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It has been about a year that the United Kingdom has led efforts to regulate the online gambling industry. September 1 is one coming date that will be momentous, as the wide-scope bill comes into effect. One element of the bill was announced more recently, and calls for a ban on advertising any online casino that is not included on the official White List. What is behind the White List? How does a country or territory get on it? Is it really white or merely whitewashed? Such questions concern casino operators, world governments and individual gamblers all. Here are some answers. White Label countries, those included on the list, who will be allowed to advertise online casinos in the UK under the new bill, are mainly members of the European Union. This raises some suspicion by the industry, for the UK seems to have taken the easy way, avoiding confrontation with EU members, for it can face counter measures by the hands of EU authorities. The European Court could find the UK faulting in unfair practices. Hence the White List including the UK's fellow European member countries. Those left out are not as happy, though. With no immediate legal check on a ban on such overseas countries, UK protectionism can take effect. The White List, as of today, includes: the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Netherlands Antilles has been excluded. Yet, Antigua and Barbuda, of the most established, long active countries to permit online gambling are optimistic and expect the UK to include them on the White List. Whether they make it or not will be a litmus test regarding the UK motivation - honest regulatory efforts or sheer protectionism.
When Neteller, the largest online gambling payment processor, was banned from serving American citizens by the US government, under its Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). More recently, with its founders entering pleas of conspiracy, Neteller was allowed to open up its frozen accounts and repay it clients; tens of millions of dollars were transferred back to their lawful owners in recent weeks. The latest announcements to come from the third party payment service provider present a new chapter, a clean slate and new opportunities for growth. In spite of its own experiences of the past year, Neteller sees growth potential in global markets, outside of the US, just as other companies have pursued and enjoyed in the past 12 months. Europe and South East Asia are long established potential markets, already yielding billions in business. Closing the ate on the Neteller experiences in North America opens up the rest of the world, refocuses the company's vision and helps motivate them to move on. The company was the leading one in the US, hence the focus of the authorities' investigation on its activities. If anything, the past success and having dealt with the legal aspects are good - if unfortunate - experiences for the new age of online gambling and global activities. Having not collapsed entirely is a sign of strength not only of the payment company, but of the global casino market at large. Neteller shares increased by a fraction of a percent in the past several days, showing the glimpse of optimism for the company and the industry.
The recent announcement that the UK will ban advertising from over a thousand online casino sites based in countries and territories that do not meet the UK regulatory standards regarding online gambling was initially received as a set-back. But as in any story, the coin has two sides to it. Banning some sites legitimizes advertisements by others. The television companies in the UK are to benefit from the ban, by having online casino sites dubbed legit and welcome in the UK to advertise their sites. The September 1 date on which the ban will take effect has already had an effect of gaming groups lining up to book air-time on the UK television stations. Besides the new source of income for TV stations, estimated generously in the multimillion pound range, and the boost that advertising on TV will enjoy in these times when advertising campaign focus on the Internet, the gambling community will benefit as well. Online casinos, poker rooms, bingo sites, lotteries and bookmakers will launch campaigns on television and reach the general public who, even if will not go to the sites and play, will nevertheless be exposed to their existence and accept it as legitimate, alongside products such as laundry detergent, soft drinks and other products advertised on mainstream media. Estimates have the television broadcasters enjoying a 9 percent increase in business compared to the same period last year. This might very well affect the business of the various gambling sites as well. But above all, before the money is counted, it is a major step for the gambling community in its strides towards complete legitimacy.
