1. ------IND- 2015 0443 P-- EN- ------ 20150818 --- --- PROJET
REGULATION NO ---/SRIJ/2015
OPERATING RULES FOR ONLINE FIXED ODDS HORSE RACING BETTING
The Legal System for Online Betting and Gambling (RJO), approved by DecreeLaw No 66/2015 of 29 April, states in its Article 5(2) that the implementing rules of
online betting and gambling shall be laid down by the monitoring, inspection and
regulatory authority.
In compliance with Article 48 of Decree-Law No 66/2015 of 29 April, the monitoring,
inspection and regulatory authority announced the start of the procedure on its
website, specifying the subject and manner in which contributions could be
submitted to the drafting of the regulation.
Under the relevant regulatory consultation procedure, contributions were received
from various interested parties who submitted their comments.
The rules being approved take into consideration the contributions submitted under
said consultation.
Therefore, under the combined provisions of Article 5(2) and Article 48 of the RJO
and Article 7(3)(b) of Decree-Law No 129/2012 of 22 June, as amended by DecreeLaw No 66/2015 of 29 April, the Gambling Commission, in the meetings of 17 and
27 July 2015 decided the following:
1.º To approve, in the form of a regulation, the implementing rules of fixed odds
horse racing betting, when engaged in remotely, through electronic, computer,
telematic and interactive media or by any other means (online fixed odds horse
racing betting).
2.º Operators, in the compliance, development and use of the powers granted by
the attached Regulation, shall prepare specific operating and implementing
rules for the fixed odds horse racing betting which they operate on their
website.
3.º The establishment and amendment of the rules prepared under the preceding
paragraph are subject to prior approval by the Gambling Regulation and
Inspection Service.
4.º The rules set out in the attached Regulation and the specific rules provided for
in paragraph 2 shall be published and made permanently available free of
charge by the operator on its website.
5.º The Regulation shall enter into force on the day of entry into force of the
Regulation laying down the technical requirements for the technical system for
gambling.
ANNEX
1-
Online fixed odds horse racing betting are bets in which the player bets a
sum of money against the operator on the basis of pre-determined fixed odds equal
to or greater than 1.00, including up to two decimal places, associated with one or
more predictions of an uncertain and possible result or results of one or more
competitions and/or horse races, with a prize resulting from the multiplication of
the amount of the bet by the value of the odds.
2-
For the purpose of the rules set out in this Regulation, the following shall
mean:
a) ‘Multiple fixed odds horse racing bet’ shall mean a bet in which a sum of
money is placed on the simultaneous prediction of two or more types of
results of one or more competitions or horse races;
b) ‘Single fixed odds horse racing bet ’ shall mean a bet in which a sum of
money is placed on the prediction of one type of result of a single
competition or horse race;
c) ‘Single bet or minimum unit bet’ shall mean the minimum value of each
single or multiple bet, expressed in euros and defined by the operator;
d) ‘Withdrawn horses’ shall mean horses entered into a race which for any
reason do not participate in the race;
e) ‘Betting ratio or odds’ shall mean the number which when multiplied by the
bet amount, determines the amount to be paid in a winning bet;
f) ‘Postponed competitions and horse races ’ shall mean those which for
reasons beyond the control of the operator and players, do not start at the
previously scheduled time;
g) ‘Cancelled competitions and horse races ’ shall mean those which for reasons
beyond the control of the operator and players, do not take place or if they
do take place, their results are not deemed valid for betting purposes;
h) ‘Suspended competitions and horse races ’ shall mean those which, once
they have started, are suspended before reaching the end as scheduled, and
may provide valid results for betting purposes, if this is provided for in the
specific betting rules;
i)
‘Competition or horse racing organiser’ shall mean the natural or legal
person, independent of the operators of fixed odds horse racing betting, who
organises competitions and horse races;
j) ‘List of competitions and horse races’ shall mean the list of competitions and
horse races which may be used for the operation of fixed odds horse racing
betting;
k) ‘Prize,’ shall mean the amount of a winning bet, resulting from the
multiplication of the fixed odds, at the time of the placement of the bet, by
the bet amount;
l)
‘Prediction,’ shall mean one of the possible answers to the question posed by
the operator to the player;
m) ‘Reimbursement of the bet amount,’ shall mean the return to the player of
the full amount of a bet which is cancelled due to supervening reasons
relating to the race or as a result of the withdrawal of the horses.
n) ‘Horse racing regulation’ shall mean the set of rules governing the pursuit
and monitoring of horse racing;
o) ‘Result and official classification of the races,’ shall mean the final result of
the race announced after the weigh in by the competent authority for that
purpose.
3-
Fixed odds horse racing bets may only be operated for competitions and/or
horse races which take place within the national territory or abroad which are
contained in the list of competitions and horse races approved by the Gambling
Regulation and Inspection Service.
4-
The competitions and horse races which take place within the national
territory to be included in the list referred to in the preceding rule are those found
on the schedule for this purpose approved by the Portuguese National Authority for
Animal Health.
5-
Inclusion in the list referred to in Rule No 3 of competitions and horse races
which take place abroad shall be made at the proposal of the operators.
6-
The Gambling Regulation and Inspection Service may refuse the inclusion, or
remove from the list, competitions or horse races for which there are, in particular,
suspicions of lack of integrity and/or good standing of the organiser, and operators
shall thereby not be entitled to any indemnity or compensation.
