Still No Decisive Ruling in Germany
On November 8 the German Federal Constitutional Court held a hearing which many people expected would deliver the final decision on whether the country's sports betting market should be opened to private operators. Many issues were debated throughout the eight-hour hearing, but no resolution had been reached by the time it adourned. German market observers agree that the Court's judges seemed to indicate that they do in fact favor opening the betting market and abolishing the monopoly of Oddset.
Gambling Regulations Move Forward in Russia
In Russia, a debate among political authorities that has spanned for months has finally come to and with the Federal Tax Service becoming the entity with the power to license and tax gambling establishments. There has been no new licensed establishments in the country since the previous licensing authority, the State Sports Committee, was disbanded last year and its successor, the Federal Agency for Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism—did not inherit the power to license.
Russia currently has no federal law to regulate gambling, but last month the State Duma's Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship, and Tourism Committee suggested passing such a bill. The proposed bill, which is championed by a group of deputies led by committee chairman Valery Draganov, would establish a set list of authorized gambling types that may only be carried out at gambling establishments. Street gambling machines would therefore be banned.
Moscow's City Duma voted last month to begin doubling gambling taxes next year. New laws pertaining to gambling advertisements also come into place at the beginning of 2006. Russia's slot machine industry is estimated at about US$3.5 billion.
Official Stats From China's Gambling Crackdown
The official statistics for China's gambling crackdown for the months January through September, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency, is that police have arrested 1.16 million people for suspected illegal betting offences, seized 2.3 billion yuan (US$288 million), and investigated 163,000 cases. Authorities also closed 30 gambling agencies that are linked to overseas casinos and 19 underground banks. Of the 1.2 million arrests, 8,740 were members of the ruling Communist party who were convicted and received punishment.
Sweden Licenses Lottery Company to Operate Online Poker
Swedish Vice Prime Minister Bosse Ringholm announced last week that his government has awarded domestic gaming and lotteries operator Svenska Spel a license to operate poker over the Internet for a two-year trial period. The government's main motivation for the decision is to redirect money from foreign gambling providers back into the domestic economy. Ringholm has also said that it is better for the Swedish market to be served by a domestic company that is concerned about the negative effects of compulsive gambling than by foreign ones without such concerns. Maximum bets are not to exceed $10,000, and all gamblers must set a cap on the maximum amount they are willing to lose throughout the duration of their play before they may participate. Further, advertising may only be done in newspapers and on the Internet, and all advertisements must be accompanied by the problem gambling hotline telephone number. Swedish gaming software company Boss Media has been enlisted to provide the poker software and network for the venture.
Services Directive Passes Committee; Gambling Doesn't Apply
A European Parliament committee has approved the controversial Services Directive after agreeing to exclude gambling services from its reach. The aim of the directive is to allow service providers to operate more easily across borders. To accomplish that aim, service companies' operating across borders will be held to the rules and regulation of their home country. The Services Directive's next step is a vote before the full EU Parliament, probably sometime in January 2006. If ratified, the Directive could become effective in 2009 or 2010, but it will have to be approved by the EU Member States.
Argentina Preparing Remote Gaming Plan
A conference called "New Games, New Technologies" was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina last month with the goal of encouraging speakers and attendees to analyze and discuss the impact of new technologies in the gambling sector. Speakers included Jorge Gimeno, director of the Games of Chance Institute of the city of Buenos Aires, Helio Rebot, deputy of the City of Buenos Aires, José Pedro Pagano, associated counselor of Price & Cook, Marcela Carbajo, general manager of Movilgate S.A. and José Luis Arpón, technology manager of Boldt S.A. It is reported that all of the speakers were generally in agreement that remote forms of gambling are the way forward for games of chance.