A Danish politician has decided to take that country’s gambling monopoly to the European Court of Justice.  Here are his own words on the matter:

“Therefore, Mr. Commissioner, it must be time to take further actions on this issue.  The time has simply come for the Commission to have Denmark and the Danish Gambling Authority tried before the European Court of Justice.”

The politician, Mr Freddy Blak, is clearly angry.  And why shouldn’t he be?  Denmark has been mincing around this issue for years and all the while its government promotes the state-run gambling monopoly while trumping up the threat of problem gambling should the industry be opened to foreign operators.

Scandinavian online gamblers are definitely becoming more interested in online bingo and being able to access bingo online if the reports from Sweden’s gambling monopoly are correct.  That state-run monopoly recently took its affairs online and found online bingo games to be one of its more appreciated offerings.

I hope Mr Blak has every bit of success in facing down his country’s antiquated policy of maintaining a gambling monopoly.  If he does, then it’s likely the real professionals will be able to give Scandinavian gamers who want to play online bingo a far better deal than they are used to via the monopolies.  Maybe the various Scandinavian governments should start thinking about what their citizens really want and stop thinking about trying to take all the money for themselves.

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The European Commission is putting pressure on the German online gaming industry to open itself up to foreign competition. We’ve seen similar pressure on the likes of France, Sweden and Greece with little to really cheer about in the online bingo industry.

However, the curiously named Legal Gaming in Europe Summit to be held in Germany in the near future is producing some novel preliminary ideas about the future of the German market which may be of interest to some bingo online operators and online bingo halls.

Central to the discussion are the views by German gaming lawyer, one Dr Wulf Hambach of Hambach & Hambach, who is suggesting that skill games and entertainment portals may be the means by which online gaming operators could crack the German market.

Dr Hambach does however provide a caveat to his ideas by pointing out that the inconsistent and patchwork nature of the legal German gambling industry means potential non-German operators need to seek out the relevant niches not covered by that country’s monopoly laws in order to prosper.

In essence, Dr Hambach is saying any free online bingo operator looking to offer online bingo games to the german public needs to thoroughly research the German State Gambling Treaty 2008. The key seems to be in looking more closely at the ‘skills games’ part of the legislation, but I guess we’ll have to wait for the conference to get any real facts on that.

However, Dr Hambach goes on to say rather encouragingly:

“The enforceability of the new State Gambling Treaty 2008 means that it is hard to predict what will happen in the German market over the next 12 months. With the EC and several political groups such as the Liberals opposing the gambling monopoly approach, my guess is that the state monopoly will continue to fight against the private gambling industry in the short-term but will lose the monopoly vs. liberalisation battle in the long-term.” (my emphasis added)

So, in a nutshell, is there scope for enlarging the online bingo population through a push into the German market? Keep an eye on this blog and we’ll keep you informed as to how things develop over there and if there is any real benefit in targeting German people who want to play online bingo.

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Big time Swedish online gambling company Unibet has informed us all that it intends to continue its policy of expansion through buying up relevant companies and will be trying to raise an extra Euro 100 million to do so.

First of all, well done to Unibet if they can raise that kind of money in today’s credit crunch environment!

Secondly, will any online bingo entrepreneurs be able to entice Unibet into the free online bingo industry by making themselves available for purchase?

Surely Unibet must be considering bingo online as a viable investment and they need not look further than the UK for the best in online bingo halls to choose from.  Online bingo is one of the best performing niches in the online gaming industry and Sweden’s own state-run gambling monopoly Svenska Spel has already enjoyed favourable experiences with its own forays into the sector.

I don’t know if it’s too much to hope for, but a move by Unibet into the online bingo business would be a good thing for the industry as a whole and would certainly see the game flourish in the far north.

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EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson’s attempts to influence US policy to change its current protectionist stance in regards to online gambling have been widely applauded by European-based online gaming operators.

Naturally, online bingo is one of the online gaming sectors in Europe that stands to gain substantial compensation for the US’ heavy-handed shut down of its online gambling market to foreign operators.  This is all because the US would rather renege on its WTO free trade agreements and have to pay out possible billions in compensation rather than re-open their markets with a sensible set of regulations.

What is often forgotten in this whole sorry mess is that, while your average UK or EU-based online bingo hall cannot conduct business in the US, American online bingo games operators are still perfectly free to ply their trade over here.

Does that seem fair?

Of course it is not fair.  Good job then that for those looking to play bingo online the best free online bingo is found right here in the UK on Bingo Street.

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Confirmation of the land-based bingo industry’s woes has come in a report in the Financial Times that quote’s the head honcho at Riva Gaming, one Simon Hannah, as saying that he expects up to 100 land-based bingo clubs to close in the UK over the next six months.

I’m not sure if he is including the expected closures of some of Top Ten’s 38 bingo clubs following that company’s slump in profits.  Even so, 100 clubs put to rest is a frightening number for an industry that blames its troubles on the new smoking ban and gambling regulations.

Interestingly, Sir Aubrey Brocklebank, the chairman of Top Ten insists their land-based bingo clubs did all they could get through the challenges facing them, but the odds stacked against them are proving to be too much.

“Despite our considerable preparation for the smoking ban and introduction of the Gambling Act our business has still felt the impact that the combination of this unprecedented change has caused,” he is quoted as saying in a Reviewed Casinos.com report.

