Canadian addiction NGO calls for federal strategy to tackle gambling harms
Experts at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) have urged the federal government to create a nationwide strategy for addressing potential gambling harms
Experts at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) have urged the federal government to create a nationwide strategy for addressing potential gambling harms
The Netherlands’ new conservative coalition government has confirmed the appointment of Teun Struycken as the new Minister responsible for overseeing gambling reforms.
A minister of the New Social Contract (NSC) party, Struycken takes on the role of Legal Protections Minister, with the primary task of finalising the Dutch government’s ongoing review of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act).
Struycken replaces Franc Weerwind, who served as Legal Protections Minister since 2022, under the former coalition government of Mark Rutte.
Since November’s General Election, a quartet of conservative parties formed of the Party for Freedom, the People’s Party, New Social Contract, and the Farmers Movement have been negotiating on terms to form a new government.
Overcoming deadlocks, in June the quartet agreed to form a government led by Dick Schoof as Prime Minister with “no party affiliation”.
The Coalition confirmed that the position of Minister of Legal Protections will be diminished to a Stat..
The Ministry of the Interior of Finland has submitted its draft proposal of a new Gambling Act to modernise Finnish gambling in line with recommendations previously put to the government.
As formerly proposed, the new Gambling Act will end the ‘monopoly arrangements’ of state-owned gambling firm Veikkaus Oy, which currently has an exclusivity over sports betting and online casino games.
Though proposals call for Veikkaus Oy to be removed from the online gambling market, the monopoly will retain exclusive rights to operate lotteries, racing pools, totalisator bets, physical slot machines, and arcade games.
Regulatory changes are required as Veikkaus Oy will end its existing monopoly contract by the end of 2026, for which the Ministry of the Interior has opened its consultation, seeking feedback until 18 August 2024.
The draft legislation, prepared by a working group under the Ministry of the Interior, seeks to introduce a new licensing system that will open the market for betting..
EPIC Global Solutions has announced that Dominic Matteo has joined the gambling harm prevention specialist as a lived experience facilitator.
The Premier League and Scotland international defender – known for his top-flight spells with Liverpool, Leeds and Blackburn, as well as being capped six times by his country – will now be educating audiences on the potential dangers associated with betting.
His on-pitch success, however, came with an addiction to gambling preceding him being declared bankrupt.
Dominic Matteo
Matteo – who admitted in his autobiography that he lost more than £1m to gambling – commented: “Having had issues with gambling, it’s something that I’m very, very passionate about, so to receive the call from EPIC was lovely news.
“Everyone at EPIC knows what they want to do in order to prevent gambling-related harm and it’s important that we keep doing that to make it a better place for everyone.
“I will be trying to help as many people as I can who are in a similar ..
The Canlan Sports arena in Oakville, Ont. has removed adverts for theScore Bet sportsbook and online gaming platform after a review by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) found they violated the rule about not targeting minors.
The ads were removed late last month after a complaint was sent to the commission by the advocacy group Ban Ads for Gambling arguing that the ads’ presence at a facility predominantly used by children contravened the AGCO’s regulations. The branding appeared on locker room doors, on boards at the arena, underneath scoreboards and behind benches.
An AGCO review found that they compromised Section 2 of the registrar’s standards for gaming, which notes that advertising and marketing materials and communications “shall not target underage or self-excluded persons to participate in lottery schemes.” It also specifies that ads may not “appear in media and venues directed primarily to minors, or where most of the audience is reasonably expected to be ..
Germany’s gambling authority, Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, has revealed that illegal gambling revenue was equal to up to four per cent of the country’s total GGR in 2023.
Publishing figures behind the country’s gambling ecosystem for the previous year, the GGL confirmed that illegal gambling revenue – defined as player losses in the report – stood between €400m and €600m.
Signalling that black market gambling is still rife in the nation, these figures are equal to around four per cent of the total market’s GGR, which came in at €13.7bn for the year.
Per segment, online gambling generated €3bn, 21.9 per cent of the total GGR, with online sports betting accounting for €1.8bn of this figure. Online slots and poker contributed €400m.
The regulator stated that 1,864 websites were checked across the period, of which it proceeded to block operations on 133 instances – 87 cases of offering illegal gambling and 46 cases of websites connected to black market advertising.
I..
DGOJ, the Directorate of Gambling of Spain, has adopted all resolutions of the SIGMA programme, Spain’s new ‘centralised directive’ to combat match-fixing and uphold the integrity of sports.
Drafted in 2022, the SIGMA programme was launched in Q1 of this year to establish a ‘cooperative network’ to tackle criminal activity and the exposure of Spanish sports to match-fixing.
The headline directive of SIGMA will launch a whistle-blower portal for the public, athletes, and staff working in Spanish sports and gambling to report incidents of manipulation and fraud to authorities.
Further objectives see the programme launch a collaborative network and database for Spanish authorities to review and record incidents and suspicious activities related to sports manipulations.
As announced by DGOJ Director General, Mikel Arana, on Friday 28 June, DGOJ approved the union of gambling operators holding individual licenses for horse racing or sports betting in any of its modalities to SIGMA, to h..
APAJO, Portugal’s Online Gambling Trade Association, has filed ‘criminal complaints’ against social media influencers promoting unlicensed gambling websites.
The trade association has urged Portuguese authorities to intervene in the marketing of illegal online gambling, which targets national consumers and undermines the regulated market’s offering.
Complaints target the social media channels of Portuguese influencers GODMOTA, Bruno Savate, Numeiro, and Cláudia Nayara.
APAJO stated, “In recent days, we have filed criminal complaints against several content producers who promoted illegal gambling through social media to an audience of several million followers. These online gambling operators do not have a licence to operate in Portugal.”
The complaint explained that the four influencers’ media profiles reach a combined audience of 2.8 million followers, likely exposing Portuguese minors to gambling environments on streams uploaded to Twitch, TikTok, and other social media channels…
Edward Bedrosian: Xpoint
Edward Bedrosian, Chief Regulatory & Compliance Officer at Xpoint, explains why Brazil will follow the US by making geolocation checks the cornerstone of compliance for its imminent online gambling marketplace.
Though Brazil takes a federal approach to regulating online gambling, the government and authorities require geolocation services to fulfill key logistical criteria on taxation, IT security, and market integrity. As such, stakeholders are warned that geolocation will be a key compliance discipline.
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The emergence of geolocation checks
Verifying that players are located within authorized jurisdictions is not only a necessity for compliance and ensuring that taxes are assigned to the correct region but also for the integrity of iGaming and Wagering platforms.
With responsible gaming taking center stage in regulatory discussions, geolocation service providers have become indispensable tools for operators.
Being a newer market in a mor..
With comings and goings commonplace across the industry, Codere Online, CT Interactive and the Nederlandse Online Gambling Associatie are among those to have seen changes to their teams recently.
Codere Online
Codere Online has appointed three new members to its board of directors – Gabriel Saenz de Buruaga, Taavi Davies and Claude Noesen.
The appointments were part of the company’s annual general meeting and all three new members have been selected for an initial term of one year on the board, replacing Patrick Ramsey, Michal Elimelech and Laurent Teitgen.
Gonzaga Higuero, CEO of Codere Group, was also re-appointed as a director and will serve as Chair of the board.
Higuero stated: “We welcome these new additions to the Board and look forward to working with them to build upon the significant progress achieved by the company in recent years.”
Changes have also been made to Codere Online’s board committees. In the audit committee, Noesen has been appointed as a member, while Bor..