Slovenia’s National Assembly voted in favour of an MP sponsored bill on 20 March 2018, which seeks to amend Slovenia’s Gambling Act in order to liberalise the sports betting market, putting an end to the monopoly on sports betting currently held by sports betting company Športna Loterija. However, a week later on 27 March the bill was vetoed by the National Council of Slovenia. Online Gambling Lawyer spoke to Gregor Famira, Partner at CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz and Ažbe Tušar, Senior Associate at Šelih & Partnerji, to get a clearer picture of the developments in Slovenia and whether sports betting is likely to be liberalised in Slovenia anytime soon. / read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) issued on 28 February 2018 its preliminary ruling in the Sporting Odds case, finding that the Hungarian law on online casinos, which requires operators to have a land-based presence in Hungary in order to receive a licence to operate an online casino, is a restriction on the freedom to provide services under Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) that cannot be justified, and that therefore Hungary’s online gambling regime is incompatible with EU law. / read more

The UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (‘DCMS’) announced on 30 November 2017 that it is to ask the British Gambling Commission to prohibit, through a statutory licence condition, third party betting on non-UK EuroMillions draws; the announcement came via the DCMS’ response to its consultation on the matter (‘Consultation Response’), which was published in March 2017. The DCMS’ decision has led to criticism from some industry stakeholders, including from operators who currently offer such bets, such as Lottoland. / read more

In New Zealand, the New Zealand Racing Board (the ‘NZRB’) is the country’s sole provider of racing and sports betting, but while advertising by offshore operators is prohibited, New Zealanders can still bet with offshore operators. The ‘leaking’ of proceeds from gambling to such offshore operators, away from the NZRB, has led to an attempt to alter New Zealand’s racing legislation: on 31 July 2017 the Racing Amendment Bill was introduced, which looks to modernise New Zealand’s gambling market. Australia’s recent reforms to its Interactive Gambling Act will also impact New Zealand’s racing gambling market. Chris Linton and James Woods of Duncan Cotterill describe the regulatory background and rationale behind the Bill, what the Bill sets out to achieve, and whether it goes far enough. / read more

Carl Rohsler, Member of the Online Gambling Lawyer Editorial Board and Partner at Squire Patton Boggs, and Elsa Haj Houssain, also of Squire Patton Boggs, discuss the FA’s recent decision to terminate its commercial sponsorship with Ladbrokes Coral. / read more

The Supreme Court of the United States (‘SCOTUS’) announced on 27 June 2017 that it is to hear New Jersey’s appeal to allow sports betting in casinos and racetracks within the state, an activity currently prohibited in US states, except four states granted immunity, by the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act 1992 (‘PASPA’). / read more

Back in the summer of 2015, daily fantasy sports (‘DFS’) had yet to fully arrive on the radars of US regulators and attorneys general, but had certainly attracted the attention of investors and players, even if its legal status was yet to be significantly scrutinised. By autumn that year, the emergence of attorneys general opinions on DFS shifted the legal risk around such activities; in the time since, a large number of states have seen their attorneys general opine on DFS’ legal status or else have enacted state law to regulate or ban DFS in the state. A recent California court case, Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs, which analysed whether a fantasy horseracing contest - on a site called Derby Wars - was a gambling event, has added to the legal complexity. Kate C. Lowenhar-Fisher and Gregory R. Gemignani of Dickinson Wright examine the effect of regulation on DFS, discuss the implications of Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs, and assess the legal situation in regards to DFS in the US today. / read more

On 15 March 2017 the Great British Gambling Commission (‘the Commission’) published its position paper on virtual currencies, eSports and social casino gaming. This follows its August 2016 discussion paper which looked to promote debate on a number of issues which have emerged from the development of interactive entertainment products particularly where there is a blurring of the boundaries between these activities and gambling. The position paper clarifies a number of key areas and confirms the Commission’s focus and approach. Some areas however remain opaque - the fast-moving nature of the technology which underpins these products means this will always remain an evolving area. It is however very clear that the Commission expects all those involved in, and benefitting commercially from, these products to regulate themselves, applying best practice from comparable sectors, as Susan Biddle and Chris Boylan of Kemp Little LLP explain. / read more

Norway’s Gaming Authority recently published a blog post, discussing skins betting and its status under Norwegian Law. According to the Gaming Authority, betting with skins may fall into the definition of a lottery if a player buys skins using real money, even if the skins can’t be exchanged back into real money. Mathilde S. Wilhelmsen, Attorney at Bing Hodneland Advokatselskap DA, discusses the legal status of eSports and skins betting under Norwegian law and the potential issues arising out of the Gaming Authority’s approach, while also assessing the effectiveness of Norway’s payment processing ban on gambling transactions. / read more

According to estimates, $4.5 billion changed hands illegally as a result of sports betting on the most recent Super Bowl, just one example of the increasing amounts of money being placed illegally on sports betting in the US. Given the scale of such illegal betting and the beginning of the Trump Administration, amongst other things, some have asked whether the regulatory environment for US sports betting may change in the near future. Marc Ellinger and Stephanie Bell of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, L.C. consider the current prohibitions in place and how New Jersey’s case could change things, as well as looking at daily fantasy sports as an example of how a transition could be made from an unregulated to a regulated betting environment. / read more