SBC News

Spanish authorities and financial institutions have once again been urged to remain vigilant against identity theft and fraud linked to gambling transactions.

The Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) in Spain has re-issued its warning concerning the risks of identity theft, first made at the beginning of the year.

The Directorate continues to receive complaints relating to identity theft in connection with fines issued to residents who were not in control of the accounts in question.

The problem stems from criminals exploiting the ID verification requirements of Spanish-licensed online gambling platforms and their payment processing systems.

As reported, Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs recorded 7,700 incidents of identity theft last year related to online gambling and associated payment processing liabilities.

“Current regulations do not require that the payment method be personal or personalised. This opens the door to the use of fake or third-party acco..

UK gaming venues remain in crisis as DCMS has no plans to implement machine ratio reforms needed for modernisation.

Though unconfirmed, it appears that the government will shelve plans to modernise the rules and offerings of Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) on UK high streets.

DCMS has stalled plans to reconsider the relaxation of rules around B3 Gaming Machines allowed in AGC and Bingo venues as a recommendation of the Gambling Review’s White Paper consultation phase.

This morning, The Guardian reported on a letter confirming that “DCMS officials will not be introducing changes to the 80/20 rule this year”.

The 80/20 rule refers to ratio of gaming machines (category C, D and B) allowed in AGCs and bingo halls, a command that has been applied since 2011, implemented by reforms to the Gambling Act of 2005.

At present, AGCs and bingo halls can maintain no more than 20% of premise floor space for B3 gaming machines, which allow customers to stake a maximum of £2 with a maximum prize of £5..

As technology advances at a rapid rate, fraud is a recurring problem in the sports betting sector.

During a recent SBC Digital Day, Nick Gunn, SVP Growth at SEON, Filip Gvardijan, Head of Fraud Prevention at Superbet and Krassi Ivanova, 10bet’s Head of Fraud, discussed the issue at hand.

They looked at how companies should not only look at fraud as something they needed to be prevented, but as a competitive advantage to a business.

After having been in the industry for a long time, Ivanova began by explaining how different the issue of fraud is to what it once was. She said: “In 2008, we didn’t have systems like SEON that would do it for us. We had to manually check IP addresses, request documents one by one and review them separately.

“Now we still do some security guarding, but it’s now on a way bigger scale, way more elaborate than it was before. With the growth of technology, it was going to happen inevitably.”

Gvardijan built on this, commenting on how his own personal road t..

Ireland’s betting regulator is calling for feedback on how its social responsibility fund will be administered, coming amid a reassessment of how extensive problem gambling is in the country.

Under Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Act of 2024 a ‘Social Impact Fund’ (SMG) has been created, which will be funded by a mandatory annual levy on bookmakers and gaming companies. The funds will be used to support problem gambling treatment and prevention initiatives across the Republic of Ireland.

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), also created by the 2024 Act, has opened four consultations open to different stakeholders in betting, gaming and problem gambling treatment.

Each questionnaire focuses on a different group – people with lived experience of harmful gambling or gambling addiction, those working for addiction treatment services, those working with NGOs which focus on vulnerable groups suffering from harmful gambling, and family members affected by another person’s gam..

ÚRHH, Gambling Regulatory Authority (ÚRHH) of the Republic of Slovakia has announced a leadership transition as Jana Mravíková assumes the role of Director General effective April 2025.

Martin Bohoš: URHH
A former Director of Slovakia Department of Finance and Economics, Mravíková will succeed incumbent Martin Bohoš, who is due to leave office but will continue to his work with ÚRHH on gambling regulation.

Slovakia’s gambling sector faces a period of change because online gambling has experienced rapid growth at this time. As his final act as Director General, Bohoš presented the 2024 annual report to the Slovak government which included market trends and difficulties of the year.

The total gambling turnover for 2024 exceeded €24.2bn which presented a 14% growth from the 2023 figures. The net gambling losses from 2024 reached €1.45bn after a 9% increase while tax revenues generated €347m for the state budget which was €46m higher than 2023.

Online casinos produced the greatest shar..

Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands, has warned unlicensed operators that it will impose maximum penalties on illegal gambling offenders.

The notice follows the KSA’s issuance of a cease-and-desist order to Saint Lucia-based operator Starscream Limited, demanding it terminate the promotion of unlicensed online casino brands to Dutch consumers.

The order includes a penalty demand for immediate compliance, or the operator will face an instant fine of €280,000 per week. The KSA warns Starscream Limited that failure to comply will result in the authority enforcing the maximum penalty of €840,000.

The KSA has investigated the unlicensed brands rantcasino.com, sugarcasino.com, and allstarzcasino.com, all operated by Starscream Limited.

“On the sites investigated, it was possible to create a player account, make deposits, and participate in the illegal gambling offered. At that time, no technical measures were taken to prevent participation from the Netherl..

GambleAware has urged people to open up about gambling harm with new data revealing that 66% of people feel that there is stigma around the issue.

The charity has warned that such stigma is holding people back from seeking vital support.

For example, the study shows that 28% of those who experience problems with gambling hide their activities from their family and friends, and 24% who are experiencing the most serious harm do not seek support due to feelings of shame or embarrassment.

Zoë Osmond OBE, CEO of GambleAware, commented: “Now is the time to have a national conversation about gambling harm. Only by encouraging an open dialogue can we empower people to seek the support they need without judgement.”

The organisation has installed a new installation at Westfield London in White City, featuring 85,000 poker chips to encourage conversation surrounding the problem, as it highlights how anyone could be at risk of harm, including children.

In detail, the installation illustrates..

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has moved to strengthen its integrity oversight amid the continuing growth of the country’s betting market.

The confederation extended its partnership with sportstech and data group Sportradar this week, specifically leveraging the firm’s Sportradar Integrity and Regulatory Services.

Set to restart in the 2025/26 season, the deal looks to boost efforts to fight match-fixing in Brazilian football and safeguard the integrity of the sport.

Andreas Krannich, Executive Vice President of Integrity and Regulatory Services at Sportradar, commented: “We have built a strong collaboration with CBF to reinforce the integrity of Brazilian football.

“With this new agreement, Sportradar is providing the most comprehensive coverage Brazilian football has ever had. We are very pleased to continue this partnership with one of the world’s most-renowned football organisations.”

The sports technology company will deliver integrity monitoring for over 8,200 m..

The Dutch House of Representatives has adopted a series of motions around gambling over the past two weeks, including calling for more research into the gambling age limit.

In the latest round of votes this week, the House approved an amended motion submitted by MPs Rosemarijn Dral and Marieke Wijen-Nas, respective members of the People’s Party and the Farmer–Citizen Movement.

The motion calls for the State Secretary for Legal Protection, Teun Struycken, to properly investigate whether or not raising the age limit for playing ‘risky games of chance’ from 18 years to 21 years would benefit the black market.

In February, Struycken announced a series of proposed reforms to the Gambling Act (KOA Act), which re-regulated the Dutch online gambling market in 2021. This included the proposal of increasing the age limit for certain casino products.

The reforms have been broadly welcomed by stakeholders amid rising public and political concerns about gambling visibility in the Netherlands si..

Illegal online operators in Russia, a wide-ranging term given the extensive restrictions on the sector throughout the country, have once again caught the attention of authorities.

The government has begun exploring more ways in which to shut down online gambling operations, and is evaluating the adoption of several methods in the near future. This could include the blocking of websites/applications, as well as blocking of crypto payments for betting.

These proposals were publicly discussed by Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, a civil society institution established by Vladimir Putin in the 2000s to handle the assessment of draft state laws.

Speaking to Russian news outlet TASS, Masharov was questioned about the Commission’s latest meeting, which focused on gambling and explored different paths towards reducing the influence of the sector on vulnerable groups – specifically children and minors.

During the discussions, hearings were held regarding a number of ..