Online Casino News
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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By vince.baker | 17th November 2011 | Online Casino News
After the introduction of the online casino industry a few years ago, it is still growing quite strong. In fact, a number of CEOs are working even harder to get even more results. In a recent article published by SBWire, numerous businessmen are turning online for all their business requirements. Because the online gambling industry is still considered to be new to the market, many people still retain dreams of becoming an online gambling tycoon. Really, this is not a very unrealistic dream as the online gambling industry is now worth billions of dollars with people all over the world gambling.
Another thing that has worked for the online casino industry is that it is still very controversial, allowing it to generate news all the time. While online gambling is allowed in a number of countries, in others, like the United States of America, there is still a blanket ban on online casinos. Numerous European countries are starting to open up their “cyberspace borders” to online gambling, creating new regulations. The countries include Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. While the rest of Europe is falling in line with online gambling, proponents of online gambling in the United States hopes their country will soon follow suit.
There is still much room for growth when it comes to the online gambling industry. This means that this market is not yet saturated as new websites are making room for themselves online. The online casino industry has also reached a phase in its growth where it is not a niche market but a mainstream market. Today, online casinos are involved with a number of IPOs as well as merger agreements with bigger companies.
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By Dror Pumper | 14th November 2011 | Online Casino News
Recently, the Kyrgyzstan parliament has decided to propose a 100 percent prohibition against both land-based casinos as well as online casinos throughout the country. This will therefore mean that all existing operators for both land-based and online casinos, as well as other various internet gambling services throughout the country will be asked to close down if it is passed. This means that Kyrgyzstan will not be a destination for any kind of gambling.
According to reports published by the BBC, there was no received opposition against the proposed changes made by the Kyrgyzstan parliament. The reports strongly state that a majority of the legislators throughout the country are extremely influenced by numerous published reports stating that a major problem throughout society today is compulsive gambling. The legislature points fingers at online casinos as well as land-based. However, this law will designate a certain geographic area that will house gambling opportunities. But at this time, this geographic location has yet to be announced. Once the news of this proposal was announced to the general public, those employed by gambling venues as well as those who are patrons to the casinos began protesting against the possible banning of internet and brick-and-mortar casinos if the new law is passed.
A supporter of this new proposal is a conservative from Kyrgyzstan’s Fatherland Party. This person, who opted to remain anonymous, stated that the parliament is becoming increasingly concerned with the negative effects gambling can have on families. The parliament is hoping to put the ban into affect by 2012 after the President of the country puts his signature on the law. While the current President is not fully in favor of the banning of gambling in the country, it is a problem the President will not likely have to deal with as reelections are coming up in the next month.
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By Keila Brown | 10th November 2011 | Online Casino News
After a number of proposed changes, including chat features, privacy issues, video calling and so on, Facebook, arguably the most powerful and well known social networking website, has changed a number of their advertising guidelines. One of the prominent changes is that online casino advertisements may now be posted on the website. This enables casino websites, poker websites, sports betting websites, lotteries, and various other gambling organizations to target their primary demographic on Facebook.
It used to be that Facebook prohibited online gambling advertisements on their website. However, Facebook is now looking to increase their revenue and one of the major ways to do this is to provide more industries with the opportunity to advertise on the website. Online gambling websites still need to keep in mind though that there are some rules which must be followed to allow for advertisements. One of the most important rules is that the online gambling website needs to, at all times, follow the local laws in the area and all consent and authorization must be approved by Facebook prior to utilizing the social networking website for advertising purposes. All ads that facilitate or promote online gambling, lotteries, sports booking, poker, bingo, and all other games of skill and chance are only allowed in those countries that have authorization from Facebook.
A number of rules concerning this new advertising scheme have been set up regarding the United States. All online casino advertisements are not allowed to target the United States market due to the illegality of online casinos in the country. While this rule will not affect a majority of online casino websites as most do not have operations that come out of the United States, it could hinder any American based affiliates who would like to utilize Facebook in an effort to target players.
The minimum cost for an advertising campaign with Facebook is $30,000. Most likely, due to this price, it will be the larger online casinos that are able to “cough up” this price and place their advertisements on Facebook.
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By Dror Pumper | 30th October 2011 | Online Casino News
To further crackdown on the growing number of unlicensed offshore online casino operations, the Independent Administration of State Monopolies (Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato), the Italian regulation board, is declaring that all financial institutions, including banks, need to report every single transaction made by players or companies with any blacklisted online casino websites. While online casinos just became legal recently in the European country, the Independent Administration of State Monopolies just recently began providing licenses as early as July as well as putting a number of websites on a blacklist due to not having a license.
For all online gamblers living in Italy, there are going to be extremely high stakes should they choose to utilize offshore online gambling websites that do not have a license. Names will find out because all financial institutions and banks will now be required by a new law to turn over all the contact information of these individuals. The head of the Independent Administration of State Monopolies, Francesco Rodano, recently said that the licensing board wants to place a number of measures that will ensure that all financial institutions will send the name of all players using any illegal offshore gambling websites.
One of the primary reasons for the creation of this new law by the Independent Administration of State Monopolies was in response to what happened earlier with Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker was actually just about to secure an online gambling license from the Independent Administration of State Monopolies when the events surrounding Black Friday took place. The Independent Administration of State Monopolies is trying to guarantee that a problem such as Full Tilt Poker’s does not occur within the country.
Online casino goers in Italy will now all have to double check if the online casino websites they frequent has a license or not!
Mansion Group and all its subsidiaries including Casino.com and MansionCasino.com are fully licensed, legal and regulated online casino sites in the UK
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By Keila Brown | 23rd October 2011 | Online Casino News
In the United Kingdom there more than five million people register with new casino accounts to become online gamblers every year. However, there is only a very small percentage of these individuals who realize that where they are gambling may actually be an ‘unsafe’ online casino website. In a recent investigation, it was found that around 45 percent of all online casinos based in the United Kingdom do not hold the proper licenses in any of the ‘white listed’ jurisdictions. The United Kingdom continues to list all the online casinos that have had an operating license issued to them. All unregulated online casinos are not only considered unsafe, but they are also deemed illegal. The unfortunate thing is that a majority of online gamblers have no clue of the increased probability for financial loss when they choose to register to gamble at unregulated online casino websites. This has been made a primary concern within the government in the United Kingdom. The government is looking to increase public awareness of all the inherent risks that are associated with online casinos what are unregulated and without licenses.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission currently has a list of all countries that follow the rules, are regulated, and have the proper licensing for all online casino establishments. Many licensed online casinos throughout the United Kingdom are able to advertise and market; however, the online casinos that are not on the white list cannot advertise. This prevents citizens from being able to register and gamble. Currently, there are more than one-thousand online casinos with operating licenses in white listed jurisdictions. This provides the opportunity for gamblers to find reliable selections for online casino entertainment. However, many still find the unregulated and unlicensed websites, which is a cause for concern.
Mansion Group and all it’s subsidiaries including Casino.com and MansionCasino.com are fully licensed, legal and regulated online casino sites in the UK
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