The ban on advertising online gambling sites in the UK was talked about in length this past week. it is the latest announced component of the regulatory efforts that come into force on September 1, and in later installments later throughout the year. The UK is leading the way with an organized policy that supposes to set the wildly competitive and rather unsupervised online gambling industry. While this is a welcome move, a smart one even, there is criticism along the way, which is hard to avoid by all means. Still, the latest from the UK seems to go slightly off track. Even if that is not the case and criticism is not in place, the latest developments have caught quite a lot of people - site operators and users - by surprise. The current law that regulates gambling in the UK is about a half century old. Clearly it needs to adapt to the 21st century. The thing is that the definition in the new law for gambling includes mass multiplayer online games that offer prizes, playing a game of chance for a prize. The definition introduces online multiplayer video games, such role playing games as EverQuest and World of Warcraft, both play-to-pay games available without any existing restrictions to the law. It makes it a criminal offense to provide facilities for gambling without proper operating license. Since EverQuest and similar games offer prizes of monetary worth and even have players sell and buy their game prizes over the Internet, these games involve chance, skill and prizes, thus labeling them as pseudo-online gambling games. The solution will be for the game providers to obtain operators' licenses from the Gambling Commission in the UK, not a difficult task under the somewhat welcoming new law, welcoming to UK companies at the very least. But it will also bring about commitments and enforced regulations, to ensure fair and open gambling, protect children and fight crime and gambling connections.
For many years now, the player protection and standards body eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) has been the predominant, if not the only, authority acting on behalf of the players in the wild and unregulated online gambling world, at times begging for such involvement. It is now joined by the UK government, which in efforts to regulate the online gambling industry in England, has published a testing approach for online gambling software. eCOGRA's CEO, Andrew Beveridge, said this week that he and his organization are pleased that the UK Gambling Commission has "adopted outcome based testing to assess compliance with their remote gambling technical standards." The Commission will also join eCOGRA in requiring verification that gambling software used by gambling sites is representative of best practice standards. Through eCOGRA takes even greater measures in regulating and supervising the online gambling world, with regular testing of each and every game online, RNG testing, monthly payout percentage testing and regularly published reports, the new involvement, this time by a government body, is by all means welcome and good for the industry at large. Perhaps this would have been different were there business interests involved, but eCOGRA is a non-profit and wholly independent organization, which for five years have led the regulatory efforts and waited for others to join in and advance the industry to safer, more honest and uniform practices. The UK involvement is one such welcome step towards a better future for the industry, its operators and most importantly, the players.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in the fall of 2006. The entire American and global online gambling industry has changed entirely since, with the US falling off the gambling industry's radar and the entire industry heading around the globe, leaving North America behind. For American gamblers too, the world of gambling has changed. Not allowed under the Act to make deals on the Internet that involved gambling have kept millions away from their favorite sites and pastime hobbies. This is the focus of the charges filed by Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (IMEGA) against the US Department of Justice. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, the DoJ, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors are charged of infringing Americans' right, protected under the Constitution, to engage in Internet commerce. A categorical ban on transmission of funds if the end result is illegal in some unspecified place is a dangerous precedent, the charges say. At this point, as another round is completed and the next one is set to begin, in a match that began on June 5, once the case was brought to court, the US District Court of New Jersey, Trenton Division, has allowed for the defendants to take until September 4 to prepare their response. They will then be asked again to defend their Act in the face of charges that their involvement in Americans' personal practices is constitutionally legitimate.
The English have a new scandal to talk about over tea these days, as it has been revealed that the English Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has received donations from online gambling operator Bet365. The donations, two in total, amounted to £150,000, the first one, mysteriously and suspiciously, received on June 28 (for the sum of £100,000), only one day after Brown has entered office. This would have been all nice and good, had Brown and the Tories not cancelled plans, two weeks later, to establish a mega casino in England. The casino, planned to be erected in Manchester, was supposed to take on a style reminiscent of Las Vegas casinos, with as many as 1,250 unlimited-jackpot slot machines. The plans for the super-casino were originally the previous administration's, by fellow Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair himself received a £50,000 donation by the same online gambling sites operator, in April earlier this year. The accusations are focused on the double play at hand. The Tories and Brown are taking the high moral ground on all things gambling - online casinos and mega casino centers. At the same time they accept donations from operators of such businesses. This is all taking place in a time that the online gambling future is being decided in the UK. New bills, acts and laws are being passed and implemented these days, trying to make sense of the entire industry and perhaps bring the UK to a leading status and an example for other governments around the world. Is this the best behaviour to show while involving itself in the regulatory efforts?
