The UK government announced the plan to introduce a 10% levy on profit to the UK racing industry. Effective April 2017, this change will apply to all betting operators, regardless of whether they are based in the UK or elsewhere, be they on-course, off-course, retail, online, pool betting operators, betting exchanges or spread betting sites. […]

The UK government announced the plan to introduce a 10% levy on profit to the UK racing industry. Effective April 2017, this change will apply to all betting operators, regardless of whether they are based in the UK or elsewhere, be they on-course, off-course, retail, online, pool betting operators, betting exchanges or spread betting sites.

This setup will replace the Horserace Betting Levy which is the current system in the UK. It states that only the companies that are based in the UK have to pay the levy, with bookmakers facing a 10% levy on the gross profits above the first £500,000.

“This move will help secure the future of horse racing in Britain by making sure that gambling firms pay a fair return to support the sport. Horse racing has a strong heritage in this country, employing thousands of people and is enjoyed by many almost every day of the year. This new approach to the Horserace Betting Levy will help sustain and develop the sport,” stated Tracey Crouch, The Minister for Sports, Tourism and Heritage.

Nick Rust, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, added that such changes are “critical to the future health of British racing”.

In the meantime, operators are threatening to take legal actions over proposed changes, but chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association Clive Hawkswood is stating that this move will not take place until after the European Union review process has been completed.

“There is a passing reference to the need for them to obtain state aid clearance and that remains a significant hurdle for them to overcome.It would be premature to talk about legal challenges until that process [of notifying the EU] is complete and that could take months,” explained Hawkswood.

Despite the previously failed attempts to establish a gambling market, Mongolia is forming a special group to draft their gaming bill. The country is attempting to tap into Asia’s lucrative gambling business and in this way boost tax revenue, reports local press. A few days ago the Judicial Standing Committee gave the green light to […]

Despite the previously failed attempts to establish a gambling market, Mongolia is forming a special group to draft their gaming bill. The country is attempting to tap into Asia’s lucrative gambling business and in this way boost tax revenue, reports local press.

A few days ago the Judicial Standing Committee gave the green light to create a government’s special team that will take care of drafting legislation that would authorise casino resorts. This has been done following the intentions to legalise Mongolia’s gambling industry expressed in November last year. The government’s group will be leaded by L. Enkhbold, Member of the Parliament.

It‘s a second attempt to legalise casino resorts in Mongolia. In 2012 the bill was submitted and received a lot of support. However, the plan to establish a gambling market did not work out.

This time the model proposed in the legislation is based on the practices used in Vietnam, South Korea or Combodia. That means that Mongolian citizens would be forbidden to gamble in casinos. All these countries are currently enforcing foreigner-only policies, where only foreign nationals are allowed to gamble in casino resorts.

Casinos are planned to be established near Mongolia’s borders with Buryatia and Kyakhta in Russia, China, also in international airports in Mongolia’s capital Ulan Bator.

Under the new bill, Mongolia will establish two casinos for tourists that are expected to generate MNT 74-130 billion in tax revenue annually.

It may be 2-3 years before bitcoin regulation in China, says the chief executive of digital currency exchange BTCC China Bobby Lee. His estimations were announced following the meetings between the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) – China’s central bank – and the major bitcoin exchanges in the country. According to Reuters, Bobby Lee revealed […]

It may be 2-3 years before bitcoin regulation in China, says the chief executive of digital currency exchange BTCC China Bobby Lee. His estimations were announced following the meetings between the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) – China’s central bank – and the major bitcoin exchanges in the country.

According to Reuters, Bobby Lee revealed that in contrary to the reports, PBOC did not cause pressure to curb the exit Chinese capital through bitcoin.
“No. Not as of yet… Nothing verbal or written to us,” Lee told the news agency.

Last week, the officials of PBOC met with BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin, China’s big bitcoin exchanges, and reportedly “urged the platform to behave in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.” The central bank also ordered BTCC China to perform “self-examination”. This directive was requested following “abnormal price fluctuations” of bitcoin, when the price had reached record highs followed by a steep drop.

You can buy bitcoin with yuan and then sell it abroad in exchange for foreign currencies. However, Lee pointed out that “to be honest, not many” investors were doing it. The Chinese yuan‘s price of bitcoin carries a premium to the price in other currencies, he noted.

