Compilation of Newest Gambling Regulations Across the Globe [December 2019/January 2020]

January 29, 2020 Aleksandra Zolotic

The beginning of the year may seem like a quiet and peaceful time to recap all the impressions, without making some crucial decisions yet, doesn’t it? Well, the gambling industry seems to be working harder than ever from the very first day, without a single moment to rest.

The United States was once again the leader in changes, but Europe and Asia didn’t fall behind either. Stay tuned for the full recap of regulatory innovations from all over the world.

The Recap of Regulatory Modifications across the USA

Nebraska seems to be back on stage after making a longer pause regarding regulations (January 2018). Senator Justin Wayne has filed a new Games of Skill Act (LB 990) to make it legal for consumers to wager on sports, fantasy sports, and poker. While not specifically encoming web-based activities, some news outlets are reporting that the Senator has publicly declared that the bill aims to allow online games as well.

The Gaming Board of Illinois launched the first phase of its sports wagering licensing process…

… and began accepting applications for master sports betting certificates as well as approvals for all service providers. The process went public under a set of emergency rules which permit the Board to issue temporary operating permits.

Colorado’s regulator announced that it has received 12 applications for a betting license since releasing draft regulations in November. Final regulations are expected to be released in February, ahead of a May 2020 launch. Twin River Casino Holdings entered an agreement with DraftKings to open a retail sportsbook and online product, while DK’s rival FanDuel has also agreed to roll out an online-only facility with Twin River.

Representative Adam Koenig pre-filed legislation…

… to greenlight sports betting, interactive poker, and daily fantasy sports in Kentucky. The bill, BR 364, is largely retail and online sports wagering at proposed tax rates of 10.25% and 14.25% respectively. Moreover, it requires players to their ’s in-person at the track. Online poker would be offered via contracts between operators and the Kentucky Lottery Corporation.

Governor Janet Mills has rejected legislation to allow sports betting in Maine , citing many concerns including the potential harms caused by aggressive advertising for individuals under the age of 21. Alternatively, the coming legislative session could bring the proposal of a new bill.

The House and Senate in Michigan approved legislation…

…to authorize and regulate online gaming as well as retail and online sports betting in the state. Both bills (H4311 and H4916) were sent to the governor to be signed into law. On 20 December 2019, Governor Whitmer signed legislation to approve online gaming, sports betting and daily fantasy sports in the state. The launch date for the market could be postponed until 2021.

Moreover, The Stars Group has inked the partnership with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Gaming Authority (Odawa) to operate real-money online betting, poker and casino in Michigan, subject to license availability, state law, and regulatory approvals. Odawa operates 2 parlors in the state and will receive a revenue share from The Stars Group.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort started offering sports wagering services powered by IGT…

… becoming the third venue to roll out studio’s PlaySports technology in New York. This was made possible through The Stars Group’s market access partnership with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which operates the hub. The Seneca Tribal Nation introduced a new retail sportsbook at its Buffalo Creek Casino resort and the Seneca Allegany Sports Lounge at the Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino.

State Senator Addabbo has once again introduced SB18 to authorize interactive poker games after the same bill failed to progress in 2019. The said proposal classifies interactive poker as a game of skill and would allow existing land-based commercial and tribal gaming distributors to apply for a total of 11 certificates to offer the game. However, lawmakers in NY have filed bills to legalize online poker every year since 2014, all without success.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his draft 2021 budget proposals and decided not to include the regulation of online sports betting. Nevertheless, the Governor did include plans to permit operators to offer automated betting kiosks and greenlight betting windows in other areas of their properties outside of their sports lounges.

Three of Oklahoma’s most prominent tribes have filed a lawsuit…

…against Governor Kevin Stitt. The lawsuit followed a breakdown in negotiations over the scope of the tribal gaming compact, and whether it automatically renewed on 1 January 2020. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, FanDuel has launched a mobile casino in partnership with Valley Forge Casino, owned by Boyd Gaming.

Senators Michael Sirotkin and Richard Sears have pre-filed a sports gambling bill SB213. As the state has no existing casinos or gambling establishments, sports wagering in Vermont will be an exclusively mobile betting proposition. The bill suggests a $10k license fee, with each permission valid for two years, and a 10% GGR tax rate. Moreover, it also allows daily fantasy sports, with a cost of $5k per certificate and the same 10% GGR tax rate.

The Atlanta Motor Speedway announced plans…

…to establish an integrated casino resort at its venues in Hampton and held a public hearing on the proposals. Organized by the Special Committee on Economic Growth, the hearing discussed the possibility of amending Georgia’s constitution to permit casino gaming as well as sports and horserace wagering.

