100 Cats

About 100 Cats

MDJS has turned to the courts to challenge offshore betting. On 12 January the Casablanca commercial court, sitting in summary proceeding, ordered Maroc Telecom, Orange Maroc and Inwi to block 19 named betting sites and local payment intermediaries. Non-compliance carried a penalty of MAD10,000 a day.

Medias24 reported the judge’s reasoning: “Internet access providers are technically the only parties able to end the manifestly unlawful disturbance resulting from access to unauthorised betting sites.”

The order was short-lived. The commercial court of appeal granted a stay on 26 January. According to Medias24’s 12 February report, it then annulled the order and rejected MDJS’ claim, ending the daily penalty. MDJS could still appeal.

What is 100 Cats?

“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said. 

Braun also argued that the public had been excluded from the preparatory finance committee meeting without justification.

But the court said that point did not affect the validity of the by-law, adding that it saw no evidence of a tax that would choke businesses. 

About 100 Cats

Yet Macau’s IR proposition extends well beyond the casino floor. Luxury accommodation, restaurants, shopping, concerts, conventions, art and other forms of entertainment have become part of a wider, equally indulgent experience surrounding gaming.

For Japan, the question is whether this broader proposition could make casino resorts more socially and culturally palatable by giving visitors reasons to come, other than gambling.

But for Klebanow, the lesson Japan should take from Macau and Singapore extends beyond the importance of non-gaming attractions. It is also about how regulation should work. Policymakers, he argues, should establish basic legal and commercial guardrails, while giving operators sufficient “latitude” to “propose and develop projects that best serve both the residential and tourism markets”.