Legal & compliance Archives

March 7, 2023

Duelling sports betting bills fail in Georgia

Two separate sports betting bills in Georgia have failed – in the state House and Senate.

This means that Georgia’s sports betting dream is dead until the 2024 Georgia legislative session at the earliest.

The Senate bill’s primary sponsor and Republican majority leader Bill Cowsert’s strategy was focused on amending the constitution of the state of Georgia to allow the legislature to pass laws.

The Senate effort aimed to amend Georgia’s constitution

In turn, this would have allowed for sports betting to be operated in the state.

Georgia currently prohibits the authorisation of gambling operations, with an enumerated exception for lotteries.

This bill – entitled Senate Resolution 140 – did not get the requisite two-thirds majority needed for an amendment of the state constitution, and so failed at 30-26 votes.

If the resolution had passed, sports betting would have appeared on the ballot by referendum in November 2024.

And while the amendments enabling legislation Senate Bill 17..

February 27, 2023

First ilottery and online sports betting solution launched in Brazil

NeoGames and Intralot do Brasil have announced the launch of LotoMinas, the first regulated ilottery and online sports betting solution for Brazilian state Minas Gerais' official lottery, Loteria Mineira.

The multiyear turnkey agreement, which was first announced in June, sees NeoGames enter the Brazilian market, in a project that will involve long-term cooperation with the state’s lottery operator.

The undertaking is NeoGames’ first large scheme led by its subsidiaries with Aspire Global and BtoBet – companies that the business acquired last year.

neogames will provide ilottery and online sports betting services to the lottery operator

NeoGames CEO Moti Malul said the organisation was “excited” to launch in the Brazilian market and to be partnering with Intralot do Brasil, which is more familiar with the local market than the Israel-based supplier.

“Together we will provide online lottery and sports betting players in Minas Gerais with a first-class online gaming experience..

February 23, 2023

Massachusetts overturns affiliate ban in regulation

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has announced that it will overturn the ban on affiliates that was created in the state’s regulation.

In its open meeting today (23 February), the MCG agreed to replace the existing language in its regulation, which currently bans affiliates from the market by prohibiting cost per acquisition (CPA) and revenue share agreements.

The MGC went on to confirm that they have been working on amendments to the regulations of both licensing for sports wagering vendors as well as advertising for sports wagering advertising.

These amendments are currently still a period of consultation and will be voted on during an open meeting on 23 March 2023.

Under regulation 205 CMR 256, subsection 256.01 (3) the law currently reads: “No sports wagering operator may enter into an agreement with a third party to conduct advertising, marketing, or branding on behalf of, or to the benefit of, the licensee when compensation is dependent on, or related to, the volume ..

February 13, 2023

KeyStar Corp applies for sports betting licence in Tennessee

KeyStar Corp has officially submitted its sports wagering licence application for ZenSports in Tennessee.

KeyStar officially acquired ZenSports in October 2022, along with esports tournament specialist Ultimate Gamer.

ZenSports consists of both a traditional sportsbook and a peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace.

Read the full story on iGB North America

January 27, 2023

HKJC blasts proposal to increase football betting duty to 80%

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) has hit out at a proposal from the New People’s Party (NPP) to increase the region’s football betting duty by an additional 30%, saying the plan lacks “understanding”.

The current rate is set at 50% on net stake receipts, but the NPP proposal would increase this to 80%, which in turn would mean the HKJC would have to pay significantly more tax.

The HKJC estimated that if the duty change were to be approved, the amount it pays in tax would jump from the current HK$25.00bn (£2.58bn/€2.94bn/US$3.19bn) to HK$31.00bn, while revenue would fall from HK15.00bn to HK$9.00bn, a decline of 40%.

“It will result in a zero surplus at best or more likely a negative one, preventing the club from making necessary investments to secure its future and from contributing to the community,” the HKJC said.

“In reality, however, consumer behaviour can be highly dynamic. Any perturbation such as a tax increase, or simply the perception of such, could easily result in a dis..

January 26, 2023

Plotting out the priorities for US sports betting in 2023

Reflecting on the last year, 2022 was another year of growth at breakneck speed in the US sports betting market – particularly from a regulatory perspective.

As of December 2022, sports betting had either been fully legalised, or had approved legislation, in 36 states plus Washington DC, with Ohio kicking off 1 January 2023 with a roar. In fact, opening weekend numbers in Ohio shattered previous records held by New York and Pennsylvania, with 11.3 million geolocation transactions and 783,900 unique accounts created.

