Let your mouth speak archive

Nearly two years ago, Gov. Chris Christie cited “legal and constitutional concerns’’ when he vetoed a bill that would have made New Jersey the first state to legalize Internet gambling.

Christie may get a chance to revisit the issue. The state Assembly will vote Monday on a new measure to authorize Atlantic City’s casinos to offer online bets anywhere in the state.

The bill provides that all casino games, including poker, can be offered in online versions. As long as operators locate computers, servers, monitoring rooms, and hubs in Atlantic City, the Internet wagers will be deemed to be placed in Atlantic City – even if the bettor is actually playing from Toms River, Old Bridge or Morris Plains.

The state Senate would also have to approve the bill before it goes to Christie.

Powerful gambling interests are competing against one another "to see who's going to make the most money off the backs of everyday American families," in the words of Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling.

"The folks opposing that are state lotteries because they see it as a threat to their business if the big national players like MGM and Caesars get into the online gambling business," he adds. "So state lotteries want to see online gambling happening at the state level and they want to be able to control it."

The legislation proposes online poker, but Bernal says that is just a stepping stone.

"What they really want to be doing is legalizing full-scale online casinos 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he says. "Every smartphone, every computer, every dorm room in the country is going to be turned into a Las Vegas casino."

Convenience stores oppose the bill because online gambling would destroy their lottery business, although Bernal says the ultimate losers are people who gamble.

The Senate is considering the bill although the public is not supportive. Stop Predatory Gambling has on its website points explaining the bill and the potential damage.

Iconic Playboy is one of the most recognized and popular consumer brands in the world today. Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is a media firm that markets the brand through a wide range of media properties and licensing initiatives. Through licensing agreements, the Playboy brand appears on a wide range of consumer products in more than 150 countries.

A recent announcement by Amaya Gaming Group based in Montreal Canada states it has been chosen by Playboy Enterprises to collaborate and develop online gaming initiatives for poker and lotteries featuring the well known Playboy brand in areas of the world where gambling for real money is regulated and licensed. The initial launch of the product is anticipated to begin early in 2013. Amaya Gaming Group has seen great growth in recent months with its acquisition strategy in full swing. David Baazov, Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming Group commented on the deal, "This is a giant global brand for Amaya to partner with online," Baazov added, "We are extremely pleased that Playboy has chosen Amaya to help with their online strategy for both poker and lottery. With its tremendous online audience and boasting one of the highest unaided global awareness and social media user engagements of any brand, we're confident that our collaboration with Playboy will be a recipe for success and look forward to guiding them in their online endeavors."

Scott Flanders, CEO of Playboy Enterprises said, "The Playboy lifestyle is about indulging our passions, and we are focused on bringing content, products and experiences to consumers around the globe that define this lifestyle," Flanders continued, "Gaming is an ideal fit with our strategy and we're delighted to partner with Amaya on this project, combining a leading global brand with a strong technology partner to offer what we believe will be exciting online gaming experiences."


Playboy and Amaya Gaming Team Up for Online Gambling

The recent episode in Belgium concerning bwin.party digital entertainment’s CEO Norbert Teufelberger’s arrest for questioning has prompted the company to seek a solution to ongoing problems in that jurisdiction.

A deal has been negotiated with Belcasinos a subsidiary of Groupe Partouche, that will see the firms working together in Belgium’s regulated online wagering market. Online sports betting, poker and casino games will be offered by the collaborated effort but this time legally and with the approval of Belgium’s gambling authorities. The move will adhere to Belgium’s gambling authority’s requirements and will prompt the removal of bwin.party digital entertainment from the commissions black list of restricted online gambling operators.

A Statement from bwin.party’s CEO’s, added: “Following recent developments in Belgium and after further dialogue with the local regulator, we have put our differences of opinion behind us and are now focused on the immediate commercial opportunity.” Groupe Partouche has also partnered with Jackpot Party a company owned and operated by American firm WMS. Jacques Frojman, CEO of Belcasino and Partouche Belgium commented on the arrangement, “bwin.party is a market leader in online gaming with strong brands in sports betting, poker and casino. We are thrilled to be working with such a quality partner in Belgium.”

