Best of PRO This Week: French Liquidity, UK Tax and bwin Stock Surge

Key Takeaways

French Politicians Reject Shared Liquidity.
Latest UK Treasury Guidance: No Change to 15% Tax Rate.

Lead Features

French Politicians Reject Shared Liquidity

A proposed amendment to share liquidity with other regulated EU markets was rejected, against ARJEL’s advice. It took the French National assembly less than 20 minutes to reject an opposition-proposed amendment to 2010 gambling laws that would have allowed shared liquidity pools with other regulated markets in the EU.

Latest UK Treasury Guidance: No Change to 15% Tax Rate

Address requirements will require operators to reconfirm players’ personal details every six months. The UK Treasury has published an information document on forthcoming remote gambling taxation reform.

Exclusive News Articles

William Hill To Stay in Gibraltar Despite UK Gambling Law Changes

The UK government had hoped that new gambling laws would encourage British companies to come back after their exodus following the 2005 Gambling Act. William Hill plc has announced plans to remain in Gibraltar after the UK gambling law changes come into force in December 2014. One of the hopes of the supporters of the laws was that they would encourage gambling firms to relocate back to Britain.

Australia to Remove “Gambling starts with Games” Adverts

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association complained that the advert breached government advertising rules. The South Australian government has said that it will withdraw a billboard advertisement headlined “Gambling starts with Games.” The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) wrote a letter of complaint arguing that the billboard breached the Marketing Communications and Advertising Guidelines.

bwin.party Announces £50m Borrowing Facility, Sees Shares Rise 8%

The share price boost comes on news that partypoker/Borgata are the market leaders in New Jersey. In its latest trading update, bwin.party has announced a £50m revolving credit facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland, giving a welcome jolt to its share price.

InterPoker Joins Canadian Exodus

InterPoker, which recently changed ownership, adds Canada to its country blacklist. InterPoker has informed its affiliates that it is withdrawing from the Canadian market.

Belgian Gaming Commission Orders Gambling Sites to Show Warning Banners

The banner links through to a mandatory Player Protection page—sites must comply by January 13. The Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) has published a banner which all regulated gambling sites must display on their websites from January 13 at the latest.

Switch Poker Offers Free Poker Rooms

The first network to offer Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals now offers free skins. The Switch Poker Network is recruiting skins with an offer to set up an online poker room on the network for free. Two other options are offered at low prices.

Spanish Gaming Compliance Eases as Parliament Approves the Market Unity Act

The law will simplify regulatory approvals for gaming technology. Spain’s parliament has approved a Market Unity Act that will make compliance simpler for regulated activities, including gambling. Approval in one regional jurisdiction will count as approval across all Spanish regions.

Spain’s Codere Defaults on its Debt

The default may result in creditors swapping debt for control of the company. Codere has failed to make a a €31m interest payment on one of its bonds. The Spanish global gaming company has made losses for seven straight quarters and has only €95m in cash on its books.

ARJEL President’s Departure Risks the Future of French Online Poker

Uncertainty now surrounds ARJEL’s support for lower taxes and shared liquidity. The President of French regulator ARJEL is leaving his post in January to take up a job in the private sector. As a champion of lower gaming taxes and shared liquidity his resignation throws uncertainty into the direction the regulator will take.

ARJEL Conducts Ethno-Sociological Study to “Meet the Players”

French players are being interviewed to help ARJEL understand their gambling activities. French players have reported receiving emails and having interviews from researchers working for French regulator ARJEL. An academic study aims to “meet the players” to better understand their “experience.”

Portugal Takes New Gambling Laws Out of a Controversial Budget

The new laws justify their own stand-alone bill according to a government spokesperson. The latest Portuguese budget was expected to include laws to liberalize the online gaming market, but the government has now decided that they should be included in a stand-alone bill.

New Estimate for Dutch Gaming Legislation: Mid to Late 2015

Detailed secondary legislation will delay attempts to establish regulated online gambling in the Netherlands. An article in GamingLaw.eu by Dutch lawyer Younes Moussaoui now puts the implementation date for the new Netherlands gaming legislation back as far as the third quarter of 2015.

Two Dutch Deals for TAIN

TAIN will provide the online gaming platform for land-based casinos when regulated market opens in 2015. Platform provider TAIN has announced two deals this month with Dutch companies to bring online gaming to the regulated Netherlands market when it opens in 2015.