The hottest gambling news comes firsthand from the gambling regulators from all over the world. Regulation and licensing are the main parts of a successful industry in each country or continent. Read below to know more about regulators of leading gambling markets.
Gambling appeared at that time when even history wasn’t written. People were playing and making bets all over the world. People of all ages and all nationalities like excitement. This emotion makes them feel a unique way. But there’s not only a good side to this phenomenon.
Problem gambling is a common global problem that can be dangerous not only for a person with it but for the surrounding. There’re also many issues about gambling that must be controlled and regulated. That’s why countries, which want to make money on this industry in a safe way, founded official controlling bodies.
Here you can find more information about leading countries in gambling and their gambling regulators.
The gambling regulators can be named by different names:
- gambling control board;
- casino control board;
- gambling board;
- gambling commission, etc.
Here’re the regulators of European and Asian markets.
| Europe | Asia | ||
| Denmark | Spillemyndigheden | Macau | Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau |
| France | Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) | Singapore | Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore |
| Gibraltar | Gibraltar Regulatory Authority (GRA) | Hong Kong | The Hong Kong Jockey Club |
| Hungary | Gaming Board of Hungary | ||
| Malta | Malta Gaming Authority (MGA, LGA) | ||
| Netherlands | Nederlandse Kansspelautoriteit | ||
| Norway | Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority | ||
| Portugal | Inspectorate General on Gaming | ||
| Slovenia | Office for Gaming Supervision | ||
| Sweden | National Gaming Board | ||
| United Kingdom | Gambling Commission | ||
General responsibilities of the gambling regulator
The purpose of any regulator is to control casinos and other types of gambling markets in some country, state, continent, or city. This body launches gambling laws, rules and taxes. Thanks to the regulators, gambling markets are under the control, which prevents operators and customers from chaos.
In general, rules and restrictions by regulators cover almost every sector of the gambling activity:
- licensing;
The commission can give and take away licenses. In some countries, there’s no opportunity to start working without this kind of permission. There’s also a duty to consult the government in gambling issues of the country.
- accounting system;
The processing of financial information is one of the main parts of any successful economy. Full control and strict rules are important for those countries, where the gambling market is the leading profit provider.
- fair play;
Clear guidelines are needed for a good and respectful relationship between operators and customers. It helps to not violate boundaries and make the game fair.
- security;
The gambling industry is always about money and winning. If the customers don’t feel safe, there will be no trust for the operators. The national bodies control the customers’ security to be protected.
- auditing;
The gambling market is useful for the country and its citizens just in case of income. If the government just spends money on it from taxes, there’s no sense in it.
Knowledge about the gambling regulator will help to understand the gambling market of the country better. Here’re the most popular and successful regulators.
The Macau gambling regulator
Macau is the casino capital of the world where the richest and luxurious casinos are located. This city is the administrative region of China where games are allowed.
The regulation body of Macau is called Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The Bureau’s responsibility is the economic policies issues towards all kinds of gambling except online gambling. Online activity is not allowed by the government in Macau. So there’re no official online casinos.
The French gambling regulator
The National Gambling Authority (ANJ):
- the independent authority that reports to Parliament of France;
- the president of the ANJ is Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin;
- there are 9 members: 5 women and 4 men;
- the ANJ control licensed gambling operators and bookmakers (online and land-based).
The French regulator cooperates with other European regulators in 2 ways:
- the Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF) is the event where 34 regulators from 31 European states discuss the gambling issues;
- the Regulators Group is a collaboration of the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, UK, German and Austrian regulators.
The ANJ fights illegal gambling in the country by blocking the websites. In 2020, there were 281 blocked websites of 125 different unlicensed operators. The reason for the recent blocking consists of aggressive activity.
The Spanish gambling regulator
The Spanish regulator is controlled by the Ministry of Finance. The main functions for the Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling are in Article 66 of Law 40/2015, of October 1.
The gambling market of this country is one of the most promising in the world. It’s also a great environment for online gambling. However, one of the peculiarities is high tax. The Spanish gamblers bet most on sports and poker.
The German gambling regulator
The whole history of the gambling market in Germany.
| 2011 | Schleswig-Holstein (Hamburg), one of the 16 constitutive states, allowed online sports betting, poker, and some casino games. The licenses had to be of the European type. |
| 2012 | The first operators got the licenses for 6 years. It was based on Schleswig-Holstein’s Gambling Act. One of the main requirements was a 20% tax on GGR. |
| 2013 | Schleswig-Holstein authority joined the Interstate Gambling Treaty of 2012. After that, the licenses weren’t allowed. However, there were 36 licensed operators that could offer products only on Schleswig-Holstein territory. |
| January 2017 | The German government banned online gambling in the country. But the operators, which worked in Schleswig-Holstein, could continue their offering to the customers in the state. |
Nowadays there’re a few foreign operators that offer online sports betting and horse racing betting to German customers. But there’re no German online operators. The situation of land-based gambling is doing much better. Each state has its own authority, that’s why there’s no regulator for all the states of Germany.
2021 has also become a year of changes for the online gambling market in Germany. The new gambling law, GlüNeuRStV, allowed the operation of online casinos and made gambling taxes higher. It was tough for some operators in the country, but this step was made to the full legal gambling market in the country.
The Italian gambling regulator
The Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) was founded after the modernization in the legislation sector of Italy. To continue the Italian gambling market’s activity, it was necessary to comply with the European Commission rules.
The main responsibility of the Italian regulator is licensing almost every sector of the gambling market. Its licenses are valid in the Italian market only. According to some gambling experts, the gambling taxes and fees are too high.
The gambling regulator in Ireland
The Casino Regulation Committee was founded in August 2006. The last time of its report was in July 2008. There’s also a document “Options for Regulating Gambling”. It was created when the Department organized the public consultation for reviewing the gambling market in Ireland.
However, there’s still no official gambling regulator that controls all kinds of gambling in the country. At this time, a Gambling Bill is in the process of discussion. The Department is planning to finish the process of founding the regulator in 2021-2023. The main goal of the Irish gambling regulator is saving public health.
The Belgian gambling regulator
In 1999, the government of Belgium decided to allow licensing of gambling operators in the country. That decision was made because of the experiment when the authority completely banned the gambling market. It caused uncontrolled illegal games level to increase.
The date of the Gaming Commission foundation was May 7th, 1999, based on the Gaming and betting act.
Nowadays, the Commission is actively working on the gambling sector in the country. Recently, the regulator analyzed more than 100 cases and saved 67 cases from the sanctions. There were many long-term cases of the operators. Moreover, some of the operators didn’t really break any law.
The UK gambling regulator
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission regulates both online and land-based operators with the exception of sports betting. The UK is one of those countries where online gambling is allowed and licensed by the Gambling Commission.
The national body was founded in 2005 via the Gambling Licensing and Advertising Act. According to this Act, the right to license was taken away from the magistrates’ court and given to local authorities.
The UKGC got even more responsibilities after the Gambling Licensing and Advertising Bill (2014). This Bill makes a 15% tax on income from the operators, which have a British license. It wasn’t welcomed by the companies, some of them even changed the main place of work and moved to other countries.
The main responsibilities:
- licensing;
- deactivating operators;
- regulation and control.
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