Tag: Online Casino

Chinese Government’s Gambling Ban Is Still Almost Intact

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As it stands, all forms of gambling save for two types of lotteries are still officially victims of the gambling ban that has been imposed by China’s government. While horse racing operations are allowed albeit to a very limited extent, sports betting has been banned completely with all the forms of gambling being confined to the autonomous region of Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is allowed.

Hundreds Arrested in Illegal Online Gambling Ring

As part of the efforts to implement the gambling ban, the country’s authorities have recently dismantled a major illegal gambling ring and in the process arrested over 100 suspects – this was done in two separate and effectively coordinated operations. The antigambling administration of China has also been working diligently against land-based gambling operators.

The raid on online gambling rings reportedly involves 13 different gambling websites with over 100,000 registered users who had collectively wagered over RMB350 million ($55 million) before the crackdown. The investigation began in February after Chinese authorities received a tip that a local firm had been renting out its servers and providing technical support for unauthorized online gambling operators. Since then, the number of people that have been arrested for being suspects in the online gambling rings has reached 453, and this could be an indication how deep-rooted the activity is.

Is Moving Gambling Operations to Hainan the Answer?

A number of industry experts do not believe that the country’s island of Hainan could become the next Chinese casino hub, much like Macau. The experts believe that such a decision would be made by the government and at the moment it would be a long shot to think that the Chinese government would allow such a thing. However, if by some miracle this goes through, the casino industry experts have expressed a lot of optimism that the island, which is considered to be China’s “Hawaii” could open doors for several kinds of sports lotteries.

A couple of months ago, there were reports that the government had been considering legalizing some forms of gambling on Hainan Island. This came to pass later in April 2018, when the government officially revealed that it was going to officially legalize horse racing as well as many other types of sports lotteries on the island. The move was part of the country’s bid to turn the island into the largest pilot free-trade port.

While this would have effectively ended the gambling monopoly of Macau, it will take some time before it officially begins. In fact, according to Su Guojing, gambling sector expert, and founder of the China Lottery Industry Salon, casino gambling outside Macau contradicted to the overall ideology and legislation in China. As such, it was nearly impossible for the Chinese government to allow the establishment of land-based casinos outside Macau, at least not for the moment.

USA Online Casino Partners with Top-Rated Casino Brands

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USA Online Casino has entered into a number of new partnerships with leading casino brands as part of its efforts to provide gamers and gaming fans with the best possible offerings and information about online casinos. The partnerships have been forged with the aim of bringing players regularly updated and in-depth reviews of the major online casinos that are lucky enough to meet their stringent criteria.

In addition to this, the partnerships will go a step further to provide games with up-to-date news, the best casino bonuses in the markets, as well as the fastest and most reliable payouts – all these are going to be selected based on whether or not they adhere to the strict safety rules that will be outlined by USA Online Casino and its partners.

We live in an era where massive data leaks and misuse of personal data are usual occurrences and one of the most affected industries is the casino industry. USA Online Casino understands that the player’s need for privacy protection and this is where the partnerships come in. The company conducts extensive background and safety checks on all the casinos they review so as to ensure that they are not only fully vetted but also regulated and certified by reputable, independent third parties.

“All the casinos featured use the latest industry-standard encryption technology to ensure players’ personal data always remains completely safe and secure. We want players to have a good time, but not at the expense of safety or quality. Our ultimate goal is to achieve the perfect balance—and that requires the right blend of cutting-edge content, ground-breaking new releases, and player rewards,” Philip Redmond, a spokesman for USA Online Casino, commented on the new partnerships in a press release. “Our goal is always to find a dynamic assortment of online casino promotions and VIP perks not available anywhere else – and bring them all together in one place.”

The platform stays true to its goal of finding a dynamic assortment of online casino promotions and VIP perks that cannot be found anywhere else and then bring them all together to a place where players can easily access and use the information.