“For that range, you’re not going to be able to do it at a good rate. You’re going to lose 10 percent of your money,” Lee said. “Maybe the individual household might buy 20,000 more dollars worth of bitcoin than their $50,000 (forex) quota, but that’s a drop in the bucket.”

The next step is for PBOC to discuss new or planned rules involving bitcoin. Bobby Lee estimates “it will be two to three years before China regulates bitcoin.”

Vietnamese government reinforced control on slot machines used in facilities open to foreigners in Vietnam. The new regulation follows the Decree 175/2016/ND-CP approved on December 30, 2016 and will come into effect on February 15, 2017. According to the Decree on business in prize-winning electronic games for foreigners, slot machines have to be 100% new, […]

Vietnamese government reinforced control on slot machines used in facilities open to foreigners in Vietnam. The new regulation follows the Decree 175/2016/ND-CP approved on December 30, 2016 and will come into effect on February 15, 2017.

According to the Decree on business in prize-winning electronic games for foreigners, slot machines have to be 100% new, with technical specifications clarified by the manufacturer, and certified by independent certifying agencies operating in G7 countries (Germany, Canada, US, France, Italy, Japan and UK).

The legal slot machines operating in casinos that are available to foreign players nationwide, will have to offer a pay-out percentage of at least 90%. Operators will be obliged to obtain the re-certification by the government to prove their gaming machines meet the new conditions.

The legal slot machines must add the 90% payout offering into the software that is installed into machine while it is still in the factory. The operators will be allowed to change the pay-out percentage, but the new percentage must not be lower than 90%. In this case, the machines will have to be certified again and the percentage will always have to be noted in the terms of the game.

Furthermore, the operators will be allowed to maintain or repair the machines, but in case such actions would concern the parts of the machines that could alter the percentage, the certification will have to be obtained again before putting machines into use.

The Vietnamese government has recently announced that the plan to allow slot machines in international airports is placed on hold. There will be no actions taken regarding the proposal until the government can measure the results of its three-year trial of allowing Vietnamese residents to gamble at two integrated resorts.

After long discussions the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli National Lottery (Mifal Hapayis) have come to an agreement, which could significantly change the situation of gambling in the country. The two parties finally agreed to allow the residents of Israel to play online lotteries and other games like Keno. Israeli business newsletter Calcalist announced […]

After long discussions the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli National Lottery (Mifal Hapayis) have come to an agreement, which could significantly change the situation of gambling in the country. The two parties finally agreed to allow the residents of Israel to play online lotteries and other games like Keno.

Israeli business newsletter Calcalist announced that the new permit will allow the activities of the National Lottery until the end of 2021. The two parties agreed that there will be eight Keno draws per day just for residents that live in areas that have a socio-economic rate of 6 or higher.

Meanwhile, Mifal Hapayis agreed to remove 500 slot machines and 150 keno machines after negotiations to renew its operating license did not reach an agreement. This was the condition of the Minister of Finance in order to allow the extension of Mifal Hapayis’s license “for another 48 hours in order to wind up talks.”

Moshe Kahlon, Israeli Minister of Finance, has been very vocal about his plans to shut down all gambling machines and horse racing activities in Israel.

However, Mifal Hapayis, is expected to benefit from these changes as there will be increased regulation and reliability in the country. Initially they wanted to add 14 annual lotteries to the two weekly draws they currently have.

Since Mifal Hapayis gets US$208 million from the gambling machines annually, the request has been placed to compensate this amount. However, ministry officials said that the real figure should be lower since Mifal Hapayis is given a chance to conduct extra lotteries.

Illegal gambling at internet cafes and mini-casinos appears to be a rising problem in Greece judging from the number of times unauthorised gambling operations have been brought to light. The police made 300 arrests in 51 raids in the last fortnight of 2016 alone. According to official figures released by gaming watchdog Hellenic Gaming Commission […]

Illegal gambling at internet cafes and mini-casinos appears to be a rising problem in Greece judging from the number of times unauthorised gambling operations have been brought to light. The police made 300 arrests in 51 raids in the last fortnight of 2016 alone.

According to official figures released by gaming watchdog Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP), over the last year police raided 480 establishments suspected of operating unlicensed gambling terminals or illegal casino games, made a total of 1,513 arrests and seized €160,000 in cash.

During the raids authorities have also seized hundreds of computers that were illegally used as video lotto terminals (VLTs). VLTs appear to be the game of choice for Greek citizens seeking to gamble.

