Another horrifying report came flying into our inbox this morning, about a law that was passed on Friday with regards to the ‘gambling problem’ we’ve seen publicised all over recently.
According to what we’ve heard the law goes a little something like this:
All casinos (online and offline) will be closed by force on Friday by police. As the law makes the offering, and partaking, of gambling services illegal, those found guilty could find themselves with a fine of up to €350,000 and 5 years imprisonment.
Whilst some will argue that it’s a good thing, many more will argue that it’s unfair. These people who disagree will include the 20,000+ people who will lose their jobs, contracts and payments due from the make-shift gambling industry. Some had even called to have it regulated and taxed so as to provide a boost back into the economy, but these calls landed on deaf ears it seems.
Another strange thing we heard, is that there will be one company who will be allowed to trade in ‘gambling services’. This would create a legal monopoly, an action deemed unconstitutional and outlawed by the European Union, to the best of our knowledge. (Do correct us in the comments if we’re wrong).
But now we get to the scariest part. The law allegedly allows for ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to be forced into blocking access to various online gambling sites. This is where we see the biggest problem. People around the world have opposed ACTA, CISPA and any legislation that gives a democratic government the right to censor the internet in any form. How long until the people making the block-list are ‘convinced’ to add more sites than just gambling services to the block list?
Scary scary stuff when you think about all the jobs being lost, the tools of censorship being setup and the corruption we all know exists.
We have reached out to our legal advisors for more information and to confirm whether the grape-vine has all the right facts and will update the story with whatever we hear.
Updates:
09/07/2012 – Betfair to Sue Cyprus over unfair exclusion from the market in which it made £9m from last year (source)