LeoVegas Online Casino Fined for Accepting Bets from Addicts

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LeoVegas, an online casino operator that is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, has been fined £600,000 for failing to refund the deposits of over 11,000 problem gamblers who had requested to be barred from participating in the games the operator offers. The fine was imposed by the UK Gambling Commission which about a month ago also imposed a £1 million fine on Sky Bet for similar transgressions.

The rollout of a planned industry-wide self-exclusion scheme that has been delayed for a while now constitute a majority of LeoVegas online casino’s failings – the scheme would allow gamblers who were developing addictions to voluntarily bar themselves from placing bets with any gambling operator under the gambling commission’s jurisdiction.

The regulator conducted an investigation whose findings revealed that 1,894 LeoVegas online casino customers were deliberately targeted by marketing material that was sent directly to them even though they had already signed up to the platform’s self-exclusion scheme. Also, the online casino allowed over 400 of its customers to bet £200,000 over two months without any intervention by the company – the company did not even advise them to apply for its 24-hour “cooling-off” period.

Moreover, the commission also found that the online casino failed to return funds that were deposited by 11,205 customers who had chosen to self-exclude and close their accounts. However, as part of the settlement, the casino will be returning more than £14,000 to the affected customers. The fine that was imposed on LeoVegas also happens to encompass 41 misleading advertisements that it had issued between April 2017 and January 2018 including adverts that failed to mention the restrictions that were part of certain promotions offered by the platform.

“The outcome of this case should leave no one in any doubt that we will be tough with licenses holders who mislead consumers or fail to meet the standards we set in our license conditions and codes of practice,” said Neil McArthur, the UK Gambling Commission’s chief executive. “We want operators to learn the lessons from our investigations and use those lessons to raise standards.”

Despite having been fined by the Gambling Commission, the company has continued to post positive numbers and reports for year on year growth. In the first quarter of this year, for instance, the operator’s revenue went up 76 percent to a whopping £ 68.2 million. Everything is about to get better for the company regardless of the fine since its management has expressed “high ambitions for compliance with laws and regulations” so as to continuously improve its processes and procedures.

“We have had discussions with the UK Gambling Commission, UKGC, on suspected cases of breaches of the British gaming rules. A clear majority of cases are attributable to affiliate marketing. It’s good that UKGC puts increased demands on us in the gaming industry. It is an advantage for serious actors who both have the will and ambition to work in a regulated market,” LeoVegas online casino’s officials commented.

Sweden to Tighten Grasp on Online Gambling with New Measures

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The Swedish government is hoping to implement tighter regulatory oversight for online gambling in the country through proposed legislation that if passed will take effect in 2019. The proposed new legislation is meant to institute a revamped licensing system, establish stronger prohibitions against illegal operation as well as instate more effective consumer protection measures. According to an official press release by the Swedish government, the proposed measures will introduce a fee of nearly $84,000 for both an online casino license and a sports betting license.

The issue of unregulated online gambling in Sweden has been a major concern for the country’s government for a very long time. Ardalan Shekarabi, Sweden’s Public Administration minister spoke about this in a recent interview where he emphasized that new regulatory measures needed to be put in place.

“Unregulated gambling has taken over and gambling is used in criminal activities. It is 14 years since the first in a line of gambling inquiries was appointed. It is now time for us to move from words to actions and regain control of the Swedish gambling market. We are reinforcing the Swedish Gambling Authority, granting it more and sharper tools. Unlicensed operators will be shut out of the market and license-holders must conduct their activities in accordance with the law,” he said.

The minister and other officials have also affirmed that the new regulations would go a long way in ensuring higher levels of consumer protection. For instance, all online gambling operators will be required to offer the players the choice of excluding themselves. Similarly, the operators will be restricted to offering bonuses on only the first deposits.

Furthermore, if the proposed measures that are currently being considered in the Swedish capital are passed online gambling operators will be prohibited from marketing their wares in the Swedish market. The measures would also give Sweden’s gaming operator the power to order the country’s local internet service providers to display warning messages on sites that are not licensed and block any associated online payments.

