2 12 December 2003

News:

Lord McIntosh of Haringey, the UK Minister for Media and Heritage, will be the keynote speaker at World Online Gambling Law Report’s Summer Retreat 2004. The Minister, who has responsibility for gambling, will join leading operators, software providers, payment solutions companies, regulators and advisors at Tylney Hall, one of England’s finest country hotels, for the Summer Retreat which takes place on June 17 and 18 2004.

The remote gambling industry has broadly welcomed the UK government’s draft Gambling Bill. The Bill paves the way for the UK to become the trail blazer in regulating remote gambling among the major economies. The draft Bill is currently undergoing scrutiny by the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is holding twice weekly public hearings through into the New Year.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has still to finalise its guidance on the complex issues involved in the regulation of e-money and the use of premium SMS billing. The FSA was planning to issue guidance before Christmas but the most likely release date is towards the end of January.

Features:

The UK government’s progress towards the regulation of online gambling took a major step forward in November with the publication in draft of major sections of a new Gambling Bill. This article summarises the key sections of the Bill and considers its impact on the remote gambling industry

The principles upon which the UK Draft Bill has been founded have drawn widespread support throughout the industry. In this article, the interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association, iGGBA, while welcoming the Bill, raises a number of specific points of concern.

The Isle of Man has had a chequered career as a base for internet gambling. An early entrant in the field as a first tier regulator, the Isle of Man attracted several Blue-Chip operators, such as MGM Mirage. The well publicised closure and withdrawal of some of these operators has led the Isle of Man to re-evaluate their strategy. In this article John Gilmour, the recently appointed eGaming Ambassador for the island outlines their new approach.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations have been publicised as a key step in the fight against spam. Direct marketers fear the Regulations may cripple their role. This article looks at how the UK regulator is going to make the new regime work.

The US Congress just finished another year of legislative activity with the online gaming industry again facing a good news / bad news scenario. On one hand, another year will soon end without a new U.S. law that attempts to ban Internet gaming, specifically S.627 which would prohibit the usage of financial instruments, including credit cards, for funding of online gaming accounts. On the other hand there has been an increased effort by some prosecutors in the US to threaten the online gaming industry by aggressively targeting marketing and advertising companies that do business with online gaming companies. This article examines the latest developments in the United States

Gambling is a service permitted, and in a number of cases promoted by state monopolies, throughout the European Union. The free movement of goods and services lies at the heart of the EU. This article examines why European barriers to cross-border gambling still exist despite their apparent breach of the EU Treaty.