Sport is made for betting

A lot to catch up on after my recent time away, here are some of the stories making the news: The Australian Federal Government has promised a review of online gambling and might finally do away with the ridiculous ban on in-play betting online. But then again, they might not... Note the incorrect linking of Serie A matches with match-fixing for betting by the Australian Crime Commission. Full Tilt Poker's licence has been suspended with immediate effect by Alderney regulators. Was it their decision or did the Yanks have a word in their ear? Betfair are searching for a new CEO and analysts admit it is a "potential opportunity for improvement". Financial results for Betfair show profits up but revenue down . Punters are rallying against Betfair's decision to heftily increase the Premium Charge. Check out the Facebook group here. Poland has signed in their draconian gambling legislation banning all firms without a local licence. As a result, some firms, ...

As the world moves forward with global trading, technology which can put you in touch with people on the other side of the world in real time and open borders across Europe, Poland wants to step back into the dark ages and prosecute online gamblers for betting offshore. Not even America tries that ridiculous tactic.... Poland threatens to prosecute online gamblers An act passed in October 2009 banned online gambling and related advertising, but the ban has clearly not been effective. In early 2010 the government even proposed an internet filter system to take control of internet gambling by blocking foreign-hosted gambling sites, but after petitions were sent to President Lech Kaczyński criticizing the plan, the idea was eventually abandoned. .... The new laws, according to the Warsaw Business Journal, would allow individual gamblers to be prosecuted for using foreign-hosted gambling sites. It would also severely restrict the rules surrounding advertising, bringing foreign gamb...

Could a politician attempt a more impossible task than this one? New EU Commissioner Wants to Settle Online Gambling Mess The confusion over online gambling in EU member states is set to be ironed out by new Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, a move that will be closely followed by Malta. France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden.. the list goes on of countries who want to set their own rules and defy European Union directives, or at least bend them a bit. Forcing these EU members states to comply is like telling banks they have to start responsible and not giving out individual bonuses bigger than the GDP of a third-world country. Or trying to get football players to act as role models and respect referees like rugby players. In a line from the classic Aussie film, The Castle, "Tell him he's dreaming!". In another note, I notice that Betfair have given up their respect/fear of French authority and now have the betting site in French as we...

So now the Polish govt have decided to give exemptions on the online betting advertising in Poland to companies investing in sports sponsorship - but with a catch. A rather confused situation this. I imagine a discussion something like this behind closed doors.... "Let's ban all forms of betting unless they have a Polish licence" "Is that a good idea, that only leaves land-based casinos that rob our citizens blind?" "But they pay us lots of taxes" "Well, that's OK then.... What about the sports sponsorships? Unibet, Bwin and other companies pay a lot of money to sponsor sport in Poland, and have legal contracts as well..." "Hmm, we don't want our football clubs to end up like ones in Albania and Latvia that are being investigated for match-fixing... I know, how about we give them an exemption, so they can still spend their money, but reap no benefits from it?" "So you expect these companies to pay hundreds of thousands ...

There have been several stories around in recent weeks about the threat of gambling bans being introduced in Poland, mostly a lot of speculation about what might happen and panicking about complete bans. This latest report centres on advertising and marketing bans which will strip Polish football clubs and the second division of millions of euro. Exclusive: Bwin, Mangas, Unibet sports sponsorship threat Current deals between egaming companies under threat from the law include Expekt’s sponsorship of the Polish national team; BetAtHome’s shirt sponsorship of Wisla Krakow, champions of last year’s Ekstraklasa top league in Polish football; Betclick’s shirt sponsorship of Ekstraklasa team Lech Poznan and Bwin’s role as a principal sponsor of Ekstraklasa team Legia Warszawa. The loss of Unibet’s title sponsorship of the second tier of Polish football, Unibet 1.Liga, could alone cost the Polish National 2nd League €4m a season. The Polish prime minister announced a clampdown on all forms o...