The proposed legislation would also introduce a new “gambling fraud” criminal offense which would, in turn, lead to the establishment of a government commission for the sole purpose of handling instances of match-fixing.

Copycat Lawsuits Piling Up Against Social Casino Operators

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A slew of lawsuits have begun piling up against Washington State social gambling operators in the wake of a federal court ruling which found that Big Fish Casino which was previously owned by Churchill Downs violated Washington State gaming laws. All these copycat lawsuits hope to capitalize on the recent court ruling and state laws that govern and regulate online gambling.

As of Monday, Geekwire reports that four lawsuits had already been filed against four other social gaming operators namely High 5 Games, Playtika, DoubleDown Interactive and Huuge Games. Each of these operators offers a series of casino games like blackjack, slots, and roulette that use virtual chips. These chips have no monetary value but players must have them in order to play. Therefore, when players run out of the chips, they can either opt to wait until the game offers more free chips or buy a huge number of chips with real money and get back to playing.

All four suits further user similar language and arguments in their filings which also happen to be centre around the same arguments of the Big Fish Casino case. This takes advantage of a vague clause in Washington state law that backed the idea that the chips represent “something of value” even though they are not worth any money on their own.

“Double Down Casino games are illegal gambling games because they are online games at which players wager things of value (the chips) and by an element of chance (e.g., by spinning an online slot machine) are able to obtain additional entertainment and extend gameplay (by winning additional chips),” states one of the suits.

All these cases including the Big Fish casino case that preceded them are very likely to have major implications for the casual casino games market as a number of social casino gaming providers today depend on in-app purchases as revenue sources. The lawsuits represent an emerging backlash against this model. Already, online gambling lawsuits are becoming fairly common but the tide turned in favour of the petitioners and this opened the door for similar occurrences in the near future.

Playing It Safe

Again, following the Big Fish Casino ruling, PokerStars became one of the first social gambling operators to stop offering free play games in an effort adhere to the terms outlined by the March 28 Court of Appeals decision. According to the Washington State Gambling Commission press release, PokerStars opted out of the state’s online gambling industry. The gambling commission however assured the public that it had nothing to with this move by the online gaming operator:

“We are not a party to the civil court case, we did not testify in the case, and we did not order these sites to discontinue free online play for Washington residents. Customers with concerns should contact these websites directly,” reads the April 4 press release.

PokerStars’ parent company, The Stars Group, released a statement shortly after saying that the company was “reviewing the rulings and ensuring that our activities are in line with state regulations.” The company also said that it would reinstate players to their status before the free game offerings were altered once the law is clarified.

New York Online Poker Bill Back on the State Assembly Table

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It has been just a few weeks since the New York State Senate passed a budget which excluded plans for legalized online poker or online casinos. This was a presumably clear indication that the proposed bill represented nothing more than a pipe dream but, apparently, a recent Online Poker Report story suggests otherwise. The legalized online poker legislation still has a good shot at getting passed this year.

At the helm of the rejuvenated efforts is New York State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel who has called for the involvement of New York poker activists as he prepares to solicit for votes to support legislation that will finally allow for legal and regulated real money online poker in the state.

At the moment, the bill has 13 co-sponsors but Vanel expects it swell its ranks to “60 to 70 sponsors.” If this is truly the case, then bill A 5250 that was proposed by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow in a bid to legalize online poker, might finally be passed in the course of the year.

“Chairman Pretlow is a great champion for it, and now he has the partners to bring it through,” Vanel said in an interview with Online Poker Report. “The next few weeks will show some traction for the bill. With enough co-sponsors, I like it to get out of committee and onto the floor. I think we have a good shot at getting it through this year. My job is that I’m the guy who is going to whip these votes. That’s what I’m doing. I’m working these votes to get the bill on the floor, and I will be whipping votes on the floor.”

