iGamingExpert

Romania gambling audit rocks parliament ranks 

The fallout of the damning audit of Romania’s National Office of Gambling (ONJN) has entered Parliament’s arena as Gheorghe-Gabriel Gheorghe, President of the ONJN refuses to be interrogated by ministers.

The governance of Romanian gambling has been rocked, by an audit of the ONJN by the Court of Accounts (CCR), which shone a light on tax liabilities of between 3.3 billion and 4.3 billion lei (€630m to €900m).

On 4 March, Gheorghe’s was summoned to explain ONJN failings to an IT committee led by Ciprian Rus, Senator of the Romania Union Party (USR) . Gheorghe refused to attend stating that the USR held no accountability to call for a committee inquiry

USR took issue with the case and underlined that ONJN leadership ensures that it provides an explanation to Parliament, led by USR Senator Ciprian Rus, Chair of the IT Committee.

Senator Rus stated: “ONJN is subordinate to the Romanian Government and, according to the Constitution and the laws in force, is accountable to parliamentar..

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Slotegrator offers operator insights with 10 Myths About Online Gambling e-book

Online casino aggregator Slotegrator is aiming to inform its partners on the current state of the iGaming industry by launching a free e-book – 10 Myths About Online Gambling.

Looking to provide a wealth of knowledge to new and aspiring online casino and sports betting companies, the e-book offers research into 10 common misconceptions about the online gambling industry and sheds light on these issues.

The online casino aggregator brand also offers products and solutions that relate to these issues, promoting services such as its Telegram Casino solution and APIgrator game integration tool.

Yana Khaidukova, the Managing Director of Slotegrator, commented: “We have experience in responding to various gambling operators’ requests in different regions and niches, and we know what ideas normally end in failure. Our mission is to minimize mistakes and help businesses to prevent crises.

“That’s why we developed our solutions for online casinos and sportsbooks, and that’s also the rea..

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BetBlocker launches US gambling support division

BetBlocker, a UK-registered gambling support charity, has launched BetBlocker US Inc, a US division of its gambling-blocking software services.

The charity will help US residents manage their gambling habits responsibly by providing users with anonymous gambling-blocking software on a free-to-use app, with support available in English and Spanish, while Chinese language support is in development and will be launching soon. The app is also available in 17 other languages.

“BetBlocker’s pioneering free support has been minimising harm for tens of thousands of people all over the world for close to a decade now,” commented Duncan Garvie, Founder and Trustee of BetBlocker.

“By establishing the US arm of the charity, it is our hope that we can raise the profile of the service in North America and support tens of thousands more people in the coming years.

“It is my strong belief that pay walls between users and support for gambling harm create a barrier that ensures that the most vulnera..

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Landmark decision in Malta courts as Bill 55 debate escalates 

The Maltese court has ruled in two separate cases that Austrian courts do not have the power to dictate whether gaming operators in Malta compensate Austrian players.

The cases centre around two gamblers, who both lost significant amounts with a Maltese operator.

Between 2017 and 2019, Gerhard Posch €40,500 with TSG Interactive Gaming Europe, which he later tried to recoup when he pursued a requisition order against the company.

Philipp Wahl also looked to secure a case against European Lotto and Betting, after he lost €38,000 over an 11-day span.

The Austrian framework currently deems any overseas operator as being illegal in the country.

The decision marks a shift in the legal trajectory of the case, with it previously being found in the favour of players by Austrian courts. However, the Maltese court has reached a different conclusion.

Although courts in Austria both sided with the players, these were rejected by the courts in Malta, as both operators underlined the free..

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Hague Court backs Dutch regulator over operator’s alleged links to murder suspect 

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling authority, was entitled to reject a licence application from a Maltese operator after learning that one of its former shareholders was suspected of being involved in a high-profile murder, a court in the Hague has ruled.

The unnamed operator had originally applied for a licence to enter the Dutch market in 2023, only for the KSA to rule that the company fell short when it came to the country’s integrity test. The operator reacted by taking the regulator to court in a bid to overturn the decision, but a judge has now ruled in favour of the KSA.

Key to the shortcomings in the operator’s application was the lack of information supplied about a specific former shareholder in the company.

