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How to play Down The Rails
“Some of them [investors] that were looking at Japan were looking at a big IR licence or nothing. With Tokyo and Yokohama being out of the mix, maybe some weren’t as interested anymore and decided to sit back, and wait and see how regulation and licensing shake out.”
One concern for operators is “the short duration of licences and renewal of licences”, notes Leckert. For operators, the casino business licence is renewable every three years, while the IR development-plan authorisation runs for 10 years, in contrast to the 18-year IR licence term in the Philippines, for instance.
Limiting the duration of licence validity “puts the entire capital investment at risk”, says Klebanow. Further regulations, including limiting residents to 10 visits per month and requiring them to present a ‘My Number Card’ when gambling, further erodes project viability. “Ultimately, casino developers individually concluded that developing an IR was too risky, and they took their billions of dollars in potential capital investment and walked away,” observes Klebanow.
How to play Down The Rails
Bet365 attributed the job cuts to a “highly competitive trading environment, plus increased regulatory and tax-related costs”.
A Bet365 spokesperson said the company was working to limit the number of job losses and support employees affected by the changes.
“We are committed to minimising the impact on our people and are exploring all avenues to reduce the number of redundancies,” the spokesperson said. “As a first step, we are planning a programme of voluntary redundancies.
What is Down The Rails?
The regulator identified six key categories of fraud frequently encountered in online gambling. These included identity fraud, payment fraud and abusive chargebacks. It also covered in-game cheating, money-dumping and sporting event manipulation
For each category, the guide explained pertinent legal provisions and recommended operational actions.
In cases of identity fraud, operators were advised to close accounts upon establishing fraud and to reserve balances when bank account ownership cannot be confirmed.