I beg to differ.  If land-based bingo’s concept of preparing for the smoking ban is based entirely around saying they don’t want it (as seems to have been the case), I don’t see how that constitutes ‘considerable preparation’.  I will, however, concede that the double taxation being faced by land-based bingo is unfair.

In the end, it is as we have been saying:  The major beneficiary of the problems being faced by land-based bingo is online bingo.  People still want to play bingo, but more and more of them want to play bingo games online.

Looking at the picture as a whole, where would you rather be if you wanted to go into business providing bingo games?  I think it is becoming more and more obvious that bingo online now offers the most viable future for a game that isn’t losing customers, just simply changing venues.

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The news that land-based bingo company Top Ten is suffering reduced profits does not come as a major surprise given the land-based bingo industry’s fixation with blaming the smoking ban and new government gambling regulations.  Instead of adapting, land-based bingo has gone for the whinge tactic in trying to stop things changing.

ATE Online has reported that Top Ten posted a slump in pre-tax profits of £465,000, to £381,000, on sales down £1 million to £13.7 million for the six months to September 30.  And it’s all down to the smoking ban and the new regulations on gambling in the UK.

Noticeably absent from Top Ten’s own comments on the effects of their drop in profits was a proactive strategy for digging themselves out of the slump.  Sure, they say they are going to retrench and close some of bad performing clubs, but is this really a proactive way to deal with the changes bingo is going through?

In my opinion, land-based bingo needs to take a leaf out of online bingo’s book and look for new ways to diversify and market to the UK bingo market.  Bingo online faced a far more severe threat to its viability than a smoking ban when it lost the US market overnight due to protectionist legislation in that country.  Free online bingo games operators bounced back by taking the proactive road in adapting to the challenges facing them.  This is what land-based bingo must do if it’s is going to survive.

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It is unfortunate that Norway is considering following in the US’ ill-advised footsteps by contemplating the implementation of its own version of the US’ notorious Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Politicians who feel this is a solution to help problem gambling in their country may want to take note of the US’ current WTO problems in which it faces mega-billions in compensation payouts as a result of its UIGEA policy.  Norway is a WTO member too and could face similar action by countries whose gaming operators will be disadvantaged by passing a similar law to UIGEA.

Online bingo operators and online bingo halls will be aware that such a law targets the payment system by which customers forward money to online gaming operators.  Hence, it effectively curtails access to a market protected by such a law and therefore can be argued to constitute a trade barrier – a no-no according to WTO agreements.

Bingo online industry observers know that the passing of such a law in Norway is a thinly veiled attempt at protecting that country’s state-run gambling monopoly and has little to do with the lofty ideals of trying to curb online problem gambling.
The irony of instituting such a law is that it has be adequately demonstrated that the, in the case of the US, passing UIGEA has effectively denied that government billions in potential tax revenues that would otherwise have been generated by a regulated online gaming industry.  Is Norway really prepared to see huge losses in potential tax revenues to protect its archaic state-run monopoly?

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The report commissioned by the Swedish government into the social impact of state monopoly Svenska Spel’s move into online poker has produced some interesting preliminary findings.

A study conducted by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health has found that online poker players are more likely to become problem gamblers than online players of other games.  The ‘other’ games must surely include online bingo and all its wonderful variations, meaning bingo online does not pose a risk in producing online problem gamblers in the same way online poker does.

Without going into the specifics of the report (a more detailed report is being prepared for next year and I’ll look at that one more closely), the percentage figures for online poker being responsible for creating problem gambling is a whopping 27%, whilst other games only constitute a mere 2% approximately.

In my opinion, this is very encouraging for the future of free online bingo as a socially responsible form of online gaming, irrespective of the inevitable debate as to what defines an ‘online problem gambler’.

For what it’s worth, here’s another finding by the study that caught my eye:

• There are indications that alcohol consumption by online poker players is above the national average.

Make of that what you will…

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The news that Golden Riviera Casino has invested in providing a Spanish language option on its site to help it tap the burgeoning online gambling market in that country is something operators in the online bingo industry should be taking note of.

While Spain is not a major source of people who play bingo online, things can change and now may be the time to take the initiative in exploring this market.

There is also another factor to take into account – the large British ex-pat population currently living in Spain.  This group of Brits living in sunny Spain will probably be doing its bit in introducing bingo to the locals.

Diversifying your online bingo games operations to include the Spanish market seems a winning long-term strategy at this time.  It will be interesting to see if the Spanish online market takes on the online bingo challenge as much as the Scandinavian market and UK markets already have.

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Whether or not it has anything to do with European Commissioner Mandelson’s recent visit to the US to promote the rights of European-based online gaming operators in the current WTO dispute with the US, it is still good news to see that Barney Frank’s Internet Regulation and Enforcement Bill has picked up another sponsor.

The Bill seeks to change the infamous UIGEA legislation that has had such a devastating impact on the online bingo industry and online gaming industry at large.  UIGEA disrupts financial transactions between online bingo halls operating outside the US and US customers who play bingo online.

Even if Mandelson’s visit did not have any direct influence in winning over more support for Frank’s efforts to get rid of UIGEA, it’s still good to see our representatives are on the case.  Such efforts will hopefully ensure operators in the free online bingo industry will see adequate compensations for the destructive effects of UIGEA over the last year, a piece of legislation that has seen millions in losses for the online gaming industry as a whole.

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