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JUNE 2012
Sports integrity
statistics at a
sustained low
Schleswig-Holstein Gambling Act
in jeopardy following State election
The European Sports Security
Association (ESSA), a sports
integrity monitoring body that
represents regulated online
and
offline
gambling
companies in Europe, released
integrity statistics on 5 June
that show a sustained low in
corruption alerts for 2011.
“The statistics show that
regulating online gambling is
part of the solution to sports
corruption, because fixers
generally steer clear of
regulated markets,”said Andrew
Danson, Senior Associate at
K&L Gates. A statement from
the ESSA confirmed: ‘During
2011, transactions resulted in 69
alerts, which after detailed
examination led to 8 referrals of
suspicious betting patterns.’
However these figures “do not
tell us anything about whether
or not corruption is being
reduced,” adds Danson.
“Corrupters are betting on the
black markets, where their bets
aren't monitored or traced”.
The ESSA recently signed
additional information sharing
agreements within Europe and
aims to expand to include
regulated operators outside of
Europe. Danson concludes:“the
problem is international, so the
solution has be international
too.”
Following
the
regional
elections in the German State
of Schleswig-Holstein on 12
June the Social Democrats
have become the majority of a
governing coalition that plans
to abolish the State’s Gambling
Act and adopt the Interstate
Treaty on Gambling.
The Social Democrats are
“strictly against the State
Gambling Act” said Martin
Arendts, a gaming Lawyer at
Arendts Anwalte. The State’s
Gambling Act, however, has
been in force since January
2012 and “companies that have
obtained licenses are now
entitled to offer online sports
betting,” said Dr. Sebastian
Cording, Partner at CMS
Hasche Sigle. “The Gambling
Authority has said it is their
obligation to apply the current
license regime and continue to
issue licenses even if the political wind has changed,” said Dr.
Wulf Hambach, Partner at
IN THIS ISSUE
US Tainted asset rules
and i-gaming 03
France Operators exit
liberalised market 05
Social Gaming 07
Responsible Gaming
Self-exclusion 09
Q&A Serkan Toto on
gaming in Japan 11
Australia Interim
Report 13
US Mid-year report 15
Hambach
&
Hambach.
Authorities must comply with
the law until officially abolished
in parliament.
Repealing the law is “not easy
at all given the timeline,” said
Hambach. “Firstly, the government must wait for the next two
parliamentary sessions to vote
to ‘kill bill’ followed by a notification at the EU commission
combined with a 3-4 month
stand still period.” So,“factually
the current license regime stays
in 2012,” said Hambach. In
addition,“legally it will be difficult to revoke the seven licenses
already granted,” adds Arendts.
An agreement signed by all
three coalition parties states
that the ‘government will
evaluate how to abolish the
Schleswig-Holstein Gambling
Act without incurring a risk of
becoming liable for compensation towards the existing licence
holders.’ Dr. Henrik Armah,
Senior Associate at Olswang,
anticipates “the Government
will aim at transforming these
seven licenses into federal
licenses after joining the
Interstate Treaty.” But that “it
will be very challenging to
incorporate seven licenses given
that at national level there is a
limitation of only 20 licenses.”
The Interstate Treaty on
Gambling will come into force
in the other 15 Länder on 1 July
2012. “While it has to be said
that a uniform law throughout
Germany is a sensible
approach,” adds Cording, “we
believe that the national treaty
has major flaws and will not
endure.” Hambach agrees: “It is
clear that it will be as weak as
the old state treaty. Professors
stress that the new treaty will
not canalise gaming behaviour
when it comes to games like
online poker,” concludes
Hambach.“Therefore: the New
Treaty has already failed even
before its potential enactment.”
Belgian court rejects blacklist
removal request by BwinParty
The Court of First Instance in
Brussels has dismissed a
request by BwinParty, on 13
June, to order the Belgian
Gaming Commission (BGC)
to remove the bwin.be domain
from the blacklist of illegal
gaming sites prohibited from
operating in Belgium, because
it does not have a license. “The
judgment of the Court is based
on the fact that it considers a
blacklist, a valid preventive
measure,” said Antoon Dierick,
a Lawyer at DLA Piper.
“It was difficult to predict
which decision the judge would
take,” said Dierick.“On the one
hand, you have the very strict
legislation. On the other hand,
the BGC's competence to blacklist companies does not have an
explicit basis in Belgian law.”
BwinParty filed the injunction
last month citing financial,
commercial and reputational
damage as a result of being
added to the blacklist. Tatjana
Klaeser, an Associate at Ulys,
thinks, “the blacklisting itself is
limited: only a handful of
operators are on the blacklist
which raises the question of
discriminatory
treatment.”
Dierick goes even further: “as
there is already a white-list one
may question the necessity of
also having a blacklist.”
BwinParty can now appeal.
“Whether the European
Commission will take further
action is unclear,” said Dierick.
In July 2011 the Belgian
Consitutional Court rejected
the notion that the Beligian
gaming law is not compliant
with EU law. However, “the
fact that the EC has already
raised doubts on this legislation
may play to the advantage of
online operators.”