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The Swedish Gaming Board, called in their own language the Lotteriinspektionen, has requested UK-based betting exchange RedBet Ltd to send information on its employees.
Apparantly they think Redbet has emplyees based in Sweden : ” This private information has been requested in an attempt to ascertain whether Redbet has too many employees based in Sweden, a country which allows only government-owned gaming operations.”
According to Igaming:
The power to demand usually private information from online gambling companies is based on Swedish laws that permit the Board to require information if it is of the opinion that a commercial entity is carrying on an illegal gambling business in the country. Such information may be required to enable the Board to establish whether significant business for the company is being conducted without authority on Swedish soil.
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The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided in the case (C-260/04) against Italy saying that it was wrong to renew 329 horse race betting licences without a public tender .
The Italian government decided in 1999 to increase the number of betting centres in Italy from 329 to 1,000, with only the new concessions put out to tender with the existing ones renewed for six years.
But the ECJ said that this was illeagal and ruled that ” by renewing 329 licences for horse-race betting operations without inviting any competing bids, the Italian Republic failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 43 and 49 EC and, in particular, infringed the general principle of transparency and the obligation to ensure a sufficient degree of advertising. ”
Italian authorities cannot restrict access to European operators simply for the purpose of guaranteeing “continuity, financial stability and a proper return on past investments for licence holdersâ€. Moreover, the Italian argumentation failed to show how the renewal or maintenance of the old concessions without a tendering procedure would in any way help to prevent clandestine betting.
European Gaming and Betting Association welcomed the decision that is in line with previous ECJ rulings reached in the Gambelli and Placanica cases amd considered today’s ECJ ruling marks an important step towards a regulated European gaming and betting market and encourages Italy and other EU Member States to review their legislation.
According to Sigrid Ligné, Secretary General of the EGBA: „The Court’s decision sends a clear signal to Member States currently offering, or planning to offer, licences to European gaming and betting operators. The Court clearly states that the licensing must be undertaken within a set of clear and strict parameters, which are in line with the EC treaty. The Court‘s decision also underlines that these licences cannot be awarded without a transparent, competitive and fair tendering procedure“.
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Following the launch of the UK’s Gambling Act 2005 on September 1, many online gaming companies are shifting their operations to take advantage of geographical approval from the Government, according to Casinowire.
Malta has tax rates cut to 2.5%, comparing with 15 per cent of gross profits possible in UK. MaltaMedia News announces William Hill is transferring its online gambling operation from the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean to Malta and the Gibraltar. The gambling giant said that the move allow it to conduct “business as usual”, after new amendments to the United Kingdom (UK) Gambling Act 2005 were announced. Under the new amendments, which will take effect on the 1st September, only gambling companies based within the European Economic Area (EEA) or on a Government White list will be able to advertise in the UK.
Moreover InterCasino and InterPoker’s new gaming licenses in Malta, is a clear sign of the island’s move to solidify its position in the online gambling industry
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The new UK law on gambling replaces the old law from 1845 and creates new opportunities for the £91 billion UK gambling industry. According to out-law, the new act from 2005 came into force in stages, first by creating the Gambling Commission.
From 1 September 2007 the Commission will regulate British-based remote gambling operators, arcades and the betting industry. The biggest change under the Act is that casinos, bookmakers and online betting sites will be able to advertise their services on TV and radio in the UK for the first time.
Same have already complained , such as the UK based charities such as the Salvation Army that are worried that the act may cause a rise in addicted gambling, due to increased exposure.
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The Italian Authority for State Monopolies (Amministrazione autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato) has announced that it might change again the regulatory framework for remote gambling and to allow credit cards usage on in the Italian licensed website.
The new laws could be introduced in 2008 and wants to stop money laundring activities.
It remains to be seen if that will be applied, but it seems that Italy has not learnt at all the lessons from the European Court in the cases Gambelii and Placanica.
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The ban of the unibet.com cycling team in some competitions is Italy, Belgium and Spain because the had the main sponsor an online betting company in Malta the triggered the European Commission anger that thretaned these countries with legal actions.
“The Commission understands that the Green Cycle Associates cycling team, a Swedish company, has been refused entry to two races in the Belgian UCI,†a letter obtained by Reuters said.
According to The Guardian, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy had earlier warned France over the same issue, and a Commission official told Reuters that Brussels would step up legal action against the French government in June over its enforcement of anti-betting laws governing cycling and all other sports.”There is clear evidence that France has breached EU internal market rules, following an analysis of the situation“, said the official,
“Sport clubs throughout Europe… are facing unfair sponsorship restrictions and also missing significant competition opportunities,” Konstantinos Maragkakis, spokesman for the European Gaming and Betting Association said.
Meanwhile, let’s have a look at the Giro D’Italia winner odds at Gamebookers
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This is what a Bavarian court ( from Munich) has ruled in the lawsuit between the Bavarian Authorities and Bwin.
According to Forbes the court said that
“It is technically impossible to exclude only gamblers residing in Bavaria from using the company’s online offers. The Bavarian statedid not show a single comprehensible and convincing way that sports betting companies can technically implement the ban.”
The Bavarian authorities declared in September 2006 that 3 Internet betting companies should not accept wagers from the Bavarian users, since only the state-owned sports betting company is allowed to do that.
This is a very nice precedent established by the Bavarian court that shows a real understanding by the Internet from the judges. It is also a smart decision, not to go again in the Italian style that tried, without success to block the websites via Italian ISPs.
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Even though the Svenska Spel monopoly was criticized by the Swedish Parliament , it will probably keep its monopolyaccording with the Swedish economic journal, Veckans Affärer, because it gets a lot of money to the state budget – Q1 of 2007 – net profit of €157 million.
So the state will put hard-to-meet conditions for new entrants, so nobody will buy a license. Sweden’s finance minister, Anders Borg lied in the electoral campaign when he promised to to abolish the state gambling monopoly.
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Yahoo launched its real money Poker game for the UK users through a collaboration with St. Miner, after already having online real money bingo.
This is a very interesting move, showing that the big players could be interested in this domain very soon indeed. Other important gambling players, such as PartyGaming have declared that the real competition will start when the first giant will enter the gambling arena….
So let’s see it !
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The Swedish online betting exchange, casino and poker operator Redbet Holding has announced last week the purchase of 98% of purchase a 98 per cent of Teletoto Ltd, the only state licensed National Gaming License for both retail bookmaking and online gaming in Lithuania.
Teletoto that has 20 betting shops and plans to go into online betting as well was acquired through a new share issue valued at €1.55 million.
Redbet CEO Jonas Sundvall declared :
“This acquisition provides Redbet with a strong position in the fast growing Baltic gambling market. The acquisition will also enable Redbet to locate certain operative functions to Lithuania in order to benefit from reduced operating costs. “