Bwin.party has had its share of issues in Europe and the recent detaining of the firms co chairman in Belgium does, bode well for the company’s chances of offering its services in the USA. The US has strengthened its resolve to prohibit firms that have had issues with other regulatory bodies in the world. Bwin.party digital entertainment has been working hard to resolve any compliance problems in order to enter into the online gambling market in the USA should internet wagering become legalized there. The market potential in the USA is driving many operators from Europe to be legally in line and clean as a whistle.



Bwin.party Online Gambling Clears Legal Hurdle in Belgium

Hollywood has responded to the rampage at a Connecticut elementary school by pulling back on its offerings, and one star says the entertainment industry should take some responsibility for such violence.

Jamie Foxx, one of the industry’s biggest stars, said Saturday as he promoted Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming ultra-violent spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, “Django Unchained,” that actors can’t ignore the fact that movie violence can influence people.

“We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence,” Foxx said in an interview on Saturday. “It does.”

In true Tarantino form, buckets of blood explode from characters as they are shot or shredded to pieces by rabid dogs in “Django Unchained.”

Despite Friday’s mass shooting, the press junket for the movie, which opens in theaters Christmas Day, continued in New York as scheduled on Saturday.

Tarantino, whose credits include “Pulp Fiction” and the “Kill Bill” volumes, said he was tired of defending his films each time the U.S. is shocked by gun violence. He said “tragedies happen” and blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.

Foxx’s co-star Kerry Washington said she believes the film’s explicit brutality serves an important purpose in educating audiences about the atrocities of slavery.

“I do think that it’s important when we have the opportunity to talk about violence and not just kind of have it as entertainment, but connect it to the wrongs, the injustices, the social ills,” she said.

In the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre on Friday, a gunman killed his mother and then went to an elementary school, where he killed six adults and 20 children before committing suicide.

In response, premieres for Tom Cruise’s new action movie, “Jack Reacher,” in Pittsburgh and the family comedy “Parental Guidance” in Los Angeles were postponed.

Also, Fox pulled new episodes of “Family Guy” and “American Dad” that were to air Sunday to avoid potentially sensitive content. The originally scheduled episode of “Family Guy” had Peter telling his own version of the nativity story. The “American Dad” episode told the story of a demon that punished naughty children at Christmas. Both series plan to substitute reruns.

Fox also confirmed that a scheduled repeat of “The Cleveland Show” for Sunday was swapped for another rerun of that series out of the same concern.

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THE rising popularity of online gambling will see more people take to their smart phones and computers in an attempt to win big this Christmas.

Gambling Help Service counsellor Lesley Spring said being able to experiment and gamble online from their homes appealed to some gamblers and was likely to attract people who wouldn't otherwise gamble.

"This can be dangerous for some people because they don't have friends to say 'maybe you have spent enough' and they can lose track of time and how much they've spent," she said

Mrs Spring said gambling was now accessible to children who were able to get hold of their parents' credit cards, which could be increasing their chances of developing gambling problems later in life.

And it seems the problem is only going to increase over time.

"Online and sports gambling is more accessible and the number of people using it is increasing," she said.

"It will continue to increase as technology advances."

Christmas and the New Year were often peak times for gambling and Mrs Spring said it was often seen as a way to handle the financial stresses of the season.

"It increases because people have a misconceived perception they can win and they will be able to afford the presents or pay the credit card bills," she said.

"However, what they actually end up doing is losing more money."

The online gambling operators of the world are constantly being stalled by new regulations and government changes that jeopardize their efforts to provide services for a reasonable profit. This has prompted many to seek jurisdictions that have already established their regimes and comply with standard rules compatible with the industry’s needs.

Betfair is the world's largest Internet betting exchange based in Hammersmith, London, England. Launched in June of 2000 the firm has grown to be the largest exchange in the U.K. Betfair recently announced that it will begin to develop a new business strategy that focuses on jurisdictions that have established a fully functional online gaming regulatory framework. Betfair has been experiencing financial decline over the past few years mainly due to regulatory complications in certain jurisdictions. Revenue has declined twenty five percent for the firm in the H1 of 2012.

