LATIN AMERICAN FOCUS: CHILE CCA LAW
new type of unlisted game has been approved since 2015. And it is not hard to grasp why - even in a market in which operators are eager to diversify their offer on one hand and add live casino (currently a mirage) to their websites on the other - any proposed new type of game needs to be presented to SRIJ and deemed viable by the regulator. Te latter must then propose for the game to be included on the RJO and for it to be subsequently regulated. Tis represents a double legislative process that includes the alteration of the main online gambling framework and the approval of a new specific regulation for the new type of game. Somewhere in between there is also the possibility that such new regulation must be submitted to the European Commission (notification procedure of technical regulations).
Although diversification of the gambling offer is not impossible and legal mechanisms are in place to do so, the legal hurdles of the licensed operators that intend to be attractive to their clients do not end there. Even for the types of games foreseen by law, the inclusion of any new differentiative features is subject to SRIJ prior approval since new features tend to go beyond the base regulations to which the games must be moulded to. Te fact that many dispositions of the relevant regulations are closed or injunctive doesn’t really help either - if any detail of the new feature doesn’t comply with said rules (which is a very likely scenario) it will be deemed non-admissible in the Portuguese jurisdiction. Terefore, most dispositions of the regulations may not be repealed by any specific rules the operators may request to SRIJ.
In practical terms this means that the Portuguese market has 15 licensed operators with a very identical offer and scarce differentiation and appealing features.
Ironically, such strict legal regime arising from the approved regulations (stricter than the main online gambling framework itself) in what concerns product diversity may harm exactly what it intends to protect in the first place: the players and the principles of responsible gambling. And while the licensed market must move and evolve within certain boundaries, the illegal market may run free offering fun, colourful and imaginative products without any limitations or imposed sets of rules, which can be very appealing to players unaware of the real dangers and lack of protection of an illegal market. Additionally, regulators and legislators should not forget that most operators provide their services in several jurisdictions, they have budgets to manage, commercial decisions to make and will be prone to disinvest in markets in which they cannot innovate.
Very recently, in November 2021, SRIJ showed the first signs of what could be a positive shift towards a more competitive and diverse market, and a public consultation procedure was initiated to approve a new type of game in the Portuguese Jurisdiction named Crash (a banked game which has as distinctive and differentiating elements a multiplier that increases from a 1.00 base value until it sets or “bursts”). Te objective of the game is for the
“Although diversification of the gambling offer is not impossible and legal
mechanisms are in place to do so, the legal hurdles of the
licensed operators that intend to be attractive to their clients do not end there. Even for the types of games foreseen by law, the inclusion of any new differentiative features is subject to SRIJ prior approval since new features tend to go beyond the base regulations to which the games must be moulded to.”
“Players should seek the legal over the illegal. But when the quest is for entertainment, feelings of protection and reassurance of rights are
many times side-lined, as fun and excitement tend to overlap all the rest. ”
player to withdraw his bet by cashing out during the increment movement of the multiplier. Although this is an encouraging sign for the online gambling future, the Portuguese market has the necessary stakeholders and the capacity to do much more in cooperation with both the regulator and the legislator.
To sum up, one should keep in mind that regulators and operators are walking one and the same path, in the pursuit of one single goal: to allow gambling as a form of entertainment in a safe, protected and monitored environment in which players are not misled and where vulnerable individuals may seek for help and have their rights to self-exclusion upheld. Online gambling regulated markets will only thrive if the illegal markets fail.
Players should seek the legal over the illegal. But when the quest is for entertainment, feelings of protection and reassurance of rights are many times side-lined, as fun and excitement tend to overlap all the rest. Tis is something that no stakeholder, namely the operator, the regulator or even the legislator should disregard. As five years have elapsed since this new online gambling market emerged one could tell that the past history of gambling is very well known, and that shaping its future should not be left to chance.
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P69
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