Greece toughens domain enforcement in new strategy against illegal gambling

Evolution and UK Gambling Commission saga ends as supplier agrees £4.75m settlement

Anjouan Gambling regulator hits back at illegal operators and black market claims

Evolution Georgia workers’ union issues warning to company’s investors

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LABOR, a union representing Evolution Georgia workers, has petitioned the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, Finansinspektionen, to review the gaming supplier’s public filings.

In a separate letter, the union has warned Evolution’s shareholders that the company’s “adversarial treatment of employees who seek to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining rights undermines the core feature of its business model”.

The actions of LABOR follow an ongoing situation in Georgia, where over half of the 8,000 Evolution Gaming workers in Tbilisi have been on strike since 12 July, protesting about “low wages, unsanitary working conditions and other unfair labour practices”.

In total, 44 concerns have been raised by workers to the company, including safety and health issues such as “ventilation and temperature control issues and unsanitary work environments”.

Evolution Gaming employee Makhare Patashuri, a worker on strike, stated: “We asked for basic things like having a doc..

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Senate urged to tackle social media, youth exposure to betting ads

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After more than three months of dormancy, the Canadian Senate debate on gambling advertising picked up again this week with four hours of sessions discussing betting ads.

The Transport and Communications Committee held a pair of meetings on Sept. 24-25 regarding Bill S-269, the National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting Act.

These were the first hearings on S-269 since June, wherein senators discussed the legislation that would develop a national framework for sports betting advertising, identify measures to regulate ads, and focus on finding ways to prevent and help both minors and problem gamblers from being impacted.

During those June sessions, several senators expressed regret over not considering deeply enough the ramifications of the decision to expand online gaming and betting in 2021. This time around, numerous witnesses from various working backgrounds had their say. A core focus was the complex concern around the role social media plays in disseminating widesprea..

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Spelinspektionen bolsters work against illegal gambling in Sweden

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Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling authority, is seeking to do more effective work against illegal gambling by producing a “situation description”.

Helping the authority with its work in protecting consumers, public health and tax revenue with its licensing system, the situation description will assist in achieving a “more comprehensive picture of illegal gambling online in Sweden”.

Camilla Rosenberg, Director General of Spelinspektionen, commented: “The situation description will help us in the work to counteract illegal online gambling. Other authorities and players in the gambling market will also be able to benefit from the result.”

Countering illegal gambling outside of the Swedish licensing system, the situation description will aid Spelinspektionen by identifying key actors and methods used that allow for the circumnavigation of gambling legislation and other relevant legislation.

The service will also describe the current situation for illegal online gambling in Swede..

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SBC Summit, Player Protection Zone: Speakers concerned as channelization rates slump to 50%

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The rise and rise of the black market continued to dominate conversations on day two of the SBC Summit in Lisbon as operators, suppliers and lobbyists despaired about over-burdening regulation. Svenska Spel Chief Executive Officer Fredrik Wastenson sat on a panel with executives from Finland and Germany, which interrogated the affordability question. “The main problem…

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ROGA college campaign moves to fill gambling education gap

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To Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) leader Dr. Jennifer Shatley, it was clear something had to be done.

“College-age people, this is an audience that is either already engaged in sports betting or online gaming or largely will be in the near future,” Shatley told SBC Americas in an interview. “It’s an important audience, one that’s been mainly overlooked up until this program, in my belief.”

That’s why ROGA, the multi-operator association that Shatley spearheads as executive director, recently launched what it calls a National College Education Campaign aimed specifically at supplying that demographic with the resources, tools and support that they need.

“It’s important to have realistic expectations, to understand how to engage in gambling in a responsible way as entertainment and not as a way to make money and to really dispel a lot of the myths around gaming,” Shatley says. “This audience just hasn’t had that type of information targeted to them as of yet. Most colleg..

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ASA bans multiple social casino ads for misleading players about real-world money prizes

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The Advertising Standards Authority has banned multiple advertisements from social casino apps for misleading players and implying they could win real-world money or tangible prizes.

Each of the adverts appeared as paid-for TikTok ads for the following five companies:

Dataverse Co. Limited t/a Gamehaus

Huuuge Global Limited t/a Billionaire Casino

Mobee Co Ltd t/a Ignite Classic Slots

SpinX Games Ltd

Zeroo Gravity Games LLC t/a Cash Tornado.

The ASA noted that each company’s advert implied that their games were gambling products where real-world money or tangible prizes could be won and withdrawn and therefore were misleading.

Slot gameplay imagery within the adverts was spotlighted by the ASA, such as a casino slot machine and graphics being visible within Huuuge Global’s Billionaire Casino adverts, a roulette-style wheel and slot machine in SpinX Games’ adverts, as well as gameplay footage similar to that of casino-based slot games in Dataverse Co Gamehaus’ adverts.

Verbiage..

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Entain asks policymakers to make tackling illegal market a ‘key priority’

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Entain has backed a Regulus Partners report which has asked the UK government to “implement a concerted policy crackdown on the growing threat of black market operators to grow revenues and enhance player protections”.

Revealed at SBC Summit in Lisbon by Entain CEO Barry Gibson, Regulus Partners’ report sets out a series of policy proposals to combat unlicensed operators in the UK and internationally, helping to “close a tax gap of almost £340m for the UK Exchequer across the next parliament”.

“Taking on the black market operators should be a key priority for policymakers around the world,” commented Gibson

“It will tackle crime and raise money which could be spent on critical areas such as healthcare, education and infrastructure. It would ensure that customers get greater protection from playing with fully regulated and legitimate operators.”

Entain noted that Regulus Partners’ report showed that “black market participation in the UK is still growing” despite the country’s “prop..

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Opinion: Former NJ regulator on shifting the RG focus to the unregulated market

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Image: Jessica Yurinko Photography

Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360)is a leading global technology and consultancy firm specializing in comprehensive integrity and compliance solutions for the gaming industry, formed earlier this year by the merger of U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance. Asrticle author Eric Weiss is IC360’s Managing Director of North America and formerly spent 30 years with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

As we observe Responsible Gaming Education Month (RGEM), it is an opportune time to recognize the notable achievements of the online casino and sports betting industry in promoting responsible gaming practices.

Since the inception of online casino gaming in 2013 and the advent of online sports betting in 2018, the regulated sector has shown a strong commitment to safeguarding at-risk individuals by providing access to essential resources and support.

Key initiatives include:

Equipping players with ongoing education and self-regulation tools.

U..

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BetBlocker to launch Portuguese language support service at SBC Summit 2024

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BetBlocker, a gambling harm prevention charity, will launch the Portuguese version of its award-winning blocking software at SBC Summit, SBC’s flagship event in Lisbon.
Hot off the back of receiving the Jim Wuelfing Annual Award for Prevention from the National Council on Problem Gambling in the United States, the charity is pushing to expand in new languages to ensure that their best-in-class, anonymous to use, and free support tool is accessible by more people than ever.
With over 200 million native Portuguese speakers worldwide, this launch removes a significant language barrier for crucial support that can now be accessed by millions of people impacted by gambling harms across the world.
Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, had this to say about the launch of the Portuguese version of the app:
“BetBlocker is the only free and anonymous to use blocking software. Users can go from download to blocked in less than two minutes. But only if they understand the set-up instr..

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