Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘we cannot inform you now that companies will never be issued a license, however they are playing with fire.’ (Image: ANP)
The country’s Secretary of State for Justice, Fred Teeven, has made it very clear that operators currently targeting the Dutch market illegally are unwelcome while the Dutch may well open up their online gambling market next year. In reality, in response to questions in the Dutch Parliament about the total amount of online sports gambling advertising directed at Dutch residents in the run up to the World Cup, Teeven warned that such sites were ‘playing with fire.’
The same cannot be traditionally said of online gambling while Holland may have a liberal and socially progressive attitude towards soft drugs like marijuana, and prostitution. There are no legal Web gaming sites in the united kingdom, and the federal government holds a monopoly that is complete gambling. The nation’s only casino that is land-based, Holland Casino, which operates 13 venues round the country, is wholly owned by the state, with all profits going to the Treasury.
Breaking the Law
However, movements are afoot to change this. Last year, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act was drawn up and passed by free slot games lightning link an initial round of lawmakers in February. The bill is anticipated to be rubber-stamped later on this year and may come into force midway through next year. Experts predict that the regulated online environment would bring in €200 million in gross video gaming revenue in its first year.
Teeven has made it clear, however, that overseas operators are breaking Dutch law by targeting the Dutch market. With echoes regarding the current ‘cease and desist’ letters sent by New Jersey regulators to online gambling advertisers, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) recently composed to certain operators that have been noisily marketing World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them they continue to do so that they face sanctions should.
The question was posed in the homely House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they adhere to the law or otherwise not? And performs this imply that Unibet and other large events will maybe not get a license when the law that is new been approved?’
Teeven said that the KSA mostly targets companies who use such news as radio, TV, and websites ending in .nl, and those that have Dutch language options, in its fight illegal advertising, although he’d not be drawn into mentioning any organizations by name.
Bad Actors Frozen Out?
‘So far, things have gone quite well and merely a few organizations were active in the Dutch market. However, this is changing,’ said Teeven. ‘Companies which do so might be playing with fire as it pertains to licensing once the remote gaming law is implemented. Obviously, the KSA is in fee of licensing. We must however simply take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’
The Bouwmeester Motion is the exact carbon copy of the ‘bad actor clause’ which has been adopted by newly managed states into the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and it is element of the proposed bill to legalize internet poker in California. Established last year, it stipulates that unlawful gambling operators offering bets to Dutch citizens should be excluded from a future market that is regulated. As is the way it is in the us, this list would include industry giants such as for example PokerStars (even though the latter’s present buyout by Amaya Gaming must certanly be a game changer in that arena).
However, Teeven refused to state definitively whether such operators would forever be frozen out: ‘I cannot tell at this point you that companies will never be granted a permit, but they are playing with fire,’ he repeated. ‘It could be against all agreements we’ve reached in the past.’
US Casinos Must Refuse Wagers from Medical Marijuana Proceeds
All bets are off: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at casinos across the united states, on pain of prosecution, state federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)
America’s casinos must refrain from accepting bets from workers in the marijuana that is medical, a group of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference in Las Vegas recently. Just as the clash between federal and specific state legislation has hindered the processing of online video gaming transactions into the newly regulated states, the federal stance on marijuana means that the federal government will not allow the casino industry to take care of the proceeds of marijuana sales. Just How casinos are to exactly determine that, is clearly planning to be problematic all around.
Former White House consultant on money laundering issues Jim Dowling, that is now a consultant to gambling enterprises, told executives: ‘Casinos can not accept any money from them, or they have to comply utilizing the brand new government guidance. This is certainly a problem that is federal has been brewing for a little while, and now it’s coming to a head. State rules and laws that are federaln’t match up.’
Should a casino knowingly accept a bet from a person working in the medical cannabis industry, they could face prosecution, unless they perform a few time-consuming, high priced, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this regard, casinos are being told to adopt a similar relationship attitude towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, which have essentially blacklisted anyone in that company from starting a checking or savings account.
