SBC News

Ahead of the Dutch F1 Grand Prix this Sunday (25 August), Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority has ordered organiser Formula One to remove all advertising promoting Stake.com.

KSA commands F1 to remove all advertising related to Stake.com, due to the online casino and sports betting brand having no licence to operate in the Netherlands. As such the presence of Stake.com, will infringe on the advertising laws of the Netherlands Remote Gambling Act (KOA).

The decision is significant since Stake recently became the title sponsor of the Sauber Motorsports team, now known as the ‘Stake F1 Team.’ As a result, Stake.com’s branding must be removed from the team’s cars and any other materials for the race in Zandvoort this weekend.

In the Netherlands, gambling legislation prohibits any betting or gaming company from offering games of chance without a license or promoting such activities.

The KSA emphasised that companies like Stake.com must implement measures, such a..

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has announced that its members have achieved record compliance rates in age verification checks, according to an independent audit.

The trade body for UK gambling was provided with independent data by Serve Legal, which reported that members had secured a 91.4% age verification pass rate across thousands of annual checks.

Serve Legal is recognised as the leading auditor of ID verification, age-approval, and compliance testing services for businesses and authorities in the UK and Ireland.

Of particular note, UK casinos achieved a near-perfect pass rate of 98%. Overall, the BGC states that members have garnered a 30% compliance increase across the audit volume since 2009, when Serve Legal began working with the regulated betting and gaming sector.

The results of the audit underline BGC members’ zero-tolerance approach to engaging with underage audiences.

The BGC emphasised that its members are now leading other UK sectors in age verification comp..

Montenegro’s gambling sector faces likely fiscal changes as the Ministry of Finance endorses a 15% tax charged on customer winnings.

The government of Montenegro has received proposals to amend articles of the Personal Income Tax and the Law on Games of Chance to apply the tax charge sought by the Ministry of Finance.

The proposal carries the “dual goals of increasing budget revenues and addressing the growing issue of gambling addiction, particularly among young people.”

Submitting its amendments, the Ministry emphasised that tax charges on gambling income had been “unjustifiably excluded from the tax system in the previous period.”

The Ministry endorsed a 15% tax charge on customer winnings as part of the Montenegrin government’s ‘Work Programme for 2024,’ which carries the wider mandate to adopt a new Law on Games of Chance.

Taking office in October 2023, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić ordered ministers and departments to submit proposals on gambling protections, focusing on pro..

The government of the Czech Republic has been urged to clarify its figures related to the exposure of national consumers to black market gambling activities.

This demand is led by the trade group and policy reformists, the Institute for the Regulation of Gambling (IPRH), who highlight glaring discrepancies in gambling-related data published by the Czech government.

The IPRH has questioned the latest figures provided by CELNI SPRAVA, the General Directorate of Customs responsible for monitoring Czech gambling activities.

The customs agency stands by its assessment that illegal gambling represents “5% of total wagering volume,” reported to be CZK 54bn (€2.1bn) in 2022.

However, the IPRH questions how Czech Customs could arrive at such a low figure, as the agency battles to shut down illegal gambling venues. Over the past six years, the Customs Administration has uncovered almost 1,300 illegal brick-and-mortar casinos.

Additionally, market data reveals that the number of legal Czech ..

Finland’s Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) has expressed doubts about the government’s overriding ambitions to launch a new gambling regime.

In July, the Ministry of the Interior opened a consultation seeking feedback from government agencies and departments on Finland launching a modern gambling regime in 2027.

The timeframe of 2024-to-2026 will see state-owned gambling group Veikkaus Oy end its monopoly on Finnish gambling activities for land-based and online gambling.

In 2027, the government of Finland aims to relaunch its gambling regime, opening up the online gambling market to competition by ending monopoly arrangements of Veikkaus.

Reformists back plans for a regime change, as Finnish authorities state that they cannot control consumers’ engagement with unlicensed online gambling websites. Reports detail that Finnish adults are wagering more than €500 million each year on unlicensed websites.

THL, which serves as the principal research agency on Finland’s public health..

Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority, has specified all technical requirements related to the new protective measures that will be adopted by the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act) starting from October 1.

As sanctioned by the Kamer, from October 1, all KOA licensees must incorporate the measures of a ‘new protective scheme,’ with the primary aim of reducing compulsive gambling by Dutch consumers.

The headline measures will see Dutch online gambling operators impose mandatory checks on monthly deposit limits of €350 on player accounts for individuals over the age of 25. For player accounts under 25, operators must ensure customer checks on deposit limits of €150 per month.

The scheme will impose a maximum deposit threshold of €700 on player accounts for those over the age of 25, while a €300 deposit limit will be applied to player accounts under 25.

To ensure that licensees adopt the upcoming measures correctly, KSA has published a specific webpage answering, “Fr..

The National Congress of Argentina is set to review a federal project aimed at restricting gambling advertising across all 23 provinces.

Defensoria del Pueblo y la Nacion, Argentina’s independent ombudsman, has submitted this draft proposal. The project responds to growing concerns from provincial governments and authorities about the widespread exposure to gambling ads on national media and online platforms.

The Argentine government is particularly worried about the rise in under-age gambling since the COVID-19 pandemic and has called on local authorities to address the issue urgently.

In 2020, the government revised its statute, allowing provinces to establish their own gambling regulations. Since then, new gambling regimes have been launched in Buenos Aires, the City of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Córdoba.

Defensoria’s federal project aims to enforce strict regulations on gambling advertisements nationwide. It includes a total ban on advertising across all media, including digita..

The launch of Italy’s new framework for online gambling concessions has entered its final legislative procedure under the supervision of the European Commission (EC).

Recent proceedings saw the EC launch an open consultation on the technical rules of Italy’s new gambling licensing regime.

As a member of the European Union (EU), Italy must notify the EC of any legislative projects and amendments that modify its domestic market and competition rules.

While gambling laws and practices are under the jurisdiction of individual EU member states, the EC’s consultation aims to gather feedback on how the new licensing regime will impact Italy’s IT sector.

The licensing regime has now entered a three-month mandatory “standstill” period, allowing EU member states and other stakeholders to review and comment on the proposed changes.

The standstill period for the Italian gambling licence technical rules ends on 18 October 2024. After this, the Italian government plans to launch the tender for ..

South Korean holding company Hana Financial Group has initiated a project to circumvent the risks of illegal gambling for young people, and protect vulnerable groups.

The safety campaign will span three years and will promote gambling harm awareness through educational material such as lectures, videos, psychotherapy sessions, and nationwide advertisements across TV and newspapers.

Some notable partners of the campaign include the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the National Gambling Control Commission, the National Police Agency, and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Estimates made by the financial group put the approximate cost of the campaign at 10bn won ($7.32m).

Ham Young-joo, Hana Financial Group Chairman, commented: “I hope that the entire Korean society serves as a lamplight that guides teenagers from the darkness of illegal gambling.”

The campaign’s launch was also commented on by Lee Bok-hyun, FSS Governor, who added: “I expect the campaign, through a ..

Pressure mounts on Australia PM Anthony Albanese to stick to his principles and apply a blanket ban on gambling advertising across all media disciplines.

This weekend, the Alliance for Gambling Reform, a non-profit organisation combating gambling harms in Australia, published an open letter in response to reports that the Labor government will water down the measures of the Murphy Report.

The letter is endorsed by the signatures of 60 prominent Australians, including former PMs John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, Lucy Turnbull, former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, and former Victorian premiers Jeff Kennett and Steve Bracks.

The Alliance calls on the federal government to commit to its pledge to implement the gambling reforms advocated by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, who chaired the Federal Inquiry into Online Gambling, but who passed away in February fighting cancer.

The Labor government is expected to publish shortly the amendments of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, applying n..