The Colombian Gaming Control Board (Coljuegos) is currently waiting for the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications and the police to enforce the blocking of around 300 gaming websites which currently offer their services locally. Among the sites which the government plans to block are PokerStars, bwin, Bet365, Playbet, Foxfoxbet, Betmotion and Casinobet365. According to the board online gaming laws will be toughened after legislation was passed in 2015 and 2016. Operators offering their services locally will now have to meet with a number of requirements including the obligation to pay a licensing fee of $600m pesos and must meet…

This week West Virginia became the seventh state to introduce legislation seeking to legalize and regulate online gambling in 2017. This is West Virginia’s first online gaming bill. The legislation is surprising, but not wholly unexpected. West Virginia was selected as one of Online Poker Report’s “dark horse” states to pass an online gambling bill this year. The bill, H 3067, sponsored by Delegate Shawn Fluharty, would “authorize Internet gambling through managed and licensed through existing authorized gaming facilities in West Virginia.” Per the bill: “Developments in technology and recent legal decisions have created an opportunity to legalize interactive poker…

Not everyone in the Pennsylvania legislature is on board with the idea of legal online gambling. That became abundantly clear at last week’s joint hearing of the House Gaming Oversight Committee and the Senate Community Economic & Recreational Development Committee. Now there’s even a bill to make online gambling explicitly illegal in the state. Five Republicans in the PA House of Representatives made their opposition to online gambling crystal clear. They introduced a bill, HB 801, that would prohibit and criminalize online gambling in the Keystone State. That came just a few days after the iGaming hearing. Per the legislation,…

The Swiss parliament has voted in favour of a measure that requires internet service providers in the country to begin blocking access to illegal gambling websites. The lower section of the House of Representatives yesterday (Wednesday) gave its approval to the plan after the upper house had previously given the green light to the proposal. In addition, the House yesterday approved a measure that states only casinos based in Switzerland can receive an online licence. The move comes after the Legal Affairs Committee of the Swiss National Council in January voted to withdraw plans to introduce legislation to begin the…

Thanks to the vigorous developments in mobile technology and the spectacular shift towards the use of mobile devices over the past few years, it’s safe to state that the mobile gambling and betting markets will continue to grow at a quick pace and dominate their desktop counterparts. The speed of Wi-Fi and the explosion of use in the tablet and smartphone markets will ensure that mobile gambling and sports betting are brought to the forefront of this industry, and this will see the market forever altered for the better. The Spread of Internet Access The massive increase in Internet access…

The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that controversial laws regarding ISP-blocking of unlicensed online gambling websites are constitutional. The regulations were introduced at the start of this year as part of major changes to laws regarding internet gaming in the Czech Republic. Operators wishing to offer gambling services in the county must first obtain a licence or face prosecution from the national regulator and police. Betting firms now also face tighter licensing processes, in addition to a new tax rate of 23% on gross gaming revenue for sports betting and lotteries and 35% for RNG casino games, on top of…