Despite the Euro Football Tournament in 2012 sports wagering a mere eight percent increase was realized while mobile wagers increased by 108% generating 18.1 million GBP in the process. Betfair has been pulling out by choice of by force in a number of European countries. Cyprus passed legislation prohibiting online casino games and betting exchanges operated by entities other than Greek OPAP the state owned gambling monopoly. Betfair has also removed its services from Germany claiming the taxes to be too high to make any money. Greece has also requested companies in the jurisdiction to withdraw services which Betfair complied with.

Betfair’s new strategy was explained in a press release that the firm would, "reinvigorate the business by focusing on regulated jurisdictions" and "invest in product and brand to enhance our competitive position and drive growth". Betfair is still even though it plans to redirect its slim resources to already regulated markets lodging formal complaint with the European Commission in order to secure a better shake for those operators who are involved in the European Union countries.


Regulated Markets New Direction for Betfair Online Betting Exchange

Hugely exciting casting news: Sci-fi fan-favorite Gillian Anderson is returning to broadcast television after a decade to join writer-producer Bryan Fuller’s serial-killer thriller Hannibal.

And perhaps the best part is the role she’s playing….

In a multi-episode arc on the upcoming NBC drama, Anderson is going to play Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier — murderous psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s (Mads Mikkelsen) own therapist.

“Every therapist needs their own head examined and we are ecstatic that Gillian Anderson has chosen Hannibal to mark her return to American television after 10 years to portray Dr. Lecter’s personal psychiatrist,” Fuller said in a statement. “Her intelligence and sophistication, not to mention her pedigree of ground-breaking TV, make her the perfect actress to match wits and psychological manipulations with one of the greatest villains of pop culture. I couldn’t be more excited.”

COLLECT ALL 4 HOBBIT COVERS: When you subscribe to EW!

Since Fox’s classic TV series The X-Files concluded in 2002, Anderson has appeared in mini-series such as Encore’s recent Moby Dick adaptation and British TV series like The Fall.

According to IMDB-com, Anderson was actually in the running to play Clarice Starling in the 2001 big-screen version of Hannibal after Jodie Foster dropped out of the Silence of the Lambs sequel. But Anderson’s X-Files contract reportedly forbid her from playing another FBI agent.

The actress joins a rather stellar cast on Hannibal. In addition to leads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy, the series has also signed on Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Izzard, Gina Torres, Molly Shannon, Ellen Greene and Chelan Simmons. No premiere date has been set, but insiders expect the show will likely debut in late Spring.


'Hannibal' casts 'X-Files' star Gillian Anderson | Inside TV | EW-com

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A bill that would allow New Jersey residents to play online versions of casino games anywhere in the state passed the Assembly on Monday — even though Meadowlands Racetrack operator Jeff Gural has said the bill was “outrageous” because it would harm the horse racing industry and casino workers.

“It’s shocking to me that anyone would do what should be called the ‘Casino Worker Unemployment Act,’Ÿ” Gural said. “I don’t think they’ve thought this out. Why would people keep going to the casinos? I know the casino owners see this as an opportunity, because if people do this online, [the operators] won’t have to buy more machines, and they won’t have to pay someone to clean them, either.”

Gural points to his own industry, which allows bettors to place wagers on the Internet, as evidence of his concerns.

“We tried this, and now our racetracks are empty,” said Gural, who is in the process of having a scaled-down grandstand built at the Meadowlands backstretch. “They’re betting at home on the computer instead.”

A vote on the bill in the Senate is expected on Thursday, and state Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, said he expects the bill to pass.

Governor Christie vetoed a similar measure last year, however, and he has not commented on whether he would sign this version into law.

The Assembly vote on Monday was 48-25 — down from a 63-11 vote for the previous version, which included up to $30 million in horse racing purse subsidies. Christie, who opposes any racing subsidies, had cited that clause as one of several reasons for the veto.

Casino gambling is “another nail in the coffin of horse racing,” Gural said, because it creates even less incentive for gamblers to go to the track and because those who bet on horse racing online likely would divert some of their spending to other forms of online gambling.

Gural has said that he does not object to the state offering online poker — the most common form of online casino gambling — because he considers that a game of skill.

“But allowing people to play slots in their bedroom is a dangerous thing to do,” Gural said. Christie also has questioned how the state can allow for online wagering when the state Constitution permits casino gambling only in Atlantic City.