Measuring the opportunity

With that growth, we have seen an influx of companies entering the betting space – not just operators but also folks like new platform providers, unique B2B product and service providers and marketing affiliates.

eric frank, ceo and co-founder, odds on compliance

But it hasn’t been all roses and sunshine.

The year 2022 saw a number of sportsbook operator closures, the SPAC market dried up and investment money became tougher to come by. There ..

January 20, 2023

Ontario reinstates UFC betting

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) announced that licensed sports betting operators in the Canadian province can resume processing wagers on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events with immediate effect.

Last month, the AGCO ordered all operators to stop taking bets on the UFC due to integrity concerns amid reports of suspicious betting patterns in other jurisdictions.

Since this announcement, the AGCO has been actively engaged with regulated entities and stakeholders as they worked to address the issues. This in turn led to the UFC updating its own policies and procedures.

Read the full story on iGB North America

January 17, 2023

World Series of Politics Episode 11: GeoComply’s Linsday Slader on Ohio

The special guests keep coming on the World Series of Politics, with GeoComply’s Linsday Slader joining Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden to discuss Ohio’s sports betting launch. Also under discussion are Brazil, Macau and the US legislative session.

The geolocation specialist’s managing director of gaming says Ohio’s sports betting launch was one of the biggest market openings in the US to date.

Over the New Year weekend alone, GeoComply recorded more than 11.3 million geolocation transactions, and Slader says around 1.2 million accounts were set up in the first week of activity.

This episode also marks the World Series of Politics’ debut on Spotify! You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, and directly from this page.

Ohio betting flies out the blocks

There’s also a wider range of betting options than ever before, with 1,000 kiosks rolled out across Ohio, and it’s going to be interesting to see how this works in tandem with a widespread mobile offering. If it keeps up its early ..

January 16, 2023

North Dakota sports betting amendment bill moves to Senate after House approval

A bill that would amend the North Dakota constitution to potentially introduce online sports betting has been passed by the state's House and will now be considered by its Senate.

Entitled House Concurrent Resolution No. 3002, the bill outlines an amendment to section 25 of article 11 of North Dakota’s Constitution.

The amendment would allow sports betting to be permitted by, and regulated by, the state of North Dakota.

Read the full story on iGB North America

January 13, 2023

Jake Paul’s Betr launches real money offering in Ohio

Influencer Jake Paul’s microbetting start-up Betr will now begin accepting real-money deposits and withdrawals in Ohio, after a “soft launch” on 1 January.

In August 2022, Paul – alongside SimpleBet founder and CEO Joey Levy – launched Betr, a microbetting offering, designed at allowing players to place bets on fast-resolving markets. Paul is president of Betr, while Levy acts as CEO.

This was followed by the September launch of Betr’s mobile app, which nationwide launched on a free-to-play basis ahead of a real money offering.

The application has a reworked interface that simplifies betting UI by presenting the bet as a multiple choice question, as well as displaying odds as payout multiples.

betr allows users to place same game parlays on sports games

Betr entered Ohio through a 10-year market access agreement with Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company.

State-by-state expansion

Levy said he was “thrilled” to be launching Betr’s real-money betting business in Ohio. “Thi..

January 13, 2023

Fanatics secures sports betting approval in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has voted to approve sports apparel giant Fanatics for a temporary sports betting operator licence, while the regulator also appointed Bruce Band to lead its new sports betting division.

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve Fanatics for a Category 3 sports betting operator licence, which will be tethered to Plainridge Park Casino’s Category 1 sports wagering licence.

However, Fanatics will need to undergo a full suitability review by the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau. After this, Fanatics will also need to obtain an operations certificate and meet additional conditions to begin accepting sports wagers.

Read the full story on iGB North America

January 13, 2023

New York bill would require warning in gambling ads

The state of New York has proposed a bill to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, to require all advertisements for gambling and sports betting to include warnings on the potential harm of gambling.

The bill, introduced into the State Senate by Democratic senators Leroy Comrie and Luis R Sepúlveda, has not yet been voted on.

Specifically, the amendment “requires all advertisements for gambling and sports betting to include warnings about the potential harmful and addictive effects of gambling; requires the state gaming commission to cooperate with the commissioner of addiction services and supports to ensure that all advertisements for gaming activity state a problem gambling hotline number”.

The amendment also proposes to include mobile sports wagering licences into the advertisement requirement.

If the motion passes, it will take effect sixteen days after it becomes a law.

Ohio marketing violations

As part of its regulations when it legalised sports bett..

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Tag: Legal & compliance