Members of Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) in a drive last night arrested two admins of an online gambling site from north Jamsing area in Savar. The arrestees were identified as Md Sabbir Ahmed Kawsar. Gambling is illegal in Palau, with exceptions for social gambling, non-profit organisations and offshore gambling. The social gambling age is tied to the age of majority, 10 which is 18 under Palauan law. Although online gambling is also deemed illegal there are still some who opt to do so, as access to foreign-based sites, although somewhat restricted by the government, is still possible. Lebanon; In Lebanon the law states that gambling of any kind that is unauthorised is illegal, and the government has the power to block online casinos too. Currently, The Prevention of Gambling Act 1977 governs and prohibits such activities in Pakistan with various penalties. The provincial versions of the law were enacted in 1978, while The Public Gambling Act of 1867 under the British law, which it was largely based on, was repealed in Islamabad and Punjab later. A court in Pakistan has released a donkey that had been held following a case of illegal gambling.
PIMPRI Chinchwad police have busted an online matka gambling racket being run from Sus Gaon on the outskirts of Pune city and have booked six persons after a raid conducted on Saturday afternoon.
After receiving a tip-off that some persons were running an online matka gambling racket, police conducted raid in Sus Gaon around 3 pm on Saturday. A police official said that suspects who were receiving bets from gamblers were operating sitting in a car in Sus Gaon, while one person was directly dealing with the gamblers in person at some distance from the car.
ALSO READ What is ‘Satta Matka’?
The police probe has till now revealed that the suspects had been receiving bets from customers and conveying the bets to owner of the matka ring, operating from a nearby place, through online chatting applications. The owner used to take out the matka draw at a fixed timing during the day. The money transaction for the matka ring was suspected to have been happening through money transfer applications or other means which are being probed. We have zeroed down on the suspected kingpin and have booked a total of six persons.
Those who have been booked by the police have been identified as Bhimashankar Chandode (42), Navnath Sonavane (36), Kachru Kamble (32), all three of whom have been arrested. Those yet to be arrested are Jaysing Chandere, Gopal Chandere and Devshalini Chadode.
Police officials said that at the time of the raid, Devshalini Chandode destroyed the phone which the suspects were using to take the bets. The suspects have thus been booked for Indian Penal Code section pertaining to destruction of evidence along with relevant sections of Bombay Gambling Act. A first information report in the case has been registered by Constable N V Parale and the probe is being conducted by Assistant Inspector Rajebhosale.
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All forms of gambling are regulated and legal in France.
Brick-and-mortar operations may host card games, casino games,
sportsbooks, and racing betting while online operations may offer
all the same except casino games. All-in-all, France is a
gambling-friendly nation.
It’s not all smooth sailing in France though. High taxes and
excessive regulation make it difficult for licensed gaming sites
to stay in business. Nearly half of the gaming sites that
acquired licenses in 2010 have since left the market. The high
taxes on poker pots and sports bets also affect players, which
has resulted in large numbers of players choosing to do business
with unlicensed foreign sites.
The good news is gamblers have options. Since there are no
laws that criminalize playing at unlicensed sites, players can
choose from the whole assortment of licensed and unlicensed
sites. If you like what you see at a French-legal gaming site,
you’re good to go. If you’d rather gamble somewhere else, you
can choose from a wide range of other options.
The biggest change in gaming law in recent history happened
in 2010. After pressure from the EU to end its restrictive
gaming laws, the French government passed the Gambling Act (Law
number 2010-476). The act created the Regulatory Authority for
Online Games (ARJEL) whose responsibility it became to license
and regulate online gambling in France.
The Gambling Act was important for players, because it
disbanded the government monopoly that existed previous to the
passage of the law. Now, the French market was open to
competition from other EU gaming sites. 35 companies applied for
licenses and became the first non-government entities to offer
online poker, sports betting, and horse racing betting.
French politicians chose not to include traditional casino
games such as roulette, slot machines, and table games because they
felt those games would be too addictive. To this day,
traditional casino games aren’t offered by French-licensed
gaming sites.
Some of the bigger names to get licenses included PokerStars,
Party Poker, and Everest Poker. About a dozen sports betting
organizations also received licenses. The introduction of
competition to the market was a good thing for players, but
there was one problem: taxes.
The Gambling Act called for excessive taxes on both poker and
sports betting. All poker pots are taxed 2% in addition to the
rake poker sites normally take out of pots. To this day, players
pay upwards of 7.5% in total rake (compared to an industry
average of 4-5%) on every pot.
Sports betting was hit with an 8.5% tax on all bets placed.
Both sports betting and poker suffer from these taxes. Players
complain that the higher tax rates result in a
higher-than-normal rake in poker and less likelihood of making
money with sports betting. Several poker sites have even left
the market due to the onerous tax laws.
To top it all off, the Gambling Act doesn’t allow player
pools to be shared across national borders. This means French
players are cut off from the international poker scene. When you
play on a licensed French poker site, you only play with people
who are located in France. This has caused liquidity problems
for licensed sites as they find it difficult to keep the games
running with a limited player pool.
The high taxes and restricted player pool have led to many
players choosing to play at unlicensed sites headquartered out
of other countries. The French gambling market has great
potential, but it’s stifled by the burdensome regulations and
taxes.