CasinoWishes set to launch this year

A new online casino is set to launch for gamblers in the United Kingdom this year. CasinoWishes is a newly developed brand, and what exactly the online casino will offer still remains a mystery. Players are already getting excited about what CasinoWishes could offer, speculating on what type of games the brand will provide, along […]

888 Contemplates Exit from Germany, Cites Tax and Regulatory Challenges

Gibraltar-based online gambling operator 888 Holdings is considering its exit from Germany after a recent court ruling banned its operations in the country and due to uncertainty over a potential VAT bill for services it had provided to German customers prior to 2015.

The operator reported a 4% revenue increase for the year to December 31 to $541.8 million. However, its pre-tax profits dropped 68% to $18.8 million on the back of exceptional charges, including a multi-million fine from the UK Gambling Commission and the VAT bill in Germany. 888 said that the exceptional charges totaled nearly $51 million last year.

Last summer, the gambling regulator in the UK slapped a £7.8-million fine on the online gambling operator for repeated failures to protect vulnerable customers.

In Germany, a recent ruling by the country’s Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) practically banned online gambling operations provided by 888 and other gambling companies in several German states.

888 said today that it was disappointed with the court’s decision and that it is considering the possibility to appeal it. However, the company also seems to be contemplating its departure from Germany.

Banks and Taxes

888 further pointed out today that a number of local banks are now refusing to process gambling-related transactions, which further hampers gambling companies to operate in the country. Here it is important to note that Germany is yet to adopt a uniform gambling law after years of attempts to craft that law and to have it successfully approved in the country’s all 16 states.

In other words, companies operating in Germany are actually providing their services in a gray area.

888’s tax issue seems to be dating back to several years ago. Last year, the company said in a statement that it was not certain whether it was liable to VAT for providing online gambling services in Germany before 2015. The company’s uncertainty was triggered by the new rules introduced by EU policymakers in early 2015 regarding the provision and taxation of electronic and other services within the union’s borders.

Under those new rules, electronic services are taxed in the location of consumption rather than the location of provision. The gambling operator has been contending the potential retrospective implementation of the tax on its operations in Germany prior to 2015 and has said that it would challenge the matter in court, if it was asked to pay VAT. The company has estimated that it could be required to pay the amount of $18.5 million in VAT on its services in Germany prior to 2015.

It has also been revealed that 888 has already sought legal advice regarding its liability to VAT and based on that advice has continued to contend that no taxes on its German operations should be triggered at all.

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Imperial Pacific could request deadline extension

The Saipan casino may request another extension to complete its hotel project.

The post Imperial Pacific could request deadline extension appeared first on Focus Gaming News.

First of two planned Grand Openings for Tiger Palace Resort draws record crowd

Bollywood star Poonam Pandey and dance troupes from Thailand and the Ukraine were on hand this weekend to help Sydney-listed Silver Heritage Group Limited celebrate the Grand Opening of its Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa venue in Nepal. According to Inside Asian Gaming, revenue records tumbled on day two of the event as huge crowds joined the […]

Affiliate Union Plan Surfaces to Help Affiliates against Predatory Gambling Operators

Online gambling, over the course of its relatively short history, has often proved to be an industry that can be very hostile to the small ones. And iGaming affiliates have too often found themselves to be playing the role of the small ones, despite their numerous contributions to the growth of that same industry and its representatives.

Resourcefulness is an important ingredient for the growth strategy of any business, particularly when it is part of a highly competitive industry. The online gambling industry, with its rapid growth and highly demanding consumer base, needs resourcefulness and innovation more than anything.

However, it has been on too many occasions that resourcefulness has been deployed by gambling operators at the expense of their affiliate partners. The introduction of retroactive term changes in contracts between affiliate programs and affiliates, payments delayed for months and years, and the sudden termination of contracts and disregard of life-time revenue sharing agreements are few of the instances of operators showing that they can be very hostile to their affiliate partners.

These and many other instances have shown that the iGaming affiliate sector is extremely vulnerable to attacks of any sort and is almost incapable of defending itself. The recent court battle between the Online Casino Reviewer affiliate website and Affiliate Edge was yet another manifestation of the affiliate sector’s lack of proper defense tools.

In brief, Online Casino Reviewer sued against the affiliate program’s decision to retroactively apply a minimum activity quota, and lost the case due to an arbitration clause in the contract between the two parties, which many within the space would agree was a rather questionable clause.

It has recently come to the Casino News Daily team’s attention that another iGaming affiliate has proposed the creation of a union of affiliates, a body that would aim to protect the interests of those involved in the sector. As a news outlet and a representative of the online gambling industry, we would like to spread the word about an idea that, if realized, could help the iGaming affiliate space become less hostile to its active participants.

The Union

In a post in the Affiliate Guard Dog’s forums, ThePOGG, the user behind the eponymous website for online casino reviews and other information about the industry, presented his idea about the formation of an affiliate union that, in case of enough interest from the sector, would comprise between 50 and 100 affiliates who would work together to defend the sector from the predatory behavior of some operators and their affiliate programs.

– Each member would be assigned one vote.

– At no point will the union dictate which programs any member can work with.

– Any member can approach the union to request a review of an issue. The union would then prepare an overview of the key facts of the case, including what the affiliate feels is the problem and in which jurisdictions legal action could potentially be pursued. The overview would be distributed to all members. There are then multiple options, but each would require a vote. Before action would be taken, a majority of 55% of the membership would have to be in favour of it.

Each of the members of the affiliate union would be able to ask for help from its other members when it feels that an affiliate program may not be acting properly. All members would be informed about the issue and they would be required to vote on what further action, if any, should be taken. Each member of the union would be assigned one vote. A majority of 55% of all members would have to vote in favor of a proposed action in order for it to be taken.

Bad Publicity

One of the main goals of the union and its members would be to try to solve issues by spreading the word about instances of affiliate programs treating affiliates unfairly. In such instances, members of the union would be asked to publish a statement on the matter on their websites, presenting the issue in detail. The coordinated effort of a group of affected parties would certainly carry more weight than a single affiliate website that might not have enough means to spread the message to a wider public.

Those in favour of action would be asked to publish a statement on their respective sites. If managed correctly there is the potential to create a ‘link wheel’ like structure between the published articles to ensure that the articles rank well and even give some SEO benefits to the participating members.

It can be said that a negative story about an operator and its affiliate program circulating around the Internet and being distributed by a greater number of affiliates could affect that same operator much worse than a lawsuit against it. The reason is that while operators and affiliate programs may have been making sure to add clauses in their affiliate contracts that might spare them from negative court rulings, they cannot escape bad publicity from members of the industry.

ThePOGG also proposed that a “link wheel” structure between the published statements is created so that they rank better and provide webmasters with certain SEO benefits.

Collective Will

It would be again up to the union to decide whether a legal action against an operator is taken so that an issue is resolved. Each of the members of the union would be able to vote in favor of or against filing a lawsuit. A majority of 55% would be required to approve the move.

And if approved, each member of the union would be required to contribute a certain amount of money to cover the legal costs. The costs for any legal action would be shared equally. To ensure this, ThePOGG proposed that each participating affiliate signs a legally binding contract on behalf of their business upon joining the union that they agree to fund any lawsuits that might be filed against erring affiliate programs.

If the majority (55%) are in favour of taking legal advice the union then looks to engage a legal firm in the relevant jurisdiction and undertake a review of the case. The cost for this would be split equally amongst all members. This means ALL members, not just those in favour.

While the idea for the formation of the affiliate unit is still in its early stages of development and it certainly needs a certain amount of refinement, we personally believe that it could be a right step toward putting pressure on affiliate programs against predatory terms and conditions and other practices that harm the affiliate space.

Casino News Daily encourages interested parties to read the whole plan and voice their opinion and ideas to help the affiliate sector finally take long-overdue actions to defend those involved in it.

The post Affiliate Union Plan Surfaces to Help Affiliates against Predatory Gambling Operators appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Soheb Porbandarwala and Peter Vitantonio Battle for WSOP Circuit Harrah’s AC Main Event Title

Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City Main Event (played on Sunday at the host casino) began with 54 players who had survived from the tournament’s starting flights. By the time organizers called it a day, there were just two contenders left.

Soheb Porbandarwala and Peter Vitantonio are set to return at Harrah’s AC today at noon local time to resume their duel and eventually determine the winner. Both players are former WSOP Circuit gold ring winners looking to add another piece to their collection of poker trophies.

The Main Event at Harrah’s AC attracted a total of 306 entries over its two starting flights. They generated a prize pool of $459,000, cracking the $400,000 guarantee. The prize pool was split into payouts for the 33 finishers. The money bubble burst before the first break on Sunday.

The unofficial ten-handed final table was laid out shortly after dinner break with Jason Maeroff leading the pack of ten. There were five former gold ring winners to make it that far into the tournament, and four of them made it to four-handed play.

Joseph Siracusa, who won his first gold ring from the series a few days ago by taking down the $365 Monster Stack event, was that one player that could not make it any further into the event. The player was the first to leave the unofficial final table, as he was eliminated in 10th place.

Matt Glantz and Maeroff were eliminated in fourth and third place, respectively, to leave it to Porbandarwala and Vitantonio to determine the tournament’s champion.

Heads-Up at Harrah’s AC

The two-handed match began with Porbandarwala holding 3.845 million in chips to Vitantonio’s 2.275 million. The two players battled it out for 29 hands until they reached the end of Level 27 to wrap up for the day.

Porbandarwala bagged 3.4 million at the end of Day 2 of the Main Event to Vitantonio’s 2.7 million. As mentioned above, the two players will return at the host casino at noon local time today to play down to a champion.

The winner will receive the gold ring and a first-place prize of $107,862, while the second-place finisher will collect $66,693. Here it is also important to note that the Main Event champion will also secure an automatic seat into the season-ending Global Casino Championship, set to take place in August at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.

Both Porbandarwala and Vitantonio have won gold rings previously. Porbandarwala collected his piece in 2016, when he took down a $580 No-Limit Hold’em event at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. He also won $124,456 for his efforts, his career’s largest cash.

As for Vitantonio, he is vying for his fourth ring from the series. The player won his third piece several days ago at Harrah’s Atlantic City. It is also important to note that he is a one-time Main Event winner. He took down the WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event back in 2015. The player collected $129,685 for his deep run into the event back then, which has remained his career’s largest in-the-money finish to day.

The post Soheb Porbandarwala and Peter Vitantonio Battle for WSOP Circuit Harrah’s AC Main Event Title appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Partypoker LIVE signs four-year deal with Casino Sochi and Resort

Russia’s Casino Sochi and Resort recently signed a four-year deal with partypoker LIVE to see the top poker brand be their primary partner for live poker gaming. The casino has only been open for little over a year, but quickly became a hot spot for poker tournament games in Eastern Europe. Huge events were hosted […]