit, the commission has already received a number of official reports from the police that indicate which online casino websites are currently running illegal operations. The Gaming Commission is going to determine which of these illegal websites have more players, and target those ones first as they are a bit more relevant.
Under the Belgium Gaming Act, while betting services and gambling operations are still majorly prohibited, licensed groups will be the primary exception. The act requires licensing for all gambling services, which will be controlled through the Gaming Commission in the country.
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By Goodluck | 12th December 2011 | Online Casino News
On November 22, 2011, the European country of Serbia adopted their own set of gambling laws. The objective of these laws is to decrease the total number of various illegal operators in the country, and combat money laundering – a problem in Serbia that is tied to online gambling.
JAKTA, the trade association in Serbia, welcomed in this new legislation and had a meeting with the Serbian Gaming Board right after it was passed. JAKTA remains optimistic and believes they were quite thorough during their relevant fact gathering mission. They believed it was important to research the gaming marketplace to come up with their facts. JAKTA met with a number of testing partners and compared various regulatory models throughout the European Union. In the end JAKTA retained information to lobby in the Serbian government for a market that is well-regulated.
The Serbian Gaming Board’s director stated that the inclusion of these new gambling laws will aid in successfully opening up the entire online gaming market to Serbia. The laws address three key issues for Serbia – how to control online gaming, electronically operating all online gambling operators, and streamlining taxation throughout the industry.
Recently, it has been extremely difficult for any legitimate gambling operator in Serbia to compete for a place in the market due to the large black market for this industry. For the previous five years, the black market has held onto the reigns of the majority share of the online gambling industry. The new laws just created will provide the Serbian Gaming Board with the ability to punish illegal operators (who at this time outnumber legitimate operators 2:1). Tax authorities as well as Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs will aid the Serbian Gaming Board with enforcing the new laws that work toward a promotion of a legal online casino industry with fair taxation and player protection.
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By Keila Brown | 5th December 2011 | Online Casino News
According to a poll recently done by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (or the UGC for short), the popularity associated with remote gambling continue to be on the rise. Remote gambling includes personal computers, laptops, smart phones, and tablets. The online casino industry has especially taken note of the increased use of smart phones for mobile gambling purposes. Research from Ofcom showed that numerous consumers in the United Kingdom are spending approximately half of their time away using communication devices, especially smart phones.
However, one of the problems the United Kingdom is facing is that most of the online casino companies that offer mobile gambling are licensed and located offshore. Often, this is done for tax-related purposes. Unfortunately, the United Kingdom is not ready to revise any of their tax laws.
With the widespread availability of devices that are internet-ready, the government in the United Kingdom is extremely worried about irresponsible gambling. The Minister of Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose, recently announced new plans to combat the irresponsibleness. His proposal is aimed at protecting the public from a possible gambling addiction by requiring that all online gambling companies have a license in order to be able to operate in the United Kingdom, no matter where they are located. Penrose said that the system that is currently in place to regulate remote gambling does not work as operators overseas are provided an unfair advantage over companies based in the United Kingdom. The British consumers end up having little, if any, protection based on where the online casino operator is located.
The goal is to have these offshore websites get a license from the UGC. This would create a level playing field for every single online gambling operator. However, before the UGC is able to do this, they may have to think about revising their tax and trading laws so it will be attractive for these offshore operators to get a license.
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By vince.baker | 4th December 2011 | Online Casino News
A big question many online gambling websites are asking is if Flash is dead. The question is starting to pop up everywhere as Microsoft made a recent announcement that the company is no longer going to be supporting any kind of Flash Technology. The questions arose as almost 100 percent of all desktop content within the online gambling industry is driven by the use of Flash.
While there are a number of warning bells going on in the online gambling industry regarding the death of Flash, the boost in use of mobile phones and tablets for online gambling activities have paved the way for a new technology to take over. However, the online casino industry is still sweating with the impending news that Adobe is no longer going to be developing Flash programs. The major concern being brought to the forefront is that all current software programs that are Flash-driven will become obsolete sooner rather than later.
However, there is some good news for the online casino industry. While Adobe is withdrawing Flash technology and will no longer be making no releases or features, they will still be releasing bug and security updates. The new plan for many online casinos is to start using HTML5, which is another universal platform. HTML5 is already being used in a number of mobile devices and is providing much better software solutions for not only the development, but also the delivery of online gambling content that is browser-enabled.
As well, HTML5 is shows to offer much better security than Flash. This is very good news for online casino players who do their financial transactions through the internet. Online gambling operators should definitely not be panicking but instead see this as a great advancement that allows for the old to go out and the new to come in.
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By Keila Brown | 29th November 2011 | Online Casino News
In the last month, the European Union has been showing no difficulties in compromising and working out the best solutions regarding online gambling for all concerned parties. In a recent resolution created by the European Union in regards to gambling online, the Parliament agreed that all European Union member states that restrict access to the gambling market in their country will have to face court proceedings in order to ensure they comply with the European Union law. This is seen as many to be good news.
A number of member states tend to be very guarding when it concerns their online gambling business, especially when foreign operators are concerned. The states refused to give up monopolistic policies regarding gambling. However, the marketplace policies as far as the entire European Union is concerned, are strictly free market.
The Remote Gambling Association, which represents some of the largest licensed gambling companies, praises this new resolution. It provides a new outlook for many private sector online gambling operators as it provides guarantees regarding compliance with European Union laws. Clive Hawkswood, who is the CEO of the Remote Gambling Association, said that this resolution marks the change in the approach the European Union makes with online gambling to regulate it rather than prohibit it, as well as putting pressure on member states that do not comply.
This new resolution provides clarity concerning the European Commission’s duties to take action when any member state violates what is written in the treaties.
For example, Italy was taken to the European Court of Justice when the country refused to provide an online gambling license to a British online gaming company. Because Italy is one of the newest countries within the industry, the refusal to allow access by a British company was not taken lightly by the court.
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By Dror Pumper | 21st November 2011 | Online Casino News
According to numerous published reports stemming from Malaysia and the Philippines, there have been a large number of online gambling crackdowns recently taking place. However, the way that Asia has been going about it has been quite different that the style the United States has chosen to take in regards to illegal online gambling. In the last nine months, more than four thousand computers have been seized and over 800 men and women arrested. These figures from 2011 are much higher than 2010 figures. Whereas a bit over 700 people were arrested, fewer than 2,500 computers were seized by the police.
Most of those who have been arrested in this number are repeat offenders. There are no reports mentioning if these individuals are being treated as individuals with gambling problems. There are been approximately 50 locations that have been flagged as being used to run illegal gambling operations. In Asia, illegal online gambling is a very serious offense and the governments look to curb them as quickly as possible.
In the Philippines and Malaysia, online gambling offenders are arrested under the 1953 Common Gaming House Act and the 1997 Entertainment and Places of Entertainment Act. The police are also keeping an eye on a number of the internet cafes throughout these countries to guarantee that people are not using them to go online illegal online gambling websites. If found playing on illegal online casino websites at the cafes, both the player as well as the owner of the internet café will be prosecuted.
These laws do not only apply to online gambling. Many people have been arrested for hosting illegal gambling parties. A number of these parties are run by some of the organized local crime cells in the countries.
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