Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘I cannot tell you given that organizations will never be awarded a permit, 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 questions in the Dutch Parliament about the quantity of online sports advertising that is betting at Dutch residents into the run up to your World Cup, Teeven warned that such sites were ‘playing with fire.’
While Holland could have a liberal and socially modern attitude towards soft medications like cannabis, and prostitution, the same cannot be traditionally stated of online gambling. There are no legal online video gaming sites in the country, and the government holds a complete monopoly on gambling. The country’s only casino that is land-based, Holland Casino, which operates 13 venues across the country, is wholly owned by the state, with all profits going to the Treasury.
Breaking the Law
However, movements are afoot to change this. Last year, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act ended up being drawn up and passed by a round that is initial of in February. The bill is anticipated to be rubber-stamped later on this year and really should come into force midway through next year. Experts predict that a 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 for the current ‘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 that have been noisily promoting World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them they continue to do so that they face sanctions should.
Issue was posed in the House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they comply with the law or not? And does this mean that Unibet and other big events will perhaps not get a license when the law that is new been authorized?’
Teeven said that the KSA mostly targets businesses who use such media 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 companies by name.
Bad Actors Frozen Out?
‘So far, things have gone quite well and just a few companies were active within the Dutch market. However, this is changing,’ said Teeven. ‘Companies which do so can be playing with fire in regards to licensing once the remote gaming law is implemented. Obviously, the KSA is in cost of licensing. We should however simply take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’
The Bouwmeester movement is the equivalent of the ‘bad actor clause’ which was adopted by newly regulated states in the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and it is element of the proposed bill to legalize internet poker in California. Established in 2011, it stipulates that unlawful gambling operators offering wagers to Dutch citizens is excluded from a future market that is regulated. As is the actual situation in america, this list would include industry giants such as for instance PokerStars (even though the latter’s present buyout by Amaya Gaming must certanly be a game changer in that arena).
However, Teeven refused to state definitively whether such operators would forever be frozen out: ‘I cannot tell you now that companies will never be granted a license, but they are using fire,’ he repeated. ‘It could be against all agreements we now have reached in days gone by.’
US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Profits
All bets are down: Medical marijuana workers should be refused bets at casinos across the US, on pain of prosecution, say federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)
America’s casinos must refrain from accepting bets from workers within the medical marijuana industry, a group of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference in Las vegas, nevada recently. Just as the clash between federal and state that is individual has hindered the processing of online gaming transactions in the newly regulated states, the federal stance on cannabis means that the US government will not permit the casino industry to deal with the proceeds of cannabis sales. How casinos are to exactly determine that, is obviously likely to be problematic all around.
Former White House advisor on money laundering issues Jim Dowling, who’s now a consultant to casinos, told executives: ‘Casinos can’t accept any money from them, or they need to comply using the new government guidance. This really is a federal issue that has been brewing for a bit, and now it is coming up to a head. State legislation and federal rules don’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 respect, casinos are being told to consider a similar relationship attitude towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, that have essentially blacklisted anyone in that company from starting a checking or savings account.
No Pot Luck Allowed
Dowling said he desired to increase the matter during the conference in Sin City to ensure that casinos were aware of the new guidelines so that they could avoid any danger of prosecution.
‘It’s extremely controversial. We’ll probably obtain a complete lot of hate mail for bringing it up,’ he stated. ‘But in a banker’s situation, would you want to have to do all that and put yourself at criminal risk if you put yourself?
‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We don’t want those nagging problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, who normally a banking consultant. ‘One banker called them toxic.’
There have 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 federal government is once again saying individuals involved in the marijuana business don’t possess 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 casinos and banking institutions, was also present at the conference. She referred concerns to her news spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to verify Dowling’s assertion.
‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to all or any institutions that are financial under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.
Calvery also wants to enforce laws more rigorously that could require 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 financial institutions’ that has to get accustomed to ‘thinking a lot more like other financial institutions.’
The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have such a thing to accomplish with the state’s legalization of the medical marijuana trade. Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, however in 2013 the legislation changed to permit businesses to dispense the drug, offering the go-ahead for 66 outlets throughout the state.
Pennsylvania Sands Penalized for Underage Gambling
The Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania has been fined for allowing minors to gamble every year since it opened while Sheldon Adelson is fond of scaremongering rhetoric about underage gambling online. (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 true casinos, the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, happens to be fined for permitting 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 lightning-link-slot between June 3rd 2013 and January 29th 2014 during the Sands Casino Bethlehem in Northampton County. Two 17-year-olds, a 19-year-old, and three 20-year-olds was indeed seen playing table games or slot devices during the casino in this period. It brings the total to 20 individual incidents of underage gambling over the past 5 years, that has cost vegas 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 opened during 2009, it should be noted it’s perhaps not the actual only real casino in the state to fall foul regarding 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 year that is last the second time Valley Forge has been 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 fact regulation means greater protection and brings with it rigorous age-verification processes. CSIG recently created a video spot showing a teenage boy playing on their father’s gambling account, as the Coalition steps up its campaign to push by way of a federal bill that would enforce a blanket ban on online gaming.
‘I believe the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app acquisitions made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is merely the end of the iceberg if online gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and Senator that is former Blanche at the advertisement’s launch.
‘then think of what can happen when they get hold of their parent’s password and start playing blackjack if kids can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet Hotel? This is a nightmare scenario for moms and dads.’
Hysteria and Hypocrisy
The incident at the Sands Bethlehem features the hypocrisy that many feel lies beneath the hysteria at the heart of the Coalition’s argument. Adelson suffered a further blow to their cause recently when their closest ally in Washington, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, ended up being beaten in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, which means that the Coalition has lost a powerful backer, and that could hinder its efforts to promote the bill that is federal.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is considering a bill of its own, backed by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed would, legalize and manage poker that is online the state. It comes down hot on the heels of a present study, commissioned by the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and conducted by consultancy firm Econsult, which concluded internet poker would be a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, producing $129 million in revenue per year.
