Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘we cannot inform you given that organizations will never be granted 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 fact, in response to concerns in the Dutch Parliament about the total amount of online sports advertising that is betting at Dutch citizens within the run up to your World Cup, Teeven warned that such sites had been ‘playing with fire.’
The same cannot be traditionally said of online gambling while Holland may have a liberal and socially progressive attitude towards soft drugs like marijuana, and prostitution. There are no legal Internet video gaming sites in the nation, and the us government holds a complete monopoly on gambling. The nation’s only land-based casino chain, Holland Casino, which operates 13 venues round the country, is wholly owned by the state, with all profits going to the Treasury.
Breaking the Law
Nonetheless, movements are afoot to alter this. Last year, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act had been drawn up and passed by a round that is initial of in February. The bill is anticipated to be rubber-stamped later this and should come into force midway through next year year. Experts predict that the regulated online environment would 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 market that is dutch. With echoes of the recent ‘cease and desist’ letters delivered by nj-new Jersey regulators to online gambling advertisers, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) recently had written to certain operators who have been noisily promoting World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them that they face sanctions should they continue to do so.
Issue was posed in the homely House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they adhere to the law or otherwise not? And does this mean that Unibet and other big parties will maybe not get a license after the new law has been authorized?’
Teeven said that the KSA mostly targets organizations who use such news as radio, TV, and web 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 well and merely a few organizations were active within the Dutch market. 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 fee of licensing. We should however simply take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’
The Bouwmeester Motion is the equivalent of the ‘bad actor clause’ which was adopted by newly controlled states within the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and it is section of the proposed bill to legalize on-line poker in California. Founded last year, it stipulates that unlawful gambling operators offering wagers to Dutch citizens is excluded from a future market that is regulated. As is the scenario in the United States, this list would include industry leaders such as for instance PokerStars (even though the latter’s recent buyout by Amaya Gaming ought to be a game changer in that arena).
However, Teeven declined to state definitively whether such operators would be frozen out forever: ‘I cannot tell at this point you that companies will never be granted a permit, nevertheless they are having fun with fire,’ he repeated. ‘It would be against all agreements we now 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 gambling enterprises across the usa, on pain of prosecution, state federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)
America’s gambling enterprises must refrain from accepting bets from workers into the marijuana that is medical, a team of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference in nevada recently. Just like the clash between federal and state that is individual has hindered the processing of online gaming transactions within the newly regulated states, the federal stance on cannabis means that the US government will not allow the casino industry to manage the proceeds of cannabis sales. Exactly How casinos are to determine that exactly, is plainly planning 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 from them, or they have to comply utilizing the brand new government guidance. This is a problem that is federal has been brewing for sometime, and now it’s coming to a mind. State rules and laws that are federaln’t match up.’
Should a casino knowingly accept a bet from a person working in the marijuana that is medical, they could face prosecution, unless they perform a number of time-consuming, expensive, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this regard, casinos are being told to adopt a similar relationship attitude towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, which may have essentially blacklisted anybody in that company from opening a checking or savings account.
No Pot Luck Allowed
Dowling said he desired to raise the matter during the conference in Sin City to guarantee that casinos were alert to the new guidelines so that they could avoid any threat of prosecution.
‘It’s really controversial. We’ll most likely obtain a complete large amount of hate mail for bringing it,’ he stated. ‘But if you put your self in a banker’s situation, would you want to have to do all that and put yourself at criminal risk?
‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We don’t want those problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, who is also 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 workers are now being treated like pariahs and denied basic liberties.
‘ The government is once again saying people involved in the marijuana business do not have legal rights,’ reported 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 gambling enterprises and banking institutions, was also present at the conference. She referred questions to her news spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to confirm Dowling’s assertion.
‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to all financial organizations covered under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.
Calvery additionally would like to enforce rules more rigorously that could need gambling enterprises to have their high-rollers to divulge the source of their bankrolls, an unpopular move with the gambling enterprises. She called casinos ‘complex banking institutions’ that have to get used to ‘thinking more like other banking institutions.’
The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have such a thing to do aided by the state’s legalization of the medical marijuana trade. Marijuana has been appropriate for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, however in 2013 the statutory legislation changed to permit organizations to dispense the medication, offering the go-ahead for 66 outlets throughout their 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 permitting minors to gamble every 12 months since it launched. (Image: osga.com)
While Sheldon Adelson rails against the evils of online gambling, stoking worries that it will irreversibly corrupt America’s youth, one of his gambling enterprises, the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, was fined for allowing teens to gamble and eat alcohol on its premises for the fifth time in as many years.
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 seen playing dining table games or slot machines at the casino during this period. The total is brought by it to 20 individual incidents of underage gambling over the previous 5 years, which 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 since it opened in ’09, it should be noted it’s maybe not truly the only casino into the state to fall foul regarding the authorities in Pennsylvania. Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township has compensated also higher fines in 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 avoid Internet Gambling (CSIG) is fond of using rhetoric to declare that online casinos prey on underage gamblers, ignoring the truth that regulation means greater protection and brings with it rigorous age-verification procedures. CSIG recently created a video clip spot showing a teenage boy playing on their father’s gambling account, as the Coalition actions up its campaign to push through a bill that is federal would enforce a blanket ban on online gaming.
‘I believe the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app purchases made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is the tip of the iceberg if on line gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and former Senator Blanche Lincoln at the advertisement’s launch.
‘If young ones can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet Hotel myfreepokies.com,’ then consider what can take place when they get hold of these parent’s password and start playing blackjack? It’s a nightmare scenario for moms and dads.’
Hysteria and Hypocrisy
The incident at the Sands Bethlehem shows the hypocrisy that many feel lies beneath the hysteria at the heart of the Coalition’s argument. Adelson suffered an additional blow to his cause recently when their ally that is closest in Washington, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, had been beaten in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, meaning the Coalition has lost a powerful backer, and that could hinder its efforts to promote the bill that is federal.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is looking at a bill of its, backed by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed away would, legalize and manage online poker in the state. It comes hot on the heels 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 considered a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, producing $129 million in revenue per year.