5 10 October 2006

News:

Private remote gaming operators have been quick to step into the gap in the US market left by the withdrawal of PartyGaming and Sportingbet, the world's largest publicly quoted remote gaming companies.

The counsel for Antigua and Barbuda's delegation to the World Trade Organisation panel, Mark Mendel of Mendel Blumenfeld LLP, is confident that it will win its dispute with the USA over its gambling laws.

Operators who missed Italy's 20 October deadline for applying for a gambling licence from 1 January 2007, will be able to buy a licence from 1 January 2008. Operators who missed Italy's 20 October deadline for applying for a gambling licence from 1 January 2007, will be able to buy a licence from 1 January 2008.

Features:

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act's (UIGEA) passage will be seen as the end of a chapter in the remote gambling industry, but not the end of the story.

The recent signing into law of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act led the value of gaming stocks on the UK markets to plummet and the subsequent sell-off of the operating assets of US-facing businesses. Alex Latner, a senior associate and Gareth Jones, an assistant at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, recount the key moments and actions taken during this turbulent period and speculate on future developments.

The differing market reaction to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act illustrated some confusion over which online gambling activities in which jurisdictions are covered, as well as who is responsible for policing that activity. Linda J. Shorey, Sean P. Mahoney, Ashley J. Camron and Anthony R. Holtzman, of the Betting and Gaming Practice Group at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, examine and explain the Act's provisions.

Make no mistake, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is bad for the industry, but time will show that it is worse for the American consumer and, by extension, for the US Government.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act exempts certain existing internet gaming industries from its criminal provisions, providing that state law blocks access to minors and people outside of that state. Anthony Cabot of Lewis & Roca LLP and John Aristotle Phillips of Aristotle, parent company of the Integrity identity and age verification tool, explain how compliance with the UIGEA could prove that regulation of the online gaming industry is feasible.

The prime ministers of Germany's federal states recently agreed a draft version of a new State Lottery Treaty which, if adopted, would prohibit internet gambling. The proposal has polarised opinion in Germany between state lotteries and liberalisation. Dr Wulf Hambach, partner at German law firm, Hambach & Hambach, examines the background to the proposal and argues that it will lead to liberalisation.

On 20 September 2006, Parliament awarded a two-year trial licence to Holland Casino to offer online gaming. Justin Franssen, Advocaat/Attorney-at-law at Van Mens & Wisselink, examines the motives of the government in granting the licence and the criticism that the move has received from both the Dutch Council of State and the European Commission.