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IC360’s Ilkim Hincer on why integrity is so integral to Canadian sports betting

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Canada is a sports-mad nation. Hockey is a national religion, the Toronto Blue Jays captured imaginations with their World Series run last year, this summer’s FIFA World Cup had the entire country watching, the NFL, NBA, CFL, and European soccer all have an eager following, to name but a few.

This enthusiasm for sports has paid off well for the regulated sports betting industry in Ontario. And with Alberta joining its fellow province in launching a regulated market on July 13, the same can reasonably be expected there.

With the emergence of new betting markets and continued expansion of the industry, challenges always come. The conversation around sports integrity is constant, and it has been at fever pitch since last year amid numerous high-profile incidents of alleged match-fixing in North American pro and college sports.

For integrity monitoring and compliance firm Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), preserving sports betting integrity is a way of life.

“The broader conversation g..

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Evolution and UK Gambling Commission saga ends as supplier agrees £4.75m settlement

A.J. Koehn08 views

Evolution has agreed a £4.75m settlement with the UK Gambling Commission, concluding a licence review launched in December 2024 over the availability of its content on unlicensed websites targeting British consumers.

The settlement relates to Evolution game content being available through two operators across six websites that offered content to British players without a UK licence, in breach of the supplier’s terms of supply.

According to the business, the operators had actively evaded restrictions in place at the time.

The company stressed that “no broader pattern of unlicensed access to Evolution content in the UK was identified” during the 18-month review.

Evolution said it fully cooperated with the Commission throughout the process and immediately terminated its commercial relationships with the two operators after discovering the issue.

Martin Carlesund, Chief Executive Officer of Evolution, said: “At Evolution, we always want to do what is right, and it is not acceptable t..

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FRA reaction: Gambling Commission slammed by figures in and out of the industry

A.J. Koehn011 views

Industry stakeholders from all angles have come out this week to condemn the Gambling Commission’s announcement that it is ready to impose Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) on gambling operators in the UK.

Journalists were told by the Commission in a meeting on Tuesday morning that it was ready to take a “carefully thought-out staged application” of FRAs.

The first phase of the FRA programme will apply to the “largest operators” focused on the assessment of high spend customers with a check set of £5,000 net deposits accumulated over a 24-hour period.

But many across the UK, from punters to operators and law firms to horse racing enthusiasts, have slammed the Commission’s decision to go ahead with this.

A judicial review of FRA implementation?

Sophie Kemp, Partner and Head of Public Law at London-based law firm Kingsley Napley, told SBC News that she believes that “there may be strong grounds for bringing a judicial review challenge” about the approach.

“Many in the industry vie..

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In depth: Is it time for Canadian gaming to ban credit cards?

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When U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren took to X earlier this year to denounce what she called a “$10 junk fee just to fund a $20 bet”, she was not merely chastizing payment processors. Warren was signalling that the politics of how gamblers move their money is shifting, and payment rails – once the plumbing of the industry – are becoming a stage for public scrutiny.

South of the border, it feels like a movement is happening. Most major online gambling operators have stopped accepting credit card deposits across their entire U.S. operations, including:

bet365

BetMGM

Caesars

DraftKings

FanDuel

Meanwhile, numerous states already restricted their use for some forms of gambling before 2026, and several others have passed legislation or regulations this year to ban them for online sports betting. What began as a gripe about fees has morphed into a debate about whether gambling with borrowed money should exist at all.

Last week, I asked sports betting companies about Americans getting sc..

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Why the Gambling Commission is failing to alleviate FRA black market anxiety

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The Gambling Commission’s calls for calm over the impact of Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) on the growth of the black market seem to be falling on deaf ears, as sources have emphasised to iGaming Expert that industry trepidation is only escalating.

Despite the best efforts of the GC, warnings continue to ring loudly over a lack of clarity when it comes to the implementation of FRAs.

An industry source told iGaming Expert that the move represents a ‘huge windfall’ for the illegal market, as concerns over an exodus to the black market refuse to go away for players who ‘believe they should be able to spend their money the way they want to’.

They added that the government is simply ‘doubling down’ on the stresses placed on the regulated sector by supporting FRAs after previously implementing a significant tax hike on the online gambling sector in November.

Anger from within the industry has been encapsulated by the Betting and Gaming Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Grainne Hurst,..

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Problem gambling experts detail why young men are uniquely at risk

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Read any reputable study about gambling disorders and one conclusion that will rise to the surface is that young men are perhaps the most vulnerable demographic. So why is that?

Kindbridge Behavioral Health welcomed American Institute for Boys and Men Policy Lead Jonathan D. Cohen and UCLA Clinical Professor Dr. Timothy Fong to discuss the issue on an hour-long webinar on Thursday. It yielded an insightful and thought-provoking assessment of why the modern online gambling climate contributes to what Cohen called “a toxic cocktail” of factors and hardships.

The game has changed

In short, gambling is not what it used to be. As the session’s moderator, Kindbridge’s Dr. Daniel Kaufmann, put it, gone are the days when combating difficult gambling habits meant driving home from work via a different route to avoid the casino.

“The phone is the casino now,” Kaufmann said. “And you’re not going to live life without that.”

With online sports betting apps, online casinos, prediction market p..

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Predictions, finance and a brewing storm of problem gambling

A.J. Koehn019 views

The global rise of prediction markets globally could throw a spanner in the works of gambling harm prevention and treatment programmes in countries like the UK, writes SBC News’ Editor, Ted Orme-Claye.

Driven by a combination of industry responsibility, regulatory pressure and public demand, betting companies in the UK have placed a much heavier onus on player protection, education and responsibility in recent years.

Prediction markets, however, are a relatively new phenomenon which bridge the gap between betting and financial trading – though some would argue that they are betting exchanges with a different skin.

It has also been documented that people working in financial services, particularly trading environments, may be more at risk of suffering from problem gambling and gambling-related harm than those working in other industries.

Yesterday, FT Adviser revealed that financial services and investment company Hargreaves Lansdown is asking potential investors about whether or no..

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SBC Summit preview: Player Protection Symposium agenda revealed

A.J. Koehn015 views

As expectations around player safety continue to evolve, operators face increasing pressure to detect signs of gambling-related harm earlier and implement more effective interventions. Against this backdrop, the Player Protection Symposium will examine the tools, policies, and partnerships needed to strengthen player protection efforts.

Taking place on Wednesday, 30 September, the symposium will bring together regulators, operators, responsible gambling specialists, and technology providers to examine how the industry can shift from a compliance-focused mindset to a more preventative and player-centric approach.

Through a series of expert-led discussions, the symposium will focus on three key areas of player protection: balancing regulatory objectives with efforts to combat the black market, the role operators play in safeguarding players, and the growing role of technology in identifying and supporting at-risk players.

“Gambling harm prevention is a challenge shared by every regula..

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iGaming Daily: Shawn Fluharty on Better Gambling Forum aims

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In this episode, SBC Media Director Martyn Elliott is joined by Shawn Fluharty, Chair of the Better Gambling Forum. Together, they discuss how collaboration, regulation, and innovation are shaping the iGaming sector to drive sustainability, player protection, and responsible growth. Key Topics: The mission of the Better Gambling Forum and its global approach The importance…

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