A team of experts will soon be drafted by the European Commission (EC) to dissect the EU’s current online gambling laws and how it impacts upon players and operators alike. It will also broadcast the much anticipated Green Paper on internet gambling services within the internal market.

Experts will mainly focus on information that has been gathered by the ECJ (Court of Justice of the EU or CJEU) taking into account a number of cases brought forward by European internet casinos the likes of Bwin, Ladbrokes and Betfair that have been denied access to Member States’ gambling markets, that has violated single market protocols set forth in Articles 49 and 56 of the EU Treaty.

The French and Italian licensing gambling markets’ feasibility within the EU law will also be investigated by the Commission (of late in France) and concerns put forward pertaining to the proposals of Belgium and Romania. …

Nowadays many online casinos permit their players to play free games once they’ve registered a real money account. Players can download the casino’s software for free. Once completed they’ll be given some cash to gamble and try out the games on offer. The moment the “play money” is finished additional funds can be paid into the operator’s cashier account.

InterCasino has set the benchmark yet again. It introduced a new free games lobby enabling players to play some of the finest games without even downloading them or the need to login. There’s no catch. Twenty one of Cryptologic’s top slots machines are presented in the free games lobby. Games on display are the pick of the crop Marvel super hero slot games. The likes of Spiderman Revelations, The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Revenge, Fantastic Four, Submariner, Thor, Captain America, Silver Surfer, Wolverine and Iron Man on display in the casino’s new …

Henrik Tjarnstrom, Unibet’s chief expressed his utter disappointment toward the French government’s inability to lower the egaming tax rate for 2011. Reason being it hampered Unibet’s re-entry to the French market. Francois Barion French budget minister said tax rates will not be lowered before the 2012 elections.

Tjarnstrom’s operator must still enter the regulated market in spite of securing licences for poker, sports betting and pari-mutuel horse race betting (through a partnership with Zeturf). He said, “As stipulated in the communication around our Q4s in February, we submit an application for licences based on profits and France is not a very lucrative environment right now. There are other ventures we could pursue, unless the conditions become more favourable here we’ll have to look at other alternatives to make cash. So far the opening looks bleak.

“The license is in our possession, right now it’s all about timing and allocating the …

Former Unibet chief executive Petter Nylander is the founder of Rent Spel (meaning Fair Play). It comprises of different Swedish parties interested in the egaming industry.

Rent Spel’s Professor Henrik Jordahl requested a report on internet gambling in Sweden based on research done by the Stockholm based Research Institute of Industrial Economics. The report’s findings indicated that 26% of all gambling done in Sweden is via the internet. In Sweden internet casinos is one of the largest employers, hence the reason Professor Jordahl prompted the Swedish government to push internet gambling more.

The report indicated that internet gambling in Sweden is huge in comparison to other European countries. Gambling operators in Sweden, apart from the state owned Svenska Spel’s total market cap comes to SEK19 billion. Online casinos employ roughly 2,000 employees, in addition to this government gaming operations employs another 2,500 people.

The report also pointed out that Swedish car …

Churches in Australia joined forces and formed the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce to address problem gambling, according to the latest research more than 90,000 problem gamblers lose on average $21,000 per annum. The churches have also called upon the Australian government to impose sterner measures that will protect gamblers from being over exploited by casinos.

Key members from the following churches; Catholic, Baptist and Anglican, the Salvation Army and church-based social service institutions met in Canberra to start a campaign on gambling reform.

Reverend Alistair Macrae President of the Uniting Church says thousands of children suffer as a result of parents who have a history of problem gambling. A staggering $12 billion has been spent by Australians on poker machines or pokies. Macrae believes the amount of money spent by Australians on gambling has become an area of great concern.

Reverend Macrae states that on a weekly basis 600,000 Australians …

The Cyprus government’s recent backlash on internet gambling might give the Greek state company OPAP a monopoly, many island politicians said this week. Cyprus hosts a large number of internet casinos, asa result of its politicians’ strong stance toward internet gambling might favour the Greek company handsomely.