Regulatory Changes in the UK

The UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) launched a new consultation over suggestions to modify current rules to allow the younger population to play more significant roles in certain lottery ments.

Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities (DfC)…

…commenced a public consultation to look into its gambling regulations and explore the “effectiveness of the current legislation.” The main aim of consultation, which will run until February 21, 2020, is “seeking to identify changes which should be included in any new gambling legislation.”

In addition to this, the Government announced it would conduct a complete review of the Gambling Act which specifically focuses on interactive gambling regulations including the treatment of video game “loot boxes” and gambling on credit.

The GC plans to take action to address issues related to the use and promotion of VIP s…

… in case operators do not “improve their interaction with VIPs.” The decision came in response to UK media outlets who had obtained a non-public report from the Gambling Commission which highlighted the prevalence of problem gambling issues with VIP holders and ways in which the problems could be dealt with, including an outright ban.

Besides, the Commission announced changes to its licensing conditions…

…whereby all online operators will be required to sign up to GamStop, an online self-exclusion scheme, by 31 March 2020. The said scheme allows players to , which self-excludes them from all participating gambling sites for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years.

Starting 14 April 2020, the use of credit cards for gambling will be banned, including ‘payments to the licensee made by credit card through a money service business’. However, there will be an exception when purchasing National Lottery tickets at a retail venue, when these are purchased along with other items. This ban follows a consultation that ran from 14 August to 6 November 2019.

News from Asian Region

The vice-minister of China’s Ministry of Public Security has issued a statement vowing to crack-down on unauthorized online gambling in the country and would look to “deepen cross-border online gambling prevention and control work.”

The statement went on to say that in 2019…

…law enforcement tackled 7,200 criminal online gambling cases in 2019, arresting over 25,000 subjects and seizing US$26bn of cash. China’s anti-gambling efforts have been helped by Cambodia agreeing to shut down its local licensed online gambling sector as of 1 January 2020 (except for the National Lottery) – which primarily targeted mainland Chinese clients – after pressure from Beijing.

The government of Japan delayed a withholding tax on the casino winnings of non-resident foreign gamblers following objections from ruling party politicians.

Naomichi Suzuki, Mayor of Hokkaido…

…declared the town would not pursue its bid for an integrated resort (IR). The statement saw rival municipalities of Osaka and Nagasaki reaffirm their commitment to develop and be host cities for Japan’s first IRs. However, Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said he had given up on his longstanding goal of opening the Yumeshima IR in time for the 2025 World Expo. Instead, the bidders would only be asked to commit to an opening date in 2026.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of the town of Chiba just outside Tokyo said he would communicate his decision on whether or not to go forward with an integrated resort bid will by the end of March 2020 at the latest. Two of these proposals came from local groups within the city, and the six from other Japanese and international IR operators, all in a bracket ranging from US$5bn to US$7bn.

Following the 500 Dot Com bribery scandal, which revealed that some lawmakers accepted cash bribes from this gambling company, the main opposition parties have agreed to submit legislation that would abolish the 2016 Integrated Resorts Promotion Act and the 2018 IR Implementation Act. As a matter of fact, a significant majority of the Japanese people want the government to reconsider its integrated resort casino legislation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that his government…

… will continue to promote the establishment of IR in the country, although several media outlets in the country reported that the scheme will likely be delayed for ‘an undetermined period of time’ due to the bribery incident and public opposition to the policy.

India’s Supreme Court ruled that fantasy sports were games of skill similar to rummy and blocked attempts by activists, central and state government officials to have it branded as an illegal gambling product in the country. As far as India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council agreed, a flat tax for lotteries at 28% of all ticket sales will be set and will come into effect in March 2020. However, the State of Maharashtra banned the sale of online lottery tickets from any state within its jurisdiction.

Back in 2007, Uzbekistan ed a law prohibiting all types of gambling…

…such as sports betting, slot machines, and casinos across both online and land-based outlets. Before the ban, some gambling existed but the licensing/regulatory environment was unclear and land-based operations existed in a grey area.

After a long pause, in December 2019 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree setting out plans to develop football and other sports as a way of attracting funds to Uzbekistan, expected to start operating from 2021.

New Information from Australia and Africa

The Australian Banking Association launched a consultation to assess the risks of gambling on credit and to gain opinions on what restrictions could be imposed to mitigate the issues. Moreover, the Parliament approved legislation to establish the country’s National Self-Exclusion .