Experts estimate that illegal VLT gambling is 1 billion euro market in Greece and causes the loss from taxes of around 300-400 million euros.

Authorities believe that it is extremely difficult to combat this issue as the fines for operating illegal gambling machines are low compared with the profit that is potentially gained. Some illegal operators keep on offering their services in the same location even after they are being fined. One example of such case is an establishment in the centre of Serres in northern Greece that was raided eight times in under 3 months and all those times was found to be in violation of gambling law.

The Greek independent authority Commission for Supervision and Regulation of Gaming introduced a project to grant further licenses in order to operate authorised slot machines.

However, long-delayed plans to add an additional 35,000 VLTs to the Greek market have faced yet another obstacle when several local casino operators filed a formal motion to block the process based on a perceived threat to their own operations.

Brazil’s gambling vote has been long-delayed and it looks like 2017 will not be an exception. A vote to legalise gambling has been delayed again after Brazil’s law makers decided they have more important issues to deal with. Brazilians hoped to arrange a final vote on the two competing gambling bills – the Senate’s 186/2014 […]

Brazil’s gambling vote has been long-delayed and it looks like 2017 will not be an exception. A vote to legalise gambling has been delayed again after Brazil’s law makers decided they have more important issues to deal with.

Brazilians hoped to arrange a final vote on the two competing gambling bills – the Senate’s 186/2014 and the Chamber of Deputies’ 442/1991 – in December however, this plan has been cancelled.

Gambling proponent and senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho appeared on Radio Jornal de Pernambuco’s Super Morning program and informed that the 186/2014 bill had been sent to the Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJ). Coelho hoped that discussions and research on individual points of the current bill will be done promptly “so that it can finally be deliberated by the Plenary.” However, he expressed his beliefs that it might take until “March, April, (to) gather support necessary for the activity of gambling to be legalised in Brazil.”

The question of legalising gambling became even more controversial when Brazil’s Catholic clergy urged the voters to oppose gambling liberalisation and to pressure politicians to reject the project in order to prevent “irreparable moral, social and family damage.”

Coelho admitted that the religious arguments “will carry a very great weight in the debate on this issue,” but he presented the examples of other religious countries that managed to reach a compromise with gambling interests.

Coelho added that legalised gambling would offer Brazil the opportunity to “generate jobs, generate income, generate taxes, so that the country can live better times.”
Even though supporting lawmakers had promised a boost that would be provided to the struggling economy by legalising gambling, the final vote could still be the longest wait.

Residents of Singapore are receiving unsolicited gambling advertisements. The messages appearing on their phones are offering online gambling, “easy” loans and may be abetting illegal activities, according to the local privacy watchdog. From January until September 8,800 public complaints regarding text message spam promoting unauthorised online gambling services and financial loans were received by Singapore’s […]

Residents of Singapore are receiving unsolicited gambling advertisements. The messages appearing on their phones are offering online gambling, “easy” loans and may be abetting illegal activities, according to the local privacy watchdog.

From January until September 8,800 public complaints regarding text message spam promoting unauthorised online gambling services and financial loans were received by Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission.

Even though the percentage of complaints dropped down by 18% comparing to the same period in 2015, the messages account for 80% of all complaints received by the Commission.

It is noted that the actual number of messages received is likely much higher, but many Singaporeans simply did not file a complaint. The watchdog is urging the public to file a report whenever they receive an SMS or call related to loans or online gambling from an unsolicited source.

International online gambling sites started getting blocked in Singapore in February 2015. There was no progress done until October this year, when the local sports lottery provider Singapore Pools was authorised to launch an online site. Shortly after that another site was launched by the Singapore Turf Club.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is introducing a new fee structure in April 2017 that is said to benefit most of operators. However, a few of them will see their fees rise. The findings of the consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport regarding the new fee structure were announced on UKGC website. […]

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is introducing a new fee structure in April 2017 that is said to benefit most of operators. However, a few of them will see their fees rise.

The findings of the consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport regarding the new fee structure were announced on UKGC website. The responses to the consultation were received from various stakeholders, including licensed gambling operators, trade associations and members of the public.

The new fee structure will “reduce the overall fee burden across the industry by over 10%” says UKGC. Around 1900 operators will have their fees reduced (the number varies from 2% to 75%). 1000 licensees will continue to maintain the current level of the rates. For around 75 operators the new structure will mean increased fees. For these licensees the fees will rise as high as 140% of their current level.