The regulator came to the conclusion that there was insufficient information in the company’s statements and that it had also made false reports, which caused it to reject the application. The Court found that the basis for reaching that decision was ju..

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UKGC: AG Communications to pay £1.4m for ‘wholly unacceptable’ regulatory failures

AG Communications Limited, which trades as AspireGlobal and runs 58 websites, is to pay £1,407,834 after a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) investigation identified social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures.

As part of its settlement with the UKGC, AG Communications will pay the money to socially responsible causes.

This is also the second time AG Communications has been subject to regulatory action by the UKGC, as the operator paid £237,600 for AML failures in 2022.

“This case marks the second occasion that this operator has been subject to enforcement action,” commented John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement.

“Its failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards, delays in necessary interventions, and deficiencies in social responsibility measures are wholly unacceptable.”

The UKGC stated that AG Communications’ social responsibility failures included not having effective systems to stop customers from spending significant amounts in a short period be..

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Players being “defrauded en masse” by fake games

The iGaming industry must no longer shy away from the issue of fake games in order to educate players on the stark danger they present, according to Duncan Garvie, Head of ADR Services at CasinoReviews.com.

Speaking to iGaming Expert, at the recent Deal Me Out Conference, Garvie explained that it’s time to start “shining a light” on the issue in a bid to protect consumers.

He said: “For a lot of years, we avoided talking about fake games for the good reason that we didn’t want to inadvertently promote unscrupulous operators. But we’ve tried that for a decade and it has not worked.

“We need to find another viable strategy and education is going to have to become a part of that. That means that we need to do better at communicating to consumers about how they differentiate between a licensed and unlicensed operator and it means we need to do better at communicating to consumers what the risks are when they go unlicensed.”

As Garvie previously detailed to iGaming Expert, fake games h..

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France issues record fine to Unibet over self-exclusion malfunction 

French regulator, the ANJ has sanctioned Unibet with a record €800,000 fine over a malfunction in the firm’s self-exclusion system.

It led to players being able to access the firm’s products in spite of having previously been self-excluded from the operator.

The issue impacted iOS users from March 2021 to December 2022, before reappearing until February 2022, eventually being fixed by the firm and not reappearing.

The firm detailed that it was unable to identify the exact number of players that had been impacted by the malfunction.

ANJ’s report explained that SPS Betting, the company that operates Unibet.fr, did not contest the findings but said ANJ was unable to determine how many players had “actually suffered damage”.

Unibet underlined its belief that the numbers involved could “not have exceeded more than 100 players”, although it could not prove that was the case. On the other hand, SPS estimated that the malfunction was likely to have affected more than four 4,500 players..

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YouTube toughens ‘unapproved’ gambling promotion restrictions

YouTube has toughened its guidelines on content related to gambling, prohibiting the promotion of “unapproved” websites.

Announced on Tuesday (4 March), the increased restrictions come as part of a wider crackdown from YouTube, with creators no longer being allowed to direct users to unapproved gambling websites through links, images, text, logos or verbal references.

The tighter restrictions could be set to a myriad of marketing approaches, from streamers to podcasts, which have previously been sponsored by operators.

According to YouTube, unapproved gambling sites refer to those that don’t meet local requirements and haven’t been reviewed by YouTube or parent company Google.

First reported by CNN, YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle also confirmed that the video-sharing site will also “begin age-restricting content that promotes online casinos”.

This means that users under 18 or those not logged in to the site will no longer be able to view content that depicts or promotes ..

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Thailand completes major U-turn on domestic exclusions

A dramatic U-turn in Thailand has seen officials backtrack on a move that would have essentially excluded the vast majority of Thai citizens from its proposed land-based casinos.

It had previously been touted that Thai officials would implement a rule that meant that Thai citizens would need at least $1.5m in assets to access casinos in the country.

However, underlining the country’s major plans to build a significant gaming ecosystem, these plans have been paused as they would exclude too many local players from the casinos.

Significant amendments to the bill will see a three-year tax history being enough to ensure that Thai nationals can enter the premises and gamble.

Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat told reporters that the previously touted criteria for entry to casinos would fail to solve issues of illegal gambling, as he underlined that there were just 10,000 deposit accounts in the country with more than 50m baht, which would mean a large number of players would ..

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