As a part of the ongoing clampdown on illegal gambling activities…

…the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that a further nine online casino websites have been blocked by Internet Service Providers. ACMA began instructing providers to block illegal offshore sites in November 2019.

Besides this, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Great Britain Gambling Commission to allow both organizations to share regulatory and compliance information related to money laundering, terrorism financing, corruption, and other serious crimes.

Planning to move away from a gaming machine monopoly…

…Tasmania’s government released planned tax rates for slot machine operators. If the legislation is approved, venues with slot machines will receive individual certificates for electronic gaming machines (EGM) pending suitability tests.

The Nigerian National Lottery Regulatory Commission has prohibited the operation, promotion, and sale of tickets of ‘unapproved foreign lottery’ games, after instances of operators failing to pay out winnings. The National Lottery Act 2005 allows for foreign lotteries from other countries to be available to players in Nigeria, but only when the President has authorized the availability.

Updates from the Rest of the World

Peter Beuth, the Interior Minister for the state of Hesse said no operator had filed an application for federal sports betting license and warned that companies would face immediate action if they continued to operate unlicensed or without certification. The approval process began on 2 January 2020, so far receiving 11 applications for sports betting licenses, with a further 7 operators making binding commitments to make submissions.

Legislators from Schleswig-Holstein announced that the 16 landers had agreed, in principle, to allow online casino games and poker under the new Interstate Treaty, which aims to set a range of Federal regulations including a maximum deposit of €1k per person per month. Individual states will then be able to establish their own rules to govern operations within their jurisdiction.

The Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen)…

…published details of its strategy to prevent unlicensed operators from taking bets from Swedish players (Ima link). In January this year, Sweden’s Minister of Social Security announced that the Government is preparing to publish a “Stage II” of their regulatory approach to gambling, focusing on tougher advertising and marketing restrictions for licensed operators.

The regulator also rolled out a consultation on draft regulations that would prohibit licensed operators from offering wagers on rule violations/penalties such as yellow cards or penalty kicks in football or faults in tennis. However, critics of the proposed regulations have cited that this will only serve to force more players to offshore websites where there are less consumer protection and limited integrity oversight.

The Belgian GC announced it was considering further advertising restrictions for betting operators including a complete ban, a ban during sports broadcasts and bans on sponsorship.

The Czech Government implemented planned tax increases across the gambling sector…

…increasing the tax on lotteries live casino games, and bingo from 23% to 30% of gross win and from 23% to 25% of the gross win for fixed-odds betting. Moreover, the Government also published technical documentation regarding the implementation of the self-exclusion system scheduled to be launched in mid-2020.

The Greek online gaming regulations were proposed in October 2019…

… have been notified to the European Commission, with a standstill period until 1 April 2020. OPAP has announced that it has successfully concluded the full rollout of 25,000 VLTs in December 2019, having started the project in January 2017.

According to the local media, the Gaming Commission rejected Hard Rock International’s bid for the sole license to operate the integrated casino resort in Hellinikon. A consortium comprising Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment and Steelman Partners, Inspire Athens was the final choice.

In January 2020, The Serbian Games of Chance istration…

…announced a consultation on a new draft law on gambling, which would provide a comprehensive regulatory scheme for gambling games. It proposes to include significantly more social responsibility measures, and also covers previously unregulated areas, such as betting on virtual events.

Licenses for organizing special games of chance online would be granted for ten years, with the fees of €2,500 per month. Taxes would be set at 15% of GGR for online betting, and 10% of GGR for other types of special games of chance, provided that neither is less than €15,000.

Spanish Government announced it intended to introduce regulations to ensure gambling ments conform to the same restrictions as tobacco ments, meaning ads would be generally prohibited across the country except for at the point of sale, where it would be permitted with restrictions. FACUA, an independent consumer watchdog, called for the government to ban all gambling on credit.

Parliament in Ukraine approved several amendments…

…from The Tax, Finance and Customs Committee made to gambling expansion proposals in December. The proposals were redrafted into a single bill (2285) which would legalize and regulate; land-based casinos, betting, gaming machines, and lotteries as well as online casinos, poker and sports betting.

Bill 2285-D ed its first reading in parliament by a vote of 260 in favor, with only a simple majority of the 450 ministers needed. Only five-star hotels would be permitted to incorporate gaming space into their facilities. Before the bill can be signed into law by the president, it must first an additional two readings in parliament.

Source:

“H2 Gambling Capital”, updates from December 2019, January 2020