But earlier this year, Seton Hall Law School Professor John B. Wefing — a state Constitutional scholar — told an Assembly committee that, regardless of where the bettor was located, a wager would not be deemed to have taken place until recognized by an electronic server. Wefing said that online casino gambling would be legal as long as the server was located in Atlantic City.

The Casino Association of New Jersey, which once opposed online casino gambling in the state, now supports the idea. The casinos would be able to offer their own online games, or team up with other casinos to operate a single gambling website, under the bill. The state would collect a tax of 10 percent of the casinos’ gross revenues.

Delaware, California, and Nevada are among the states that seem headed down the path of online casino gambling next year. Supporters of online casino gambling say the states that are first on board likely will get the opportunity to run such operations for later-adapting states.



N.J. Assembly approves Internet gambling bill : page 2 - NorthJersey-com

Italy may have taken its time in regulating online slots. But when new regulations took effect on December 3, 2012, regulating online slots in the country, it opened up a market that may already be worth €268 million annually.

Online slots typically account for a huge percentage – around 70 – of an online casino’s revenue (source: igamingbusiness-com). And now that operators licensed by Italy’s gambling regulator, the Amministrazione autonoma dei monopoli di Stato (AAMS), are cleared to offer slots games to Italian customers, it could potentially result in a fourfold increase in online casino revenue.

Under new laws that came into effect on December 3, 2012, online slots are now fully regulated in Italy. This means Italy’s various licensed online casino can now offer their customers online slots, including progressive jackpot slots, dramatically increasing their potential earnings as well as offering their customers an enhanced gambling experience, Blackjack.it has concluded.

As regulated online casino gambling is still relatively new in Italy, the AAMS has only been compiling revenue information since July 2011. However, using this data and general trends from across the industry, Italy’s new slots regulation could generate as much as €268 million a year in additional revenue at its current level.

An online casino operating in a market where it is able to offer a full range of games can typically expect around 70 percent of its revenue to come from online slots. This in itself shouldn’t be surprising, given that slots – especially those with progressive jackpots – offer attractive cash prizes.



Slots regulation to give

Senator Harry Reid finally pulled the plug on his flawed joint effort with Senator Kyl on Friday. The federal gaming lobby needs a serious rethink of its tactics before embarking on another mission impossible

Most observers have seen federal legislation as a dead duck for some time but a few desperate dreamers clung to the hope of it passing during the lame duck session.

Just one week prior to Reid giving up the ghost, Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitling wrote in USA Today: “By legalizing and regulating online poker and forbidding all other online casino-style gaming, Congress will be providing a solution to the dilemma that Solomon would bless. It will produce thousands of technology jobs and create billions in tax revenue by supporting a game of skill while putting a halt to casino-style games popping up online.”

Statements such as this are poppycock, of course. The Reid/Kyl bill was a desperate compromise, dreamed up by opportunistic allies, who concocted a bill that sought to unite two opposing interests.

We are all for collaboration and compromise but the notion of “strengthening UIGEA” while regulating online poker is so deeply flawed that it is a wonder that anyone supported it. But they did support it - from Caesars, MGM and the American Gaming Association to the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). It made some sense for the latter to support it but it would have been much better advised to hitch their efforts on to a bill with a little more chance of success.

Of course, everyone involved in the online gaming industry would like to see federal legislation to govern their activities in the US. It makes practical and commercial sense. However, so would European harmonisation but that dream has gained even less ground than US federal legislation in about double the time.

(Note to non-European readers unfamiliar with the regulatory situation there: Online gambling is legal in many European countries such as the UK, France, Spain and Italy. However they all have different regulatory regimes because they are independent countries. European harmonisation is a dream of the online gaming industry, which would like to unite the online gambling laws of the 27 member states of the European Union.)

It is completely understandable that US States (or European countries) would want to pass their own regulations to govern online gambling as they have always done for land-based gambling. It is a practical and costly inconvenience for the industry. However, the industry is learning to live with it and efficient European operators are still increasing revenues at a faster rate than most other sectors are managing in these recessionary times.

All of these practicalities are not necessarily reasons to give up on federal legislation. Hey, somebody’s got to throw their weight behind a proposition that clearly makes practical sense. Without dreamers, nothing innovative would ever happen. But, but, but.....the Reid/Kyl bill was never going to be the answer.

