Published 21.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
Last week, Austria were looking to update their regulations surrounding their gambling industry. This was spurred by the realisation that their current ones are outdated, having being written over 4 decades ago. The largest state in the country, Lower Austria had submitted some new betting laws to the European Commission – the new rules are set to regulate online and retail betting.
The Law on the Activities of Totalizators and Bookmakers was approved in 1978 and has been regulating the industry ever since. This raises a number of problems, due to the introduction of the internet and huge advancements in technology. The Lower Austria Sports Betting Act wants to be able to update the laws every year, in order to stay on top of technological developments in the gambling industry.
The new Act rules that sports betting operators can apply for an online or retail licence, both working as separate entities. Newly applying operators can only get a licence that lasts for two years, whereas renewing operators are able to hold a
Under the new legislation, operators will have to set up some safeguards, similar to what we have seen with other regulated markets. Players are only able to place bets up to €35 in value and all players must provide photo ID proving they are over the age of 18.
Published 20.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
Operators will soon be able to focus on building and launching casino apps targeting South Koreans, after Apple announced they will soon be allowing for such apps to be available in the country.
Apple sent an email out to a number of application developers, stating that they have been working alongside the local government to make casino applications downloadable in South Korea. The apps will be required to meet certain criteria and will only be available to users over the age of 18.
The email explained that – “In an effort to open up additional opportunities for developers, we’ve worked with the government of the Republic of Korea on making more apps available on the App Store in the Republic of Korea. If your app meets at least one of the criteria below, you’ll be able to offer it on the App Store in the Republic of Korea to users 19 years of age or older.”
Additionally, Apple have rolled out some changes across the globe, forcing apps featuring “frequent/intense simulated gambling” to be rated 17+ on the app store
Published 20.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
As of October 21st, the online gamblers of Germany will have to find a new way to deposit their funds, after it was announced that PayPal will no longer be an available option for many German targeting casinos.
In June of this year, the local government announced that they had issued a warning to an “unidentified international payment processor”, telling them to suspend their relationship with German targeting online casinos. They were found to be allowing German players to deposit funds into casinos that were not locally regulated.
This week, PayPal released a new version of their German market Terms of Service. They had included a new prohibited activity, stating that “offers that are not legal in your respective whereabouts, including some online gambling offers.” Due to this development, it’s suspected that
Currently there is only one German state which has licensed casinos, Schelswig-Holstein. The local regulatory body has announced that any new or renewing licensees will be required to agree to not market their services outside of the state.
Additionally, there have been some new restrictions that operators found out after an information session in Hesse. Some of the new gambling rules include a ban on non-sports products, a ban on in-play wagering and a 5% tax on betting turnover. The one that stung the most was a monthly spending cap of €1,000 per customer, which needs to be strictly enforced.
Published 19.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
Football Index, a company who allow for their players to buy and sell stocks in Football stars - have been receiving some unwanted attention after their new Facebook advert. The Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) has ruled the advertisement as inappropriate, due to them featuring football players under the age of 25.
The advert that was originally shown in May had a number of footballers that are under the age of 25 featuring, such as Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. It’s stated in the ASA’s code, that any celebrity or actor shown in gambling adverts must be over the age of 25. The advert also featured text that read “Jadon Sancho is now the football stockmarket’s third most valuable player, with many traders seeing handsome profits” and “Sancho the Big Mover.” This further drew attention to these young players.
Football Index responded to the complaints and stated that no players under the age of 25 will be used in any of the future advertising campaigns. However they added that they
Regardless of their defensive stance, they have agreed to remove the advert and will be providing training to all relevant segments of their team to ensure future offenses are not made.
The Advertising Standard Agency said – “We understood the intention of the ad was to illustrate the nature of the gambling app and how it could be played. However, we considered that of equal measure was its aim to offer the audience an opportunity to use the app for the purposes of gambling. In that context, while the significance of the players under 25 was no greater than the other players featured, we considered that all listed footballers were the focus of the post, and that each of them played an equally significant role. In light of the above, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and therefore breached the Code.”
Published 18.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
eSports is an industry that has been flourishing for a number of years, with player competition for millions of dollars all year round. It’s no surprise that there are a number of people around the world who are looking to add to their spectating experience and gamble on the outcome of matches and events.
A new report from the Department of Management at the University of Bristol entitled “Biddable Youth” explores the industries shortcomings when it comes to underage gambling exposure. Due to the nature of these video games being vastly popular with young people, there is a need to implement some additional age verification measures to help combat the issue.
Social media pages play a big role in promoting eSports events and betting odds across the internet and into the hands of young users. Additionally, it was found that 74% of eSports betting tweets were not in line with the UK’s advertising regulations, including misleading text and imagery, as well as featuring actors under the age of 25. The report found that around 50% of all users to interact with these tweets, are under the age of 16
Josh Smith, the co-author of the report addresses his findings by saying – “This report explores a vital new field of gambling online, which encourages people to bet on the outcome of video games. We found that high volumes of messages are produced to appeal particularly to children, with thousands of children in the UK following and responding to this content. We hope this report serves as a call to action – both to technology companies to make it easier for gambling customers to get a clear picture of what they’re getting into, and to regulators who must continue to ensure that these new actors are compliant with regulation.”