The latest chapter in the ongoing regulation of the online gambling industry has, as previous chapters, evolved around the UK. The upcoming date on which the regulatory bill will take effect in the country has been the focus of online casino operators and players alike. One of the components of the UK online gambling bill is a ban on advertising, in any media in the country, of sites that are not white listed. Making it on the White List is a privilege that will be restricted, keeping out online casinos, poker room, bingo sites and all betting providers online that do not keep with the standards set by the UK. This spells out to be, by and large, sites located within the EU. Malta is one such lucky country - lucky to be part of the EU. According to the Malta Times, no less than 27 international companies are shifting their online operations in anticipation of the new bill to the island, this very month. If the 36 other internet gambling operators are accepted, the total number of gambling companies that operate on the island will rise from 84, currently, to 147, a large number by any standard, certainly for the small territory. This spells out immediately to a substantial rise in revenue in taxation and license fees. It is also a source for jobs and international attention, drawing investment, tourism and other benefits to the country. Malta and Gibraltar, another white listed territory, are within EEA jurisdiction. Only two non-EEA countries are currently on the list - Alderney and the Isle of Man. Elsewhere, Curacao, Kahnawake and Antigua are in the progress of negotiating their acceptance onto the list, which will help them keep hosting sites on their land, much like the Malta success story.
The online gambling industry is about to enter a new stage in its decade plus history, which was rocky at times, but has quite clearly followed an upward trend. As part of the UK's Gambling Act 2005, online casino sites, poker rooms and the such will be able to advertise on television - for the first time being able to reach potential customers at their homes via the popular media. The public discussion that has picked up across the board in the weeks prior to the new Act taking effect has only heightened expectations. Public discussion regarding the online casino ads has by the way brought online gambling itself to the discussion table, in effect legitimizing the industry and the hobby too. The only aspect that is not being discussed at the moment is the advertising campaign and strategies, which the online casino operators are keeping secret. It is a safe bet to assume that they will be rather grand and expensive. Too much is at stake and enough is at hand to be invested. Indeed, one online casino gambling analyst said of the law, with direct reference to the advertising aspect, that "The new law becomes a catalyst for network cable revenues as casinos will inject millions of dollars into the market right away. Much of the money will come from online providers." Meanwhile, as the UK industry - cable, television and online casinos - have advanced to the next step, which we call Commercial Break, the players on the other side of the ocean are stuck in a break of their own. It was reported that gambling companies spent $1.3 million lobbying Washington, DC politicians for a revoke of the UIGEA and new Internet regulations. This has been in the first six month of the year only. While the casinos are reaching a greater market on the mainstream television stations in the UK, Americans find themselves marching on to Washington to lobby for their freedoms to be restored.
Alberto Gonzales, who has entered office as the United States Attorney General in February 2005, announced his resignation from office on August 27, 2007, effective September 17, 2007. Though the AG himself did not offer any explanations, and his boss, President George W. Bush accused Congress for unfair treatment of his loyal friend, the reasons behind the resignation are quite obvious. On the margins of the story is the online gambling industry. The AG is the US enforcement arm's top official. As such, he was in key position, leading the anti-online gambling policy of the past year. It is said that Gonzales, from his powerful position, has once promised Arizona Senator Jon Kyl that he would do everything in his power to ensure the demise of online gambling. Indeed, he has done a lot to hurt the thriving international business, at least with all that regards the US market, once the epitome of the gaming world. He has been not only vocal, but also a leading force in his agencies' efforts to squash the industry, once worth a billion dollars and more. Under Gonzales' direction, the US has arrested online gambling executives who have passed through American airports, has rolled the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), in general, wreaking havoc in the business. He is one of the defendants named in the recent IMEGA complaint filed to the courts against the Act. Naturally, the online gambling has reasons to rejoice in the face of the news; even rejoice. Though the opponent is gone, it is yet unknown who will be appointed in his stead, keeping the online gambling lobby on its toes, short of declaring victory. Some Truly Rejoice as AG Resigns Some may be doing so, however. Gonzales' resignation was in the coming for long months, particularly ever since the April 2007 farce testimony appearance in front of Congress, over the firing of US attorneys who did not abide by GOP policy. Some have even wagered on when Gonzales will resign. Some betting sites offered odds over whether he will stay in office past July 2007, while one site asked its gambling members whether Gonzales would last longer than the infamous American Idol finalist Sanjaya Malakar.
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