Global Gambling Regulation Changes Overview For July and August 2019

The two months of summer, ordinarily associated with slumber and relaxation, were heavily active with regulative and market alterations on a global level. Leading the way again was USA, whose states turned to enthusiastic legalization of either sports betting or online gambling or both.

What follows is a general overview of all the key happenings on a legislative and business level that were happening over the 60-day period of July and August this year. We kick off with US states, where lawmakers were swamped with paperwork as several jurisdictions either made sports betting legal or are about to.

Illinois and Indiana Get Their Sportsbooks Going

After much ado, Illinois saw the expansion of their expanded gambling bill …

…after SB690 was signed by governor, JB Pritzker, in July. This paved the way for the roll-out of regulated sports betting in this state. Before that, in June, Illinois House and Senate voted in favor of gambling expansion bill that included measures for legalization of this vertical.

Sports betting became legal in casinos, racetracks and sports venues as well as online. There will be a 15% tax rate tied to it. Apart from this major breakthrough, Governor’s “Rebuild Illinois” strategy that involves major investment of $45 billion into overhaul of infrastructure also concerns casino industry as it is expected that certain hotspots will receive their brand new venues.

Elsewhere, Indiana saw the launch of their own sports betting market, becoming the 12th state to do so. In July, state’s Gaming Commission published a draft of state’s new sports betting regulations for public consultation. Soon after, 12 temporary sports betting permits to casinos and off-track facilities have been issued.

East Chicago’s Ameristar Casino and Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg scheduled their sportsbook launches for September 1st. There will be another launch, on September 4th, in Horseshoe Casino in Hammond. The final approval for this was given on Gaming Commission on August 28th.

Online Casinos in PA, Sports Wagers Finally a Reality in NY

New York’s Rivers Casino and Resort, operated by Rush Street Gaming, became the first venue in this state to accept legal bets.

A soft launch of the same was held in Tioga Downs in Nichols. FanDuel sportsbook at this property was launched on July 19th.

In August, Oneida Indian Nation launched their retail sportsbooks at Turning Stone Resort and Pont Place casinos with Caesars Entertainment. Tribe’s Yellow Brick Road Casino will also have its sportsbook launched ahead of NFL season kick off. DraftKing’s sportsbook in del Lago Resort and Casino was launched on August 23rd.

Pennsylvania saw its long-awaited roll-out of online gambling in mid-July, after several land-based casinos finished testing their websites. They launched their slot and table games, with live dealer games due to become available later on. Also, Valley Forge Casino Resort launched its online sportsbook with FanDuel on 29th July.

In August, PGCB launched a self-exclusion program for video gaming terminals. Also, Presque Isle Casino in Erie opened BetAmerica sportsbook on August 8th.

Meanwhile, in Asia…

Japan’s local media has confirmed that Yokohama wants to officially bid for the concession to host an integrated resort. The city is actually the fourth to date to confirm that it would bid for an IR license. Prior to them Osaka, Wakayama and Nagasaki did the same.

A major corruption scandal leading to hundreds of illegal gambling activities prompted the governments of Philippines and Cambodia to terminate the issuing of online gambling licenses to offshore operators. While Cambodia outlawed online gambling altogether…

…the Philippines have not yet done so, although there are severe pressures from China to legalize online gambling for the sake of “good bilateral relations between two countries.”

According to Chinese officials, many Chinese citizens are targeted by illegal gambling sites based in the Philippines, as hundreds of thousands of yuan in illegal gambling are leaving China for the Philippines each year.

Asia’s most successful gambling story, Macau, has restricted the use of artificial intelligence tools that was supposed to help in identifying high spending gamblers. Casinos were also instructed not to install any digital surveillance equipment such as facial recognition systems.

Source:

“H2 Gambling Capital June Updates”