Legal Archives

November 3, 2022

Austrac orders SportsBet and Bet365 to conduct money laundering audits

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) has ordered an audit of both Bet365 and Flutter-owned SportsBet, to determine if the operators have broken money laundering rules.

If SportsBet or Bet365 is found to be non-compliant with the rules, Austrac may then take further action, such as a court-ordered fine.

Austrac, a government body focused on money laundering, noted the action was “the result of an extensive supervisory campaign that assessed entities within the corporate bookmaker sector and follows the recent commencement of an investigation into Entain”.

The auditors will examine compliance with four areas of money laundering laws.

The first is whether the two operators adopted and maintained “an AML/CTF programme that has risk-based systems and controls in place to effectively identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks”.

They will next look at whether the operators conducted proper money laundering risk assessments.

October 26, 2022

World Series of Politics: Bill Miller of the American Gaming Association

The World Series of Politics welcomes Bill Miller of the American Gaming Association as first guest.

AGA CEO Miller joins Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden to look back on this year’s Global Gaming Expo.

American Gaming Association, G2E and illegal gambling

Miller discusses this year’s Global Gaming Expo after almost 25,000 visitors descended on the Sands Convention Centre earlier in October. He also talks about the US gaming industry’s post-Covid recovery and the threat of the illegal market.

Read his interview, published earlier this week, with iGB for more from the AGA.

Maryland sports betting

This episode also features Maryland, where lawmakers have taken a step towards launching mobile sports betting after a fraught process. There’s a wager on the line between our hosts on this one, just to up the stakes further.

Brendan also discusses the state of play for Macau casinos, where recovery has been hindered by China’s zero Covid policy.

And there’s even more intrigue aroun..

October 26, 2022

Ontario report

iGB’s new report on Ontario offers exclusive insight into Canada’s most populous province – the first to regulate betting and igaming.

When the Ontario market opened in April this year, it wasn’t quite brand new ground.

Anyone in the industry could tell you that the grey market in Canada’s largest province had been thriving for quite some time.

Still, bringing the province from grey to white offers certainty and new opportunities for many.

Six months on, we have a sense of the spoils available. Operators – excluding the lottery – brought in a combined CA$267m in the three months ended 30 September.

The biggest challenge in the province, however, may be marketing rules. Operators can offer bonuses, but may not promote them. As Marese O’Hagan writes in our progress report, that’s been difficult, but it hasn’t seriously dampened excitement about the jurisdiction.

And for now, those complying with the rules still need to compete with some unlicensed brands, which continue to do busin..

October 10, 2022

Sportradar granted sublicence, will stop scouting in Genius-FDC settlement

Sportradar’s legal dispute against Genius Sports and the Football DataCo (FDC) has reached a resolution, with the parties agreeing out of court that Sportradar will receive a sublicence for English football data, but that it must stop unofficial scouting.

Under the terms of the settlement, Sportradar will be granted a sublicence that will grant access to a delayed secondary feed until 2024. At the same time, Sportradar will cease its unauthorised in-stadium data collection activities.

The case, which dates back to February 2020, challenged the English and Scottish football data licensing regime. The framework was established in May 2019 when Genius signed a landmark agreement with FDC that granted the data business exclusive rights to collect, license and distribute live data from the Premier League, the Football League and the Scottish Professional Football League. The case was heard by the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Sportradar claimed that the system that had been built through..

October 7, 2022

Lotteritilsynet halts daily fines as Kindred stops targeting Norway

Norwegian regulator Lotteritilsynet has paused issuing daily fines to Kindred Group after the operator confirmed its Trannel subsidiary would no longer target consumers in the country.

However, the operator added that it had done so only as a show of goodwill and that it was confident that its legal position was still correct.

Earlier this month, Lotteritilsynet warned Kindred that it would impose a fine of NOK1.198m (£100,106/€114,549/$112,184) for every day that Trannel did not withdraw from Norway.

The daily fine was due to come into effect three weeks after the day that Lotteritilsynet decided to implement the fine. That decision came on 14 September, after it previously warned the operator it would issue fines if it did not exit the market.

The regulator said these fines would only stop when the amount owed reaches Trannel’s annual gross profit, which the regulator estimated to be approximately NOK437m, or when the operator withdraws from the country.

Trannel does not hold a ..

October 5, 2022

Ontario regulator to take action against unlicensed operators from 31 October

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has made changes to its Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming, meaning unlicensed operators must now exit or face “appropriate regulatory action” and risk having future applications rejected.

The updated standards, the AGCO said, will support the province’s goal of creating a safer, competitive and well-regulated igaming market for the people of Ontario.

The most significant change comes to standard 1.22. Under the new rules, the transition period for unregulated igaming operators and gambling-related suppliers will end. The process was intended to allow those within the unlicensed space to move into the regulated market without causing significant interruption to their Ontario customer base.

However, the new standard establishes that operators and suppliers active in the unregulated market, or have agreements and arrangements with those in the unregulated area, must end their activities here to avoid jeopardising their eligibi..

