Spain Close to Regulating Betting
The Spanish Senate has approved a bill that would regulate Internet betting throughout the country.
The bill, presented by Spain's official Party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE-Spanish Socialist Worker's Party), asked the Spanish government to support a European initiative to regulate Internet gambling internationally.
The proposal was supported by the Entesa Catalana de Progrés (Catalan Progress Accord) and the Convergence and Union (CiU-Spain's Democratic Party), while the conservative party, the Partido Popular (Popular Party), voted against the directive, supporting instead keeping Internet gambling regulation national.
While the Entesa Catalana del Progrés and CiU agreed with the legislation, all parties insisted on the need to control an industry that sees 500 million euros coming from Spain annually.
Google UK Bans All Online Gambling Ads
As of June 1, Google UK has imposed a full ban on online gambling advertisement, including play-for-free and tutorial sites, making Google the first company in Europe to prohibit all forms of online gambling from a flagship advertising service.
The restriction, already policy in the United States, is described on Google's Adwords Policy page as being made to prevent free affiliates from "driving traffic to online gambling sites."
A Google spokesperson said that while the company supports freedom of expression, it believes the policy is simpler for everyone to understand and more in tune with users' wishes.
Adwords, Google's chief revenue product, functions on a "Pay-Per-Click" system, which enables the company to exclude any advertisements it deems objectionable--from solicitations for term-paper sales to claims of miracle cures. Ads for paid gambling sites were previously restricted and will remain so under the new policy.
MSN is now the only major search engine in the United Kingdom to offer ads for online gambling Web sites within search results.
FTC: Net Neutrality is a Non-issue
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report on Wednesday that said concerns over Net neutrality are a non-issue and that current anti-trust laws provide adequate protection against abuses of network power.
In a tiered system larger Internet content providers and retailers would be forced to pay Internet service providers (ISPs) in order to compete, while smaller content providers and retailers would be left with slower loading sites--potentially driving away customers.
Network neutrality proposals would bar Internet providers from charging extra fees to guarantee access to the Internet or give priority to some content. Big names, such as Google and eBay, have vocally stated any move towards a tiered network by ISPs would result in anti-trust cases against them.
In the report, the FTC sided with high-speed Internet providers, saying the government should be cautious about imposing such regulations.
"This report recommends that policy makers proceed with caution in the evolving, dynamic industry of broadband Internet access, which generally is moving toward more--not less--competition," FTC Chair Deborah Platt Majoras said in a prepared statement. "In the absence of significant market failure or demonstrated consumer harm, policy makers should be particularly hesitant to enact new regulation in this area."
Regulation Key to Combating Problem Gambling
At this year's Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF) Annual General Assembly meeting, held on June 14 and 15, special guest, European Federation of Coin Machine Association (EUROMAT) President Eduardo Antoja, presented the facts, figures, problems and expectations of the European gaming and amusement industry.
Antoja praised the industry for generating revenues in excess of 17 billion euros in 2006 and continually being strongly regulated. But, he said he is concerned by the unregulated remote gambling operators who advertise and offer tax free services without any significant obstacles in many European jurisdictions, while the regulated amusement industry is blamed above all for inducing problem gambling.
"We need to cooperate with the regulators to make 'Amusement with Prizes' what it is meant to be: a safe, reasonably priced entertainment experience," he said.