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The news of the Spanish Government’s announcement this week that online gambling operators will be allowed to acquire Spanish online gambling licenses as from January 1st, 2012, has been welcomed by online casino operators who are now in the process of applying for licenses.

The Spanish online gambling trade association (AEDAPI) has, however, warned applicants that it will not be an easy task to be profitable in Spain as there is a high 25% taxation on operator’s net income. A few forms of gambling are also being temporarily excluded. According to the AEDAPI, there is still a lot of work to be done and many ways to improve the gambling laws for the Spanish market.

The Remote Gaming Association (RGA), of which Microgaming is a member, recently lodged an official complaint with the European Commission in response to Greece’s recently unveiled Gambling Law.

The RGA argues that Greece’s new tax laws totally discriminate against any foreign gambling companies giving an unfair advantage to the state-owned OPAP.

The Remote Gaming Association, which represents leading European gambling groups such as Ladbrokes and Microgaming, have claimed that Greece’s new taxation regime unfairly favor existing monopoly operator OPAP which is 34% owned by the Greek government.

Leading online casino software platform provider, Microgaming, has announced that the King Cashalot progressive jackpot paid out a massive £1.5 million to one lucky player at Ladbrokes, the British betting giant, recently.

The name of the lucky player or his plans for the cash win has not been announced but it has been revealed that after trying his luck on the five-reel, nine pay-line King Cashalot video slot game early last month, he managed to line up five King symbols on the ninth pay line with a maximum wager. This resulted in this lucky player hitting the jackpot and winning the whopping amount of £1.5 million.

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The online gaming software group, Cryptologic, said this week that it is ready to consider a sale of the group – either in part or as a whole. Cryptologic will work together with Deloitte Corporate Finance to create a strategic review of the business, following staggering losses of €14 million in 2010. According to Cryptologic, the review “will consider a number of strategic options, including the possibility of an offer being made for the company or a disposal of part of the business.”

As a result of a two-year lucrative deal signed between Live Dealer gaming specialist, Evolution Gaming and Betsafe, one of the largest online gaming sites in the Scandinavian region, the video-streamed live dealer gaming provider will deliver live baccarat, roulette, blackjack and roulette games to Betsafe.com.

In order to ensure maximum visibility and exposure of these new live games, Betsafe’s new Live Casino offering will be accessed via a dedicated top-level menu “tab” at Betsafe.

Following the Dutch Ministry of Justice having set up a committee to review the online gambling policy of Holland in September 2009 a report has now been submitted by the six member committee.

The committee has decided that online poker should be legalized in the Netherlands under a non-exclusive licensing system but felt that online gambling products such as casino, sports betting and bingo should remain illegal in the public domain. It highlighted that some online gambling products, including sports betting and lottery are permitted under existing laws through the state owned monopoly operator De Lotto.

Online and offline sports betting are both prohibited in terms of Indian gambling laws but this has not stopped many local players from utilizing online sportsbooks hosted in countries where internet gambling is legal. Due to the fact that India’s gambling laws vary from state to state this activity falls into a legal grey area.

Subsequent to a recent productivity Commission draft report that recommended extensive liberalization of online gaming laws, there has been huge interest in the Australian gaming industry.

Paddy Power has bought control of Sportsbet and IASbet while William Hill and Ladbrokes are both considering a takeover of Centrebet.