Online Casino Edition – Casino News News about online casinos and gambling

September 23, 2011

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Levies Hefty Fine On A Casino Operator

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) levied a fine of $30,000 on a casino operator on 18 August 2011 for a regulatory violation. The casino operator had violated the regulations by contributing to an individual’s illegal campaign. This fine was a result of an agreement between the PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Board and the operator of Parx casino and Racetrack in Bucks County, the Greenwood gaming and entertainment Inc.

For permitting two different individuals on the PGCB’s list to enter and gamble in the casino, the Greenwood Gaming was fined $15,000 on different occasions in 2009 and 2010. In the Self-Exclusion program of PGCB, the individual gamblers are assisted to choose to ban themselves from gambling in the casinos in Pennsylvania State. Once a person is included in the Self-Exclusion list, the casinos and other gaming facilities must refuse any trading or wagers from these persons and deny all gaming privileges.

Fine Levied for Violating Prohibition on Contributions

In accordance with another consent agreement, $15,000 fine was levied against Tommy Rosenfeld of New York. He violated the prohibition on contributions to any campaigns toward any election to the public office in the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Rosenfled, the owner of CanAm Pennsylvania Regional Centre LLC, New York, had made a contribution of $15,000 in October 2010. He had submitted an application for a gaming principle license, around 6 months prior to this contribution.

According to the agreement, after applying for the license, a person is prohibited to contribute any money or kinds in any other form to a political party, an individual candidate, or any group which is organized to support a candidate for election in a public office. As Mr. Rosenfled came under this category, he was fined. The contribution money was later refunded to him.

Working of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The PGCB was established in 2004 under an act popularly known as Race Horse Development and gaming Act. The board’s job is to oversee and regulate all aspects of the gaming industry and casino in the Pennsylvania state .The ten casinos in operation in the Commonwealth have generated $5.5 billion in tax revenue and license-fee revenue since November 2006 when the first casino opened.

This money generated is being used to reduce the property tax burden of the homeowners of Pennsylvania and for funding the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry. A portion of this money also goes as grants for fire companies, sewer/water projects, and for establishing a new system of tax revenue for local governments for the community projects.

Information on all aspects of the PGCB can be found on their official website. The visitors can view videos of Board meetings on operations and working of the PGCB at this website. They can obtain information regarding any gambling problem, its identification, and solution. They can look for future schedule of meetings, go through past meeting details, and seek assistance in related matters of gaming. There is also an interactive map of casino locations in Pennsylvania which can be assessed on this website.

The next meeting for PGCB is scheduled for September 14, 2011, in Harrisburg, Hearing Room 1 of the PUC–Keystone building. Meeting starts at 10:00 am and everybody is invited.

September 11, 2011

eCOGRA Achieves Own Accreditations

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

The independent player protection and standards body that services the international remote gambling industry, eCOGRA, has managed to achieve two milestones: it is now qualified with the Italian regulator AAMS as a testing agency and has had its systems approved by the Geneva-based international standards authority, the International Organization of Standards (ISO).

About ISO

The ISO, which was founded in 1947, is responsible for setting international standards within various industrial and commercial spheres. Most of its work is carried out by technical committees, subcommittees, as well as working groups. They inspect and carry out assessments on companies that intend to improve the services they provide.

eCOGRA Explained

eCOGRA is an audit agency that provides advisory and compliance services in terms of fair gaming, player protection, and ensuring that operators act responsibly toward their stakeholders within the remote gambling industry. Its auditors have experience in information systems and Big 4 auditing. In 2011, eCOGRA will be involved with about 100 compliance reviews against a number of jurisdictional regulations as well as the European Gaming and Betting Association Standards, which incorporates the European CEN Workshop Agreement Measures.

Accreditation

eCOGRA, which is based in London, was awarded the ISO accreditation once it had met certain standards and requirements set by the agency. The approval given was ISO/IEC 17025:2005: General Requirements for the competence of testing id calibration laboratories. The accreditation, which was granted on July 22, 2011, is required by many remote gambling licensing jurisdictions in Europe.

eCOGRA can now be a testing and monitoring agency for a number of applications, including random number generators, remote gambling platforms, and gaming operators. It now needs to comply with the AAMS technical standards.

eCOGRA also managed to get approval from Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies), or AAMS. This means that it can be a testing entity within the Italian market. In Italy, AAMS regulates the gambling market, which includes setting the requirements and standards needed for operators and monitoring gaming licenses. This move by eCOGRA opens up a wide range of experience within this field to operators who want to move into the Italian market.

