iGaming News all over the world 18.01.2011

18.01.2011, Spain's Aragon Region First to Approve Online Betting Legislation / The International Gaming Awards January 24th 2011 London / Possible Changes Coming In U.K.'s Online Gambling Regulations / The challenge is to bring real innovations to the market so that the industry as a whole can benefit

Spain's Aragon Region First to Approve Online Betting Legislation
Aragon an autonomous region in Spain has made the first move to regulate and approve new betting legislation for its inhabitants. Spanish politicians debated the draft bills to regulate gambling including internet wagering in 2010 concluding that the drafting stage of a new regulatory regime had been completed. Elena Salgado, Spain’s Minister for the Economy, announced that estimates for the revenue generate by a legalized online gambling industry could be as much as 200 million Euro per year. It appears that there are differing levels of taxation proposed by the new regulatory draft. Online sports betting which was debated at length by the lawmakers, proposed a 10 percent flat rate of all turn over by the operators. General online gambling such as casino games and poker were based on gross gambling revenue a much larger amount. The controversy regarding sports betting taxation created flack from trade organizations and business operators who pointed to the millions of euros in advertising and sponsorship funds that could disappear due to the invasive tax rate. The move was also criticized by operators who felt their competitiveness would be curtailed by the tax schedule. The Spanish Association of Internet Betting, has said that Spain’s draft gaming legislation, if enacted in its current form, will result in the country having one of the worst gaming regulations in Europe. The Remote Gaming Association, a London & Brussels based trade association also condemned the tax regime as untenable. Both have called for further consultation on the sports betting tax issue. Nationally the new regualtory proposals must still go before the European Commission to determine it’s appropriate legal status within the Europen Union. The state monopoly Loterias y Apuestas del Estado is expected to be privatized in the near future in order to comply. A new commission will be established to prevent advertizing from unauthorized operators and introduce a form of prohibition preventing Spanish gamblers from accessing unlicensed internet casinos with severe fines as penalties for operators and citizens not adhereing to the new laws.

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The International Gaming Awards January 24th 2011 London
The glamorous and beautiful people involved in the online gambling industry will all be in attendance come January 24th 2011 at The International Gaming Awards event in London England. The International Gaming Awards are managed by Clever Duck Media Ltd. an event management Company with a highly creative, efficient and passionate team and a unique understanding of the Gaming Industry. Clever Duck Media manages the International Gaming Awards, Women in Gaming Networking event (Conference & Awards) and publishes a popular industry monthly digital magazine. The venue for the prestigious night is the The Jumeirah Carlton Tower Located in the heart of bustling Knightsbridge, just minutes from London's Hyde Park and the designer shops of Sloane Street. The five-star Knightsbridge hotel also has a chic champagne lounge, Health Club and Spa with panoramic views across London. Some of the categories for awards are specific to online casinos and point to the very best suppliers of online content and design. Awards such as the Online Casino Operator of the Year will go to the online casino operator that has shown innovation and invention in the casino sector. The Judges will not only be looking at size of the operation but the style and unique brand of the operator. Consideration will be aimed at originality, brand identity, marketing, payment processing, usability and games offered. Another specific award for the internet gambling sector is the iGaming Software Supplier award. The category is open to any gaming supplier company, providing services to iGaming operators, that has shown originality, the ability to succeed in a highly competitive market, offered services to clients that have helped increase profitability or have helped working environments an easier and more productive place. The winner will not necessarily be the largest company but the most innovative in its sector and have volume sales matching its ambition. The event points out that online gamers are potential customers of land based casinos, and the two methods of gambling entertainment share a common goal, namely customer satisfaction.

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Possible Changes Coming In U.K.'s Online Gambling Regulations
An article published in the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper recently suggests that a dramatic crackdown on online gambling firms is coming to the United Kingdom. Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, has plans to keep offshore based operators from advertising in this country. The move is attributed to fears that millions of people are becoming addicted to gambling. A ban on the use of credit cards for internet gambling to check overuse of the payment methods, the Daily Mail also revealed. Labour’s controversial 2005 Gambling Act, is blamed for a dramatic deregulation of the industry bringing substantial revenue into the coffers of the U.K. government via licenses and taxation. Only operators who locate their servers in Britain are required to be licensed by the Gambling Commission. A loophole in the law creates a situation where countries across Europe and others on the ‘white list’ are allowed to advertise their services in the UK without being subject to the strict regulations set up by the Gambling Commission. Some of those jurisdictions include Alderney, the Isle of Man, Antigua and the Australian state of Tasmania. Approximately £2.5billion was spent on online gambling of one sort or another. Operators licensed by the Gambling Commission represented less than a quarter of the total take. A government source reported to the Daily Mail “This means that U.K. consumers aren’t being as well protected as they could be.” The article says that children are addicted to gambling in great numbers, primarily because of advertising they are exposed to on television. Licensed online gambling operators are required by law to have strict player age restrictions in place, to curtail underage gambling. “We are the only country to permit overseas operators to advertise whilst relying on an overseas license on issues of playing protection,” the government spokesperson commented. An overhaul of current regulations in the United Kingdom could spell trouble for some offshore online gambling operators, forcing them to leave the lucrative market there.

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The challenge is to bring real innovations to the market so that the industry as a whole can benefit
(UK, exclusive Yogonet.com).- George Steiner, Amatic Industries’ Sales and Marketing Director, granted an interview to Yogonet.com in which he spoke about the products that the firm will showcase next week in ICE 2011, as well as about his expectations and goals for the event and for the coming months.

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