The Bill’s choice of Internet poker as the sole form of online gaming to be allowed, other than Lottery games with no more than one drawing per day, almost seemed designed to fail.

Chief executive of the Kentucky Lottery Arthur Gleason said recently: “The DOJ opinion [of December 23rd, 2011] by clearing the way for Internet sales of lottery tickets, only recently opened the door to many revenue generating opportunities. The bill proposed by Senators Reid and Kyl effectively closes that door for state lotteries.”

Hence, it would be completely natural for lottery states to shun the legislation. Massachusetts State Treasurer and Chairman of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission Steven Grossman wrote an even more forthright condemnation letter to Reid and Kyl. Grossman, however, went further than protecting his own state’s interests and got down to fundamentals.

“It is well known within the gaming industry that online poker profit margins are minimal. It is equally well understood in the Internet commerce world that attempts to wish the online gaming genie back into the bottle are doomed to fail.”

“There is no business case for such a limitation,” continued Grossman. “Accordingly, we can only assume that the Act is a blatant, unwarranted, and inappropriate attempt to secure first-mover advantage in the online gaming space for Nevada interests.”

So many sceptics, from many members of the American Gaming Association to a huge number of Native American gaming interests have realised that the online gaming genie can not be put back in the bottle. What’s more, there is a growing body of evidence that online gamblers spend more in land-based casinos, which destroys the whole protectionist/cannibalisation argument. Initial figures from the summer launch of Maryland Live!, the first casino to launch a joined up online and land-based casino operation, suggest that online players spend more in the casino than people who walk in off the street.

The money spent by the federal gaming lobby has not been wasted. It has raised awareness and that is, of course, a good thing. However, it needs to throw its weight behind a much better vehicle than the Reid/Kyl bill. It needs a bill that includes rather than excludes.

Even with a Ferrari it’s going to be a tough sell. Reid has vowed to fight again but he will have to do better than the shoddy effort he produced with Senator Kyl’s help. That was never more than a clapped out old banger heading for the junkyard.


Winners and Losers 2012: The US federal gaming lobby

As expected, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, crushed the competition at the box office in its debut weekend, setting a new December record in the process.

The Middle-earth-set film grossed $84.8 million over its first three days, handily surpassing I Am Legend‘s $77.2 million bow, which has held the record for best December debut since 2007. The Hobbit earned that $84.8 million from 4,045 theaters, giving it a powerful $20,958 per theater average. Included in that theater count were 326 IMAX locations, which accounted for $10.1 million of the weekend gross, as well as 461 locations that showed the film in the controversial 48 frames per second rate — those screenings, thankfully, had no surcharge. About 49 percent of The Hobbit‘s weekend take came from 3-D showings.

All told, The Hobbit‘s debut weekend was obviously strong, but it must be said that it finished at the low end of pre-release expectations, most of which had the film earning more than $100 million in its debut frame. The Hobbit, the first in a trilogy produced by New Line and MGM (with Warner Bros. distributing) for a reported $600 million, earned $37.5 million on Friday, yet it only managed an internal multiplier (that’s weekend gross divided by Friday gross) of 2.25 — a very low number that signifies front-loaded performance. Judging by The Hobbit‘s 25 percent plummet on Saturday, it appears that the Tolkien faithful rushed out for the film early in the weekend.

It remains to be seen whether The Hobbit can match the domestic totals of the Lord of the Rings films, which garnered gigantic grosses above $300 million from 2001-2003 (without 3D or IMAX prices). Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, feels confident that The Hobbit is headed to gargantuan numbers in the post-Christmas moviegoing spree. “We’re very well-positioned to have a huge run,” says Fellman, who dismissed the high pre-release projections from box office prognosticators. “They were never anywhere near that from us,” he says. Fellman also explained that the high frame rate screenings played particularly well, despite the media’s general ire for the experiment. “[AMC's] biggest numbers came from high frame rate,” he says. According to a rep for IMAX, high frame rate screenings generated a $44,000 per screen average as opposed to a $31,000 average for regular IMAX showings.

Where the film goes from here is anyone’s guess. On the one hand, based on the weekend performance, it seems likely that The Hobbit will suffer from the fanboy effect and have a front-loaded run. On the other hand, the holiday season should help counteract such an issue, since kids will be out of school and adults off work. During the period beginning next weekend and extending until New Year’s Day, each weekday will play more like a weekend day, which should lift every film’s box office prospects. Good word-of-mouth will also help The Hobbit, as it earned an “A” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, which were 57 percent male and 58 percent above 25 years old.

