Veikkaus Not Worried
Finland's state-operated gaming monopoly, Veikkaus, announced at the end of April that "The European Commission's decision to open an infringement procedure does not threaten the exclusive right system applied to gaming/betting games in Finland." The statement continued, "Opening an infringement procedure is a normal EU practice following complaints to the Commission. It therefore does not basically constitute a legal procedure. In practice, the Finnish State will receive a Letter of Formal Notice from the Commission requesting the State to provide grounds for the exclusive right system. Should the Commission not be satisfied with the response, it can request for further explanations by sending a Reasoned Opinion to the Finnish State. The State can respond to the Reasoned Opinion by giving further grounds, or by adapting its sytem. After this, if the State's grounds and measures are not deemed satisfactory by the Commission, it may decide to file a lawsuit against the State at the EC Court. An infringement procedure may take years, as we have seen in, e.g., Denmark and Sweden."
Discussion in Ontario
Half a dozen officials from the Ontario provincial government and Canadian federal government met with representatives of Ontario's casinos and racetracks in mid April to discuss the recent rise in popularity of Internet gambling. An article from the Toronto Star covering the meeting estimates that Ontarians spend about CA$300 million (US$267 million) a year gambling over the Internet. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, which operates lotteries and casinos in the province, has suffered revenue losses of CA$335 million ($299 million) over the past two years, and forecasts losses of $210 million this year. Although Internet gambling is thought to factor into the revenue loss, larger reasons include tighter security at the American border and competition from American casinos.
The meeting was called by Gerry Phillips, minister of government services, who wrote a letter to Justice Minister Vic Toews on March 6 stressing concerns about Internet gambling. The Toronto Star says sources report that three options to address the matter were discussed. The first option is stopping the advertisement of Internet gambling. Liberal MPP Jeff Leal (Peterborough) has introduced a bill that seeks to do this, and it has already received a second reading by a voice vote in the Legislature. This, however, is as far as private members' bills typically get. A second option is to seek criminal charges against gambling website operators, but how this would be accomplished is not clear. A third option is to set up a government-licensed Internet gambling operation to keep the revenues within Ontario. The meeting's participants are expected to meet again this month.
Russian Minister Urges World Unity in Combating Hackers
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliye in April called for the world to unite against online criminals. He stated that the frequency of attacks from computer hackers is increasing and that cyber criminals have the potential to cause as much harm as deadly weapons. "A whole arsenal of destructive technologies is being used by criminals against the information infrastructure," Nurgaliyev stated at a conference in Moscow. "In certain conditions, the consequences of their use for humanity could even prove to be comparable with the use of weapons of mass destruction." Russian hackers are particularly notorious for their sophistication. The extortion ring the targeted Internet gambling Web sites with distributed denial of service attacks in 2003 and 2004, for example, was eventually busted in Russia.
350 Illegal Online Gambling Cases in China in '06
China's Xinhua News Agency reports that Chinese police have taken action in more than 350 online gambling cases and detained over 700 suspects so far this year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Regulation Considered in Minnesota
Minnesota State Rep. Andy Westerberg has introduced a bill that would legalize online advance deposit wagering on horse racing in his state. Last year Minnesota's Canterbury Park's simulcast handle fell by 8.3 percent (US$5.3 million). Track officials explain that this is because many of the core simulcast players have decided to stay at home and play over the Internet. They say that if horse race wagering over the Internet were permitted in their state, they could compete against the offshore operators who return no percentage of their revenue to the sport. Track officials are also trying to push legislation to allow slot machines at the part and to expand its card room and have also attempted to boost revenues by providing roving mutuel tellers on the grounds, upgraded betting machines and more learning opportunities.