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Bwin has win a new case in the German courts, in a series of legal cases that have complicated the life of the german bookmaker and have caused significant ups and dows of its shares.
The new case decided last week by the German regional court in Saxony said that the operator can continue to provide services ” in the former Communist East Germany under a licence issued days before German reunification in 1990 . (…) The court ruled that this licence also covered arranging bets over the Internet, a decision which could undermine German plans to outlaw Internet gambling in new legislation planned to become effective next year. Bwin cheered the ruling.”
But the German court also said that the licence was not valid for Western lands of Germany, but bwin announced they will redirect the German citizens to the bwin’s international web site bwin.com — which operates under a license issued by the British Overseas territory of Gibraltar.
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The suspension hearing on the appeal for the annulment of Decree No. 163/2007, which has changed the conditions of sale and collection of betting on the so-called marketing points, was accepted by the Tribunal in Roma
The appeal was submitted by the licensees of Microgame Spa and other 4 dealers: Pluralia, Replatz, PakundoBet and NorBet. “The Monopoly of State submitted a written statement which clearly betray the intentions of the decree: eliminating competition for operators who have invested on notice Bersani, told professor and lawyer Francis Cardarelli, who along with Fernando Petrivelli today the applicants. “For our part we have submitted data collection show that the decline visibly produced by decree, and we hope the suspension of a clear deterrent and therefore demolitore segment of the marketing.”
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This is the result of a TÃœV Rheinland and Hambach & Hambach law firm panel that met in Koln on 3 December to discuss about the initiatives of the drafters of a German States Treaty on gambling.
Online-casions.com covers the main subjects discussed :
Many past reports held that the State Treaty on Gambling violates constitutional and European law; for instance, EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is at present preparing proceedings against Germany based on the violation by the State Treaty of European law – even before the Treaty has come into effect.
Up to now, however, the legislator and the public conversation have neglected to involve technical experts in the debate. This is almost inconceivable, as a regulation which cannot be implemented in practice cannot be upheld from the legal point of view either, as Dr. Wulf Hambach stated.
This neglected technical discussion has now been addressed by an expert panel under the auspices of the TÃœV Rheinland. Rolf vom Stein (COO TÃœV Rheinland Secure iT GmbH) described the technical limits of Internet censorship, while Prof. Dr. Thomas Harmann-Wendels (managing director of the Institute for Banking Economy and Banking Law at the University of Cologne) provided information on the economic and technical obstacles connected with the interruption of payment streams (so-called financial blocking) which is an intention of the Treaty if it is signed.
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The House of Representatives in Cyprus decided to lower the betting tax from 25% on all football bets and 10% on horse racing to a flat 10% rate on the net income.Â
The suggestion came from the Ministry of Finance that was worried on the rising of the illeagal betting systems available in the country.
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As I found reading the Net Bet Blog, a Bulgarian newspaper, Trud, reports on some changes in the gambling regulatory framework, by allowing online gambling – but also significant difference in the tax regime : the suggested change made by the Ministry of Finance – changing the tax on 10% of the total revenue to 10% of the profit.
The current estimates say revenues from legal betting in Bulgaria is around 350 million euros and not too far from 300 million euros is gambled illeagaly.
But seeing this news and talking about Eastern Europe always makes me wonder if there isn’t something else behind the curtain. This is how I find that, according to some sources , behind the amendments, as worded in the proposal, would also cover two private firms, both owned by Bulgaria’s richest man, Vassil Bozhkov, namely lottery Eurochance and bookmakers Eurofootball.
And this is why the current president Georgi Parvanov will veto the law, if it passes tha Parliament procedure, considering it just to support private interests.
So – things are more complicated then it seems.
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It seems that the Sweden’s tax authority wants to clamp down on online gambling affiliate. Accoriding with a report from Gaming Intelligence Group the Skatteverket – Sweden’s Tax Office has issued “a request for information to the country’s internet infrastructure providers as part of their ongoing investigation of online commerce. Of notable interest to the tax authority is the income generated by online gaming affiliates active in the Swedish market. The Foundation for Internet Infrastructure, issuer of the country’s .se top level domain, along with web hosting companies and internet service providers are obliged to share their confidential customer information with the tax authority under the request, or face the possibility of substantial fines for failing to do so.”