Achievements

The Chief Executive of eCOGRA, Andrew Beveridge, was very pleased with the achievement of his staff and praised their professionalism and commitment to reaching such high international standards. “Promoting the values of commitment and self-regulation, and preparing remote gambling companies for the national regulatory systems now evolving, remains a critical part of our business,” Beveridge said. “eCOGRA will continue to pursue testing agency approval in other emerging jurisdictions to ensure that we can provide a full-service offering which meets all of our client’s regulatory compliance needs.”

Beveridge expects that eCOGRA will be announcing more jurisdictional approvals in the near future. He is keen to be approached by any client who is interested in regulatory requirements concerning new licensing jurisdictions, in order to find out how eCOGRA can meet these demands.

September 3, 2011

Online Gaming Regulations Drawn Up By Nevada

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has created the first draft of a bill, setting out regulations that would control intrastate interactive gaming. This announcement comes after California’s move to leave its intrastate bill until 2012 and Phil Hellmouth’s comments concerning district-only online gaming as put forward by Washington D.C.

The Bill

The New Regulation 5A framework focuses on issues concerning licensing, internal controls, application requirements, rules for self-exclusion, dispute resolution, and registration layout. Other amendments have been made, but these were only due to the need to add language that was specific to Internet gambling.

Some of the items are:

• The age at which an individual can legally gamble online is to be 21.
• In order to pay for compliance investigations, licensees will need to maintain a $20,000 revolving fund.
• At a given operator, a player can only use one account and has to use his or her real name.
• To deposit funds, a player may use a credit card.
• Players are not allowed to take part in inter-account transfers.
• The operator is bound to keep hand histories for five years.
• Operators are expected to put measures in place to prevent bots from being used in games.

Although no provision has been put in the regulations, which says that online gambling would only be confined within Nevada, it can be assumed that this is the situation. However, this would not be the case if the federal government puts out a legislation stating that Internet gambling is legal throughout the nation.

On 26th September, a regulatory workshop will take place that will be open to the public. In this workshop, people will be able to put forward their own revisions.

Current Support

“The technology supporting (Internet poker), while not perfect, has improved dramatically since its introduction,” Mark Lipparelii, the Gaming Control Board Chairman, said. “Similar to our land-based requirements, Nevada will establish high standards, giving players as much confidence as possible in the entities and technologies that might eventually gain approval.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee in Nevada passed Assembly Bill 258 in May, which meant that the Nevada Gaming Commission was able to develop an online gaming regulatory framework. A follow-up to this can be seen in the New Regulation 5A.

Intrastate Regulations

A number of states, which includes California, have been working to draw up bills for intrastate Internet gaming. This has been done to ensure that their state governments receive an influx of revenue. Although the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 was aimed at stopping money moving between the United States and online poker rooms based abroad, thereby slowing down online gambling, the legislation does provide a state the option to legalize and draw up regulations for online gambling within their own borders.

However, Phil Hellmouth saw this as a major issue regarding intra-district plans drawn up by Washington D.C., concerning Internet gaming. He put forward that due to the fact there will not be enough people available to play, many tables will be left empty.

September 1, 2011

New Coalition In Support Of Legalizing Online Poker

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

A new support group has now joined the campaign to legalize online poker: FairPlay USA. It was set up with the aim to persuade the Congress that a regulatory structure should be created, which will allow U.S. citizens to bet legally on online poker games. The group also seeks more clarification on what is legal and what is not for players.

The new coalition, which is based in Washington DC, has managed to attract a number of important advisers, including Tom Ridge who was a former Pennsylvania Governor as well as Homeland Security chief.

The Petition

Marisa McNee, FairPlay’s Executive Director, said “We are not doing lobbying of any kind; we are doing outreach trying to educate the public and Congress on the need to reform federal Internet gambling laws.”

