
Dutch Secretary of State for Justice Fred Teeven: ‘we cannot let you know given that organizations will never be given a license, however they are playing with fire.’ (Image: ANP)
While the Dutch may well open their online gambling market next year, the nation’s Secretary of State for Justice, Fred Teeven, has caused it to be clear that operators currently targeting the Dutch market illegally are unwelcome. In reality, in reaction to concerns in the Dutch Parliament about the amount of online sports gambling advertising directed at Dutch citizens within the run up to your World Cup, Teeven https://myfreepokies.com/lightning-link-slot-review/ warned that such sites had been ‘playing with fire.’
While Holland could have a liberal and socially modern mindset towards soft drugs like marijuana, and prostitution, the same cannot be traditionally stated of online gambling. There are no legal online video gaming sites in the nation, and the federal 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
Nevertheless, movements are afoot to alter this. Last 12 months, the Dutch Remote Gambling Act had been drawn up and passed by an initial round of lawmakers in February. The bill is expected to be rubber-stamped later on this year and should come into force midway through next year. Experts predict that the regulated online environment would bring in €200 million in gross video gaming income in its 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 New Jersey regulators to online gambling advertisers, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) recently had written to certain operators who have been noisily advertising World Cup betting to Dutch citizens, warning them that they face sanctions should they continue to do therefore.
The question was posed in the homely House of Representatives by Mei Li Vos who asked: ‘If companies advertise, do they comply with regulations or otherwise not? And performs this imply that Unibet and other large parties will not get a license once the new law has been authorized?’
Teeven said that the KSA mostly targets businesses whom use such news as radio, TV, and internet sites ending in .nl, and those that have Dutch language choices, in its combat illegal marketing, although he’d not be drawn into mentioning any companies by name.
Bad Actors Frozen Out?
‘So far, things have gone quite nicely and merely a few companies were active in the Dutch market. However, this is changing,’ said Teeven. ‘Companies which do so can be playing with fire when it comes to licensing once the remote gaming law is implemented. Obviously, the KSA is in charge of licensing. We ought to however just take into account the Bouwmeester Motion.’
The Bouwmeester Motion could be the equivalent of the ‘bad actor clause’ which is adopted by newly regulated states into the US, such as New Jersey and Nevada, and is element of the proposed bill to legalize internet poker in California. Established last year, it stipulates that illegal gambling operators that offer bets to Dutch citizens must be excluded from a future market that is regulated. As is the situation in the usa, this list would include industry leaders such as for instance PokerStars (even though latter’s recent buyout by Amaya Gaming should really be a game changer in that arena).
However, Teeven refused to say definitively whether such operators would be frozen out forever: ‘I cannot inform you now that companies will never be granted a license, however they are having fun with fire,’ he repeated. ‘It is against all agreements we now have reached in the past.’
US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Profits
All bets are off: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at casinos across the US, on pain of prosecution, state federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)
America’s gambling enterprises must refrain from accepting bets from workers in the medical marijuana industry, a group of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference in Las Vegas recently. Just like the clash between federal and state that is individual has hindered the processing of online video gaming transactions in the newly regulated states, the federal stance on cannabis means that the government will not let the casino industry to manage the proceeds of cannabis sales. Exactly How casinos are to exactly determine that, is demonstrably planning to be problematic all around.
Former White House consultant on money laundering issues Jim Dowling, who’s now a consultant to casinos, told executives: ‘Casinos can not accept any money they have to comply with the new government guidance from them, or. That is a federal issue that has been brewing for a little while, and now it’s coming up to a mind. State laws 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, costly, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this regard, casinos are being told to consider a relationship that is similar towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, that have essentially blacklisted anybody in that company from opening a checking or savings account.
No Pot Luck Allowed
Dowling said he wanted to raise the issue during the conference in Sin City to make sure that casinos were alert to the brand new guidelines so that they could avoid any danger of prosecution.
‘It’s really controversial. I’ll probably get a complete lot of hate mail for bringing it,’ he stated. ‘But if you put your self in a banker’s situation, can you want to have to do all that and put yourself at unlawful risk?
‘ Bankers are all just saying, ‘We don’t want those nagging problems,’ ‘ said Dowling, whom normally 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 employees are being treated like pariahs and denied basic legal rights.
‘ The federal government is again saying people involved in the marijuana business don’t have 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 media spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to confirm Dowling’s assertion.
‘FinCEN’s guidance applies to any or all economic institutions covered under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,’ said Hudak.
Calvery additionally wants to enforce rules more rigorously that could need gambling enterprises to get their high-rollers to divulge the supply of their bankrolls, an unpopular move with the casinos. She called gambling enterprises ‘complex banking institutions’ that have 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 complete aided by the state’s legalization of the medical marijuana trade. Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, but in 2013 the statutory legislation changed allowing businesses to dispense the medication, giving 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 enabling minors to gamble every 12 months since it exposed. (Image: osga.com)
While Sheldon Adelson rails against the evils of online gambling, stoking fears that it will irreversibly corrupt America’s youth, one of is own gambling enterprises, the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, was fined for permitting teens to gamble and consume alcohol on its premises for the 5th 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 during 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 with this period. It brings the total to 20 individual incidents of underage gambling over the previous 5 years, which has cost Las Vegas Sand Corp. some $220,000 in fines.
Not Walking the Talk
While this means that the Sands Bethlehem has been penalized every year since it launched last year, it should be noted it’s not the only casino in the state to fall foul associated with 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 was penalized for underage gambling violations.
Ironically, Adelson’s Coalition to get rid of Internet Gambling (CSIG) is fond of utilizing rhetoric to claim 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 movie spot showing a teenage boy playing on their father’s gambling account, as the Coalition steps up its campaign to push via a bill that is federal would enforce a blanket ban on online gaming.
‘I think the recent $32.5 million settlement by Apple over in-app purchases made by kids on their parents’ iPads/iPhones is merely the tip of the iceberg if on the web gambling continues to grow,’ said Coalition National Co-Chair and Senator that is former Blanche at the advertisement’s launch.
‘If young ones can blow $2,600 in the app ‘Tap Pet Hotel,’ then consider exactly what can happen when they get hold of these parent’s password and begin playing blackjack? It 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 during 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 defeated in Virginia’s Republican primary. Cantor will now stand down, which means the Coalition has lost a strong backer, and that could hinder its efforts to promote the federal bill.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is considering a bill of unique, supported by State Senator Edwin Erickson, that, if passed would, legalize and manage poker that is online the state. It comes hot on the heels of a recent research, commissioned by the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and conducted by consultancy firm Econsult, which concluded internet poker would be described as a huge financial boon to Pennsylvania, generating $129 million in income per year.