Vanel’s involvement, for one, makes the online poker community in New York more optimistic that they might finally be able to enjoy the games legally. The lawmaker’s attitude of fortitude is what has been missing all along in the New York online poker scene. He managed to get more than 60 Democrats in the Assembly to sign a letter that supported the inclusion of online poker in the budget. Now, the task at hand is to transfer all those signatures to co-sponsors of the bill and maybe get more on board.

“The budget effort didn’t work, but that happens with negotiations,” Vanel said. “What the exercise did is make us see that there’s more support for online poker than we previously thought.”

Suppose the proposed bill is passed at the Assembly, “it will have no problem getting through the Senate.”

PA to Permit Online Gaming Licensees to Host Multiple Skins

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The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) published its most recent rules and regulations that govern is imminent online gaming licenses. The new rules and regulations will allow the state’s online gambling licensee to host multiple ‘skins.’ This means that non-Pennsylvanian companies will have the opportunity to participate in the state’s lucrative online gambling market. However, the licensees will be forced to piggyback the skins on their casino domains.

The contentious question about skins or the ability of a casino to host affiliate operators has been looming of the board for quite some time and now that it has been addressed operators can start preparing. In essence, it emulates New Jersey’s approach where one casino is allowed to partner with and offer services from other operators.

In Pennsylvania, the lobbyist efforts on the issue of skins have proven to be very fierce with online operators such as 888 Holdings advocating for it and Parx Casino and Penn International arguing that no third-party sites should be allowed. 888 Holdings has successfully implemented a model of such kind in New Jersey where it has piggybacked its local casino license to favour its partnership with Caesars Entertainment.

Ultimately, the PGCB opted not to restrict its online market and instead decided to permit its interactive gaming certificate holders to partner “with multiple licensed interactive gaming operators to offer interactive games the Board has authorized the interactive gaming certificate holder to conduct.”

The PGCB further clarified that it was not going to restrain third-party operators from inking deals with more than one Pennsylvania gaming certificate holders. However, this is on condition that the third-party companies will no offer online gambling to the Pennsylvanian market “independent from an interactive gaming certificate holder and the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

On the same note, the licenses or any of their partners “may only offer interactive gaming in this Commonwealth through the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

The mentioned clauses clearly indicate the fact that third-party operators will have to piggyback on the domain names of the license holders. Fair enough. The board will begin accepting interactive gaming applications from the state’s existing brick-and-mortar casinos later this month.

Online Poker Excluded from New York State Budget Again

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Internet gambling has once again been excluded from the New York state budget despite having passed the Senate vote in January for the third straight year. Therefore,   and they will have to continue driving off-state to get in on some poker fun.

While the New York Senate has from time to time shown some love for the poker community in recent years, it is no secret why all the online poker bills never seem to get far in New York. The bill has been passed by the Senate a number of times but it cannot become a law until the Assembly and the governor give their approvals. The Assembly, for one, has shown very little support for online gambling and even refuses to vote on it.

Land-based casinos in New York have been struggling financially for a while now and it was anticipated that they would borrow a leaf from the neighbouring Atlantic City where online gambling has helped to the revenues of their struggling casinos. Apparently, the state is not interested in boosting land-based casino revenues.

New York hosts four non-tribal casinos all of which are in dire need of financial aid. The $440 million Seneca County-based Del Lago Resort Casino, for instance, has been asking the state to bail it out of its huge debts. The casino expected revenues of up to $263 million during its first year of operation – it, however, fell short of the revenue projections by a staggering $100 million.

“This casino developer pushed to have a New York casino for years, including on the Syracuse state fairgrounds,” state Sen. John DeFrancisco said. “So he knew exactly what he was getting into. If he’s losing money, that’s his problem to fix, not the taxpayers.”

This certainly proves that the state’s struggling brick and mortar casinos are not going to benefit from revenue boost from online gaming anytime soon.

Banking on Sports Betting?

 

Should the United States Supreme Court abolish the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), each state will be able to license sportsbooks within its borders. New York, like many other states, is considering supporting wagering on professional sports in case the Supreme Court rules in favour of sports bettors.