No Pot Luck Allowed
Dowling said he wanted to increase the problem during the conference in Sin City to guarantee that casinos were alert to the new guidelines therefore that they could avoid any danger of prosecution.
‘It’s extremely controversial. I’ll probably obtain a large amount of hate mail for bringing it up,’ he stated. ‘But if you put yourself in a banker’s situation, can you wish to have to do all that and place yourself at unlawful risk?
‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We do not want those problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, whom can be a banking consultant. ‘One banker called them toxic.’
There has been protests from civil liberty groups over the government that is federal stance they claim that workers are now being treated like pariahs and denied basic liberties.
‘ The government that is federal once again saying people involved into the cannabis business don’t have rights,’ complained Dale Gieringer, director of California marijuana advocacy group NORML.
Pot Control
Meanwhile, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director of FinCEN, the branch of the Treasury which regulates casinos and banking institutions, was also present at the meeting. She referred questions to her media spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to confirm Dowling’s assertion.
‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to all or any monetary institutions covered under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.
Calvery additionally desires to enforce guidelines more rigorously that could require casinos to get their high-rollers to divulge the supply of their bankrolls, a move that is unpopular the casinos. She called casinos ‘complex finance institutions’ that must get used to ‘thinking more like other finance institutions.’
The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have such a thing to do because of the state’s legalization of the marijuana trade that is medical. Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, however in 2013 the law changed allowing organizations to dispense the medication, offering the go-ahead for 66 outlets throughout the state.
Pennsylvania Sands Penalized for Underage Gambling
While Sheldon Adelson is fond of scaremongering rhetoric about underage gambling online, the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania has been fined for permitting minors to gamble every 12 months since it started. (Image: osga.com)
The Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, has been fined for allowing teenagers to gamble and consume alcohol on its premises for the fifth time in as many years while Sheldon Adelson rails against the evils of online gambling, stoking fears that it will irreversibly corrupt America’s youth, one of his casinos.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control slapped an $85,000 penalty on Sands Bethworks Gaming for six incidents of underage gambling between June 3rd 2013 and January 29th 2014 at the Sands Casino Bethlehem in Northampton County. Two 17-year-olds, a 19-year-old, and three 20-year-olds was observed playing table games or slot devices at the casino with this period. The total is brought by it to 20 individual incidents of underage gambling over the past 5 years, that has cost Las Vegas Sand Corp. some $220,000 in fines.
Not Walking the Talk
While this means that the Sands Bethlehem has been penalized every 12 months because it exposed in ’09, it should be noted it’s not the only real casino within the state to fall foul of this authorities in Pennsylvania. Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township has paid also higher fines in the past, and recently Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County was handed a $35,000 fine for two incidents that occurred year that is last the second time Valley Forge happens to be penalized for underage gambling violations.
Ironically, Adelson’s Coalition to avoid Internet Gambling (CSIG) is fond of using rhetoric to declare that online casinos prey on underage gamblers, ignoring the truth that regulation means greater protection and brings with it rigorous age-verification procedures. CSIG recently created a movie spot showing a teenage boy playing on his father’s gambling account, as the Coalition steps up its campaign to push through a federal bill that would enforce a blanket ban on online gaming.
‘I think the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app acquisitions made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is just the end of the iceberg if online gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and former Senator Blanche Lincoln at the advertisement’s launch.
‘then think of what can happen when they get hold of their parent’s password and start playing blackjack if kids can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet Hotel? This is a nightmare scenario for moms and dads.’
Hysteria and Hypocrisy
The incident at the Sands Bethlehem highlights the hypocrisy that many feel lies beneath the hysteria during the heart of the Coalition’s argument. Adelson suffered a further blow to their cause recently when his ally that is closest in Washington, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, was defeated in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, which means that the Coalition has lost a robust backer, and that could hinder its efforts to market the federal bill.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is evaluating a bill of its, supported by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed would, legalize and manage poker that is online the state. It comes hot on the heels of a study that is recent commissioned by the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and conducted by consultancy firm Econsult, which concluded on-line poker would be a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, producing $129 million in income each year.