Following a two year process, the European Parliament has approved a new anti money laundering (AML) directive, which aims to strengthen EU member states framework on tax evasion and terrorist financing. The AML directive will increase monitoring of digital transactions, making it accessible it easier for authorities to trace funds. Financial services institutions and online gambling operators will be made to follow specific reporting obligations with regards to suspicious transactions made by their customers. The directive has been welcomed by Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA), who stated that the association was pleased of the…

A bill that would have limited future online gaming compacts between Nevada and other regulated states in the US has failed to progress from the committee. Backed by Sheldon Adelson, Bill AB 414 would have blocked Nevada from linking up with another state for online gaming activities, with the exception of internet poker. Nevada already shares online poker activities with Delaware, one of only two other regulated states in the US. Although the piece of legislation did pass Nevada’s Assembly in April with a vote of 23-17, with two excused, the Senate Judiciary Committee has opted against moving it forward…

A group of US senate Democrats wants representatives of the state of New York to fight attempts to restore the 1961 Wire Act, reports the New York Daily News. According to a letter sent to the New York delegation, the restoration of the American Wire Act bill – known as RAWA – vetoes the state’s ability “to determine for itself what forms of gambling are authorised within the state, a right which New York and every other state has historically exercised.” The New York state lottery currently offers gambling via the internet but an online poker bill is being proposed…

Germany may have to rerun its online sports betting licensing process after a court found that it violated several laws and European Union (EU) edicts. The country began its process of allowing 20 licencees following the passage of the federal Interstate Gambling Treaty in 2012. Those licencees were announced by the Hesse Ministry in September 2014, but were immediately appealed by some of the 21 unsuccessful applicants. On Monday, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden released its ruling on a challenge brought by, according to reports, an Austrian sports betting operator, finding that the licensing process had violated numerous laws, raised…

Senate Minority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid, was making online gambling news when he announced his renewed push for a full online gambling ban in the U.S. including poker. Reid told the Las Vegas Sun late Monday that if he isn’t able to get an exemption for poker from a proposed ban of online gaming making its way through Congress, he would consider supporting a full online gaming ban. “Unless we can get something done with poker, I’m going to look closely — I haven’t made up my mind — but I’m going to look closely into banning it totally,” Reid…

So-called Internet cafes have long been regarded as little more than thinly veiled gambling sites by law enforcement and prosecutors. The General Assembly banned video poker and other games in 2006, but the industry has fought hard in court and “adjusted” the games to slip under the legal radar for years. The ongoing battle and the maneuvering by the industry have been a sort of perfect storm of lobbyists rallying for a special interest group, lawyers for that special interest finding ways to follow the technicalities of the law while sidestepping its spirit, law enforcement beating its head against the…