Legal & compliance Archives

August 17, 2022

Entain to pay record £17m for wide-ranging failings in GB

The GB Gambling Commission has ordered Entain to pay a record £17.0m (€20.3m/$20.6m) after it identified a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failings across its online and land-based businesses.

Entain will pay £14.0m for failings from LC International Limited (LCI), which runs Entain’s online brands including Ladbrokes.com, Coral.co.uk and Foxybingo.com.

The remaining £3.0m is for the Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited (LBG) land-based business, which operates 2,746 betting shops across Great Britain.

All £17m will be directed towards socially responsible purposes as part of a regulatory settlement, while the Commission will impose a series of additional licence conditions, with an Entain board member tasked with overseeing a new business plan for improvement.

In addition, a third-party audit of compliance with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice will take place within 12 months.

As a result of the failings, Gambling Commission chief execut..

August 12, 2022

Flutter CEO: we are well-placed to “capitalise” on UK reforms

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said that he expects his business to ultimately be a winner from the results of the UK Gambling Act review, as Flutter’s scale will help it navigate changes while smaller businesses may exit the market.

The comments came during Flutter’s earnings call for the first half of 2022, following results in which the business revealed that its FanDuel brand had turned a profit during Q2.

Jackson (pictured) argued that in both the UK and Australia, Flutter’s businesses had “outgrown regulations”.

He discussed the introduction of point-of-consumption taxes in these markets as an example of a regulatory challenge that had a short-term negative impact, but made Flutter brands stronger in the long term.

“Our scale and operating leverage have allowed us to mitigate the impacts, both through operational efficiencies, and also through market share gains as smaller operators were required to exit from the market.”

In the presentation, Flutter also noted that ..

August 11, 2022

Massachusetts Governor signs sports betting bill into law

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has signed into law a bill legalising and regulating sports betting in the US state.

House Bill 5164 will permit any operator of a land-based casino or racetrack in the state to apply for a licence, while an additional seven online-only licences will be made available. Every licence comes with a $5m fee.

Online betting will be taxed at 20% and retail at 15%, while consumers will be able to bet on a wide range of events including college sports, with the exception of matches involving in-state teams.

In addition, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) will be designated as regulator of the state’s new sports wagering market.

“On behalf of my fellow commissioners and the staff of the MGC, we appreciate the confidence the Legislature and the Governor have in naming us as regulator of this new industry,” MGC chair Cathy Judd-Stein said.

“For the past several years, we have been monitoring sports wagering legislation and taking appropriate steps ..

August 9, 2022

Kenyan government orders all operators to close for election day

Operators in Kenya have suspended their services today (9 August) in line with a directive that ordered them to cease activity to allow citizens to vote in the 2022 Kenyan general election.

The order was handed down by Kenya’s Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB).

It took force at midnight today, and will end at 5pm.

A number of operators released statements about the order. Sports betting brand SportPesa placed a statement on its website which read, “Thank you for interacting with SportPesa. Our services are currently unavailable in compliance with BCLC’s directive to suspend all gaming operations to enable you to vote.”

“Our services will resume immediately after 5pm on Tuesday 9th August 2022.”

Betsson-owned sportsbook and online casino operator Betsafe released a similar statement.

“Our gaming services will be suspended from Monday midnight until Tuesday 5:00pm,” it read.

“During this period, you will not be able to place bets or transact. We apologise for the inconven..

August 8, 2022

Massachusetts commissioners: legal betting is “going to take some time”

Massachusetts gaming commissioners have warned that the launch of legal sports betting in the state may take longer than expected, as they prepare to create rules for the vertical.

The state legislature passed a bill to permit sports betting last week, in the final hours of the year’s legislative session, ending months of deadlock after the House and Senate had each passed their own bills with major differences between the two.

Under this bill, any operator of a land-based casino or racetrack in the state may receive a licence, and there will be an additional 7 online-only licences. All of these will carry a $5m licence fee.

Betting on college sports will be permitted, with the exception of matches involving in-state teams. Online betting will be taxed at 20% and retail at 15%.

Read the full story on iGB North America

August 1, 2022

Holding back the tide

René Jansen, chair of Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), speaks to Daniel O’Boyle about the challenges involved in fighting on two fronts since the country launched its regulated online gambling market. On one hand he’s keeping the unlicensed market at bay, on the other he’s working to ensure the licensed sector moderates its advertising

After eight years of anticipation, it could have been difficult for the launch of the Netherlands’ online gambling market to fulfil expectations.

For Jansen, chair of regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the launch did indeed live up to what he anticipated.

“It’s been a success in several aspects,” he says.

But going as expected is only a good thing if the predictions are optimistic. And it’s hard to miss the fact that one aspect of the market launch went exactly as Jansen predicted, in exactly the wrong way.