Further, the 20 largest operators might face an additional annual payment of £164k. However, first-time licensees will get a 25% discount on their first-year fees.

The new fee structure was created to ensure that the UKGC’s costs were “recovered on a proportionate basis from different types and sizes of operator.”
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President Rodrigo Duterte announced his plans to close all online gambling firms in the Philippines. He ordered the closure saying that the government is not getting proper taxes from such operations. This has been revealed while presenting a budget for 2017, without specifying the timing of the ban and in this way leaving the country […]

President Rodrigo Duterte announced his plans to close all online gambling firms in the Philippines. He ordered the closure saying that the government is not getting proper taxes from such operations. This has been revealed while presenting a budget for 2017, without specifying the timing of the ban and in this way leaving the country worried about one of its booming industries.

“I am ordering the closure of all online gaming (firms). All of them. They have no use,“ Duterte said according to Inquirer.

In August Duterte cancelled one firm‘s 13-year monopoly on gambling in licensed cafes. He based it on disability to properly collect taxes from internet gambling as well as the risen youth participation in it.

“I was mad because even the youth are gambling and there was no way of collecting the proper taxes,” Duterte explained at the time.

“I will restore online (gambling) provided taxes are correctly collected, and they are situated or placed in districts where gambling is allowed, which means to say, not close to churches or schools,” he said.

The gaming industry in the Philippines has been attracting many foreign tourists as well as millions of dollars in investment up to date. It is estimated that the possible loss in annual revenues if the decision to shut down or not renew the licenses is taken is around $215 million.

Polish lawmakers have approved amendments to the country’s gambling legislation. Once signed by the president Andrzej Duda, the new changes will take effect on April 1, 2017. The changes to the Polish Gambling Act have already been accepted by both legislative chambers of Poland. Many of the changes purposed are already known to the public. […]

Polish lawmakers have approved amendments to the country’s gambling legislation. Once signed by the president Andrzej Duda, the new changes will take effect on April 1, 2017. The changes to the Polish Gambling Act have already been accepted by both legislative chambers of Poland.

Many of the changes purposed are already known to the public. The official reason for amending the law is to protect the players against the risk to excessive gambling and to deal with the unlicensed part of the market. However, that is not it. Adding online casino, bingo and poker games to the current online sports betting products extends the number of the permitted games significantly. Further, the new legal options will be solely dependable on the Totalizator Sportowy state gambling monopoly, which will leave international operators out of the game.

The attempts of internationally licensed operators to serve Polish users will be prevented by IP- and payment-blocking mechanisms. That is planned to be done no later than July 1, 2017.

In the meantime, Polish-licensed betting operators will be allowed to have some advertising however, the ads of banking services on their websites will be prohibited.

The amendment will not change the rules of the highly controversial 12% turnover tax which has already significantly limited the interest of operators willing to participate in Polish gaming market. However, a separate amendment regarding this matter is planned in the future.

A push to ban advertisements promoting “free” and “bonus” bets to online gamblers in Australia is backed by a newly formed body representing giant betting agencies. Responsible Wagering Australia was launched only a few weeks ago. The main goal of the association is to promote stronger regulation in the industry. The group that was founded […]

A push to ban advertisements promoting “free” and “bonus” bets to online gamblers in Australia is backed by a newly formed body representing giant betting agencies.

Responsible Wagering Australia was launched only a few weeks ago. The main goal of the association is to promote stronger regulation in the industry. The group that was founded by online companies like Unibet, Bet365, Betfair, CrownBet, Sportsbet wants a code of conduct installed. That should include responsible gambling and protocols of harm-minimisation. The group was formed to support initiatives of government in order to reduce the potential “adverse influence” of gambling.

The group is wasting no time and has already proposed actions to end so called “free bets” at online gambling sites.

At the moment every other state in Australia has its own regulation towards the issue of inducement advertising, however RWA proposes to approach it nationally.

RWA executive director Stephen Conroy told the The Sunday Mail:

“A national ban is in the long-term interests of consumers, operators and regulators, and would further strengthen harm-minimization efforts in the sector.”

“A ban that applies right across Australia is the only way to ensure that an appropriate level of consumer protection is offered, regardless of where an individual lives” Conroy added.