Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed that the newly-formed statutory board, the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), is about to complete the legal framework to regulate the resort casinos in Singapore. Speaking at a Home Team Promotion Ceremony Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, said the CRA and its regulatory framework, would be fully operational this year.

Mr Sarkozy declared it publicly a few weeks ago: France will open its online gaming market. The process has thus now become irreversible. At the beginning of this month, the report issued by Mr. Bruno Durieux on the opening of the French online gaming market was given to the Prime Minister, Mr. François Fillon, and to the ministry of budget, Mr. Woerth. The President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, is due to “validate” it in a near future.

Around 3,000 casino workers could be fired in the following months, according to Jorge Hidalgo, Vicepresident of Costa Rica Casino Association, who commented that the cutback would be held due to the new regulations fixed by the government for this activity, through four decrees and a guidelines. They remark the prohibition to give away alcoholic beverages.

The Isle of Man Treasury Department has proposed to bring forward a Bill to update and simplify the law dealing with the excise duty aspects of gambling law. The Bill will replace the existing Betting Act 1970. The Bill would enable a single Act to deal with both online gambling and on and off-course betting and pool betting. It is not intended to deal with the regulatory aspects of the social law governing gambling (including licensing, under-age and problem gambling) or with any anti-money laundering aspects.

Macao (Xinhua) -- Except for the existing casino projects, the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will neither grant any new gaming concession or sub-concession nor approve any land for the building of new casinos in the near future, said the SAR's Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah on Tuesday. In light of China's central government's requirement and expectation for Macao to diversify its gaming-centered economy, the SAR government decided to tighten its gaming market regulation policy...

An Italian draft decree on the regulation of remote gaming which lays down requirements for remote (online) gambling operators seeking to do business in Italy has raised concerns from Malta, in the form of a Detailed Opinion. The European Commission has also expressed reservations on a number of aspects of the decree particularly on games, IT and consumer protection.

José Múcio Monteiro, Minister of Institutional Relations, who was put on pressure by trade unions to develop the approval of a proposal to regulate bingos together with the National Congress, decided to put the matter to debate in the Political Council of the Federal Government. “I want this issue to be treated. It is something controversial, but it has to be resolved. That’s why a development is necessary, but we all have to be involved in it”, said the minister...

Washington - Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, will hold a hearing in early April to explore the burden on U.S. financial institutions to comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The law was intended to deter illegal Internet gambling activity. Meanwhile, support for legislation that would regulate Internet gambling continues to gain momentum...

China prepares to allow online gambling in the country. Casino operators are following close behind. Gambling companies are gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation for the forthcoming changes to the Chinese gambling law. The country intends to begin regulating gaming rather than outlawing it. This may open the door to a whole new untapped market for many of the operators who were frozen out of the US market over a year ago.

Changes to gambling supervision should set the Island in good stead when the IMF visit in September. Gambling Supervision Commission chairman Claire Milne told members of the Association of Corporate Service Providers that new measures and the change to a non-governmental licensing authority are likely to be viewed positively by the International Monetary Fund.

The explosion of gambling revenue in the Chinese enclave of Macau has other countries in Asia coveting similar riches — while avoiding the downsides that have tarnished Macau in years past. The countries include South Korea, which offers limited gambling to foreigners, and Japan, where only small-stakes, pinball-like devices are legal. These countries want the tourism boost and tax revenue that flow from big casino resorts...

As part of a series of changes to the Law Number 56/2007, published last December 28th, Spain introduced an additional measure in which the government is forced to approve, in a year, a law in which games and bets are regulated, “in particular those made by interactive systems based in electronic communications”. One of the principles to which the law should attend, is the following: