As much as we would love to think otherwise, online gambling is not like, let’s say, chess, and its legal status is still debatable in many countries around the world. But this is slowly changing, and it is very important for every online gambler to keep up to date with the latest developments in gambling and online gambling law making. Even though these laws won’t affect you directly, they can affect who you’re playing against, and how many people you’re to face, and that’s quite the impact. So let’s see what the newest information from the world of gambling law looks like.
New Mexico Online Gambling Status Uncertain
New Mexico is the scene of some intense struggle for the status of online gambling. Susana Martinez, the state’s governor, is trying to use the Pueblo and Navajo tribes to ensure that online gambling stays banned within the state. The reason she invokes is that only these two Native American tribes are allowed to run their slot machine games in the state, and that they are sharing the cash they earn from that with the state. Currently, the gambling within New Mexico is restricted to horse racing, slot machines and lottery, and not even all slot machines are permitted, but rather only those that are operated by fraternal organizations, racetracks and veteran organization.
The new online gambling deal would imply that the Navajos are to stop paying their contribution to the state, and rather the online casino games and online poker would be regulated and profit would come from there.
Although the deal has been signed on by the two tribes, the status of the deal is still pretty much uncertain, so the official decision is to be postponed yet again.
Oklahoma Makes Peace with Tribes
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On the other end of the scale, Oklahoma has managed to reach an accord in their own issue with the native american tribes. The Arapho and Cheyenne tribes have settled over online gambling. However, the result is not one that would bring us any joy, as the settlement did not go in the tribes’ favor, as they agreed to take down their online gambling website.
Despite the fact that their website has been shut down in the United States, a part of the deal specifies that it should still be available worldwide. The reason why it had to be shut down in the United States lies within the compacts that the tribes have signed with with the state of Oklahoma, compacts which give them the right to operate gambling locations like the Lucky Star Casino, but not online gambling websites. Had they continued to leave the site online, they would have been forced to shut down their brick and mortar casinos.
So, the gambling news are both good and bad for the moment. The bad news is that the social gaming website is now down, and will remain down for citizens of the US. The good news, though, is that it will be available for the rest of the world soon enough, as their spokesperson was quick to state.
British Online Gambling Bill Standstill At An End
We travel overseas right now, where the British online gambling bill has been in the recent past. The British authorities have tried to change the gambling laws, and impose the need of a secondary license, as well as a point-of-consumption tax on mobile gambling operators as well as internet gambling operators that are currently present in the British gambling market.
This sparked a lot of controversy, with the online gambling operators being understandably upset over the matter. Even the gambling juristictions from Gibraltar or Malta have sided with the gambling operators, and the issue became a lot more complicated overnight. The two countries maintained that an additional tax in the UK would impact their business as well.
The UK can now move forward in preparations toward the implementation of this bill, making it our third piece of bad news of the day. The deadline they have for implementing this new bill is December of 2014, so there is still time to turn things around, as Gibraltar operators have already announced that they plan to contest the troubling bill.