The petition featured on the group’s website asks for issues concerning offshore Internet gambling to be looked into, establishment of an appropriate regulatory system, and better law enforcement tools to gain control over illegal sites.

Past Attempts

A Republican-sponsored bill, known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, was passed by the Congress in 2006 in an attempt to take control over U.S. Internet gambling. It did so by preventing payment processors, for example, PayPal and credit card companies, from dealing with payments from online bets. However, it appears that this has had little impact on the problem. It also puts American citizens in the danger of fraud, as most gambling sites are based abroad.

A federal crackdown ensued on 15th April in which indictments were released against a number of online companies, including Absolute Poker, PokerStars and FullTilt Poker. On 24th May, 10 poker sites were closed down and 11 bank accounts seized in Baltimore.

However, despite this, online poker games are still readily available for American gamblers. PokerScout.com keeps track of 49 of the top poker sites and reported that nine of the websites allow U.S. citizens to sign up.

The Barton Bill

A bill has been introduced by U.S. Republican Joe Barton. The bill calls for the legalization of online gambling, but only in states that allow it. It also encourages the U.S. Department of Commerce to put together licensing and agencies, which would offer consumer protection.

McNee explained that FairPlay does not have a position concerning the Barton bill. It supports the legalization of online poker, but has not considered other types of online gaming.

Current Support

Although McNee was unwilling to provide information on donations from Las Vegas gaming companies, she did state that FairPlay had received funding from Caesars Entertainment Corp and MGM Resorts.

Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at MGM Resorts, Alan Feldman, said, “There is a need for advocates from varied points of view. We are certainly supportive of their efforts to bring in law enforcement and Internet security experts.”

He added that MGM Resorts would prefer a federal legislation: “A state-by-state solution is chock-full of problems. It’s not what is needed now. A state-by-state solution calls out more for a federal response to the issue.”

August 25, 2011

A Boom In Gambling On Smartphones

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

What if you’re able to play your favorite online game on your Smartphone? Sounds interesting! Many online casinos have promised their clients that they would soon introduce mobile gambling. This will allow players to play casino games on their internet-enabled Smartphones. Some casinos have just built the high hopes about introducing mobile gambling, whereas some are already working on it. Mobile gambling has a huge market and there is a huge potential for online casinos to earn more revenue through it. It will provide them with the capital to grow their operations cross-boarders. Apart from this, they will have more chances to earn big profits as cell phones have become an important thing in everybody’s life.

Betting on Mobile

The time is rapidly approaching when you would be able to play casino games online while waiting for your train on the platform or during a short break in your office. Paddy Power and Betfair have already come up with mobile betting applications in new generation Smartphones. Gambling via Apple’s iPhone is rapidly rising. Statistics have shown that around 35 percent of existing casino customers are placing bets through the phones. It is gaining tremendous popularity. The reason being, it gives more freedom and flexibility to the players in accessing the betting services through their phones. They do not have to carry their laptops wherever they go as their phones act as complete package for them.

Paddy Power Mobile Betting Service

Paddy Power is the most reputed and the largest bookmaker in Ireland. It offers a wide selection of services including online pingo, online poker, spread betting, sports betting, and online casino games. Listed on UK and Irish Stock Exchanges, it is a licensed betting company. It introduced mobile betting services in the year 2010. Since then, it has experienced four times increase in its annual revenue. The surprising thing is that around one-third of its active customers access online betting services through their mobile phones. In the month of April, over 120,000 players accessed spread betting, online pingo, online slots, poker games, and sports betting from their Smartphones.

Betfair Mobile Betting Service

In June 2000, Betfair has become the world’s largest internet betting exchange and UK’s largest online betting company. Based in West London, it has over three million clients in the UK with a turnover of £50 million in a week. Offering a wide range of online betting services, Betfair had announced mobile betting services last year. After its launch of mobile operations, the company experienced a growth in revenues by 90 percent over the last year. More than one billion wagers were taken in through mobiles. The company had invested a huge amount while introducing mobile services.

Apart from these two companies, many other betting companies and online casinos have been thinking on the same lines. They are planning to launch their mobile operations as soon as possible. One of the major reasons of popularity of mobile operations is the launch of Apple iPhone. It had approved the gambling-related applications in its Smartphones.

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