Internationally, The Hobbit started off with a robust $138.2 million from 56 territories (notable markets the film did not open in include China, Australia, and Russia) over its first weekend, bringing its early global total to $223 million after only three days.

Holdovers made up the rest of the chart. DreamWorks’ $145 million animation Rise of the Guardians finished in second, dipping 29 percent to $7.4 million. After four weekends, the holiday-themed picture has amassed a disappointing $71.4 million. In third, Lincoln fell only 19 percent in the wake of the Golden Globe nominations (which, whether you care about them or not, do have an effect on the box office) to $7.2 million. The Steven Spielberg-directed drama has earned a terrific $107.9 million after six weeks.

Skyfall fell from first place down to fourth with $7 million over the weekend, bringing its total to $272.4 million. Worldwide, Skyfall‘s total has now climbed to $951 million, and with an opening in China set for early 2013, it’s now safe to say that Skyfall will reach $1 billion globally. Rounding out the Top 5 was Life of Pi, which has actually finished in fifth place on all four of its weekends at the box office. This time around, the $120 million Fox film dropped 35 percent to $5.4 million, good for a $69.6 million domestic total. Notably, Life of Pi is having a rather remarkable run in China, where it has already earned $84.3 million.

1. The Hobbit – $84.8 million
2. Rise of the Guardians – $7.4 million
3. Lincoln – $7.2 million
4. Skyfall – $7.0 million
5. Life of Pi – $5.4 million

In limited release, Silver Linings Playbook continued to prove its box office potential. The well-reviewed romantic comedy, playing for the third straight weekend in 371 theaters, once again had the smallest drop in the Top 10, falling only 4 percent to $2.1 million. The Weinstein Co.’s $21 million film has brought in $17.0 million so far, and the studio is clearly waiting until just the right moment to continue the platforming strategy. With the right combination of awards buzz and publicity (star Jennifer Lawrence was just announced as an SNL host on the Jan. 19 show), Silver Linings Playbook could became an impressive sleeper hit.

The same can’t be said for two other limited releases, Hitchcock and Hyde Park on Hudson, both of which expanded this weekend to middling results. Hitchcock jumped from 181 theaters into 561, where it earned $1.1 million, which yielded an anemic $1,935 average. With $3.0 million so far, it seems unlikely that the Fox Searchlight film will make it to $10.0 million total. Focus’ Hyde Park, meanwhile, jumped into 36 theaters after debuting in four theaters last weekend. The presidential feature earned $297,400, which was fine, but its $8,261 average is only okay given its extra limited availability (which usually drives averages up), and it doesn’t merit widespread expansion.

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The state Assembly has approved a new bill authorizing online gambling, with the Senate expected to consider — and likely support — the same measure this week. That would send the bill to Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed the last such legislative foray toward internet gambling, in part because it included a large subsidy for horse-racing purses that is not in the latest proposal.

Christie has not indicated which way he is leaning on the current plan. But he should sign off this time around. Trying to stop online gambling in New Jersey at this point will only delay the inevitable and cost the state untold millions in the process.

The overriding question here isn’t if New Jersey will have online gaming, but when. And there are some potentially significant benefits to making the answer to the latter “soon” that go beyond an earlier start on collecting fresh tax money on casino revenues.

Several states, including Nevada and Delaware, appear headed toward launching online gambling as soon as next year, and others will certainly follow. Industry experts say that the states getting in on the ground floor will also have an advantage in potentially running the operations for other states that are late joining the party.

Critics of the plan say online gambling could eliminate casino jobs as gamblers opt for internet convenience over a trip to Atlantic City, cutting into the numbers of casino visitors. The horse-racing industry also fears that another means of gambling without going to a track will merely speed the demise of that sport — and threaten the state’s entire horse industry. Some opponents also worry about a growth in gambling addictions.