October 4, 2022

Italy to raise betting taxes this month

Italy’s new legislative decree on sports betting – featuring a tax rise, but no new tax on turnover – is set to come into force on 28 October, having been published in the country’s official gazette.

Under Italy’s previous sports betting law, retail betting revenue was taxed at 18%, while online revenue was taxed at 22%. However, under these new rules, the tax on retail betting revenue was increased to 20%, while for online it will be 24%.
Previously, Italy had considered introducing an additional 1% turnover tax instead, but this plan was scrapped.

The law will also introduce a €1 minimum bet, while winnings for any fixed-odds bet will be capped at €50,000.

These new rules will come into force on 28 October, which will be 30 days after their publication in the Official Gazette. They will cover any fixed-odds bets on events other than horse racing, including non-sporting events approved by the Italian Customers and Monopoly Agency.

Italian sports betting in recent years has been he..

October 4, 2022

Italy avoids turnover tax on betting

Italy’s new legislative decree on sports betting – which will not contain the tax on turnover that had been proposed – is set to come into force on 28 October, having been published in the country’s official gazette.

Under these new rules, the tax on retail betting revenue will be 20%, while for online it will be 24%.
Previously, Italy had considered introducing an additional 1% turnover tax instead, but this plan was scrapped.

The law will also introduce a €1 minimum bet, while winnings for any fixed-odds bet will be capped at €50,000.

Italian sports betting in recent years has been heavily impacted by the introduction of a total marketing ban in 2019. This ban, referred to as the “dignity decree”, has bee..

September 30, 2022

Dutch market an early success, but true battles are ahead

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle says that the first year following the Dutch market launch has been an overwhelming success in channelisation terms, but tinkering with the formula could put all of that at risk.

In terms of the actual act of getting sites online and ready to take customers’ bets, the launch of the Dutch online market was a bit of a mess.

A technical hitch with self-exclusion scheme Cruks meant that sites were not permitted to launch on 1 October as expected, going live a day later instead. This, of course, followed a number of other delays for a variety of reasons.

But if we’re talking about the general performance in the months after opening up, the Dutch market looks to have been a success.

The country exceeded its three-year channelisation target within year one. Figures released today by regulator de Kansspelautoriteit – one day before the first anniversary of that launch – reveal that 85% of Dutch players are gambling within the licensed market.

Much of the reason f..

September 28, 2022

Elys granted approval for DC nightclub sportsbook

Gaming technology provider Elys Game Technology has been granted approval by Washington DC local government for a white-label joint venture with the Ozio Lounge, a Mediterranean-themed nightclub.

The business formerly known as Newgioco has agreed to launch a joint venture with District Hospitality, the club’s operator, and will trade under the BetDupont LLC name. The agreement has an initial term of three years from the date the licence is issued – with inbuilt provisions for two anticipated extensions of two years each.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval from the DC Office of Lottery and Gaming (DCOLG) – and would be the third white label retail sportsbook opened by the business in the city, having engaged in similar deals with the Grand Central Restaurant and Sportsbook, which has been completed and the Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club, which is awaiting regulatory confirmation.

Elys executive chairman Michele Ciavarella placed the deal in the context of the business’ wider US s..

September 21, 2022

German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

The German supreme court for administrative matters, the Federal Administrative Court, has ruled that municipalities will no longer be able to levy a betting shop tax.

A lawsuit had been originally brought about by the bookmakers that operated betting shops in the German city of Dortmund. Since 2014, the city had been levying a municipal tax based on the dimensions of the physical area of the betting shop – which was defined as areas where bets were processed and monitored. The tax was designed to be passed directly onto consumers.

However, in 2017 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the tax could not be based on the area of the shop, leading to the city rewriting the statute as a 3% stake tax – this was in addition to the federally imposed 5% stake tax for sports betting.

Following this, the Münster Higher Administrative Court allowed an appeal about whether this tax by multiple levels of government was inadmissible due to similarities with taxes imposed under the Lottery A..

September 21, 2022

Betway fined £400,000 for marketing on “children’s webpages”

Online gaming operator Betway has been fined £408,915 ($463,178/ €467,776) by the Gambling Commission for marketing on “children’s webpages”.

The regulator determined that the Super Group-owned brand was marketing on the children’s pages of the West Ham United Football Club’s website, breaching Commission rules on socially responsible advertising.

The Commission said that the operator’s logo – which linked to its website – appeared on a page on the West Ham site which offered the option of printing off a picture of a teddy bear for children to colour in. It was visible on this page between 14 April 2020 and 6 November 2021.

Additionally, between 24 October 2021 and 15 November 2021, a similar logo that linked to Betway’s homepage was featured on the “Young Hammers at Home” page of the club’s site.

GC director of enforcement, Leanne Oxley, said the regulator had no reason to believe Betway was targeting children deliberately, but that the rule breach was still serious.

“Protecting ..

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Tag: Legal