France courts iCasino controversy
France iCasino proposals, Texas eyes resort casinos, UKGC’s 3-year plan, Ethical AI in gaming +More
Good morning. On today’s agenda:
France puts forward iCasino proposals.
Texas gaming proponents keep their eye on the resort casino prize.
The UK Gambling Commission lays out a three-year plan.
The International Gaming Standards Association forms an ethical AI committee.
A Finnish gambling influencer is facing two years in prison.
France’s iCasino proposals
The government has put forward a regulatory plan that includes a five-year moratorium that would exclude all but the ‘national actors’.
Ils ne passeront pas: The French government has tabled a proposal to regulate online casinos that would impose a five-year moratorium during which only “national actors” would be licensed to offer digital casino products in the market. The draft law was put forward by the MP Philippe Latombe of the Renaissance governing party.
High five: Calling for a “defined and restricted opening”, Latombe said the “five-year moratorium” where only “national actors” were regulated and licensed would enable French stakeholders to develop their activities in “serene conditions” until 1 January 2030.
After that period, “dynamic” and “very powerful” international competitors would be able to enter the market.
The wording is unclear on whether only land-based operators, which manage nearly 200 resorts on the mainland, would be permitted to offer online casino products in those first five years.
Corner the market: Without question, France-licensed online brands such as Betclic or Winamax would want to be included in the initial launch. Should the clause be approved, one potential scenario could see them agree to US-style market access deals with physical casinos.
SFM central: As outlined, the regulation would be overseen by the ‘sociétés de fourniture et de maintenance’ (SFM), the bodies that currently oversee and manage all the gaming machine purchases of French land-based casinos.
France’s physical resorts are not allowed to buy their equipment directly from manufacturers or establish revenue-share models and must go through the SFM.
Latombe said their land-based expertise would enable them to ensure “global control of physical and electronic casino games” and “preserve the overall balance of the rules” governing the sector.
Latombe said the current online regulations were being “massively flouted”, with between 1.4 and 2.2 million French players visiting unregulated casino sites, according to the gambling regulator ANJ.
Timings are unclear, but the end of the five-year moratorium in January 2030 suggests stakeholders expect the proposal to progress through the next parliamentary session.
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Game on
Texas made a serious push to legalize sports betting, but even the staunchest OSB supporters have their eyes on a bigger prize: resort casinos.
On his heels: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, one of the first owners of a professional sports team to jump on the sports-betting bandwagon, is one of those voices. In a statement to Legal Sports Report, Cuban said casino legalization is not a gambling issue. It’s a tourism and economic driver.
“I think what is misunderstood about the bill is that it is not a gambling bill as much as a tourism bill,” Cuban told LSR. “Gambling is certainly a hook, but the real value to the state is to be a destination that people around the country and the world plan a year in advance and save to go to.”
The comments could be a sign that Cuban sees the writing on the wall regarding OSB in Texas. OSB could still be several legislative cycles away in the Lone Star State.
Casinos could offer a backdoor entrance for sports betting, as most Texas casino proposals have included retail sports betting, which could pave the way for OSB.
A way aways: Assuming this year’s effort is dead, with the Texas legislature meeting biannually, any sports-betting effort will have to wait until 2025. The hope is the state will pick up where it left off, perhaps without the sizable roadblock that is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
US notebook
Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has made several temporary decisions on its way through the miasma created when a state tries to launch sports betting hastily. Two of those “temporary” decisions became official in recent MGC meetings:
Operators are not allowed to deduct promotional play from their tax obligation.
Affiliates are allowed to enter into CPA agreements with OSB operators.
Revenue-sharing deals remain prohibited.
North Carolina: A key state Senate committee advanced the House bill to legalize mobile sports betting, but with some amendments. HB 347 would legalize OSB with 10-12 sportsbooks in addition to allowing tribal gaming operators online betting,
The amended bill put the gaming tax a 18%, up from the original 14%, while also adding horseracing to available pari-mutuel entities
Local media reported that the bill will go to the Committee on Rules and Operations, setting up a possible full Senate vote as early as next week.
Mind the gap
The UK Gambling Commission has laid out a three-year plan outlining its priorities and evidence gaps.
Pathfinder: Following the publication of the UK government’s Gambling Act Review White Paper, the UK’s gambling authority has unveiled what it says will be its “direction of travel” for the next three years.
To better fulfill its regulatory duties, the Commission has laid out six themes where it says there are gaps and “research questions that must be answered” for it to “regulate effectively”. These include:
Early gambling experiences and gateway products.
The range and variability of gambling experiences.
Gambling-related harms and vulnerability.
The impact of operator practices.
Product characteristics and risk.
Illegal gambling and crime.
The time is now: The Commission added that with the White Paper now published, “the next few years provide a further opportunity to make real progress towards making gambling in Great Britain safer, fairer and crime-free”.
Ethical AI in gaming
The International Gaming Standards Association (IGSA) is forming a committee to monitor ethical use of AI across the industry.
Fair play: The Ethical Artificial Intelligence Committee is charged with drafting a voluntary charter to “curate AI algorithm fairness standards for global gaming markets”.
Founding members include Aristocrat Gaming, AXES.ai, Light & Wonder and Playtech.
The non-technical committee will work to ensure that decisions made by AI-powered systems are fair to players.
It will create frameworks to support the work done by gaming watchdogs and help the industry to self-regulate when it comes to AI innovation.
Nimish Purohit, vice-chair of IGSA and global vice-president of quality gaming at Aristocrat, has been appointed as acting chair.
“We are at a pivotal moment in the history of our industry,” he said. “The IGSA’s charter as a standards organization gives us a unique lens with which to protect our members and our industry from both the opportunities and challenges that AI brings with it.”
Canary in the coal mine: Regulators across the world in various sectors are formulating approaches to the issue of bias creeping into algorithms and how to hold companies accountable.
Being acutely aware of the risks and working to reduce them is a major priority for firms experimenting with machine learning and language models, lawyers told C+M.
“Artificial intelligence is the killer app that will redefine the rules of competition,” said Earle G. Hall, chair of IGSA and CEO of AXES.ai.
“To ensure that these rules are fair, ethical and integral, the creation of this committee will offer our industry guidelines, policies and standards to learn from and to adopt and adapt in their jurisdictions,” he said.
Finfluencer in the dock
A Finnish influencer is facing two years in prison for illegally advertising gambling services via his social media accounts.
Do not pass Go: Lauri Kangas, also known as Lateksituppi, promoted various gambling offerings other than those operated by the Finnish monopoly Veikkaus Oy, along with a series of online casino games, a national court heard.
Kangas promoted the games on Twitch, Snapchat and YouTube in violation of Finland’s lottery laws.
Prosecutors are demanding a €70k fine along with pushing for jail time.
The court will deliver its verdict on Friday (May 26).
Local media reported Kangas pulled up to court in a gold SUV and parked in spaces reserved for police, later lashing out on social media at the proceedings while referencing his wealth.
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Africa Notebook
Lagos vice: The Nigerian city Lagos is mulling a vice excise tax that will apply to betting and gambling, along with alcohol and tobacco.
First reported by iGaming Afrika, the state government’s first-quarter 2023 budget performance appraisal report recommended pushing through the measures to help cut its deficit as it seeks to reduce borrowing costs.
Betting and gaming winnings in Lagos top $2bn annually, according to the government.
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