Advertising turmoil

In May 2021, the KSA chair warned of an advertising “bombardment” when the legal market opened.

Looking at..

July 28, 2022

German state of Bremen shuts down all bookmakers amid AML concerns

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen – the smallest state in Germany – has announced a full closure of all bookmakers following a statewide investigation into money laundering.

The announcement affects the four operators that offer retail betting services in Bremen – Tipico, HappyBet, Tipwin and XTiP – which between them operate 32 betting shops.

A total of 24 of the operators’ franchises were “tolerated” in the state before the shutdown came into effect, according to a statement on Bremen’s state website, but were awaiting full approval.

Now, however, Bremen has issued rejection letters to all 32 betting shops after the four operators were unable to prove where their funds originated from, leading to concerns about money laundering.

Once the rejection notices were issued, it became illegal to bet in any of the bookmakers in Bremen.

The announcement came from the Bremen Landtag, after Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer conducted a press conference explaining the closures.

“Basically, it..

July 21, 2022

Belgium to introduce €200 weekly deposit limit

Belgium’s government is to introduce a new deposit limit for online gambling, with players able to deposit up to €200 (£171/$204) a week per licensed website.

The Royal Decree, published in the Belgian Official Gazette, will come into effect from 20 October, with the deposit limit to apply to all players across all verticals.

Each week will be calculated on the last seven days of activity and will move continuously, the decree said, with all players’ limits to be reset to €200 when the decree enters into force in October.

However, the decree also set out a provision for players to request an increased deposit limit. The operator in question must first notify Belgium’s Gaming Commission (BGC), which will then check with the National Bank of Belgium whether the player is listed in the Central Individual Credit Register of the National Bank of Belgium as being in default of payment.

If the player is not listed, the deposit limit may be removed three days after the request was made, me..

July 18, 2022

High school Spire Institute among Ohio betting licence applicants

A number of new organisations have applied for Ohio sports betting licences, including Bet365 and Tipico as online providers, and high school Spire Institute – alongside a number of professional sports teams – for a proprietor licence.

Spire Institute is an Ohio sports-focused high school, with its athletic programs attracting top recruits including basketball star LaMelo Ball. The organisation also offers a general sporting development programs and operates sporting complexes on its grounds, outside of its presence as a high school.

Under Ohio’s sports betting laws, sporting organisations or land-based gaming venues may offer betting in the state, partnering with online operators for an online product.

It has partnered with Out the Gate, a startup sports betting operator that says it uses an in-house trading solution and plans to accept “all action” with lined that “lead the market on US sports”. Out the Gate is led by Christopher Kape and Robbie Manis, formerly of data provider Do..

July 18, 2022

Peru votes to legalise betting and igaming

Peru's Congress has voted to legalise online gambling and sports betting in the country, establishing a new regulated framework for the sectors.

The approval came on 15 July, after a parliamentary debate. A law to approve the verticals received 91 votes in favour, and zero opposing votes.

The new law will become the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (Mincetur), the country’s foreign trade body, which will also regulate its enactment in Peru.

The gaming tax will be set at 12% of each operator’s tax base – which is net income minus maintenance costs – and will be collected monthly.

Maintenance taxes will be 2% of an operator’s monthly income.

Sunat, Peru’s tax body, administers the tax.

Operators with the appropriate licence will be allowed to offer bonuses for online gaming, as long as the bonuses cannot be exchanged for money.

For sports betting, operators must display a warning message on all platforms, which reads, “excessive online sport..

July 13, 2022

Industry shares resilient amid report of white paper details

Industry share prices rebounded from an initial dip following a report that the new Gambling Act white paper will include a £125 monthly soft cap on affordability – with harder checks for players losing £2,000 in three months.

Industry commentators Earnings + More reported a number of details this morning related to the content of the Gambling Act White Paper.

Industry sources confirmed to iGB it matched up with their understanding of the document.

Perhaps the most significant detail in the report was detail of the affordability checks that operators may be required to perform. Players would be allowed to have a net loss of up to £125 per month or £500 per year before “passive” checks – to see if players have obvious signs of financial difficulties such as county court judgements – kick in.

Those who lose more than £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days will face “more detailed” checks.

New accounts will face lower thresholds.

Sources raised questions, however, of what the d..

July 12, 2022

California Democrats endorse “no” vote on online betting measure

The California Democratic Party has recommended that those in the state vote against a proposal that would legalise online betting.

The party – which dominates California elections, having controlled both houses of the state legislature since 1996 – announced its official list of endorsements for ballot measures that will appear in the 2022 November election.

That election will include two ballot measures related to sports betting. Tribe-backed Proposition 26, titled the California Legalize Sports Betting on American Lands Initiative. would allow for retail sports betting only on tribal lands.

Read the full story on iGB North America

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Tag: Legal & compliance