Czech Republic
Czech Court Approves Blocking Gambling Domains
When it comes to online gambling, the industry where control is of the utmost importance for governments, and by proxy operators, around the world, heads are beginning to roll in the Czech Republic. A court has ruled that Czech Republic’s plan to block unauthorized online gambling domains is constitutional.
Let us remember that earlier this month we saw the launch of PokerStars.cz, the Czech Republic’s first licensed online casino and poker operator since the country’s new regulated online gambling market took effect on January 1st.
New regulations relating to the gambling industry in the Czech Republic went live country-wide on January 1st. The new regulations induced an exodus by many international operators who opted not to abide by the new rules. Yet, many carried on with a business-as-usual mindset. Big names in the industry such as Unibet, Lottoland, Bet365, and Betfair as among the biggest violators named by the courts.
The Czech government has decided to take on each of these illegal operators, beginning with the demand that all ISPs block sites deemed in violation of the new gaming regulations as deemed by the Czech Ministry of Finance. If ISPs fail to do so, they will face administrative sanctions.
At the present tome, three administrative proceedings are underway according to attorneys from Havel, Holásek & Partners, a Czech firm paying close attention to the government’s actions against online operators in violation of the new provisions.
Some of the Czech governments officials have already rang the bell regarding the constitutionality of the decision, pointing mostly to censorship worries. The idea of using ISPs to foot the bill for failure on the part of operators to receive Czech gambling licenses is another hot topic.
Despite all their concerns, the officials were told by courts last Wednesday what amounted to “deal with it”, citing the ruling as “likely the only effective (although not perfect) solution” in the face of substantial international competition.
The courts reason for suppporting it’s decision is that the proposal to implement IP-blocking is one of the main steps to prevent illegal activities, as opposed to stifling freedom of speech.
In regard to burdening the ISPs with footing the bill for failed license attempts from operators, the court offered it’s reasoning for the decision as coming from a lack of “extraterritorial authority” and an inability to compel international operators from catering to Czech players.
The court also offered it’s reasoning in the burdening of ISPs with footing the bill for failed license attempts from operators, a lack of “extraterritorial authority” and an inability to compel international operators from catering to Czech players.
2022 WSOP Europe
WORLD SERIES OF POKER® RELEASES 2022 WSOP® EUROPE & 2022-2023 INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT SCHEDULES
Following its successful debut on the Las Vegas Strip, the World Series of Poker remains in action through the rest of 2022 and beyond with WSOP Europe and the 2022-23 WSOP Circuit (WSOP-C). The prestigious 2022 WSOP Europe takes place at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, from October 26 – November 16, with the highly anticipated Main Event® starting on November 11.
“We’re very excited to host the biggest and most prestigious tournament series with the biggest guarantees in Europe without any limitations and struggles of the past two years. Finally, also travel restrictions for players coming from the US have been lifted”, said King’s owner Leon Tsoukernik. “We’re all set to deliver first-class service and hospitality for all poker players at King’s.”
The WSOP-C also kicks off its 2022 international run on September 21 at King’s Resort, with 10 confirmed stops scheduled to date and more stops to be announced soon on WSOP.com. In addition to earning a spot in the invitation-only “Tournament of Champions” event at the 2023 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, each champion from the live or online circuit events will also get a highly coveted WSOP gold ring.
“The World Series of Poker is ready to go international once again,” said Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, Ty Stewart. “Poker is bigger than ever and there has been a recent run of international champions in our Main Events. We’re excited to bring the once-in-a-lifetime poker experiences of the WSOP-C and WSOP Europe back to transcontinental players.”
WSOP-C schedules are subject to change and the WSOP reserves the right to make changes to all events related to the WSOP-C at any time. Please visit https://www.wsop.com/2022/circuit/international/ for the latest news and information related to these events. Additional information on individual circuit events, including event schedules and structure sheets, can be found on each respective property’s websites or by visiting www.WSOP.com
*The WSOP-C Events and “Tournament of Champions” event are subject change, with tournament rules and restrictions to be determined. The timing, number and location of events are subject to change and all applicable gaming regulations. Additional information regarding international and online circuit events will be released later.
WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2022-2023 CIRCUIT TOUR SCHEDULE INTERNATIONAL STOPS
INT. TOURNAMENT DATES | TOURNAMENT LOCATION |
September 21 – October 11, 2022 | King’s Resort (Rozvadov, Czech Republic) |
September 22 – October 2, 2022 | Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort (Aruba) |
October 11 – 23, 2022 | Cintermex Convention Center (Monterrey, Mexico) |
October 18 – 28, 2022 | Unique Hotel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) |
November 2 – 14, 2022 | The Star Sydney (Sydney, Australia) |
November 25 – December 3, 2022 | Holland Casino (Rotterdam, Holland) |
December 2 – 10, 2022 | Enjoy Punta del Este Resort (Uruguay) |
January 11 – 23, 2023 | Deerfoot Inn & Casino (Calgary, Canada) |
January 14 – 22, 2023 | Es Saadi Marrakech Resort (Marrakech, Morocco) |
March 22 – April 3, 2023 | Casino Royale (St. Maarten) |
Czech government
Czech Government adds new consumer protections to gambling laws
The Czech Republic is to introduce a series of consumer protection laws to its revamped gambling regulations.
Issued by the Czech Ministry of Finance earlier this week, the guidelines require operators to set maximum limits for players on an hourly basis.
According to the Casinoscamreport.com website, these limits must comply and be of a mathematical formula that uses and accepted tool to calculate losses for players.
Limit factors will include the size of a wager, average payout and the number of times a bet is place.
Earlier this year, the Czech government introduced sweeping changes to gaming laws in the country, with operators now facing tighter licensing processes, such as having to hold an official seat in a European Union or European Economic Area country.
The regulations have led to a mixed response from operators, with a number of major brands having withdrawn from the country as a result.…
The post Czech Government adds new consumer protections to gambling laws appeared first on Eastern European Gaming – News – Interviews – Legal Market Updates – Premium Reports – Events – Directory.
Source: EEGaming.
Czech Republic
Prague Gaming Summit announces lanyards sponsor, new speaker and Focus on Finland
The organizers of Prague Gaming Summit (EEGEvents) an event which is going to take place between 8-9 June, 2017 at Andel’s by Vienna House Prague have recently addressed their audience about the new set of speakers, a brief report on the Finnish market and the signing of the exclusive lanyards and badge sponsor for the event.
Gambling Monopoly should be kept by the State, Finns say
The organizers are pointing out that the Scandinavian region has a rich history when it comes to gambling Finland has the average spending 14 Euros per week on gambling. Around 80% of gamblers in the country are lottery players, but the market is driven by the top five percent who are considered high rollers. That five percent reportedly generates roughly 50 percent of the country’s market. A new study shows that nearly 70 percent of people in Finland want the government to keep its monopoly on gambling. According to an Yle-commissioned poll, there are slightly few options when it comes to enabling remote licensing. These regulations are strongly powered by the citizen’s view, who still prefer the state having control over gambling, despite arguments made in recent years against that setup.
The size of the gambling market in Finland is more than €2.5 billion, which includes lotteries and casino games, both live and online and the most feared high-stakes players over the years are a product of Finland. The include all-time online poker money earner Patrik Antonius, online greats Sami Kelopuro, Jens Kyllönen and Ilari Sahamies, as well as tournament star Juha Helppi.
Finland has a state-controlled monopoly on all forms of gambling: both offline and online. Three different entities are each responsible for a specific form of gaming in the country. These entities also operate the only officially sanctioned gambling sites in Finland.
RAY is the provider for brick-and-mortar gambling across the nation. It has the monopoly for land-based casinos, table games, slot machines, and traditional casino games such as roulette.
Veikkaus Oy is responsible for the national lottery, sports betting, and instant win games.
Fintoto Oy is responsible for parimutuel horse racing.
In 2017 the best Finnish online casinos are set to have a great year and after conducting a small overview we have found that the same goes for other games available on mobile.
The Finnish market witnessed a first when it comes to gaming companies going public. Finnish company Next Games became the first Finnish gaming company to go public and it happened this year in March. According to a report from Reuters, the final subscription price was of EUR 7.90 per share and the IPO stabilized at 4,376,530 shares with gross proceeds from offering at approximately EUR 32.8 million.
To hear more about the online gambling market of Finland and to gain advantage to discussing directly with one of the regulators of the Finish market, make sure you book your seat for Prague Gaming Summit by submitting your details here: https://praguegamingsummit.eu/register/
BetConstruct as lanyards sponsor of Prague Gaming Summit
The organizers have also announced their new signing as a supportive sponsor of the event and the lanyards and badge sponsor of the inaugural Prague Gaming Summit in none other than BetConstruct.