Those concerns shouldn’t be ignored, but at the same time this all sounds far too much like the kind of self-defeating caution that has largely paralyzed the state’s gaming industry for years, allowing neighboring states to siphon off more and more business. For too long New Jersey’s favored response to growing competition has been to stick its head in the sand and wish for a return to the old days. Officials couldn’t do anything to stop casinos from popping up across our borders, but they seemed determined to try to prevent innovation within the state that might somehow shift the casino-horse track revenue dynamic in some vague unwanted way.

Today’s technology, however, has made such attempted legislative obstacles to gambling all but irrelevant. A motivated New Jersey gambler will find their betting outlets easily enough — here or elsewhere — and if the state keeps balking at catching up with the times, the only result will be a loss of would-be tax revenue on the action.

So we have applauded the state’s effort to lift a federal ban and implement sports betting in the state. And we also encourage lawmakers to follow through in authorizing online gambling. While there may be some risk involved, the risk from more inaction is even greater.

Antigua and Barbuda has told the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it is disappointed that it has not been allowed to raise its ongoing dispute with the United States on Internet gambling, despite the matter being before the world body for many years.

Antigua and Barbuda’s High Commissioner to London, Carl Roberts, addressing the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on Monday, said that the Baldwin Spencer administration had submitted to the WTO Secretariat a request for the matter to be included on the agenda for deliberation.

“Unfortunately, we will not be requesting this authorisation today because the Secretariat, in consultation with the United States, decided that our request was untimely, despite being here in this building prior to the completion and dissemination of the notice.

“Antigua and Barbuda is a small, developing country, under particular economic stress in these difficult times. We haven’t the resources to maintain a mission here in Geneva, and the prosecution of this case and the pursuit of our rights under the WTO agreements have been expensive, enormously time consuming and difficult.

“It is very unfortunate that we were, under all circumstances, denied the ability to present our suspensions request to this body today. We will be back to do so in January,” Roberts said.

In 2007, the WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda the right to target U.S. services, copyrights and trademarks in retaliation for its online betting ban. But the WTO capped the limit of annual trade sanctions at US$21 million.

The Spencer administration had sought the right to impose US$3.4 billion in retaliatory measures, while Washington offered a mere US$500,000.

In 2003, St. John’s initiated WTO dispute proceedings against U.S. federal and state laws barring foreign participation in U.S. Internet gambling markets. The WTO, in rulings in 2004 and 2005, found that the U.S. had violated its 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) which the WTO said allows Internet gambling.

The WTO has upheld rulings striking down the U.S. ban, but in 2006, Washington prevented U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.

Roberts told the WTO, notwithstanding the disappointment at not having the matter addressed, Antigua and Barbuda was again reiterating its position on the matter.

“We did not come to the decision to exercise our suspension rights lightly. The first dispute settlement panel ruled in our favour in 2004. The “reasonable period of time” in our case expired on the 3rd of April, 2006. And the report of the arbitrators under Article 22.6 of the DSU was released almost exactly five years ago, in December 2007.

“In the meantime, what was once a multi-billion dollar industry in our country, employing almost five percent of our population has now shrunk to virtually nothing. A number of our citizens have been criminally prosecuted, and a number are still under the spectre of arrest, prosecution and incarceration by American authorities, for ostensibly violating the very laws ruled in violation of US obligations under the GATS in our case,” Roberts said.

He told the WTO that domestic remote gaming is growing in the United States and thereby having an economic impact on Antigua and Barbuda.

“Over the years since our last WTO proceeding in this matter, our government have not been sitting idly by. Nor have we been imposing unrealistic or unbending demands upon the United States. In point of fact, Antigua and Barbuda has been working hard to achieve a negotiated solution to this case.”

But Roberts said efforts at a compromise have been exhaustive.

“We have tabled proposal after proposal to the US government, and attended session after session, in pretty much every case involving our delegation travelling to Washington, D.C., in hopes of finding some common ground.

“But to date, the United States has not presented one compromise offer of their own, and in particular the USTR has made, to our belief, no sincere effort to develop and prosecute a comprehensive solution that would end our dispute.”

Roberts said that St. John’s now has no idea how the United States resolves the other disputes it has been involved in.

“We have spent the past five years searching, at great expense and considerable effort for our little country, for the person or persons, the agency or agencies, whomever has the authority and will to work with us to come to a reasonable, just and fair resolution of our dispute,’ Roberts said, noting however, “sadly we have never found that person, that agency, that whomever”.

