Digital watch: Tshake up at Ladbrokes as online relaunch delayed
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Report recommends machine powers for local
authorities
Gaming machines were always likely to figure large in the CMS Committee’s inquiry into the Gambling Act, but few would have anticipated the report’s solution to LBO ‘clustering’.
INQUIRY A
n inquiry by a group of MPs into the Gam- bling Act 2005 has concluded that the legislation contains
‘numerous inconsistencies and is not sufficiently evidence based’. The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has made several recommendations to the government, including more local planning powers, greater scrutiny of Gambling Commission spending and a relaxation of some gaming machine restrictions.
The Committee recom- mended that more power should be devolved to local authorities, suggesting that they would have the local knowledge to assess the impact of the gambling indus- try, with central regulation exist- ing to ensure high standards of protection for the vulnerable, particularly children.
However, in a quite unex-
pected move, rather than suggest that local authorities be able to veto applications for new betting shops as expected, the Commit- tee has recommended that they be given the discretion to allow existing betting shops to operate more B2 gaming machines. The Committee said: “Local Authori- ties should have the power to allow betting shops to have more than the current maximum of four B2 machines per shop if they believe it will help to deal with the issue of clustering.”
Association of British Book- makers chief executive Dirk Vennix said: “We’re interested in the recommendations around finding local solutions to local issues as an alternative to a top- down approach and look forward to discussing the detail with the committee and the Department in the coming weeks
and months.” The Committee also sug-
gested that casinos be permitted up to 20 B2 machines and that adult gaming centres should also have the same B2 allocation as LBOs, claiming that there was no regulatory reason for them to have a lower machine entitle- ment. This was backed up by the LBO sector’s improving, but still poor under age safeguards, which the committee suggested were being outperformed by AGCs.
The report also had scathing
things to say about the Trea- sury’s intransigence when it came to the setting of Remote Gaming Duty at 15 per cent and suggested that the Treasury would have to be a lot more flex- ible and actually listen to the industry if the new point of con- sumption tax was going to work. It said: “The failure of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport to work with the Treas- ury and set remote gambling tax- ation at a level at which online operators could remain within the UK and regulated by the Gam- bling Commission has led to almost every online gambling operator moving offshore whilst most are still able to advertise and operate into the UK. The Committee welcomes the move to regulation of the online indus- try on a point of consumption basis but says the Treasury still needs to work with industry stakeholders to establish the correct level for online gambling taxation, taking into account the need to encourage companies to accept UK regulation and taxa- tion and to discourage the for- mation of a grey market.”
REGULATOR CRITICISM Page 2
THE COMMITTEE HAS RECOMMENDED LOCAL
AUTHORITIES GIVEN THE DISCRETION TO ALLOW
MORE B2 MACHINES IN LBOS
PokerStars to pay
POKER P
oker giant PokerStars has removed itself from the firing line of the US Department of Justice and also taken the assets of its once biggest competitor Full Tilt Poker of the regulator’s hands. All it has taken to achieve this is US$731m (£468.6m). The deal is great news for players left out of pocket by the collapse of Full Tilt, as it contains mechanisms for them to get their money back. As part of the agreement, PokerStars has agreed to reimburse the approxi- mately $184m (£118.0m) owed by Full Tilt to non-US players, which it has been charged to do within 90 days. Full Tilt’s US fraud victims will be able to seek compensation for their losses from the Department of Justice from the remaining $547m (£350.6m) which has been forfeited by PokerStars directly to the US.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The settlements demonstrate that if you engage in conduct that violates the laws of the United States, as we alleged in this case, then even if you are doing so from across the ocean, you will have to answer for that conduct and turn over your ill-gotten gains.” While it has had to pay through the nose, PokerStars as company has emerged in a promising position. The agreements do not constitute admis- sions of any wrongdoing, culpability, liability, or guilt by any parties, theo- retically leaving the door open for a return to the US should it legalise online gaming. It has also picked up the software and client list of a major competitor and be riding a wave of goodwill when it gets the Full Tilt plat- form up and running again.
$731m for Full Tilt and clean slate
sales@microgaming.co.uk
www.microgaming.co.uk/greatgames sales@microgaming.co.uk
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