Rikkos Erotokritou from Euroko Party said OPAP, which manages Joker, Proto, Kino and Lotto and other online gambling operators would reap the benefits from the implementation of this bill’s requirements”, which could result in absolute control.

Nicholas Papadopoulos DIKO’s representative said, the bill would “benefit and legalise gambling for one internet casino only resulting in a monopoly.” He also stated that in 2009 OPAP generated 70 million Euros, of which one million Euros went to the state in taxes; it could be a very lucrative arrangement for the internet casino’s ventures in Cyprus.

On the flip side of the coin, OPAP’s response to recent …

A twenty-nine year old British male Ashley Mitchell who stole $12 million in virtual chips was sentenced by the Exeter Crown Court recently. Mitchell also sullied the Computer Misuse Act; as a result of this little stint he received a two years prison sentence. He also received a 10 month suspended sentence in 2008 for hacking into a local government network. Mitchell finds himself in hot water now because of the Zynga hacking incident and received an extra 30 weeks in jail; since he breached the original terms of his sentence.

Mitchell succeeded by hacking into Zynga’s servers and snatched 400 billion virtual poker chips, according to Zynga these chips have a net worth of $12 million. A Zynga spokesperson said these virtual chips are worthless, unless Mitchell sold these chips to other Zynga players on the black market. However, Mitchell managed to sell $86,000 worth of his booty well …

In Costa Rica there’s approximately 500 online gambling sites. It is the third largest gaming market in Latin America which yields a profit of $14.5 billion. The country attracts many operators and software providers since the Costa Rican government is rather lax when it comes to enforcing its policies. Regular commercial licences that are applicable to all industries are employed to regulate and tax online betting companies.

Recently a report released by The Research and Markets (R&M) Organization on the country titled “Costa Rica Gaming and Gambling 2011”. The report gives a brief overview of Costa Rica delineating the country’s main resources, politics, gambling sector and its citizens.

The report also touches upon land-based gambling and mentions infrastructure which tourists can make use of. However, the gist of the report focuses mainly on Costa Rica’s gambling industry. Discussed in detail are casinos, lotteries, bingo, betting and internet gambling. Advertising regulations that …

Foreign operators yield in excess one billion dollars per annum from Australian gamblers.

It is estimated that Australians spend close to a billion dollars per year on internet casinos based outside Australia. It’s about time that the Australian government starts taking steps to legalize internet gambling in the country. Wagering is not prohibited in Australia; however, the provision of sites to Australian punters is illegal according to the Interactive Gambling Act established in 2001.

Many Australians are lobbying for  sites based in Malta, Gibraltar and Canada to provide their services to the Australian market They also urge the federal government to offer an ISP blocking initiative which will target ‘rogue operators. Unfortunately this idea came under fire from the international community as an example of Web restriction and a solution that does not offer much.

“So far the internet gambling ban has not been very successful,” Sally Gainsbury, of Southern Cross University’s …

Unibet responded to a ruling from the Brussels correctional court, which imposed a suspended fine of €75,000 against the operator for breaching certain advertising regulations. The Swedish operator expressed its shock at the ruling. It understood that the judge would simply be ruling on the admissibility of the case rather than acting before Unibet made its plea. According to Belgian news website RTLinfo.be, Unibet’s attorney Axel Clerens will receive a copy of the ruling and will respond accordingly.

Just in time for St Patrick’s Day and the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday, Barcrest supplied Ladbrokes with an Irish-themed version of its Rainbow Riches slots game. At this stage the IGT subsidiary supplies Ladbrokes with a scratchcard game under the Rainbow Riches banner, after they concluded a business venture in January.

As of Thursday Net Entertainment’s share price dropped by 9%. These figures were released by Stockholm’s Stock Exchange subsequent the announcement from the Swedish …