Big-Scale Changes in Ireland’s Gambling Regulatory Regime

The Irish Government has unveiled on July 15 that they are going to make some important changes in the current gambling licensing regime by completely modifying almost all aspects in the current outdated legislation. These changes will be meant to improve both online gambling services and land based operations, in order to maximize consumer protection and make gaming and betting contracts enforceable before tribunals in Ireland.

When it comes to new online gambling regulations, some big-scale changes will include the facilitation of the current system by allowing all new technologies to be implemented by online casino software providers and gaming operators so that no further legislation will be required in the near future. Besides that, all gaming and betting providers will be required to hold a license from the Office for Gambling Control, Ireland (OGCI).

The new Irish gambling regulator OGCI will have the usual powers that such an authority holds, in order to ensure a proper regulatory framework which will provide all the necessary guidelines for gambling operators. As for the level of taxation, no provisions have been yet stated to be made in the current licensing regime, but officials are saying that a favorable tax rate can be anticipated.

Bulgaria Appoints New Head of Gambling Commission

With Bulgaria’s State Commission for Gambling recently deciding to create a blacklist of operators which do not own licenses in order to conduct gambling operations, the new head of the Commission has been recently changed, Ognemir Mitev replacing Ivan Enicherov who occupied this position since April 2013. The former head of the regulator banned 28 gambling domains which offered Bulgarian-language menu or targeted Bulgarian residents without owning a license in the country.

Mitev, who was appointed by minister of finance Petar Chobanov on July 8, holds a position in the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance and has worked for the Gambling Commission in a management position for over 10 years.

Bulgaria legalized online gambling in 2012, ordering the country’s online service providers to ban operators who were not licensed. Even so, the regulatory framework has not been properly implemented, meaning that banned operators are left with no solution to apply for legal gaming licenses. Several gaming providers who topped the blacklist claimed that their terms and conditions specified that Bulgarians were not allowed to gamble at their sites, so some are saying that several blacklisted names were chosen only if they were already banned in other countries. It will be interesting to see what changes Mitev will make to the system. CasinoWebScripts, the leading casino software provider, will follow this story closely.