[lucas28]

Hi

I'm from Poland and I have a question to you my european friends. Since 1st January 2010 polish government are going to forbid e-gambling in Poland. The want to block all bookies pages (there will be list of few hundreds pages, that polish providers will have to censor), and also monitor and block all transfers between bank accounts and bookies accounts (perhaps also moneybookers etc). If somebody will be caught, could be fined or jailed. Polish goverment claim that it won't be easy to block e-gambling, but they think that it's possible and refer to successes from Germany, Portugal and Netherlands. So I would like to ask players from those countries is it really impposible to play in your motherlands? Are yours goverments really so effectively block e-gambling?

[Hybris]

What is wrong with the world? Welcome to Sweden and gamble all that you want...

[tf]

Portugal? they really said Portugal was a case of success?

I'm portuguese and as we speak there is no such law in our country. The problem here is Santa Casa, the only gambling house/site that can offer what they call fortune games (Euro Millions and some lotos). By law they have the monopoly for luck/bad luck games ('cause they say they are different, and they are, since % of the profit goes to a very wide range of social actions, they have places all over the country where they give food to the hungry and shelter, and also provide health care to those that can't afford it).

When the portuguese football league was sponsored by Bwin, Santa Casa moved an action against bwin for offering "similar services", that went to EU supreme courts and Santa Casa won.

News about that: http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/08/e...ling-monopoly/

But everything is still the same here, no blocks, no legal actions, nothing.

[varin18]

To not allow internet gambling is against the EU laws...still, many governments doesn't care.... and as long as they receive big money from their monopol bookie, this will go on....welcome to the liberal 21st century

[lucas28]

But everything is still the same here, no blocks, no legal actions, nothing.

So what's the reason of no actions? Are Portuguese government afraid of society reaction? Or they have no idea how to do it?

To not allow internet gambling is against the EU laws...still, many governments doesn't care.... and as long as they receive big money from their monopol bookie, this will go on....welcome to the liberal 21st century

But there is no public monopol in Poland. We have a lot of private companies. But playing with them, you have to pay stupid 10% wager tax (f.e. if you bet 100euro, 10euro go for tax, so in fact you bet only 90euro, since new year wager tax rise to 25%, so putting 100euro you really put 75. Other words, if you bet odd 1,8, the real odd's value will be 1,32... ). And our government is not going to block polish bookies, they only want to block foreign companies, which provide their services via internet.

So I'm simply wondering how it works in other EU countries, which polish government refer to...

[Monk]

That is a great idea. It is easier for government to control local bookies, isn't it? More corruption scandals to be expected.

The most interesting part of the article is:

Poland's sports minister resigned Monday in a growing scandal, amid accusations that he had tried to influence amendments to a new gambling law on behalf of the gambling industry.

And here is a jewel:

The new law is intended to raise taxes on the gambling industry to help cover the costs of the European soccer championships, which Poland will host along with Ukraine in 2012.

Wow, just wow. Poland shouldn't be given any kind of tournaments if they are so incompetent and poor, that they have to be raising national wide taxes every time they get chosen for a host of a big tournament.

[tommy83]

i'm from poland and i don't think that will go.
so many corruption, big bookies sponsored our football teams and with this they will lost hundreds of thousand clients - no way it's gonna work.

if somehow they will do that - e-wallets, change proxy and bet

[rookie]

You may try to access websites through proxy servers. But, you need at least moneybookers or any other e-wallet.

Wow, just wow. Poland shouldn't be given any kind of tournaments if they are so incompetent and poor, that they have to be raising national wide taxes every time they get chosen for a host of a big tournament.

Ever heard of Montreal Olympics financial disaster ? They paid taxes for 30 years. City of London has imposed Olympic Tax for the Games in 2012. There are loads of stadiums in the US that have been publicly funded (typically additional sales tax).

[Monk]

You may try to access websites through proxy servers. But, you need at least moneybookers or any other e-wallet.

Heh, come on. This is something normal for a guy like you, but not for regular customers, 95%+ of all customers. And those customers are the reason why you are allowed to bet and win - the majority of normal customers pay for you. This kind of regulations are bad for the industry and this includes you. Poland is one of the biggest markets for many European companies.

Ever heard of Montreal Olympics financial disaster ? They paid taxes for 30 years. City of London has imposed Olympic Tax for the Games in 2012. There are loads of stadiums in the US that have been publicly funded (typically additional sales tax).

City of London is not whole country. Also if this is agreed with the citizens, I don't see problems at all.

