Upcoming Gaming Conferences
This fall and winter, a number of noteworthy gaming conferences are taking place.
First, there is the Live Gaming Summit, a conference dedicated to live dealer games and TV gaming, which will take place on September 27 in Barcelona, the iGaming capital of Europe. Speakers include Sam Brown, Head of Live Casino at NetEnt AB; Jonas Delin, Managing Director at Authentic Gaming; Kevin Kilminster, Head of Live Casino Innovations at Playtech; Kfir Kugler, CEO of Ezugi; and Angelo de Gobbi, Head of Business Development at Medialive Casino.
Don’t miss the Excellence in Gaming Conference, which will be held October 18-20 in Berlin. The conference will feature a speaker (Marja Appelman?) of the Netherlands Gaming Authority addressing the upcoming opening of the Dutch regulated market. Eric Konings, Public Affairs & Sports Integrity Officer at Unibet, will discuss the topic of match fixing and what operators can do against it. The conference will also feature a Germany update. What will happen with the last major European market to regulate online gaming?
While it may still look far away, ICE 2017 has already been scheduled for February 7-9, 2017. Save the date! While you are there, don’t forget to attend our (by now) traditional Gaming in Holland Lunch.
Also of note is the 11th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues, organized by the European Association for the Study of Gambling (EASG). This year’s edition will be held September 13-16 in Lisbon and will feature contributions from responsible gaming expert Pieter Remmers, European Commission official Harrie Temmink, and gaming lawyer Alan Littler of Kalff Katz & Franssen, whose presentation is titled “The Netherlands: A Gambling Space in Transition.”
Last but not least, there is the World Regulatory Briefing – Responsible Gambling Innovation, which will be taking place on September 8 in London. The conference will address the validity of current responsible gaming methods, smart ways of segmenting and analyzing data, integrating CSR, CRM and responsible gaming, as well as discussing the future regulatory requirements across Europe.
The Netherlands Gaming Authority Publishes Activities Plan 2016-2017
The Netherlands Gaming Authority has published its activities plan for 2016 and 2017. In it, the regulator outlines the concrete steps it will take to implement its long-term strategy, which is also included in the document.
Follow a Course on the Regulation of Cross-Border Online Gambling?
The Centre for Commercial Law Studies of Queen Mary University of London runs programs, including a LLM, in Computer and Communications Law by distance learning. For the autumn term of 2016/2017, gaming lawyer Dr Alan Littler of Amsterdam-based Kalff Katz & Franssen will convene a course on the Regulation of Cross-Border Online Gambling. Individual courses from the program can be taken on an ad hoc basis.
For further information on the course see here.
Why Is Sponsoring a Premier League Shirt Such an Attractive Option?
Half of the teams in the English Premier League currently advertise gambling operators on their shirts. Gaming consultants Regulus Partners explore why sponsoring a Premier League shirt is such an attractive option. There are three main reasons as to why even (primarily) non-UK facing operators partner with EPL football clubs:
Direct activation – using the partnership to directly acquire customers from a team’s fan base.
Brand exposure – giving visibility of the company, within the context of football both within the UK and internationally.
Brand trust – giving credibility to a company through the association with an established football club.
William Hill Rejects Second Bid from 888 and Rank
William Hill has rejected a revised £3.1 billion (€3.6 billion) takeover approach from 888 and Rank, saying it still "substantially" undervalues the company.
"This revised proposal continues to substantially undervalue the company and the cash element of the proposal has not changed. Therefore, the board sees no merit in engaging. As we have said before, this is highly opportunistic and complex and does not enhance the strategic positioning of William Hill,” Gareth Davis, chairman of William Hill, said.
Earlier, William Hill reported a 1% revenue rise, but 16% operating profit decrease in H1 2016.
Dutch Government Seeking More Oversight of Curaçao-Based Online Operators
The Caribbean island of Curaçao, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is home to a significant number of Netherlands-facing online operators. Currently, these offshore operators face relatively little oversight, a situation the Dutch government is seeking to remedy.
The Dutch government, however, has few powers to directly intervene in Curaçao’s internal affairs:
“According to [Minister Stef] Blok, a national ordinance is being prepared by the Curaçao Government to regulate the supervision on online gambling. The Minister emphasized that the offering of gambling activities from Curaçao was an autonomous affair of the Country Curaçao. ‘Therefore it is a responsibility of the Curaçao Government and of the Curaçao Prosecutor’s Office to secure a proper supervision of online gambling,’ stated Blok.
The Minister explained that the Dutch Gaming Authority doesn’t have a mandate to act outside the Netherlands, and that as such it cannot intervene in the local gambling industry.”
The Netherlands Gaming Authority, moreover, is reportedly struggling to establish any meaningful dialogue with its Caribbean counterpart in order to curtail online gaming offerings into the Netherlands from Curaçao.
Other News
Just as its UK counterpart, the Netherlands Gaming Authority is starting to investigate betting on eSports.
According to State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff, it will be up to the Netherlands Gaming Authority to determine whether online operators who automatically link through visitors to their .nl websites to their non-Dutch language .com or .eu domains will still be eligible for a Dutch remote license.
VirginCasino launches a new online Deal or No Deal slot based on the famous TV show in New Jersey. Will we soon see it in the Netherlands as well?
Daily fantasy sports are now fully legal in the state of New York.
Opmerkingen