SBC News

A Danish court in Næstved has ruled in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) over a decision to block 83 gambling websites blocked in the country.

This marks a total of 10 instances where Spillemyndigheden has gone to court over a similar issue as it ramps up its efforts to root out illegal gambling out of Denmark.

The Danish gambling market was partially opened up in 2012, paving the way for illegal betting and online casino providers into the country. Since then, the Danish Gambling Authority has blocked a total of 359 unlicensed operators.

Detection comes as a result of a stringent monitoring process where Spillemyndigheden uses a combined methodology of automated searches and accepting reports from citizens and businesses.

After an operator has been found to be in breach of local regulations, the Danish gambling watchdog requests them to cease operations. If the activity persists, Spillemyndigheden can then take the case to the district court and ask i..

The PGA TOUR has made a significant commitment to sports betting integrity by entering a partnership with the Coalition of Responsible Sports Betting Advertising.

Focusing on ensuring responsible practices within sports betting advertising, the coalition was formed by the NFL and FOX in 2023. Other members include the MLB, NASCAR, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and NBC Sports.

Scott Warfield, Vice President of Gaming at the PGA TOUR, commented: “With the proliferation of sports betting in the United States, the PGA TOUR remains committed to establishing a safe and healthy marketplace for consumers.”

Overall, the coalition and its members aim to limit advertising only to adults of legal betting age and avoid the promotion of excessive gambling.

A joint statement by the organisation said: “As the legalisation of sports betting spreads nationwide, we feel it is critical to establish guardrails around how sports betting should be advertised to consumers across the United States.

“Each member of ..

The debate on UK gambling adopting mandatory affordability checks on customers has drawn distinct opinions across political ranks.

Yesterday, the debate was brought to Westminster Hall as MPs responded to UK racing’s petition to “abandon financial risk checks as proposed by the White Paper”.

Collecting over 103,000 signatures, UK racing cites that the current proposals favoured by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) of introducing ‘light checks’ on player accounts at a net loss of £125 a month or £500 per year are intrusive to recreational customers.

Furthermore, UK Racing states that the Commission’s proposal to introduce financial risk assessments on gambling accounts with losses greater than £1,000 within a rolling 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days poses a direct threat to the heritage sport’s funding of stakeholders.

Christina Rees: Labour
Mandate of Gambling Review must be upheld

Opening the proceedings yesterday, MP Christina Rees (Labour, Neath) noted the sensitivities of the..

The Netherlands Gaming Authority (KSA) has released the new vision of its ‘Safe Play’ mission together with its updated objectives.

As part of its Supervisory Agenda 2024, the objectives highlight the areas where the KSA believes need to be strengthened with more robust risk protections.

Going forward into the year, the topics of particular focus as described by the regulatory watchdog will be:

Control of duty of care/addiction prevention: players are protected from risky or problematic gambling;
Combating illegal online offerings with further attention to the entire chain: at least 90% of players play with legal providers;
Support of partners, independent investigations and interventions in the physical domain: the KSA fights physical illegal gambling together with its partners (such as municipalities, police, OM, RIECS, Tax and FIOD);
Compliance with data delivery: providers provide the data necessary for monitoring in a timely, complete and accurate manner.

These have all been p..

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has congratulated four countries for meeting international AML standards and getting off the grey list.

Uganda, the UAE, Barbados and Gibraltar have all been excluded from the list of redtaped countries after the latest FATF preliminary meeting concluded that they have fixed all AML deficiencies within the agreed timeframes.

The Action Plan that the group of four was assigned to followed extensive evaluations that put them under increased monitoring by FATF. After an on-site visit to each of the countries, the regulator has decided to stop subjecting them to the process, given that they continue to strengthen their AML/CFT regimes.

The plenary session also concluded with a new risk-based guidance for the implementation of Recommendation 25 on the beneficial ownership and transparency of legal arrangements – seeking to prevent global crime syndicates from using legal pathways to launder money.

In this sense, an agreement was also made to la..

Glücksspielbehörde (GGL), the Federal Gambling Authority of Germany, has detailed its concerns regarding impending changes to the Strafgesetzbuch (StGB), the Criminal Code of Germany.

Speaking at the Lotto Talk event in Berlin, GGL Co-President Ronald Benter disclosed that the authority had issued an appeal to the Federal Ministry of Justice to ‘reconsider amendments to the Criminal Code’.

The Ministry of Justice has been implored to abandon amendments that would alter the current provisions enabling the application of Article 284 of the StGB.

Article 284 of the Criminal Code permits federal authorities to directly collaborate with the Staatsanwaltschaft, the Public Prosecution Office of Germany, to initiate criminal investigations into entities suspected of violating federal laws.

In his address, Benter stated that the provision was a crucial tool for the GGL to counteract illegal gambling conducted by foreign unlicensed operators.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Justice has been t..

The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has taken a stance against the Ministry of Finance mandate for a comprehensive ban on gambling with credit.

According to the proposal memorandum, the ban will boost Sweden’s efforts to prevent cases of indebtedness caused by credit gambling.

By law, licensed gambling operators carry a “duty of care” which mandates that they must discourage excessive gambling.

The proposal additionally puts the Swedish Gambling Authority Lotteriinspektionen in charge of constructing requirements for these preventative measures.

Deadlines for the implementation of the credit ban and introduction of Lotteriinspektionen’s enhanced authority are 1 September 2024 and 1 April 2025, respectively.

BOS, however, has noted that putting a lid on gambling with credit goes against the government’s own inquiry into indebtedness from 2023, where it was noted that “there are not sufficient reasons to introduce a ban on paying for gambling with credit car..

The UK government decision to implement of new £2 and £5 stake limits for online slots, set to take effect later this year, is anticipated to impact the annual gross gambling yield by £166.2 million.

As announced on Friday by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) from September a maximum stake limit of £2 on UK online slots for anyone aged between 18 and 24 years old, as well as a £5 limit for anyone aged 25 or over will be applied on online operators.

The stake limits will bring online slots in line with land-based casinos and follow a 10-week consultation period in which the government says the majority of respondents – who were industry workers, academics, treatment providers and individuals – agreed with the statutory limits for online slots stated within the gambling white paper.

The DCMS has published its response to the online slot stake limits, to which it stated that the annual reduction to GGY is expected to be £166.2m, with a 5.2 per cent drop in online slots G..

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has welcomed the European Council’s decision to make Frankfurt the base of operations for the upcoming European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).

AMLA is expected to open doors for the first time in mid-2025, with around 400 staff members contributing to its day-to-day operations, which will include direct and indirect supervision of regulated EU entities, including the Union’s largest financial institutions.

The authority’s foundation is a key development in the ongoing EU AML framework reforms – concluding with the current EU mandate in June 2024.

AMLA will be given ultimate power to further harmonise AML regulations and their application across member states, such as creating a standardised reporting template for Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) – something that will affect the gambling sector as well.

EGBA is already ahead of the curve, having produced and published a package of industry-centric online gambling g..

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has welcomed the European Council’s decision to make Frankfurt the base of operations for the upcoming European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).

AMLA is expected to open doors for the first time in mid-2025, with around 400 staff members contributing to its day-to-day operations, which will include direct and indirect supervision of regulated EU entities, including the Union’s largest financial institutions.

The authority’s foundation is a key development in the ongoing EU AML framework reforms – concluding with the current EU mandate in June 2024.

AMLA will be given ultimate power to further harmonise AML regulations and their application across member states, such as creating a standardised reporting template for Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) – something that will affect the gambling sector as well.

EGBA is already ahead of the curve, having produced and published a package of industry-centric online gambling g..