BetConstruct has over the last year shown a great commitment to bringing together industry peers and helping spread information about regulatory updates and hot topics. The award-winning developer and provider of online and land-based gaming solutions currently has service centers in 14 countries and offers innovative and proven offerings with an extensive range of market-leading products and services, including Sportsbook, eSports, Sports Data Solutions, Retail Betting Shop Solutions, RNG Casino Suite & Live Dealer Casino, VR Casino, Poker, Skill Games, Fantasy Sports, Social Platform and more.
Introducing more speakers for Prague Gaming Summit: Darren Moore, Yoav Dotan and Jaka Repansek
As part of their ever growing presence in the online gambling events industry, the organizers aim to create some of the most interesting debates at their conference, thus aren’t holding back for Prague Gaming Summit either. They promise a great show with many important facts being mentioned by some of the biggest names in the online gambling industry. The Summit will also bring together some of the new names of the online gambling industry who bring a new and fresh approach of doing things.
Both cases apply for the speakers announced below:
Panel: The Benefits of the European Gambling Laws (8th of June – 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM – Prague Local Time)
Yoav Dotan – Founder of Genesis Gaming
Yoav is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University (TAU) Bsc and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Mamram graduate – computer programming and system design and architecture. He is also know as a serial entrepreneur, advisor and director to companies dealing with technology .
Returned to Israel from NYC in 1999, following several years of working in Technology sector, where he has worked with Tradal who later evolved into Empire online- an online marketing company focused on gaming later went public in AIM.
He is also the co owner of Earthquake media – a marketing company focused on gaming. Partnered with success with 888, Sportingbet, PokerStars, Party Gaming, Playtech, Microgaming. The company is ranked among the top 3 gaming marketing companies.
But this, doesn’s stop here, Yoah is also the co-owner of Bingohall(one of the largest bingo operators), the founder and co-owner of Genesis Global(online casino operator – operate casino brands such as Spinit.com and Casinocruise.com.).
In a recent interview conducted by CalvinAyre.com at Vienna International Gaming Expo, Yoav referred to himself a medium sized operator and said “we are operating on Maltese and UK licenses currently because the tax and regimes in places like Czech Republic don’t make sense for us”.
He confirmed Holland, Sweden and Germany are markets he’s keeping his eyes on for the future, assuming the tax will be reasonable. However, he described keeping track of a variety of regulatory regimes around the EU as “a big headache” and said he would prefer one unified license for the EU, but recognizes this is not likely to happen. “But that’s my wish”, he said.
He pointed out how monitoring so many markets and regulations takes away from innovation and addressing customer needs, two of the most important focuses for his organization.
Panel: The Benefits of the European Gambling Laws (8th of June – 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM – Prague Local Time)
Jaka Repanšek – LL.B, MBA, Founder and Managing Partner of RePublis d.o.o.
Jaka has worked for various TIME (Telecom, Internet, Media, Entertainment) companies since 1996. He is recognized as one of the leading experts on gaming and media law in Slovenia. After graduating from Greenwood High School (Springfield, Missouri, USA) in 1992, Jaka graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
He gained his graduate degree from Cambridge University in England and Faculty of Law in Ljubljana (Diploma in European Community Law) and completed two-year MBA graduate studies at the University of Kansas in USA. Jaka is an active member of IMGL (Slovenia) and a member of several other domestic and international organizations and is active also as lecturer in various seminars and conferences.
Panel: Affiliates in regulated markets (9th of June – 9:30 – 11:00 AM – Prague Local Time)
Darren Moore – Founder & Director of Betting Gods Ltd
Former professional gambler, Founder and Director of Betting God Ltd, Darren runs the company with great energy and is the leading provider of professional sports betting content. Darren is a self-confessed chocaholic who spends half of his time in the mediterranean island of Gozo, and the rest in the UK.
Betting Gods is what I refer to as a tipster stable. This means that it is an online service that brings together a number of different tipsters under a single platform (the same roof).
This allows Betting Gods to manage their tipsters’ services, market them and most importantly for you as a punter, ensure that the best quality tips are made available.
Since starting Betting Gods, Darren Moore has gone on to feature on Richard Branson’s Virgin Pioneers – read the interview here.
Delegates can reserve their limited seats at an Early Bird Rate of 250 EUR(-50%) until 28.05.2017 by registering on the official website of the event: https://praguegamingsummit.eu/
…or by choosing your delegate package(delegate passes with accommodation at the official hotel) here: https://praguegamingsummit.eu/register/
For more details about the event, you can contact the organizers directly by e-mail on the following e-mail address: [email protected] or by phone on +40 726 388 370.
Make sure you check back for more updates about Prague Gaming Summit.
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