ï»¿Dutch Get Tough on Online Illegal Advertisers

Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘we cannot tell you now that businesses will never be given 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 reality, in reaction to concerns in the Dutch Parliament about the amount of online sports advertising that is betting at Dutch citizens within the run up to the 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 Web video gaming sites in the united kingdom, and the government holds a monopoly that is complete gambling. The country’s only casino that is land-based, Holland Casino, which operates 13 venues around 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 12 months, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act ended up being drawn up and passed by an initial round of lawmakers in February. The bill is anticipated to be rubber-stamped later on this year and should come into force midway through next year. Experts predict that the regulated environment that is online bring in €200 million in gross gaming income 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 recent ‘cease and desist’ letters delivered by nj-new Jersey regulators to online gambling advertisers, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) recently composed to certain operators who’ve been noisily advertising and marketing World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them they continue to do so that they face sanctions should.

The question was posed in the homely House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they adhere to the law or not? And does this imply that Unibet and other big parties will not get a license when the law that is new been authorized?’

Teeven said that the KSA mostly targets companies 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 companies by name.

Bad Actors Frozen Out?

‘So far, things have gone quite well and only a few businesses were active within the Dutch market. However, this is changing,’ said Teeven. ‘Companies which do so can be playing with fire with regards to licensing once the remote gaming law is implemented. Obviously, the KSA is in fee of licensing. We ought to however simply take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’

The Bouwmeester movement could be the exact carbon copy of the ‘bad actor clause’ which is adopted by newly managed states into the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and it is part of the proposed bill to legalize online poker in California. Founded last year, it stipulates that unlawful gambling operators that offer wagers to Dutch citizens must be excluded from a future market that is regulated. As is the actual situation in the usa, this list would include industry leaders such as PokerStars (although the latter’s current buyout by Amaya Gaming is https://myfreepokies.com/lightning-link-slot-review/ a game changer in that arena).

However, Teeven refused to state definitively whether such operators would forever be frozen out: ‘I cannot inform you now that companies will never be granted a license, nonetheless they are using fire,’ he repeated. ‘It could be against all agreements we have reached in yesteryear.’

US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Profits

All bets are down: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at gambling enterprises across the usa, 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 like the clash between federal and individual state law has hindered the processing of online video gaming transactions within the newly regulated states, the federal stance on cannabis means that the federal government will not allow the casino industry to address the proceeds of cannabis sales. How casinos are to determine that exactly, is plainly going to be problematic all around.

Former White House consultant on money laundering issues Jim Dowling, that is now a consultant to gambling enterprises, told executives: ‘Casinos can’t accept any money from them, or they should comply using the new government guidance. This is certainly a problem that is federal has been brewing for some time, 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 medical cannabis industry, they could face prosecution, unless they perform a number of time-consuming, high priced, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this respect, casinos are being told to consider a relationship that is similar towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, which have essentially blacklisted anyone in that company from opening a checking or savings account.

No Pot Luck Allowed

Dowling said he wanted to raise the matter at the conference in Sin City to make sure that casinos were alert to the brand new guidelines therefore that they could avoid any threat of prosecution.

‘It’s extremely controversial. We’ll most likely get a complete lot of hate mail for bringing it,’ he stated. ‘But if you put yourself in a banker’s situation, could you wish to have to do all that and put your self at criminal risk?

‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We don’t want those nagging problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, whom 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 being treated like pariahs and denied basic liberties.

‘ The government is again saying people involved into the cannabis company don’t possess liberties,’ complained 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 banks, was also present at the seminar. She referred concerns to her news spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to verify Dowling’s assertion.

‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to any or all institutions that are financial under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.

Calvery additionally really wants to enforce regulations more rigorously that will need casinos getting their high-rollers to divulge the supply of their bankrolls, a move that is unpopular the casinos. She called gambling enterprises ‘complex financial institutions’ that has to get used to ‘thinking a lot more like other finance institutions.’

The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have such a thing doing aided by the state’s legalization of the marijuana trade that is medical. Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, but in 2013 the legislation changed to permit companies to dispense the drug, giving the go-ahead for 66 outlets throughout the 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 allowing minors to gamble every year since it launched. (Image: osga.com)

The Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, has been fined for allowing teenagers to gamble and consume alcohol on its premises for the fifth time in as many years while Sheldon Adelson rails against the evils of online gambling, stoking fears that it will irreversibly corrupt America’s youth, one of his casinos.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control slapped an $85,000 penalty on Sands Bethworks Gaming for six incidents of underage gambling between 3rd 2013 and January 29th 2014 at the Sands Casino Bethlehem in Northampton County june. Two 17-year-olds, a 19-year-old, and three 20-year-olds had been seen table that is playing 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 five 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 year it should be noted it’s not the only casino in the state to fall foul of the authorities in Pennsylvania since it opened in 2009. Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township has paid 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 last year, the second time Valley Forge has been penalized for underage gambling violations.

Ironically, Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) is fond of using rhetoric to declare that online casinos prey on underage gamblers, ignoring the fact regulation means greater protection and brings with it rigorous age-verification procedures. CSIG recently created a movie 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 Web gaming.

‘I believe the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app acquisitions made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is the end of the iceberg if online gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and former Senator Blanche Lincoln at the advertisement’s launch.

‘If kids can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet Hotel,’ then think about what can take place when they get hold of their parent’s password and begin playing blackjack? This is a nightmare situation 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 a further blow to their cause recently when his closest ally in Washington, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, was defeated in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, which means that the Coalition has lost a strong backer, and that could hinder its efforts to promote the bill that is federal.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is looking at a bill of its own, supported by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed would, legalize and control online poker in the state. It comes down hot on the heels of a current research, commissioned by the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and conducted by consultancy firm Econsult, which concluded online poker would be a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, creating $129 million in income per year.