Online Poker May Be Available in North Dakota Soon
A new bill has been filed recently in North Dakota by Rep. Jim Kasper. This bill is called House Concurrent Resolution 31012. The bill aims to legalize online poker in the state.
According to Rep. Jim Kasper, the country is ready to embrace online gaming. He further mentioned that North Dakota should not be one of the few states that have not yet legalized online gaming. The representative also said that the state must be part of the states that have liquidity in online poker. Many states like New Jersey, Nevada and Michigan have already legalized online poker, and the industry in those states is thriving.
As of this time, there are no clear details yet as to how this bill will work. There is no mention of how taxation is going to be. For now, the goal is to have the residents of North Dakota vote yes or no about the bill. If the bill is approved by the people, it will be reviewed, and specific laws will be drafted under it. Soon, we may be able to play poker at online casinos like Vulkan casino online.
UKGC Fines Aspers Stratford Casino
The UK Gambling Commission fined Aspers Stratford City Casino a whopping £652,500 as a penalty for failure to comply with anti-money laundering laws and social responsibility obligations. A customer committed suicide a few hours after visiting the casino.
The case has been going on since 2018. A customer named Huseyin Yaman lost £25,000 in just one night. He placed his bets in roulette terminals with fixed odds, which are commonly called FOBTs. He played Aspers in East London. Yaman was a shareholder in a Turkish supermarket. He lost the money and left the casino, obviously distressed. Upon reaching his apartment in London, he committed suicide.
Upon investigation, the UKGC found that the management of the casino failed in complying with several laws about anti-money laundering, customer interaction procedures and also social responsibility expectations.
Back in September 2017, Yaman already spent £46,920 and £51,000 in cash in the same casino. The casino did not ask him anything at that point. Later on, he gambled more money sometimes until November 2018. The last amount of money he spent was £6,100, just a day before he died.
The fine was slapped to the casino for its failure to comply with the UKGC’s requirements and for its incompetence. They should never have allowed Yaman to lose such an amount of money without making the necessary efforts to their own investigation.
Washington May See an Expansion of Sports Betting
Washington State lawmakers are pushing hard to have a bill approved that seeks to expand the operation of on-site sports betting. The expansion will allow on-site sports betting kiosks and companies to be given a license to offer online sports betting.
This new law will also allow private card rooms and racetrack operators to offer online betting. If this law gets approved, the state is expecting a revenue of $100 million from taxes.
The Senate panel received a letter explaining the bill. The letter says that the Legislature’s priorities are to boost the economy for this year, 2021. Lawmakers have to push this bill to help the state recover, especially families that have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
No action was taken yet from the draft. It is not clear if the bill will pass in the session, but the lawmakers are hopeful because the bill only seeks to grant a license to those who already have a license to facilitate in-person sports betting. These include betting kiosks, racetracks and also private card rooms.
Also, the bill says that the license fee is $100,000 and that each site must have its license. What this means is that if you have two betting sites with the same name, you must have a license for both so that people can bet online. The law also seeks to impose a levy of 10% tax from the gross income of sports betting.
Philippine POGOs Are Given One Month to Sign Up for AMLC
In the Philippines, POGO operators have a new requirement to clear. They will be allowed to stay in the country only if they register in the Anti-Money Laundering Council or AMLC. POGO stands for Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators.
The AMLC received an amendment, and this amendment includes this new requirement for POGOs to sign up so that they can be identified. There are two new sectors added in the amendment. The amendment also includes the real estate industry. All companies affected are required to register in what is called an electronic reporting system.
Part of the expectation is to report suspicious transactions to AMLC. There is a prescribed period to report the suspicions for illegal activities. If a company fails to register, its license to operate in the Philippines may be revoked.
A POGO is a gambling company that operates in the Philippines but not necessarily owned by a Philippines company. Many of these are live-dealer casinos where the studios are set-up in the Philippines, and the dealers are Filipinos.
Many of these companies receive special grants, such as lower taxes, for them to be able to operate. The only licensing organization in the Philippines for gambling is PAGCOR. Some foreign corporations see the Philippines as a good place to do business because the residents are English-speaking and the cost of labour is cheap.
