4 1 January 2005

News:

UK remote gambling operators see the Chinese government crackdown on illegal gambling as a move against corrupt officials rather than action in principle against gambling.

The UK Gambling Bill is facing a race against time to go through all its stages before Parliament is dissolved for a predicted Spring election. The Bill has taken longer going through Committee than had originally been hoped but the Government remains confident that the Bill will go through, given the cross-party support for gambling reform.

World Online Gambling Law Report Summer Retreat 2005 will once again provide a unique opportunity to join key remote gambling executives, regulators and advisors in focusing on the key issues facing the remote gambling industry.

Features:

Less than a year after the landmark European Gambelli decision, a new remote gaming case is pending before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). While the final decision in the Gambelli case is still pending before the Italian courts, national authorities in a number of Member States have had to judge on the de facto consistency of their national gaming policy and its compatibility with European law. In the last year, the Gambelli and Lindman decisions have been applied in a very divergent manner. In the Betfair appeal case, it was even insinuated that Gambelli was not relevant!

Research by Gamcare last July revealed youngsters from 11 years old could open gambling accounts online with some of the UK’s most respectable bookmakers.

Minister for Gambling, Lord Andrew McIntosh, responded by condemning companies not using effective age verification technology and suggesting existing gambling laws are “unable to keep pace in the face of rapidly changing technology.”

Now with a re-vamped Gambling Bill just around the corner, this article looks at how gaming companies can operate in a socially responsible manner by integrating technology to block under-18 gamblers.

The UK Government, having recognised the significant changes taking place across the board in the gaming sector, and following a consultation exercise, introduced its Gambling Bill late in 2004. This introduces a number of significant reforms and concepts, not least the raft of proposals affecting the remote gaming sector.

The official objective of the Bill is clear; to create and promote the UK as a well regulated remote gaming environment. However, what is far from clear is whether any practical consideration has been given to the potential tax consequences arising from the Bill should it become law in its current form and the likely response of business to these consequences.

The fight against corruption in sport is of central importance to the gambling industry. Recent memoranda of understanding between remote gambling operators and sporting organisations have been a major step forward. But data protection issues can be problematic in such sharing of personal data. Stewart Room, National Chairman, National Association of Data Protection Officers, and a partner at Rowe Cohen Solicitors, outlines the issues and a solution proposed to the Government.

Gambling addictions always result from an interaction and interplay between many factors including the person’s biological and/or genetic predisposition, their psychological constitution, their social environment and the nature of the activity itself (Griffiths, 1999). There is no precise frequency level of a gambling game at which people become addicted since addiction will be an integrated mix of factors in which frequency is just one factor in the overall equation. Professor Mark Griffths & Dr Richard Wood from the International Gambling Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University briefly overview the literature on ‘internet addiction’ and examine whether internet gambling can be’doubly addictive’.

The Isle of Man’s decision to permit operators to take gaming bets from the US is a demonstration of how offshore locations are jockeying for position as the UK moves towards the regulation of remote gambling.