SBC News

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 ..

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..

Gluecksspiel (GGL), the Federal Authority of German Gambling, will start its chairmanship under Reiner Moser on 1 July 2024.

Reiner Moser, a Minister of the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, will replace Udo Götze as Chairman of the GGL. He will oversee the agency’s progress on regulatory affairs, reporting to the Bundestag – Germany’s Federal Parliament.

The GGL board consists of department heads or state secretaries representing Germany’s 16 federal states (Bundesländer), focusing on regulatory developments related to Germany’s Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty (GlüNeuRStv).

The board’s statute requires a new chairman to be elected each year by 1 July, representing a different Bundesland.

The GlüNeuRStv regime came into effect on 1 July 2021, launching Germany’s new federal framework for regulating online sportsbooks, poker, and casino games. This was followed by the establishment of the GGL on 1 January 2023, which took control of the GlüNeuRStv as the Federal Authority of German..

The Council of Ministers of Spain has appointed Andrés Barragán Urbiola as Secretary General of Consumption and Gaming.

Urbiola will oversee Spain’s ongoing federal overhaul of gambling laws, a directive led by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

The appointment of a dedicated minister to oversee gambling reforms, had been requested by Pablo Bustinduy, Spain’s Minister of Consumer Affairs and Social Rights.

Leadership changes in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs have Bustinduy taking over the remit of gambling reforms, previously managed by Alberto Garzon, who opted not to serve in Spain’s new ‘progressive left’ coalition government.

Since 2020, under Garzon’s leadership, Spain has reorganised its gambling laws to develop unified standards and centralised controls for online and land-based gambling.

Garzon authorised the “Royal Decree on Gambling Advertising,” reshaping Spain’s gambling landscape by banning betting sponsorships and restricting gambling advertisements to late-night ho..

New mandatory playing limit safeguards will be applied to the Dutch KOA market from 1 October 2024.

The announcement sees the Dutch government conclude its consultation, initiated in December 2023 by outgoing Legal Protections Minister Franc Weerwind on new safeguards and preventative measures of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act).

The safeguards form part of a ‘new protective scheme’, in which operators must ensure that customers have set their individual limits on gambling spend.

Headline measures will see KOA-licensed operators impose mandatory checks on monthly deposit limits of €350 on player accounts above the age of 25. For player accounts under-25, operators must ensure checks of deposit limits of €150 per month.

The consultation applied the recommendation of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) – the Netherlands Gambling Authority- to impose a maximum deposit limit of €700 for adult accounts and €300 for under 25s.

Players who choose to apply the maximum deposit threshold must have a..