1 September 2007

With effect from 00.01 on Saturday 1 September 2007, all gambling in Great Britain (except spread betting and the National Lottery) becomes subject to the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005.

Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the public interest. It does so by keeping crime out of gambling, by ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and by protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Commission also provides independent advice to government on gambling in Britain.

Betting

The Gambling Act 2005 defines betting as: ‘making or accepting a bet on the outcome of a race, competition or other event or process; the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring; or whether anything is or is not true’.

General betting licensees are able to offer facilities for betting as premises-based bookmakers (off-course) and on tracks (on-course), as well as by remote means (for example by telephone or over the internet). They must have rules that cover issues such as voiding late bets, maximum payouts, treatment of errors, and the treatment of withdrawals and non-runners. On-course licensees’ joints must also display specified information.

Pool betting incorporates racecourse pool operators and football and other sports pool operators and ‘fantasy football’ type competitions. It can be conducted in person, for example the Tote which accepts pool bets on tracks and in high street betting shops, or remotely, for example an internet betting site run by one of the football pools operators.

Betting intermediaries provide a service designed to facilitate the making or acceptance of bets between others. Remote betting intermediaries, often called betting exchanges [e.g., BetFair, Betdaq], generally operate through the internet. An example of a non-remote betting intermediary is a tic-tac, who normally works within a betting ring on a horse or greyhound racing track.

Spread betting is not covered by the Gambling Act 2005, or regulated by the Gambling Commission. Regulation of spread betting [e.g., SpreadFair] is undertaken by the Financial Services Authority.

Guardian:

Professional sports players have been warned that they face two-year jail sentences if they break new laws that come into force under the Gambling Act today.

The Professional Players Federation (PPF), an umbrella group for players’ unions, has issued a code on gambling to its members and has called on the government to do more to educate athletes about the risks they face under the new regulations. [...]

Sun:

The Gambling Act 2005 is a wide-ranging piece of legislation which covers most forms of gambling.

- The Gambling Commission was created as the new regulator for the industry, replacing the old Gaming Board.
- It is responsible for casinos, bingo, gaming machines, arcades, lotteries, remote gambling and betting.
- The Act allows remote gaming operators – such as gambling websites – to be based in and regulated by Great Britain for the first time, making them subject to the rules set out in the legislation.
- Existing casinos will have a number of restrictions lifted, such as the requirement for people to be members of casinos in order to go inside.
- The Act also sets out provision for three new types of casino – the one regional “supercasino”, plus eight large and eight small casinos. The supercasino element is currently under review.
- Licensed betting operators in shops and online have new conditions imposed on them, such as having to display gambling helpline information and training staff to identify problem gamblers.
- Betting shops will be able to open from 7am to 10pm all year round instead of just in summer, subject to local authority consent.
- The Act reforms the advertising rules for gambling operators, allowing casinos and some others to advertise on TV for the first time.
- Gambling adverts will be subject to a code of practice policed by the Advertising Standards Authority.
- Operators have also signed up to a voluntary set of rules which set a 9pm watershed for TV commercials for gambling services, except around televised sporting events.
- The law sets out new limits on stakes and prizes for poker games held in pubs.
- As with casinos, bingo halls will no longer have to make people members in order to let them inside.
- Changes to the rules for bingo prizes means bingo halls will no longer have to return all stakes as prize money. Instead, they can keep some money behind to offer as rollover prizes.

Washington State Gambling Commission investigators seized computers from a new Seattle-based Internet-betting site Monday, claiming the business violated the state’s 2006 online gambling ban — a contention the site’s founder strongly disputes. [...] “This is ridiculous,” Jenkins said. “I’m going to fight it. I don’t like the heavy-handed state coming down on entrepreneurs.” [...] “This is an honor-based betting platform,” he said. “How can you be gambling under a legal definition if you don’t have to pay when you lose?” [...] After assembling a team of investors and putting his own money on the line, he did a soft launch of the site three weeks ago, “to work on the bugs.” Soon after, he was contacted by the state. Two weeks ago, he explained his legal rationale to commission attorneys. On Friday, the Gambling Commission summoned Jenkins to Lacey to talk about his Web site. The meeting was quick. “They said shut it down or else,” Jenkins said. “I told them the law doesn’t apply to us. They said the law is a matter of interpretation.” The same day, Jenkins filed his lawsuit seeking to stop the state from applying the Internet gambling law to Betcha.com. The search warrant came three days after Jenkins and the state failed to reach agreement on the site’s legal status. He said the commission has lost perspective on which laws it should enforce and upon whom. “When you are a hammer, I guess everything looks like a nail,” he said.

Below is Nick Jenkins’ only recent blog post I spotted on the topic of betting regulations, where Nick does not mention the busting.

Washington Lawyer Seeks to Have State Internet Gambling Law Declared Unconstitutional
By Nicholas Jenkins
Posted on July 09, 2007 @ 21:24:00 ET

Good news out of the Pacific Northwest. Renton lawyer and card player Lee Rousso has filed suit Off Site Link: /northwest/story/125303.html against the State of Washington to have our much-maligned Internet gambling law declared unconstitutional. The gist of his argument: the state’s law is protectionist, and as such violates the Commerce Clause.
I met with Lee yesterday. The guy knows his stuff, and we’ll be watching his case closely. Of course, I’ve long maintained that the gambling laws don’t apply to us because betting on Betcha isn’t gambling. The libertarian in me, however, wants to see this invasive law tossed once and for all. Besides, it’s nice to see someone other than me stand up to the leviathan.

And here’s a prior Nick Jenkins interview on YouTube. WATCH THIS VIDEO, FOLKS. VERY INFORMATIVE.

I wish the best to Nick Jenkins.

Previous Midas Oracle blog posts about Betcha.com.

Law professor Tom W. Bell on Betcha.com.

UPDATE: REPORTS OF THE BETCHA.COM DEMISE HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED.