regulation Archives

December 20, 2022

BetMGM granted Massachusetts betting licence, but with strings attached

BetMGM and MGM Springfield have both been granted sports betting licences from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), but conditions were attached to the licence of the former.

Issued with a category 1 sports wagering operator licence for Massachusetts, MGM Springfield is now allowed to operate betting at a land-based facility, as well as on up to two online platforms.

One of its online skins will be provided by BetMGM – an MGM-Entain joint venture – which was also awarded a temporary category 3 sports wagering operator licence. However, this came only under certain conditions.

BetMGM and MGM Springfield had initially applied individually for a Massachusetts sports betting licence. However, the relationship between the two entities created complications as MGM Springfield initially answered questions on the application with reference to BetMGM’s documentation.

As a result, the regulator delayed the vote on approving the licences until yesterday (19 December).

Massachusetts re..

November 28, 2022

Kahnawàke council launches legal challenge against Ontario igaming laws

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke (MCK) has launched a constitutional challenge against iGaming Ontario and the attorney-general of Ontario, arguing that the province’s regulation of gambling is unconstitutional.

The Council – which runs its own gambling licensing regime – said that the Ontario regime did not meet the requirements for gambling outlined in Canada’s constitution.

As a result, it has filed a motion in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to challenge the legality of Ontario’s igaming framework, which it said was “illegal and unconstitutional”.

Ontario igaming legal status

Commercial betting and gaming are legal in Canada only if it is “conducted and managed” by a provincial government. While in most provinces that offer online gambling, the government runs a monopoly, Ontario instead launched a licensed regime this year, with more than 30 different licensed operators so far.

While a specific definition of conducting and managing is not provided, the Mohawk Council of ..

November 28, 2022

Dutch operators under tax investigation for pre-2021 activities

The Dutch government has published a memo revealing that – as of last year – eight operators were under tax investigation for their activities in the country before it regulated online gambling, with authorities planning to look into seven more.

The memo was dated 28 October 2021 – four weeks after the Dutch online gambling market launched. The memo was written by the Corporate Service for Professional Technology (CD VT) within the Tax and Customs Administration and was sent to “Dutch online gambling companies”.

It was revealed last week following a freedom of information request.

The memo said that – prior to the launch of regulated online gambling – a number of operators made money from the Netherlands that should have been subject to tax, but that these taxes were not paid.

These companies, it said, were in practice based in the Netherlands but on paper were listed as being from other countries in order to escape taxes.

In particular, the companies with unpaid tax bills were t..

November 28, 2022

World Series of Politics Episode 8: Midterms, Maryland, Minnesota and Texas

In episode eight of the World Series of Politics, Brendan Bussmann of B Global Advisors and Brandt Iden, now Fanatics Betting and Gaming's newly appointed vice-president of government affairs, take on California, Minnesota, Texas and Maryland.

We kick off this week’s podcast by congratulating Brandt Iden, who has taken on a major new role as vice-president of government affairs for Fanatics Betting and Gaming.

California sports betting hopes crash land

Our dynamic duo start off by picking over the wreckage of California’s sports betting ballot measures, reflecting on what went so disastrously wrong.

Is Minnesota in play?

Next they run the rule on the other states where the Midterms have heralded change. Brandt is surprised by the Democrats’ clean sweep in the Gopher State, but that could create opportunities for the industry.

The party’s strong relationship with the tribes facilitate legal Minnesota sports betting in 2023. Remember, there’s more on the Midterms from Brenda..

November 25, 2022

GB gross gambling yield recovers to almost £10bn in 2021-22

Great Britain’s gross gambling yield (GGY), excluding lotteries, increased 16.5% to £9.93bn ($12.0bn/€11.53bn)
from April 2021 to March 2022.

The figures were supplied through industry research from the Gambling Commission.

While this is a significant rise, the total is 0.8% below the 2019-20 numbers, which mostly occurred pre-pandemic. Despite the increase in the headline numbers since this, the Commission reports that the number of bettors in the sector have fallen.

“Since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021 and products and opportunities to gamble are available to consumers again, the overall percentage of the adult population who gamble remains lower than it was pre-Covid (28%),” said the Commission.

This can be explained by gaming spend increasing to a proportionally larger extent than the number of consumers. However, as the Commission outlines, there are strong signs of increased participation in gambling activities from younger demographics.

“There are signs of a r..

November 23, 2022

Swedish monopolies carving out their place in the market

In the second part of Daniel O’Boyle’s deep dive into the changing role of Sweden’s gambling monopolies, ATG CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth and Svenska Spel CEO Patrik Hofbauer discuss how their businesses have evolved since re-regulation.

When the new Gambling Act came into force in 2019, Svenska Spel and AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) face licensed competition online for the first time. They underwent many changes themselves.

2019: a new era for Swedish gambling regulation

For Svenska Spel the changes were mostly aimed at preventing the business from using its former monopoly status to gain an unfair leg-up in online betting and gaming.

Sweden launched its regulated gambling market in January 2019

This necessitated major changes, Hofbauer recalls.

“The biggest change was to adjust the whole organisation and operations to be in line with the re-regulated gambling legislation. Today Svenska Spel operates as a group with three separate business areas.

“And an important factor in that was c..

November 22, 2022

Industry slams NYT sports betting coverage

On Sunday, the New York Times (NYT) published an article on sports betting lobbying efforts, which has been criticised by industry trade groups and individuals as including “several mischaracterisations”.

Titled “Cigars, Booze, Money: How a Lobbying Blitz Made Sports Betting Ubiquitous”, the article makes the argument that the gambling sector “got their way with lawmakers after showering them with donations, gifts and dubious arguments”.

This assertion has been criticised by a number of US-based trade organisations, who pointed to the already stringent regulatory environment and the industry-wide commitments to responsible gaming.

Criticised by trade bodies

In a statement published on LinkedIn, the American Gaming Association (AGA) said that the NYT had made “several mischaracterisations” in the article, and emphasised that there is a high standard for obtaining gaming licences in the US.

“As unapologetic advocates for our industry, the AGA engages with the New York Times and any..

November 18, 2022

The view from Latvia

More than two years on from the country shutting down all legal gambling for two months, what is the current state of the Latvian market? iGB talks to TonyBet Latvia and Estonia country manager Valters Rozmanis to find out more.

It’s one of those thought experiments that naturally comes up from time to time in this industry – what would happen if a country just abolished gambling overnight?

How would consumers adjust? Would they abstain entirely or move in droves to the unregulated black market, outside the remit of both the taxman and a socially responsible regulator?

Latvia provides something of a natural experiment in this regard. In April 2020, as the first wave of Covid-19 lockdown measures were announced, fearing for the wellbeing of their citizens, the 40th government of Latvia announced a complete ban on all forms of online and land-based gambling.

The shutdown, which ran from 6 April to 9 June, pitted a modern, digital-savvy European country against the mawing forces of th..

November 15, 2022

Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration

Peru will ban free bets and demos, as well as mandating registration for suppliers, as part of its effort to regulate online gambling.

The detail comes as part of Peru’s efforts to regulate online betting and igaming. The country’s Congress unanimously voted for a bill to regulate the sectors in July, which was then signed into law in August, coming into effect 60 days later.

The law names the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (Mincetur) as the country’s official gambling regulator.

As regulator, the body established a number of rules that will apply to operators in the market, including a ban on free bets and supplier registration requirements.

These rules are subject to a consultation, with stakeholders able to submit their opinions until 2 December.

Free bet ban

The regulations state that operators may not offer any type of remote betting or gaming for free, whether this is for promotional purposes or for education such as through a demo of a game.

If an operator ..

November 14, 2022

“No connection” between MGA and subjects of mafia investigation, regulator says

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has said that recent preliminary investigations into mafia associations with Malta-based gambling have found no links between the MGA and suspected individuals.

Reports in the media said the Italian authorities had contacted the MGA regarding how the mafia had been using websites owned by Maltese operators to offer unlicensed and illegal gambling.

A report published in the Times of Malta last November said individuals illegally collected money for bets in Italy using sites belonging to Maltese companies operating without a licence issued by the Italian authorities. This, it claimed, helped them to launder money from other illegal activities.

A follow-up then said that preliminary investigations had concluded last week and that a total of 34 individuals had been identified.

However, the MGA said that it had been established that there were no links between itself and those that had carried out the reported illegal activity.

“The MGA refers to repor..

November 9, 2022

Voters reject both California sports betting proposals

Two different measures to legalise sports betting in California have both been defeated.

While vote counting is ongoing, the Associated Press has already called both races, with the proposals set to be defeated.

The failures of both the tribal-backed Proposition 26 and commercial-supported Proposition 27 leaves unclear the future of sports betting in California, which is the most populous state in the US.

As of 5am ET, Proposition 27 stood at 16.4% for and 83.6% opposed with 38% of votes counted so far. This compares with its rival ballot measure, which is behind 70.7% to 29.3%, also with 38% of votes counted according to data supplied by the New York Times.

The failures of both proposals is a major setback in the expansion of sports betting in the US, which has exploded in the years since the Supreme Court ruling on Murphy vs NCAA repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), allowing sports betting to spread across the country.

The campaigning on ..

November 9, 2022

Flutter CEO: Gambling Act white paper likely pushed back to 2023

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said that he thinks that the Gambling Act white paper is most likely to be delayed until next year, as he suspects new ministers will wish to “make their mark” on the document.

Speaking at Flutter’s Q3 earnings call, Jackson said he could not predict the the Gambling Act white paper timeline with any confidence, given that its release had repeatedly been pushed back by personnel changes in government and at the Gambling Commission. However, he said he would think its release was more likely to be in 2023 than this year.

“I don’t know if I can really comment on timing because I’ve tried to comment for the last two years and keep getting it wrong, so I might have lost some credibility there,” he said. “But I suspect it’ll end up coming out after Christmas as there isn’t much time now before Christmas.

“The new ministers I think will want to make their mark on it.”

Gambling Act review delays

The white paper is the next phase in the Gambling Act r..

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Tag: regulation