Published 17.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
The governing body of Cambodia are planning to halt all local online gambling operators, with the intention to preserve public order. Early last week, the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, issued a notice from the government stating that they “will stop the issuance of online gambling policy and licenses, both within and outside the Kingdom of Cambodia” effective immediately. The operators who still have a valid licence can continue until they expire, as they will not be renewed.
The change was justified by the government by claiming “foreign criminals have taken refuge in the form of this gambling to cheat and extort money from victims, domestic and abroad, which affect the security, public order and social order.” They followed this by saying that all levels of government, including the police “must take strict measures to implement this directive effectively.”
Lt. General Chhay Kim Khoeun, Police Spokesman stated that the authorities “have already been cracking down on illegal gambling operations and have already arrested hundreds of people.” He explained that, the police in Sihanoukville arrested 127 Chinese nationals, who were accused of running an illegal online gambling ring last week
This decision seems abrupt, as last week the only action taken on the matter was Cambodia’s Interior Ministry warning local gamblers who access internally licensed sites could fall victim to phishing schemes and theft of data. It seems this decision was quickly overruled by implementing a much stricter approach.
Published 16.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
Popular online gambling operator Kindred Group, has been hit with a fine of €470,000 after they were found guilty of serving Dutch gamblers without a local license. The online casino brand, Unibet was announced to be receiving the six-figure penalty by the Netherland’s regulatory body, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).
The KSA claimed that the illegal activity took place between August and December of last year, when Unibet was offering a chat service that supported Dutch, processed a number of player transactions through the popular Dutch payment processor iDeal and failed to include the Netherlands as a forbidden country in their terms and conditions.
The regulation team have repeatedly warned operators, especially after issuing a €350,000 fine to GVC Holdings’ Bwin last month, for a similar offense. Much like GVC, Kindred plan to appeal the KSA’s ruling and will attempt to apply for an online gambling license.
It’s said that the new Dutch gambling market is expected to launch in January 2021, giving plenty of time for them to review the applicants. They have recently announced that they have already received interest from around 200 operators and plan to begin the reviewing process in July 2020
This is the second large fine that the Kindred Group has received recently, after they were fined £1.6 million by the UK Gambling Commission after they allowed a customer to gamble with stolen funds in Unibet.
Published 14.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
The movement towards sports betting in the US has shown us a number of different approaches, with each state having a different process and rule set to what operators are allowed to offer. One common trend between the states is that sports betting is restricted to professional sport, with a ban on wagering on collegiate events.
However, a New Mexico casino going by the name of Isleta Resort & Casino has decided to accept bets on both football and basketball college games. The only condition to this, is that they must involve in-state teams from the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico State University.
Harold Baugus, The CEO of Isleta Resort & Casino said - “There is a huge Lobo and Aggie following in this market. We feel there is enough training and measures in place that taking bets on UNM and NMSU games won’t be a problem.”
The University of New Mexico’s Athletic Director, Eddie Nuñez commented
Published 13.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
In March of 2019, Norway’s Ministry of Culture proposed a change to the legislation that would completely stop gambling advertisements from other countries. The intention of the change was to improve player protection.
More recently, a report from Oslo Economic revealed that if the new legislation comes into action, many of the country’s main broadcasters, Discovery Networks Norway (DNN) and NENT Group, could lose out on one of their major revenue streams. It’s predicted that they will lose between €25 million and €50 million in revenue. These companies are both the third and fourth largest broadcasters in the country.
The director of NENT Communications has stepped forward voicing his thoughts and explained he is sceptical about the movement, claiming that the proposed changes do not take into account the negative repercussions. DNN’s Director, Espen Skoland agreed, saying that
Trine Skei Grande, Minister of Culture and Gender Equality said – “There has been a lot of noise around the proposal and it is important for us to consider possible consequences. At the same time, it is important to point out that this is a value. Taking care of those who are struggling with the gambling problem must weigh most.”
The Ministry of Culture has said that they are open to receive comments on the report until August 31st, once this date has come around – they will review feedback and decide how to proceed.
Published 12.08.2019 Author: J.D Category: News
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has announced that they have launched a self-exclusion tool, to allow for players to help themselves with their addiction. The tool will allow for players to voluntarily ban themselves from Video Gaming Terminals for either 1-year, 5-years or lifetime.
Operators will have access to the database and will be required to remove and prevent any of the players from their systems. This means operators will be expected to refuse wagers and deny gaming privileges, remove them from lists awarding them complimentary goods and remove them from any membership subscriptions. They must ensure that players who have self-excluded are removed from targeted mailouts and promotions.
The regulator explained that any self-excluded person who have gambled on a Video Game Terminal while registered on the list, cannot collect any winnings or recover any losses arising as a result of any gambling during their period on the list. Any winnings that is found to be won by a self-excluded player will be redeemed by the PGCB and used towards responsible gambling programs. If a person is found to be violating the terms of self-exclusion, they may be subject to arrest.
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