8 4 April 2009

News:

PartyGaming - a non-US online betting company - agreed to pay $105 million over three years in a non-prosecution agreement with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, on 7 April, for providing internet gambling services to US customers. PartyGaming agreed it had violated the Illegal Gambling Business Act (18 U.S.C § 1955) and two other US statutes. To violate the Act, PartyGaming would, among other things, need to have violated a state gambling law, but the agreement does not identify the state law that was violated.

World Online Gambling Law Report is organising its seventh Summer Retreat on 29-30 June at Tylney Hall, to provide key analysis of contractual and regulatory challenges in the development of technology platforms, strategies for obtaining white-listing in EU jurisdictions and the challenges and opportunities posed by and for new entrants in the online gambling market.

The Gambling Commission called for an increased collaboration between betting operators and sports governing bodies to help protect the integrity of betting, in its policy paper, published on 30 March.

Features:

PartyGaming settled outstanding claims with the State of New York recently, for illegally providing internet gambling services to US customers, by agreeing to pay a $105 million fine in a non-prosecution agreement. Obviously, the fine does not allow PartyGaming to begin taking bets again in the US, however the agreement puts it in good stead to receive a licence should the US decide to regulate online gambling. This is not impossible ­ Barney Frank, a US Democrat, is expected to soon reintroduce a Bill that would undo the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The agreement also clears the slate for PartyGaming to enter into business partnerships with US companies, at least in New York, without an overhanging threat of prosecution.

The opening of the French gaming market has been expected and welcomed by many, but some pieces of information on means of payment contained in the draft Bill must not go unnoticed. According to the French gaming Bill, online gaming operators will be submitted to a licensing process. Licences will be granted on the basis of operators' compliance with a cahier des charges (a set of rules and criteria).

The European Commission announced recently that US online gambling laws and their enforcement against EU companies constitute an obstacle to trade and could lead to legal action against the US at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Nao Matsukata, Senior Policy Advisor at Alston & Bird LLP, discusses the complaint and examines measures that could be taken to remove the need for action at the WTO.

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (IMEGA), New Jersey's Senator, Raymond Lesniak and a number of horseracing-related associations in New Jersey recently filed a complaint in a US district court claiming that the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) violates the US Constitution. Linda J. Shorey, Dennis M.P. Ehling, Robert A. Lawton and Anthony R. Holtzman, of K&L Gates LLP, explain the PASPA and examine the complaint challenging it.

The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board - an independant orrganisation set up by the Gambling Commission and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to develop a strategic framework and priorities for research, education and treatment - held its first meeting recently. Matthew Hill, Director of Research, Strategy and Analysis at the Gambling Commission, looks at the latest developments on the funding for research, education and treatment in Great Britain.

Prize competitions on the internet related to properties in Devon and Cheltenham have attracted the attention of the Gambling Commission, who launched an investigation into whether raffling a home on the internet constitutes an illegal lottery. Andrew Woods and Paddy Whur, Heads of the Licensing Department at Walker Morris, examine whether such competitions are illegal lotteries under the Gambling Act 2005.

European Court of Justice (ECJ) gambling case law requires that the objectives brought forward by Member States to justify restrictive measures shall be pursued in a 'consistent and systematic' manner. In a recent preliminary ruling, the ECJ applied the 'consistency test' to the case before it and emphasised the need for national legislation to be 'consistent' in order to stand EU law scrutiny. Thomas Talos and Arthur Stadler, of Brandl & Talos Attorneys-at-Law, examine the requirement of a consistent and systematic approach in light of recent ECJ and European Free Trade Association case law and its significance for gaming cases currently pending before the ECJ.

The use of a gambling robot - or 'bot' - a computer program that aids a gambler to play an online gambling game, typically poker - has been questioned by gambling operators as to whether usage is illegal under British law. Rhianwen Jones and Dai Davis, of Brook North LLP, discuss the lack of civil and criminal actions that can be taken against a user of gambling bots in Great Britain.