7-
The application from operators for the inclusion of competitions and horse
races carried out abroad in the list referred to in the previous rules shall be
accompanied by the following information:
a) Complete identification and contacts of the organiser of the competitions and
horse races;
b) Document issued by the organiser or by whoever holds the respective
organisation rights, authorising the operator to operate fixed odds horse
racing betting on the respective competitions and horse races;
c) Document issued by a public authority or recognised body of public interest,
attesting the good standing and integrity of the competitions and respective
organiser;
d) Competition and horse racing regulation;
e) Competition and horse racing schedule;
f) Types and times of the bets which they intend to make available.
8-
The documents referred to in the previous rule which are issued in a foreign
language must be accompanied by a duly legalised translation in Portuguese.
9-
The application referred to in Rule No 7 must also be accompanied by the
specific rules of fixed odds horse racing betting.
10 -
Fixed odds horse racing betting may only refer to the classification and
official results of competitions and horse races.
11 -
The following types of fixed odds horse racing bets may be operated: single
and multiple bets.
12 -
In single bets, the right to a prize is determined by the correspondence of
the prediction with the result and the official classification of the competition or
horse race.
13 -
In multiple bets, the minimum and maximum number of possible predictions
is laid down by the operator.
14 -
The value of the odds of the multiple bet is determined by the multiplication
of the value of the odds of the individual predictions comprising the multiple bet.
15 -
The amount of the prize of a multiple bet is determined by the multiplication
of the amount of the winning multiple bet by the amount of the value of the odds of
the multiple bet.
16 -
The right to prizes in multiple bets depends on the correspondence of all or
some of the individual predictions with the results and official classifications of all
the competitions and/or sports events comprising the bets, according to whether
the multiple bets are, respectively, single or combination bets.
17 -
It is the sole responsibility of the player to ensure that the type of bet, date
of the horse racing session, race number or numbers, value of each bet, chosen
horse number or numbers and total bet amount are in accordance with their
wishes.
18 -
The
acceptance
and
registration
of
bets
shall
contain
unambiguous
information about the bet, in particular, the date and time of the session and the
race, type of bet, predictions, total bet amount and date and time of acceptance of
the bet, and the value of the odds indicating the possible value of the prize, in the
event of a winning bet.
19 -
The bet ratio or value of the odds shall be laid down by the operator and
may be revised or modified at any time during the period specified for bets to be
placed.
20 -
Without prejudice to the previous paragraph, the value of the odds shall be
deemed to have been established between the operator and the player at the time
of acceptance of the bet.
21 -
The registration of each bet shall contain a unique identification number or
alphanumeric combination.
22 -
The period of acceptance of bets is determined by the operator and ends:
a) Before the start of the competition and/or horse race.
b) During the competition and/or horse race on predictions relating to an
already certain result.
23 -
Without prejudice to Subparagraph (b) of the previous rule, the current
acceptance period for bets shall always terminate when, due to supervening
circumstances, the prediction on which the bet is placed becomes a result which is
impossible to verify.
24 -
In multiple bets the acceptance period for bets shall end necessarily when
one of the predictions comprising the multiple bet is no longer possible, because it
has become a certain result.
25 -
The bet acceptance period may be reopened when the competition and/or
horse race is repeated or postponed.
26 -
All bets placed on a competition and/or horse race shall be cancelled, in
particular, in any of the following cases:
a) If the competition and/or horse race is cancelled or suspended for any
reason;
b) When the competition and/or horse race is postponed for more than
24 hours in relation to the time scheduled for its start, or for the period
shown in the specific rules, whichever is greater;
27 -
Bets whose predictions are on horses entered into a competition and/or
horse race which, for any reason, do not participate in the race, shall be cancelled.
28 -
When a competition and/or horse race is suspended or postponed in
accordance with Rule No 26, the operator may, as an alternative to cancelling the
bets, offer players the possibility to maintain their bets.
29 -
Bets which are part of a bet whose number of participating horses is
insufficient to determine a valid result shall also be cancelled.
30 -
Cancelled bets shall be immediately reimbursed to the player's account.
31 -
No costs may be added or deducted from the reimbursement of cancelled
bets.
32 -
The result of the bets and the right to prizes shall be determined by the
verification or correspondence of the prediction with the results and official
classifications of the races, declared after the weigh in.
33 -
Bets which are entitled to prizes shall be paid in accordance with the value of
the odds established at the time the bet was placed.
34 -
The official results declared after weigh in shall be regarded as definitive to
determine the winning and losing bets.
35 -
Any change to the results and official classifications referred to in the
previous rule, whether by objection, disciplinary, administrative or judicial decision,
shall have no effect on the settlement of the bets placed on the race.
36 -
As soon as the official results of the competition and/or horse race are
announced, the operator shall inform the players, in the manner set out in the
specific rules laid down for the particular type of bet, of the results deemed valid
and shall proceed to pay the prizes of the winning bets into the player's account.
37 -
The specific betting rules and all the written and audio instructions shall be
presented in Portuguese.
38 -
The information referred to in the previous rule may also be provided in
other languages to be chosen at the option of the player.
39 -
For the purposes of this Regulation, the date and time of the race schedule
and bets placed on the website of operators shall correspond to the date and time
of mainland Portugal determined in accordance with national legislation and
provided by the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon.