EC Pressures France to Amend I-Gaming Legislation
The European Commission has issued its response to draft legislation from France, which seeks to prohibit foreign I-gaming operators from offering services to French residents. News service Thomson Financial said July 23 that Brussels has instructed the French government to modify the legislation to allow foreign I-gaming firms to operate in France. An EU spokesman told the news service that the France has one month, until Aug. 24, to make the necessary adjustments under threat of action before the European Courts.
UK Prime Minister Second-Looks Gambling Ad Policy
New U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reportedly reviewing plans to allow betting shops and gambling Web sites to advertise on television and radio under the U.K. Gambling Act 2005. The act, which comes into effect in September, is set to liberalize advertising restrictions to allow gambling companies to run advertisements on all forms of media, not just non-broadcast.
James Purnell, the new culture secretary, said the review comes in response to concerns over increased problem gambling. He added that there was no time frame for the review and it would "take as long as it takes."
Brown is also reconsidering plans to build a Las Vegas-style supercasino in England as a source of urban regeneration. He plans to wait for the results of a problem gambling study, to be published in the fall, before moving forward with the 16 smaller casinos across the country.
A Closer Look at Poker's Legal Standing in Belgium
According to document released recently by the Belgian Gaming, poker has been classified as a game of chance and therefore it must be restricted.
Under Belgian law, games of chance must feature a wager or an entrance fee, and provide the possibility for players to both win and lose money.
According to Article 14 of the Law on Games of Chance, it is forbidden to offer and derive revenue from games of chance without a special permit from the Gaming Board. The legislation also stipulates that games of chance can be played live and electronically only in casinos and gaming halls. On the other hand, a loophole in the law stipulates that card games played outside legal gaming facilities can only be played with very low stakes and low material winnings.
Violation of the law may result in a prison sentence of six months to five years, with fines ranging from 100 euros ($137) to 100,000 ($137,822) euros.
Swedish Tax Board on the Hunt for Lost Kronor
Sweden's Tax Board is reportedly preparing to initiate a program targeting real-money poker and gaming Web sites. The board expects to recover millions of kronor in undeclared revenue from hundreds of Web-site owners. "It's not individual players we're after," Dag Hardyson, head of the board's Internet unit, told Swedish newspaper The Local. "It's sites who live on sending players through to gaming sites." The affiliate sites are often compensated for luring and subsequently routing players to gambling sites, the paper said