Of course, many affiliates have gone offshore, – but th eTax guys want to use Xenon program, a web spider used to find evidence of tax evasion by the authorities in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The tax rate could rate as high as 57%Â anbd more penalties could be addded. The tax authorities say there are more than 5 billion swedish krowns not taxed Internet operations winnings…
Wouldn’t be easier if they had a clear-cut framework with lower tax rates ?
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Microgaming, the largest software house of gambling online, announces that the Lotteries and Gaming Authority LGA- Malta has issued a license online class IV for its casinos produced by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority LGA- Malta.
The license will bring benefits to partners of software providers who have the desire to work in Europe. In addition, provide a process easier for those operators who hope to put its headquarters in Malta making the trip much easier. A number of operators Microgaming will benefit from these new, having already begun the process to obtain a license from Malta in the footsteps of class IV of Microgaming.
Malta – the first member of the EU to regulate the game online, offers 4 classes online gambling licenses, subjecting the applicators to probity checks as part of a broader and targeted control of the business plan, technical expertise and a complete control of conformity. The license of Class IV of the complete casino license Class IV that Microgaming has been allocated for its network of poker at the beginning of this year.
In another news released this week, Microgaming announces that it strengthens its platform Poker in South America through one of the largest operators, the Chilean room www.mamamiagaming.com that hopes to grow increasingly on the continent in which it operates.
For now the highest concentration of the game Mamamia Poker operates in Chile and Argentina, but the idea is to increase membership in Europe thanks to entry in the network of Microgaming room that offers 19 different languages for managing game.
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Party Gaming, the world’s leading publicly traded online gaming company agreed the conclusion of an exclusive contract with RTL interactive, a subsidiary of the German TV station RTL Television, which is part of the RTL Group, Europe’s leading entertainment and media network.
Due to the great popularity of poker, RTL in Germany has decided to launch a new German site to launch the poker-interested users with information and game tips supplies. Already, the site has RTL.de over six million unique visitors per month.
On the new website will RTLPoker.de exclusive advertising links to PartyPoker.net, the leading free online poker school worldwide. RTL interactive is on the RTL.de-Netzwerk for RTLPoker.de, and the poker school PartyPoker.net advertise. In addition, TV commercials for the new achievements in the largest German private broadcaster, RTL Television, broadcast.
Party Gaming has the free poker school at PartyPoker.net operate, including the technical and administrative infrastructure. In addition, exclusive material for RTLPoker.de available.
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Swedish gambling monopoly Svenska Spel looks much closer in losing their position in the Sweden’s gambling market after the annual conference of the Moderate Party saw a vote in support of a proposal to abolish the current government monopoly and to pursue a course to privatize Svenska Spel.
A formal timetable for the process of de-monoplozation is not public yet, so the problems of complying with the EU regulation still remain .
Poker news notes :
On Friday, Svenska Spel announced that a state-controlled gaming company had obtained permission from its government to offer online poker in cooperation with Svenska Spel and its online-gaming software supplier Boss Media. While the name of the procuring company was not disclosed, they are a member of The World Lottery Association and will use Boss Media’s software and Svenska Spel’s security and supervision systems. Why would Sweden want to sell off this successful moneymaking venture? While the company has come under fire for targeting the poorer population of Sweden and overly aggressive advertising campaigns, the real answer probably resides with Sweden’s current issue with the European Union.
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Bwin won a high stake lawsuit yesterday, 6 November 2007, when the Administrative Court of Appeal for the German state of Hessen decided to overturn a decision of a lower court that prohibited BWIN Interactive Entertainment AG’s German unit BWIN e.k. to offer its onling betting services in the state, taking into consideration the local gambling monopoly.
But the court of Appeal explained that “a ban on internet-based gaming as technically unfeasible, and thus regards the ban as essentially null and void.” This decision confirms the precedent from a Bavarian court presented by our blog in May 2007, contradicting the Bavarian Authorities that who decided that 3 companie could not accept wagers from the Bavarian users, since only the state-owned sports betting company is allowed to do that.
The decision actually makes sense in the online world and brings Germany closer to the European Court of Justice rulings.
The Europe’s trend is clear these days and a national decision to support its national monopoly against other EU -based operators is clearly seen as a breach of the freedom of services within EU. But if the trend gets stronger and EU pushes more for liberalization and increased transparency, it will certanly mean a much better position in an emerging market.
Combine this with the WTO demands against the US on this topic and we can see a big problem coming up between the two superpowers.