A.J. Koehn

For the second time this week, Novatech has come under fire – this time, it’s the Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, which has hit out at the operator.

Spelinspektionen initiated its case against Novatech for providing unlicensed games to players, with the regulator ruling that the operator would be immediately banned from operating in Sweden. It determined that several of its websites were targeting the domestic market without holding a Swedish licence.

The regulator has cited player protection concerns as the main reason behind its decision.

The ban follows an inspection conducted between 23-25 February 2026, during which Spelinspektionen reviewed a number of domains operated by the company, including qbet.com, mangacasino.com, slotexpress.com, 55bet.com and 30bet.com.

According to the regulator, players that were accessing the sites from Swedish IP addresses were presented with the Swedish country code by default during registration.

The regulator also found that..

Two offshore operators have been hit with major fines by the Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), over illegally targeting the domestic market.

The culprits are Fortaprime SRL and Novatech, which have allegedly provided Dutch players and unobstructed access to their platforms despite not having a licence in the Netherlands.

KSA agents were reportedly able to freely create a player account, deposit funds and play on multiple domains hosted by both offshore operators. A number of other severe breaches were noted by the regulator, such as a lack of visible age verification in place and the option to pay in crypto – a major red flag when it comes to facilitating money laundering.

Dishing out the fines, the regulator has based the amount on the turnover of both parties, adding that they would’ve been much higher if it wasn’t for the current maximum cap of 10% on turnover set within Dutch legislature.

Fortaprime has been handed a bill for €1.8m (£1.6m), while Novatech was..

Greece will enact sweeping reforms to its criminal and gambling laws to enable the government and authorities to prosecute illegal gambling operators and their respective criminal networks.

The mandate, pledged by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, introduces a draft framework of “interventions required to strengthen the Greek state and economy against the threats of black market gambling”.

Presenting the bill, Pierrakakis stated: “Illegal gambling deprives the Greek state of significant public revenue, undermines licensed businesses and exposes citizens – especially young people – to environments without protection or transparency. This intervention strengthens the institutional shield of the country.”

Kyriakos Pierrakakis

As previously cited by the FM, government data indicates that nearly 800,000 citizens engaged in illegal gambling in 2024, generating an estimated €1.67bn in turnover and depriving the state of approximately €400m in annual revenues.
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TonyBet has once again found itself in hot water after the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch Gaming Authority, contacted the operator due to a marketing incident where advertising was displayed to vulnerable groups.

The Lithuania-based business, whose sponsored adverts on YouTube were pulled by the Irish Advertising Standards Authority (IASA) just over a week ago due to a breach in regulations, encountered a system error and mistakenly sent promotional emails to young adult customers on two separate occasions.

Betcity and Kansino were also in breach of marketing rules, after the former displayed a marketing message through its gaming interface to all players, including young adults, and the latter was found to have displayed gambling advertisements within mobile gaming applications.

Under Dutch gambling regulations, operators are prohibited from targeting vulnerable players, including young adults aged 18-24 and individuals exhibiting signs of risky gambling behaviour.

The rule..

Denmark has pressed ahead with proposals to tighten gambling advertising restrictions, expected to come into force between this July and January 2027.

Sponsored by Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, Danish Minister of Taxation, the reform package aims to limit gambling ads with measures similar to other EU markets like the Netherlands and Bulgaria, including a whistle-to-whistle ban and public placement.

The most prominent change will introduce a time window within which gambling ads will be prohibited from airing on TV and streaming platforms during live sporting events, as well as ten minutes before and after the event.

“The reason why the ban will only apply to live transmissions is that it is only in that context that it is relevant to advertise gambling,” the proposal reads. “For example, it would not be relevant to place a bet during a sports match on, for example, the next yellow card if the match is transmitted late or after the match has ended.”

In-stadium promotions and sports sponso..

Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the Gambling Authority of France, has condemned the ‘addictive characteristics’ of prediction markets.

In a strongly worded statement published this morning, the ANJ reiterated the illegal status of prediction markets in France while drawing parallels to cryptocurrency trading.

The French government has been taking a firm stance against predictions, coming amid a significant overhaul of the regulated gambling market following the introduction of new taxes last year.

In December 2024, the regulator ordered Polymarket to cease trading, becoming one of the first in a long list of European countries which have kicked out the world’s largest prediction platform.

In today’s statement, the ANJ doubled down on its stance that prediction markets have ‘several addictive characteristics’ and essentially place the platforms in the same bracket as illegal gambling companies.

The regulator argued that the 24/7 availability of predictions, the absence of any bu..