Tag Archives: Land-based casino regulation

What’s covered in the Gambling Act white paper?

What’s covered in the Gambling Act white paper?

After years of delays and speculation, the most transformative review of gambling in the United Kingdom in 18 years has finally been published.

The publication of the Gambling Act review white paper signifies a landmark upheaval of how gambling will be regulated in the UK going forward, in an age of smartphones and 24/7 internet access.

To say the review has been much anticipated would be an understatement. Industry trade bodies, operator groups and industry critics alike have waited eagerly for the white paper’s publication.

It has been an eventful two years and four months since the UK government announced the review – one that has encompassed the resignations and appointments of two prime ministers, the declaration of a cost of living crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While the white paper document outlines much of what the industry expected, it contains a few unexpected additions – including the addition of a gambling ombudsman, to give customers one point of contact for..

Continue Reading

Gaming bill filed as Texas gears up for 2023 legislative session

Gaming bill filed as Texas gears up for 2023 legislative session

The Texas legislature will consider a bill that would amend the state’s constitution to legalize casinos at a limited number of locations and set the stage to permit sports betting.

The proposed law – Senate Joint Resolution 17 – would devise the framework for a new body named the Texas Gaming Commission, which would supervise legalized gambling in Texas.

Casino gambling would be authorized at a “limited number of destination resorts and facilities” with the proceeds going towards tax relief and funding for education and public safety.

The amendment’s author is Houston-based state senator Carol Alvarado, a Democrat who initially pre-filed the bill on 14 November 2022.

[Read full story on iGB North America]

Continue Reading

The 2022 US midterm elections: What we are watching

The 2022 US midterm elections: What we are watching

As the US goes to the polls for the midterm elections, there are plenty of races that could affect the progress of sports betting regulation and gaming expansion. Paul Girvan picks out the states to watch.

The 2022 US midterm elections, while important in so many ways, contain few issues directly related to gambling regulation.

Rather, they represent an opportunity to extract a thorn that has irritated the body politic and coloured the consideration and adoption of more gaming legislation, whether it be sports betting legislation or casino regulation.

Only in two states does gaming appear directly, or indirectly, on the ballot: California and Georgia.

Register now for this special webinar on 10 November

California

In California, a statewide ballot measures voter approval for constitutional changes, through Propositions 26 and 27.

Polling suggests both the tribal and commercial sports betting ballot measures are doomed to fail.

Prop 26 permits Native American casinos and four..

Continue Reading

Kyrgyz parliament votes to legalise casinos and igaming for foreigners

Kyrgyz parliament votes to legalise casinos and igaming for foreigners

Kyrgyzstan’s legislature has voted to re-legalise land-based gambling and launch online casino for the first time, though all offerings will only be available to foreign players.

The bill “On Gambling in the Kyrgyz Republic” – passed on its third reading – would legalise a wide range of forms of gambling. As well as casinos, slot halls and retail bookmakers – which had all been legal in the past before casinos were banned in 2012 and the latter two banned in 2015 – online casino games will also be legal.

However, all gambling will only be available to foreign players.

Land-based casinos must only be set up in restaurants or hotel complexes. The restaurant must have at least 100 seats, and the hotel must have at least 20 rooms. Slot halls, meanwhile, must be separate rooms or buildings from any other type of business activity.

Casinos located in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek must have at least 10 gaming tables, while those elsewhere must have at least five. Slot halls must contain a..

Continue Reading

Tabcorp-backed body lobbies for higher online betting taxes in Australia

Tabcorp-backed body lobbies for higher online betting taxes in Australia

Tabscorp (TAB), Australia’s largest gambling business, has allied with anti-industry group the Alliance for Gambling Reform as well as the Australian Hotel Association to lobby for higher taxes for online betting operators.

The newly-created trade association, named the Aussie Fair Play Coalition (AFPC), will push for other states to follow Queensland’s lead in harmonising the tax paid by online and land-based operators.

The group pointed to the fact that online operators are principally foreign-owned, and therefore argue that the inequitable tax rates unfairly penalise domestic businesses. While some online operators are from Australia, the majority are not based in Australian territory.

This argument is not a novel one – Victoria introduced the first point-of-consumption tax (POCT) in 2019, in the wake of fears that foreign-owned bookies were not paying Australian taxes.

Currently, the POCT stands at 10% in New South Wales and Victoria, 15% in the Australian Capital Territory, T..

Continue Reading

Nairobi bill would only permit betting in five-star hotels

Nairobi bill would only permit betting in five-star hotels

The Nairobi County Assembly has approved at first reading a bill that would only allow gambling operators to be located five-star hotels, and would only allow them to operate between the hours of 8pm and 6am.

The Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2021 would amend the country’s Gaming Act, which only became law last year.

The bill was approved at its second reading last week, bringing it one step closer to becoming law.

It would add new provisions to the country’s gaming laws, including only allowing betting, lotteries and gaming facilities to be “domiciled in a five-star hotel”, as rated by Kenya’s Tourism Regulatory Authority.

In addition, licenced premises would only be allowed to operate between the hours of 8pm and 6am.

Meanwhile, gambling advertisements may not be broadcast during the watershed period, which occurs from 10pm to 5am. Physical advertisements such as billboards would be banned entirely.

The law would also require all operators ..

Continue Reading

Sands to “wait patiently” for online opportunities

Sands to “wait patiently” for online opportunities

Robert Goldstein, chief executive of resort operator Las Vegas Sands, said the business would continue to “wait patiently” for opportunities to invest in the online gaming sector, rather than jumping in quickly.

During the operator’s investor call following its 2021 results, UBS analyst Robin Farley noted that the valuations of many online businesses have dipped since Sands first expressed its interest in the sector and asked what this meant for its current plans.

Sands chief executive Rob Goldstein said this decline in sector share prices coincided with a recovery for Sands’ core business.

“I think we have said in the past, we have always been interested in digital and all these interests that’s happening in the market,” he said. “But two things are happening at the same time. Our business, I think, is coming back to a stronger place. I think 2022 finally, especially in Singapore, and I think, as well in Macao, we will see that getting better. Our balance sheet speaks for itself an..

Continue Reading