Europe

For the second time this week, Novatech has come under fire – this time, it’s the Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, which has hit out at the operator.

Spelinspektionen initiated its case against Novatech for providing unlicensed games to players, with the regulator ruling that the operator would be immediately banned from operating in Sweden. It determined that several of its websites were targeting the domestic market without holding a Swedish licence.

The regulator has cited player protection concerns as the main reason behind its decision.

The ban follows an inspection conducted between 23-25 February 2026, during which Spelinspektionen reviewed a number of domains operated by the company, including qbet.com, mangacasino.com, slotexpress.com, 55bet.com and 30bet.com.

According to the regulator, players that were accessing the sites from Swedish IP addresses were presented with the Swedish country code by default during registration.

The regulator also found that..

Two offshore operators have been hit with major fines by the Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), over illegally targeting the domestic market.

The culprits are Fortaprime SRL and Novatech, which have allegedly provided Dutch players and unobstructed access to their platforms despite not having a licence in the Netherlands.

KSA agents were reportedly able to freely create a player account, deposit funds and play on multiple domains hosted by both offshore operators. A number of other severe breaches were noted by the regulator, such as a lack of visible age verification in place and the option to pay in crypto – a major red flag when it comes to facilitating money laundering.

Dishing out the fines, the regulator has based the amount on the turnover of both parties, adding that they would’ve been much higher if it wasn’t for the current maximum cap of 10% on turnover set within Dutch legislature.

Fortaprime has been handed a bill for €1.8m (£1.6m), while Novatech was..

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Spain has raised concerns over a noticeable growth in the number of women engaging in online gambling.

New insights published on 2024 data by the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), Spain’s Directorate of Gambling, recorded a 23% increase in the number of female players, representing the addition of almost 64,000 new women engaging in online gambling over the course of a single year.

Deeper analysis points to the Ministry’s concern that 60% of the total segment are aged under 35. The DGOJ was instructed to explain why it had recorded such an exceptional trend in 2024, and whether it reflects an anomaly in Spanish gambling participation or signals a structural shift in player demographics.

As cited: “The number of female players increased by 23.53%, meaning that almost 64,000 more women gambled online in Spain. This percentage is also higher than the growth in the number of male players during that same period.”

The Directorate under..

Greece will enact sweeping reforms to its criminal and gambling laws to enable the government and authorities to prosecute illegal gambling operators and their respective criminal networks.

The mandate, pledged by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, introduces a draft framework of “interventions required to strengthen the Greek state and economy against the threats of black market gambling”.

Presenting the bill, Pierrakakis stated: “Illegal gambling deprives the Greek state of significant public revenue, undermines licensed businesses and exposes citizens – especially young people – to environments without protection or transparency. This intervention strengthens the institutional shield of the country.”

Kyriakos Pierrakakis

As previously cited by the FM, government data indicates that nearly 800,000 citizens engaged in illegal gambling in 2024, generating an estimated €1.67bn in turnover and depriving the state of approximately €400m in annual revenues.
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TonyBet has once again found itself in hot water after the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch Gaming Authority, contacted the operator due to a marketing incident where advertising was displayed to vulnerable groups.

The Lithuania-based business, whose sponsored adverts on YouTube were pulled by the Irish Advertising Standards Authority (IASA) just over a week ago due to a breach in regulations, encountered a system error and mistakenly sent promotional emails to young adult customers on two separate occasions.

Betcity and Kansino were also in breach of marketing rules, after the former displayed a marketing message through its gaming interface to all players, including young adults, and the latter was found to have displayed gambling advertisements within mobile gaming applications.

Under Dutch gambling regulations, operators are prohibited from targeting vulnerable players, including young adults aged 18-24 and individuals exhibiting signs of risky gambling behaviour.

The rule..

Denmark has pressed ahead with proposals to tighten gambling advertising restrictions, expected to come into force between this July and January 2027.

Sponsored by Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, Danish Minister of Taxation, the reform package aims to limit gambling ads with measures similar to other EU markets like the Netherlands and Bulgaria, including a whistle-to-whistle ban and public placement.

The most prominent change will introduce a time window within which gambling ads will be prohibited from airing on TV and streaming platforms during live sporting events, as well as ten minutes before and after the event.

“The reason why the ban will only apply to live transmissions is that it is only in that context that it is relevant to advertise gambling,” the proposal reads. “For example, it would not be relevant to place a bet during a sports match on, for example, the next yellow card if the match is transmitted late or after the match has ended.”

In-stadium promotions and sports sponso..

Meta has again been slammed for allowing illegal gambling operators to advertise on its platform – this time in the Netherlands.

Dutch gambling’s trade body, Vergunde Nederlandse Online Kansspelaanbieders (VNLOK), has warned that illegal providers continue to reach players in the country “on a large scale” via the social media brand’s platforms.

Analysis of Meta’s ads library from VNLOK between October 2025 and December 2025 revealed that “more than 95% of the gambling promotions found—both Facebook pages and advertisements” were from black market operators. Only a small portion of these ads were removed by Meta, with the association calling for “faster and more robust measures” as a result.

This criticism intensifies pressure on Meta after comments by the UK Gambling Commission’s Executive Director Tim Miller to industry stakeholders at ICE last week. He said he has seen more adverts for illegal online casinos appearing on their brand platforms using ‘not on GamStop’ signage to tar..