Roberts said Antigua and Barbuda maintains that a WTO “member can avoid its obligations to another member under the WTO agreements by simply removing or modifying the part of the agreement that a measure offends, making bi-lateral arrangements with other members and leaving the supposedly prevailing member with no remedy at all”.

He said, if that it is the case then the Dispute Settlement Body Unit of the WTO would “ring particularly hollow for smaller member nations, who will rarely have the diversity and domestic assets toavail themselves of offered adjustments”.

Read more: Antigua disappointed at WTO online gambling position - Caribbean360

A bill that would allow New Jersey residents to play online versions of casino games anywhere in the state passed the Assembly on Monday — even though Meadowlands Racetrack operator Jeff Gural has said the bill was “outrageous” because it would harm the horse racing industry and casino workers.

“It’s shocking to me that anyone would do what should be called the ‘Casino Worker Unemployment Act,’Ÿ” Gural said. “I don’t think they’ve thought this out. Why would people keep going to the casinos? I know the casino owners see this as an opportunity, because if people do this online, [the operators] won’t have to buy more machines, and they won’t have to pay someone to clean them, either.”

Gural points to his own industry, which allows bettors to place wagers on the Internet, as evidence of his concerns.

“We tried this, and now our racetracks are empty,” said Gural, who is in the process of having a scaled-down grandstand built at the Meadowlands backstretch. “They’re betting at home on the computer instead.”

A vote on the bill in the Senate is expected on Thursday, and state Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, said he expects the bill to pass.

Governor Christie vetoed a similar measure last year, however, and he has not commented on whether he would sign this version into law.

The Assembly vote on Monday was 48-25 — down from a 63-11 vote for the previous version, which included up to $30 million in horse racing purse subsidies. Christie, who opposes any racing subsidies, had cited that clause as one of several reasons for the veto.

Casino gambling is “another nail in the coffin of horse racing,” Gural said, because it creates even less incentive for gamblers to go to the track and because those who bet on horse racing online likely would divert some of their spending to other forms of online gambling.

Gural has said that he does not object to the state offering online poker — the most common form of online casino gambling — because he considers that a game of skill.

“But allowing people to play slots in their bedroom is a dangerous thing to do,” Gural said.

The EU Commission has sent the latest in a long series of letters complaining that Greek gambling regulation is in breach of EU law.

The trigger for the latest missive was a decision by the Greek Finance Ministry to offer partially state-owned OPAP SA a ten year monopoly on virtually all online gaming.

OPAP currently has a monopoly on all offline gambling in Greece. This monopoly is the subject of a legal challenge and the industry anticipates that it will be ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice.

The industry was quick to decry the Greek move.

“There can be no justification for extending OPAP’s monopoly to cover nearly every aspect of online gambling,” stated The Remote Gambling Association in a recent press release. “We have urged the Greek government to reconsider and have called on the European Commission to take action if it does not, because this move is a blatant breach of EU process and EU law.”

European operator SportingBet complained recently that it was “scandalous” that Greece was planning to award OPAP an extension of its monopoly, adding it was “a disgrace” and the Greek government “should be ashamed with how this has been allowed to happen.”

Sportingbet has 50,000 Greek customers which it would lose if this monopoly arrangement goes ahead.

The EU Commission letter tells the Greeks that the ultimatum they issued last month to gaming companies should not be enforced. The Commission has issued its own action plan for gaming regulation which explicitly criticises national regulations which breach EU law.

New Greek gaming regulations provided 24 interim licenses and a provision to establish a licensing system for permanent applications. No such system has been put in place and if the deal with OPAP goes through, all 24 interim license holders including online poker providers would have to leave the Greek market. William Hill has already withdrawn from the market.

The Chairman of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, Eugene Giannakopoulos, was asked about the Greek response to the EU’s letter and replied, “We will respect European law.”

He indicated that the problems lay with decisions made by the Treasury and not his own department. As yet the Treasury has not made any public statements on the issue.

Giannakopolous further promised that the Gaming Commission would initiate no action against gaming companies licensed by any EU country even if they did not have one of the original 24 Greek licenses. He added that they would certainly not be taking action against any players betting online with any company regulated in the EU.



Greek Gaming Regulation Under Fire | Pokerfuse Online Poker News