The Senate of Brazil has authorised a Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate the financial impacts of the upcoming Bets regime, which will regulate fixed-odds betting and online gambling in the country.

Senator Soraya Thronicke, representing Mato Grosso do Sul, initiated the request for the inquiry and gained the support of 30 senators to launch the “CPI of Bets.”

According to SBCNoticias, Thronicke called for the CPI to assess how gambling affects the finances of Brazilian families.

This request follows alarming findings from the Central Bank, revealing that recipients of Bolsa Família, Brazil’s financial aid program for low-income families, spent BRL 3 billion (€500 million) on gambling, as tracked by the PIX payment system.

Concerns about the financial risks of the Bets framework have prompted the government to carefully oversee the launch of federal fixed-odds betting and online gambling.

In a meeting with senior ministers, President Inácio Lula da Silva warned that he wou..

AGCOM, the Media and Communications Authority of Italy, has sanctioned a ‘technical measure’ to impose “mandatory age verification to ensure the adulthood of Italian audiences”.

On Friday, the agency alerted Italian media of its new technical framework to impose mandatory measures for verifying the age of audiences engaging with adult content.

The new measures sought by AGCOM will require Italian media to enforce an age-verification check before users can view content related to gambling, pornography, and adult-specific social media categories.

AGCOM had previously proposed the technical measure of age verification controls as part of the thirteen measures introduced by the Caivano Decree – Italy’s online safety and protection bill.

As AGCOM proposed to the government: “The measure enforces stronger age verification mechanisms to protect minors from content harmful to their physical, mental, or moral development, requiring stricter safeguards across information society services.”

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UK Gambling has been warned that the Labour government is reviewing proposals to increase tax revenues by up to £3bn.

As reported by The Guardian, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has received two proposals to increase gambling taxes, considered as a measure to plug the UK’s £22bn public finance deficit.

A proposal endorsed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) calls for the Treasury to double taxes on gambling’s “higher-risk segments,” such as online casinos, slots, and sports betting, to raise £2.9bn next year and up to £3.4bn by 2030.

The IPPR underscores its recommendation to introduce a “polluter pays principle” as higher taxes will incentives UK gambling to promote lower risk games to consumers.

A separate proposal from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) urges Reeves to double taxes on all online gambling activities from 21% to 42%, raising £1bn annually.

The Guardian noted that a tax increase on gambling is “definitely on the map,” according to a sourc..

Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority, responded to the findings of the Autumn Report and Market Scan of the Dutch gambling market for 2024.

The reports revealed that despite concerns from licensed operators, the Dutch gambling market continues to grow. Gross gaming income (GGR) increased from €3.3bn to €4bn in 2023.

As the governing body, KSA closely monitors market changes resulting from new amendments and protections imposed on the Remote Gambling Act (KOA), which has regulated online gambling in the Netherlands since October 2021.

Groothuizen made it clear: “The Netherlands has a regulated gambling market to ensure that anyone who wants to gamble can do so safely, whether it’s at a lottery, the arcade around the corner, or behind the computer.”

The reports highlighted several positive trends. Dutch land-based gambling has rebounded to pre-COVID levels. Additionally, the KOA market has exceeded expectations, with 95% of play..