Big Fish Casino Offers Illegal Online Gambling, Rules Court

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Last Wednesday, Judge Milan D. Smith of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a 2015 district court ruling filed against then Big Fish Games’ parent company Churchill Downs Inc. by Cheryl Kater.

Kater’s lawsuit claimed that she bought and lost Big Fish Casino’s virtual chips worth over $1000. While the chips do not have any monetary value, players require them in order to play the online casino’s suite of games that includes roulette, slots and blackjack. Players who run out of these chips will either need to wait until the game offers or free chips or hasten things up by purchasing more. Cheryl Kater hoped to recover the lost chips arguing that the said chips represented “something of value” under the Washington Gambling Law. Her lawsuit was junked by a Seattle U.S. District Court judge.

Judge Smith, however, overturned the earlier ruling on March 25 on grounds that “the virtual chips extended the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino,” which implies that it fell under the Washington state law’s definition of “something of value.”

“Without virtual chips, a user is unable to play Big Fish Casino’s various games,” Judge Smith wrote in his opinion. “Thus, if a user runs out of virtual chips and wants to continue playing Big Fish Casino, she must buy more chips to have ‘the privilege of playing the game.’ Likewise, if a user wins chips, the user wins the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino without charge. In sum, these virtual chips extend the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino.”

Based on this opinion and the definition of gambling according to Washington state law, the appeals court pointed out that Big Fish Casino constituted illegal online gambling.

A Wake-Up Call for Social Casinos

Online gambling is still deemed as an illegal activity in most U.S. states but operators such as the now Aristocrat-owned Big Fish Casino have been providing online gamblers in the country with legal alternatives. In the wake of this Court of Appeals ruling, it is possible that the spotlight might shift to other online gambling operators through similar lawsuits from displeased players – federal law gives anyone who loses “a thing of value” to an illegal gambling operations legal grounds to reclaim whatever they have lost.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Kater’s lawsuit will be returned to the Seattle district court where Big Fish Casino’s former owner, Churchill Downs, will be given another opportunity to argue the case.

Russia’s New Online Gambling Laws Raises Stars Group Concern

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As part of 2017’s earnings reports, renowned gambling operator Stars Group pointed out that the Russian gambling market would be a potentially troublesome one in 2018. The earnings report also included what the online gambling operator is expecting to make this year with the figures further including assumptions that Russia would be introducing and implementing new online gambling rules that will essentially make it harder to process payments for Russian players.

There has been no official explanation from Russian officials in regards to the implementation of the new law that is likely to be enforced as from May 25. However, it is expected that the regulations will restrict banks from partnering with foreign payment processors or gambling operators that have been blacklisted by the Russian government.

While the new atmosphere will certainly not kill the Russian online gambling market, it undoubtedly has the potential of clamping down on the size of the gambling industry in the country. This is we put into consideration a similar scenario in the United States where the online gambling industry was clamped down after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed back in 2006. In the likely case that this occurs, the Stars Group will take quite a hit especially because the Russian online gambling market accounts for a huge chunk of its global market.

Stars Group Working on Contingencies

The effects of the changes that the Russian government is going to make is off-putting for investors but Stars Group is not giving up so easily. Rafi Ashkenazi, the Stars Group CEO said that he and his team are already working on contingencies that will help the company to deal with anything that the Russian government throws at them.

“We have plan As and plan Bs and plan Cs for every type of scenario that may happen in the market,” Ashkenazi told analysts. “We are monitoring, we are assessing, and we are ready.”

The concerns that were raised about the Russian gambling market were shared as part of an overall earnings reports which showed a steady 2017 for Stars Group – this encompassed both PokerStars as well as the group’s other online gambling sites. Total annual revenue went up 13.6 percent for fiscal 2017, summing up to over $1.3 billion. The same goes for other earnings as well – the net earnings rose by over 25 percent within the same period.