[Toit]

i'm from poland and i don't think that will go.
so many corruption, big bookies sponsored our football teams and with this they will lost hundreds of thousand clients - no way it's gonna work.

Some bookies might stop giving action to Polish customers, awaiting the result of court cases bookies will start against this new rule.

[tf]

So what's the reason of no actions? Are Portuguese government afraid of society reaction? Or they have no idea how to do it?

They will only act under a huge pressure.. Betclic sponsors 9 teams playing in our main football league. Bet-at-Home, Sportingbet and Bet365 pay alot for ads on the main league stadiums. If they rule such a decision all of that income is gone for good..

Almost every football team in Portugal is near bankruptcy.. the national football federation and those teams are against Santa Casa (some, like União de Leiria, proposed a global strike).

[lucas28]

They will only act under a huge pressure.. Betclic sponsors 9 teams playing in our main football league. Bet-at-Home, Sportingbet and Bet365 pay alot for ads on the main league stadiums. If they rule such a decision all of that income is gone for good..

Almost every football team in Portugal is near bankruptcy.. the national football federation and those teams are against Santa Casa (some, like União de Leiria, proposed a global strike).

Thank you very much tf.

Anyone from Germany or Netherland?

[Monk]

Is Netherlands even a problem? Haven't they lately changed some legislation and they are not one of the Axis of Evil countries anymore?

[bobsimmons]

Use: -www.perfect-privacy.com- and and place your bets in cyberspace, but choose a server from a country where it is legal to do online gambling. They have about eighteen countries to pick from.

Bob

[Ruifgalmeida]

it is not ilegal to gamble online in portugal, there are no rules in that field, but is kind of ilegal to advertise, there are no bookies in Portugal so online is the only way to bet on sports, there is speculation about the government to ban credid cards for online gambling sites, but there will not be a ban on e-gambling in the near future, it is not a big issue in the portuguese society because sportsbeting is not that big where as it is in other EU countries.

[Ruifgalmeida]

but dont be afraid it is impossible to block all beting sites(and ilegal in EU).but this is very sad news

[MarcJu]

The Polish government has decided to implement legislation banning online gaming. A measure like that is not only discriminatory against consumers but it could also mean a major hindrance for Polish football clubs and supporters as if the law was to be passed, it would mean that it will be illegal for Polish football teams, or Polish leagues, to bear the logos or names of online betting companies.

In addition, Egaming is believed to bring in about 13 million euro a season into Polish football and if the new law was to come into force, it would mean that this revenue would indeed disappear.

This initiative is the result of a lack of knowledge as regards the Egaming industry. This has been the case in the European Parliament where MEPs could not agree as regards a report that had been presented in the matter.

The truth is that if the EU is supposed to be a truly open and single European market, it should be possible for consumers to choose the operator they want wherever they are based on. The initiative Right2bet advocates a truly open European market in the gaming sector. Have a look at www.right2bet.net and sign the petition that will be presented to the European authorities.

[Dunder]

This does look like a case of the minister responsible being "in the pocket" of the local gambling lobby/operators.
Whether this law violates EU law or not is unfortunately not going to matter. It would be tied up in the courts for years.

On the plus side ISPs are unlikely to bend over backwards to comply, bookies likewise I suspect.

[MilfDriller]

Can someone tell me about how it is in Spain, France, and Italy?

Have a friend that will be spending a few months in those countries.

[MMM]

No problem in Spain and France. In Italy, many bookmakers' websites are blocked. If that is the case, tell your friend to contact the bookmaker and ask for alternative link.

[kiwi]

Hi

Polish goverment claim that it won't be easy to block e-gambling, but they think that it's possible and refer to successes from Germany...

No problems so far in Germany!

Yes, world is crazy and "free" Europe and US tend to behave like China and Iran these days (which they condamned not long ago for censoring websites and similar things), but so far their meassures are quite successless.

[Sportslover]

I really dislike it when countries try to restrict or ban gambling, for instance in Australia you are not allowed to bet on in-play markets over the internet on Betfair, if you wish to play these markets you must ring up on the telephone. I wish Governments would allow people the freedom to gamble whenever the wanted, in whatever way they wanted to.

[Champi]

European Parlament decide before weeks that ,every in European Union should have free access to internet(without blocking IP adresses!!!)!
So Polish Government do something who is against EU rules and laws - every Polisg citizen may fill complaint to EU Court.
In Bulgaria online gambling is not regulated,oflline is with 15% taxes.(but there is only 1 offline bookmaker with margin 1.60/1.60)
We all may try www.right2bet.net