Fourth Month of Chinese Crackdown
The Chinese government's mission to eradicate illegal gambling is still going strong after four months. The latest reports show that the government has shut down over 1,361 Web sites that offer gambling over the Internet and seized more than $200,000 in profits from some of those sites. Police are said to have investigated 42 criminal cases related to Internet gambling, apprehended 62 suspects and confiscated 183 servers. One large bust this month occurred in Shanghai, where police arrested 24 suspects who are allegedly linked to a Taiwanese online football betting organization that offered services in 22 mainland Chinese provinces. Police confiscated US$120,000 from the individuals and estimated that the gang might have collected up to $10.8 million during one year of operation.
UK Gambling Bill is Finally Gambling Act
The U.K. Gambling Bill finally passed this month, barely making the deadline before the dissolution of Parliament. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell pushed it through by making a last-minute compromise to limit the number of super casinos to one, rather than eight. However, it has recently emerged that if the Labour Party is successful in next month's election, it may exploit a clause in the Gambling Act known as reserve power that would enable it to increase the number of super casinos to four. A vote in both houses of Parliament is necessary before the number of super casinos can be increased.
Included in the Gambling Act is a regulatory structure to license remote gambling operations. The transformation of the country's Gaming Board into a new Gambling Commission that will have greater powers to regulate more types of gambling (including remote services) is already underway, but the Commission may not begin operating until the beginning of 2006. The tax schemes for interactive gambling licenses have not yet been established.
Pagcor's Proposal to Regulate Mobile Gaming in Philippines Rejected
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of the Philippines held a hearing this month to determine whether Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) should be granted special access numbers through which it could monitor, regulate and tax mobile text games. Pagcor wants to route all text-based games through the numbers 888, 777, 878 and 787 and then apply a 20 percent tax on all text-based games. The company's proposition was opposed by Smart Communications and Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel), who believe the company has not provided enough safeguards to prevent minors from gambling. The companies also believe Pagcor might try to use text messaging to introduce new types of gambling products, although Pagcor spokesperon Dodie King insists that Pagcor wants only to regulate text games, not to offer them. The NTC inevitably decided that it could not approve Pagcor's request until the company does more to insure that minors will not be able to gamble on text-based or other mobile gambling games. Of the 19 million subscribers of Smart and Piltel, more than 97 percent are prepaid customers who have to register personal information with their accounts.
Denmark's Gambling Operator Considers Putting Games Online
Denmark's state gambling monopoly, Dansk Tipstjeneste, is considering offering its own online gambling services as a way to combat the growing popularity of foreign Internet-based gambling services. It is estimated that spending by Danish citizens on foreign gambling sites grew from $173 million in 2003 to $268 million in 2004. Henrik Christian Madsen, the manager of Dansk Tipstjeneste, says that the company's board has already given its approval to begin looking at possibilities within the online casino sector and will decide in May whether the company can begin offering casino games online.
Finnish Supreme Court Rules Against PAF
Finland's Supreme Court has delivered a ruling that the Slot Machine Association of Åland (PAF) is guilty of operating an illegal lottery in Finland, where it does not possess a license. The court essentially ruled that gaming activities take place where the player is located, not where the provider's servers are located. According to a newsletter distributed by Finland's gaming monopoly Veikaus, the Supreme Court has ruled that the European Court's ruling on the Gambelli case does not affect Finnish legislation or policies in any way. The Supreme Court also found that there is no discrepancy between the monopoly system and the monopoly's advertising because it is only natural that companies should market their products.
Spanish Football Declares its Position on I-gaming
Spain's Liga de Futbol Profesional (Professional Football League-LFP) has been asking Internet betting companies to cease their activities in Spain. A press release issued by the league earlier this month pleaded with online betting companies to "stop any activity in Spain that is not authorized according to standing Spanish laws," including accepting wagers and using data, results and scheduling information relating to the Spanish football championship. "These companies are using, for their own benefit, data that they do not own, without authorization or payment to the organizers or participants in the league," the league's statement reads. "We expressly reserve the right to take any and all possible legal actions."
Betting Scandal Causing Changes in German Betting
The Deutschen Fussball-Bundes (German Football Federation-DFB) and Bundesliga (German Football League-DFL) have signed a rolling contract with betting security company Betradar, whereby Betradar will monitor betting in German football. Betradar's monitoring and supervision products allow companies to compare their odds and starting times to the market averages and immediately informs them if there are any crucial differences. German soccer has been rocked in recent months by the revelation that referee Robert Hoyzer accepted money from the Croatian mafia to fix several matches. Authorities with the DFB are also reportedly considering establishing their own betting firm as a way to prevent match-fixing and help amateur soccer improve its earnings. If such a move were to occur, it would happen sometime after the 2006 World Cup. Theo Zwanziger, one of the DFB's two co-presidents, said bookmakers take in US$3.9 million worth of turnover on German matches each year. "We want to get a cut since we provide the foundation," Zwanziger said. Meanwhile, German bookmaker Oddset has announced that it will no longer accept bets from players, trainers, referees, coaches or anyone else who might be able to influence the result of football matches. Oddset lost around 1 million euro on two of the matches Hoyzer fixed and reportedly warned the DFB on Aug. 23 about unusually heavy betting from Berlin on two matches officiated by Hoyzer.