3 3 March 2004

News:

The EU Commission was considering, as we went to press, whether to take action against the Danish government over its gambling legislation. The Internal Market Directorate has received complaints from a number of sources about restrictions on the provision of cross-border gambling services.

The UK government has been urged to follow Antigua and Barbuda in launching its own case before the World Trade Organisation against the United States restrictions on entry to its gambling markets by UK operators.

Sports book operators are concerned that online revenues will be hit by the TV racing black out following the failure of the talks between the attheraces racing channel and the UK racing industry.

Features:

Late March 2004, a WTO Dispute Resolution Panel (the “Panel”) released a confidential report to WTO Member State Parties in the WTO dispute United States - Measures Affecting The Cross-Border Supply Of Gambling And Betting Services, WT/DS285. The confidential decision reportedly finds that the United States is violating its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by not providing market access and/or national treatment under GATS to internet gambling services provided by operators licensed by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. This article examines the significance of the adjudication.

The last few weeks have seen a barrage of stories about probity in sport. Many have pointed to the rise of online betting exchanges as a cause of the claimed rise in corruption. In this article Mark Davies, Director of Communications for market-leading betting exchange, Betfair, answers their critics.

A recent study by Juniper research forecast that mobile gambling services have the potential to generate $5.7 billion in revenue by 2006. There was, of course, an important proviso to this optimistic prediction - namely that the industry and regulators must create the right regulatory environment to enable such services to reach their full potential. This article examines the current and future shape of mobile gambling regulation in the UK.

With the advent of betting on the Internet, by telephone, and through interactive television (iTV), gambling has arrived into the home. In the UK, uptake of interactive digital television is crucial to Government plans for universal internet access and for turning off the analogue signal by 2010. Back in 2001, the research firm Jupiter MMXI claimed that gambling would become the surprise “killer application” and predicted that by 2005 more people would access the internet through their television than through their computer. At present this looks highly unlikely but gambling growth through iTV is likely to flourish. The combination of gambling’s impulsive nature, and the ubiquitous ease of television, may prove hard to resist. This article examines the implications of this development for socially responsible gambling.

It has been nearly three years since the publication of the Budd Report, which first recommended deregulation of the UK gambling industry. The DCMS responded to the Budd Report with “A Safe Bet for Success” in March 2002, and in November last year the new draft Gambling Bill was published, with additional policy memoranda following in February 2004 and additional clauses on 12 March. The Joint Scrutiny Committee has been carrying out the industry consultation on the bill and is about to deliver its findings in early April. This article looks at whether the Bill and the associated tax regime will bring the offshore operators into the UK.

The Parliamentary Committee responsible for the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Gambling Bill is due to report its findings on 7 April. The potential significance of these recommendations cannot be overstated, despite the fact that DCMS is not obliged to take them on board in finalising the Bill to be presented to Parliament. This article surveys the evidence before the Committee relevant to remote gambling, as defined in the Gambling Bill. To second guess what the recommendations of the Committee are likely to be is obviously very difficult, but it is instructive to consider the areas which have been of concern to them.

The emergence of betting exchanges follows a long line of tradition-busting services or products emerging from the dot com world. Companies like eBay, P2P services and online travel services have significantly changed the way consumers and competitors treat these emerging entities in their market segment. The same can be said for betting exchanges.