6 4 April 2007

News:

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) and the American Gaming Association (AGA), while commending work by Barney Frank, Democratic Chairman of the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on a Bill to license internet gambling (H.R. 2046), believe that Shelley Berkley's (D-NV) Bill calling for a National Academy of Sciences study into the proper response of the US to the growth in internet gambling (H.R. 2140), presents a more realistic way forward.

World Online Gambling Law Report's fifth annual Summer Retreat will combine analysis of the evolution of the web along with the hard issues of payments, regulation and the challenges of operating a global business.

Portuguese and German courts have referred cases on the consistency of sports betting monopolies with EU law to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Features:

The introduction of two Bills into Congress, so shortly after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act was passed, suggest that the US may be reconsidering its position on internet gambling.

H.R. 2046, Barney Frank's bill to regulate internet gambling in the US, would revise the UIGEA and charge the US Treasury with issuing federal gambling licences. However, the bill would face opposition on a number of levels, from state authorities, jurisdictional questions and opposition from the national administration. Martin Owens, attorney-at-law, examines the issues.

Courts in Germany and Portugal have recently referred cases concerning sports betting monopolies to the European Court of Justice. Martin Arendts, Attorney at Law with Arendts Anwälte, explains how these cases give the ECJ a further chance to clarify the law regarding state monopolies, following its rulings in the Italian cases of Zenatti, Gambelli and Placanica.

After UK Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced a tax rate of 15% for online gaming in the Spring Budget, the Remote Gambling Association concluded that the UK Government had 'priced itself out of the market'. The tax rate, plus regulations allowing all EEA and 'white listed' remote gambling operators to advertise in the UK from September (previously, only UK-licensed operators were allowed to advertise), may lead UK-based remote gambling operators to reconsider their reasons for remaining in the UK. Tom Lippiett, an Associate with Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP's Betting and Gaming Group, examines exit strategies that these operators could consider.

Belgian and French courts recently issued opposing judgments on the decision by competition organisers to use national laws to prohibit a cycling team, sponsored by Unibet, from entering races held in their territories. Paul Van den Bulck and Aubin de Perthuis of Ulys, examine the judgments and their implications.

Recent media reports surrounding interactive television quizzes has added to debate on whether such platforms are a form of remote gambling. In this article, Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University sets out why such shows could be viewed as a form of gambling and the issues that this raises.

The French state-controlled lottery, 'Française des Jeux' will refund 25,000 players of an online game following a software bug which adversely affected the chances of winning. Thibault Verbiest of Ulys and Morgane Basque of Paris II University - Assas, examine the case and its implications for the French betting monopoly in light of its investigation by the European Commission.