
Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘we cannot tell you now that companies will never be provided a license, but 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 wagering advertising directed at Dutch residents into the run up towards the World Cup, Teeven warned that such sites had been ‘playing with fire.’
While Holland might have a liberal and socially modern attitude towards soft medications like cannabis, and prostitution, the same cannot be traditionally said of online gambling. There are no legal online gaming sites in the country, and the federal government holds a complete monopoly on gambling. The country’s only land-based casino chain, Holland Casino, which operates 13 venues across the country, is wholly owned by the state, with all profits visiting the Treasury.
Breaking the Law
Nonetheless, movements are afoot to alter this. Last 12 months, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act ended up being drawn up and passed by a round that is initial of in February. The bill is expected to be rubber-stamped later this and should come into force midway through next year year. Experts predict that the regulated environment that is online bring in €200 million in gross video gaming revenue in its very first year.
Teeven has made it clear, however, that overseas operators are breaking Dutch law by targeting the Dutch market. With echoes regarding the recent ‘cease and desist’ letters sent by nj-new Jersey regulators to online gambling advertisers, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) recently had written to certain operators who’ve been noisily advertising World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them that they face sanctions should they continue doing so.
Issue was posed in the homely House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they conform to regulations or otherwise not? And does this mean that Unibet and other large events will perhaps 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 internet sites ending in .nl, and those that have Dutch language options, in its fight against illegal advertising, although he would not be drawn into mentioning any ongoing businesses by name.
Bad Actors Frozen Out?
‘So far, things have gone quite nicely and merely a few businesses were active within the market that is dutch. However, this is changing,’ said Teeven. ‘Companies which do so can be playing with fire as it pertains to licensing once the remote gaming law is implemented. Obviously, the KSA is in charge of licensing. We should however simply take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’
The Bouwmeester Motion could be the equivalent of the ‘bad actor clause’ which is adopted by newly regulated states in the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and is element of the proposed bill to legalize internet poker in California. Established last year, it stipulates that illegal gambling operators offering bets to Dutch citizens ought to be excluded from a future regulated market. This list would include industry giants such as PokerStars (although the latter’s recent buyout by Amaya Gaming should be a game changer in that arena) as is the case in the United States.
However, Teeven refused to say definitively whether such operators would be frozen out forever: ‘I cannot inform you now that companies will never be granted a license, nevertheless they are using fire,’ he repeated. ‘It would be against all agreements we have reached in days gone by.’
US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Profits
All bets are off: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at casinos across the united states, on pain of prosecution, say federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)
America’s casinos must refrain from accepting bets from workers into the marijuana that is medical, a small grouping 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 gaming transactions within the newly regulated states, the federal stance on marijuana means that the government will not permit the casino industry to take care of the proceeds of cannabis sales. How casinos are to determine that exactly, is demonstrably going to be problematic all around.
Former White House consultant on cash laundering issues Jim Dowling, who is now a consultant to casinos, told executives: ‘Casinos can not accept any money they have to comply with the new government guidance from them, or. This is a federal issue that has been brewing for some time, and now it is coming up to a mind. State guidelines and federal regulations don’t match up.’
Should a casino knowingly accept a bet from a person working in the medical marijuana industry, they could face prosecution, unless they perform a number of time-consuming, expensive, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this respect, casinos are being told to consider a similar relationship mindset towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, that have essentially blacklisted anybody in that business from starting a checking or savings account.
No Pot Luck Allowed
Dowling said he desired to improve the issue at the conference in las vegas to guarantee that casinos were aware of the brand new guidelines therefore that they could avoid any threat of prosecution.
‘It’s very controversial. I’ll probably get yourself a lot of hate mail for bringing it up,’ he stated. ‘But if you put your self in a banker’s situation, could you want to do all that and put your self at unlawful risk?
‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We don’t want those nagging problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, whom normally 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 employees are being treated like pariahs and denied basic liberties.
‘ The government is again saying people involved within the cannabis company don’t have legal 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 banks, was also present at the conference. She referred questions to her news spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to verify Dowling’s assertion.
‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to all or any financial institutions covered under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.
Calvery additionally wants to enforce rules more rigorously that will need gambling enterprises to have their high-rollers to divulge the source of their bankrolls, a move that is unpopular the casinos. She called casinos ‘complex finance institutions’ that must get accustomed to ‘thinking similar to other financial institutions.’
The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have anything to complete with all the state’s legalization of the medical marijuana trade. Marijuana has been appropriate for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, but in 2013 the law changed to permit companies to dispense the drug, 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 enabling 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 had been observed playing table games or slot machines during the casino with this period. The total is brought by it to 20 individual incidents of underage gambling over the previous 5 years, that has cost Las vegas, nevada 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 launched last year, it should be noted it’s perhaps not the actual only real casino into the state to fall foul of the authorities in Pennsylvania. Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township has paid even higher fines within the past, and recently Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County was handed a $35,000 fine for two incidents that occurred final year, the second time Valley Forge happens to be penalized for underage gambling violations.
Ironically, Adelson’s Coalition to get rid of Internet Gambling (CSIG) is fond of utilizing rhetoric to declare that online casinos prey on underage gamblers, ignoring the truth that regulation means greater protection and brings with it age-verification that is rigorous. 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 via a federal bill that would enforce a blanket ban on Web gaming.
‘I think the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app purchases made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is just the tip of the iceberg if on line gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and previous Senator Blanche Lincoln at the advertisement’s launch.
‘If children can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet resort,’ then think about just what can take place when they get hold of their parent’s password and begin playing blackjack? This is a nightmare situation for moms and dads.’
Hysteria and Hypocrisy
The incident at the Sands Bethlehem shows the hypocrisy that many feel lies beneath the hysteria during the heart of the Coalition’s argument. Adelson suffered an additional blow to their cause recently when his ally that is closest in Washington, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, had been defeated in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, meaning the Coalition has lost a robust backer, and that could hinder its efforts to market the federal bill.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is considering a bill of unique, backed by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed would, legalize and regulate poker that is online the state. It comes hot on the heels lightning link slot free play of a study that is recent commissioned by the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and conducted by consultancy firm Econsult, which concluded internet poker would be described as a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, generating $129 million in revenue per year.
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