France needs to radically overhaul its online gambling market, according to a new study by the association representing the country’s online operators. The Association Française de Jeu en Ligne (AFJEL) has released a study of the first five years of France’s regulated online gambling market. The study credits the market with mostly achieving its primary objectives of keeping a lid on problem gambling behavior, ensuring funding for sports federations and the integrity of sporting events. So much for the good. AFJEL spared no venom in castigating the country’s much-maligned taxation levels, which hits operators with a corporation tax of 33%,…

Only in Pennsylvania: Gamblers would not be allowed to register online to open Internet gambling accounts unless they live more than 20 miles away as the crow flies from a bricks-and-mortar casino. Any closer, and they would have to travel to a casino and register in person, under the provisions of a Senate bill in Harrisburg calling for big changes to the state’s gambling landscape. The goal is to give the brick-and-mortar casinos a better chance to tap into their local target audience. It’s an unusual move. None of the other states that have legalized online gambling – Nevada, Delaware,…

The Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) is today calling on the Senate of Canada to bring Bill C290 to an immediate vote. Their inaction on the bill continues to foster an illegal, unregulated and dangerous environment for Canadian sports bettors. On June 2 the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced its intention to become the actual operator of an online sports wagering site, Sports Interaction, within the Province of Quebec.  Operating such a site in Canada is considered illegal under current Canadian law. “A significant and illegal online sports betting business will soon operate within Canada’s borders,” said Bill Rutsey, CEO of…

The UK Gambling Commission has chosen Susan Harrison to replace Jenny Williams as CEO. Williams will step down from her role in September. According to news sources, the search for a new CEO took longer than expected. Harrison serves as a senior partner with Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulatory body. She will start work as at the UK Gambling Commission as a commissioner on September 7, 2015 before assuming the full role of CEO on October 1, 2015. Chairman Philip Graf stated “Harrison has a wealth of experience in regulation along with social and consumer policy and communications. She…

Even as the rise of the Internet has driven communications and economic growth to heights previously unimagined, some lawmakers are using that very explosion as pretext to expand the federal government’s power and reach in ways that threaten the delicate balance of powers inherent in our federalist system. A key example is a new piece of legislation called the “Restoration of America’s Wire Act,” or RAWA. Introduced in the House as H.R. 707 by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the bill purports simply to update the half-century-old Wire Act, originally signed by President John F. Kennedy to combat the influence of…

Sports and betting-related services company Sportradar has entered into a partnership with Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, in an effort to protect sporting integrity across the continent. The two parties, which have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, will now begin considering projects they can collaborate on or support each other with. Such activities will include the exchange of expertise, statistical data, information and trends in relation to the integrity of sports. “In order to try and stop match fixing, stakeholders from many different areas need to work closely together,” Europol deputy director Wil van Gemert said. “I look…