New Gambling law in Estonia

[TauriT]

Hi, i am fairly new here but i had one certain issue i wanted to post here and discuss with more experienced people. I did not know where exactly to post this issue so i chose this subforum, if it is incorrect then please move this topic. The issue is new gambling law in Estonia which regulates remote gambling, online casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms etc. The new law is a bit different from Portuguese, Netherlands etc since our government decided to start IP blocking online sites which is illegal in European Union but at the same legal in the eyes of our government. I consider it illegal because there can be an argument made that this exact point is in violation of European Unions Free Trade Agreement(FTA). I have written 2 articles about this law(if you can consider them articles) which i will link now:

First one: Pokerclub.ee ENG News News
Second one: Pokerclub.ee ENG News News

There are more holes in this law which is explained in the articles, took me quite a few hours to translate them. A year or two ago our community thought that this is never going to work because the government did not consult any specialists or people familiar with the market/industry when putting together this law. But hey, they made it stupid and in conflict with some European Unions laws and put it in play anyway, most of our community considers this to be complete corruption(explained vividly in the articles). The reason why i would want this discussed at an international level is because soon enough it will not only be our problem but all of the affiliates and players problem who reside in European Union, there are already some countries who are going to enforce the same law before this years summer. This directly affects all affiliates because revenues will drop, whether on a large scale or small scale, but they will. Before judging me then please read through the articles and if necessary i can provide you with media publishings about the law, happenings etc which you can translate in google translate for example.

What i do not have in the articles and just recently found out is that our sweet sweet government decided that even if someone plays at an "illegal remote gambling company" then all winnings have to be submitted for taxing. This is absolute stupidity ofcourse, another way for our government to widen their reach for money. Though they are blocking sites IN ORDER TO PROTECT OUR CITIZENS.

Thank you all who consider this an important issue and will not shoot me down!

[Graham]

I agree that it is a big issue and there have been several similar cases accross the EU I believe, but the real question is what can be done? I really don't know the answer to that. To me it seems like a battle that would be almost impossible to win. You would need huge support from the Estonian population to try and get anything like this overturned. And since there will always be a lot of people who are strongly against gambling this would be a very difficult process. The only way I see something like this being overturned would be by voting in another party with a different view on the situation.

The reality is I think this is going to be the future of this industry. This will happen all over the world and really not much can be done to stop it. The best way is to let your voice be heard like you are doing because to really get anything changed you are going to need a lot of support.

[addz123]

The reality is I think this is going to be the future of this industry. This will happen all over the world and really not much can be done to stop it. The best way is to let your voice be heard like you are doing because to really get anything changed you are going to need a lot of support.

I just want to chip in and say I don't think the UK would ever ban online gambling or poker. EVER.

With regards to estonia, I really think you're barking up the wrong tree trying to wrestle a government. Sorry to hear the problems there.

[TauriT]

I agree that it is a big issue and there have been several similar cases accross the EU I believe, but the real question is what can be done? I really don't know the answer to that. To me it seems like a battle that would be almost impossible to win. You would need huge support from the Estonian population to try and get anything like this overturned. And since there will always be a lot of people who are strongly against gambling this would be a very difficult process. The only way I see something like this being overturned would be by voting in another party with a different view on the situation.

The reality is I think this is going to be the future of this industry. This will happen all over the world and really not much can be done to stop it. The best way is to let your voice be heard like you are doing because to really get anything changed you are going to need a lot of support.

I don't know if you read the articles but the goal would be to soften the points of the law which are in conflict with the FTA. I know that it is impossible to make a government remove this kind of laws. I have consulted with lawyers who say that winning in these points is possible because they have never been used by other countries in their laws. Bwin vs Portugal and Ladbrokes vs Netherlands cases were different from the current situation here.

[TauriT]

Noone is really interested in discussing this topic but i'll write about the recent proceedings. EGBA - European Gaming & Betting Association is sueing Estonian for exactly the same points i have described in my articles which are linked in this topic.

Now, Estonian government is blocking poker room e-mail addresses. To better explain this, all e-mails that are sent to any poker room e-mail which is blocked gets forwarded to the Tax Office. Or e-mails that poker room send to their Estonian clients. How legal do you guys think this kind of "surveillance"(or whatever you want to call it) is?