SBC News

Febraban, Brazil’s Federation of Banks, has urged the government to accelerate the planned ban on using credit cards for betting and gaming activities.

The call is led by Isaac Sidney, President of Febraban, who expressed concerns to the federal government about the growing use of credit cards for betting, warning of the risks of debts being accrued by citizens.

Currently, the government and related agencies are in the licensing phase to launch Brazil’s federal fixed-odds sports betting and online gambling marketplace, commonly referred to as Bets.

Planned to take effect from 1 January 2025, the launch of the Bets market will prohibit credit card transactions for online gambling. The Ministry of Finance announced in April that the new rule also prohibits payments made in cash, bank slips, cheques, cryptocurrencies, or any methods that hide the source of funds.

“We are very concerned about how much this could compromise family income and increase defaults, potentially raising the co..

Dutch healthcare research agency ZonMw has put out a call to hand out grants for a new study surrounding the prevention of gambling harms.

The study calls for researchers committed to improving care for those suffering from problem gambling harms by increasing the number of treatment options and simplifying the access to relevant services.

Zon, or ZorgOnderzoek Nederland, is an independent government body established by law with the ZON Act from 1998. ZonMw constitutes a working relationship between Zon and one of its main contractors – the Dutch Research Council – which began in 2001.

The latest grant round is the second from ZonMw’s “Prevention of Gambling Addiction” programme, which was launched in 2023 and will run until 2029. The funding comes from the Verslavingspreventiefonds (VPF) – also known as the Addiction Prevention Fund.

Managed by the Dutch gambling authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the VPF was set up with the enforcement of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act) ba..

The Ministry of Finance of Brazil has declared that, from 1 October, it will suspend all businesses that have failed to apply for licence authorisation to participate in the forthcoming Bets market.

This hard deadline forms part of plans to launch the Bets market on 1 January 2025, under the federal framework to regulate and licence fixed-odds betting and online gambling in Brazil.

As announced: “Only companies that are already operating and have requested authorisation by 30 September 2024 may continue to operate until December 2024. By 1 January 2025, only fully compliant companies can continue operations.”

On 20 August, the federal government management office of SIGAP closed the preliminary licence application window for the Bets market, which saw 113 businesses apply for licensing.

The licence applications are currently being reviewed by the Secretariat of Betting and Prizes (SPA), ensuring that businesses meet the technical requirements of the Bets market.

Regis Dudena, Gene..

Sky Betting and Gaming (Sky Bet) has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for unlawful data processing practices.

This morning, the ICO revealed that following an investigation, it had concluded that Sky Bet had processed personal data through advertising cookies without providing users’ consent.

The investigation was launched following a complaint submitted to the ICO by gambling reform campaigners Clean Up Gambling.

The complaint, which was publicised by the Financial Times and Daily Mail, accused Sky Bet of illegally gathering data to build “detailed and intimate profiles of individuals, often without their knowledge.”

Clean Up Gambling’s complaint demanded that the ICO investigate whether Sky Bet was deliberately using personal data without consent to target vulnerable gamblers – “such profiles include indicators of personal vulnerability and addictive behaviours, which can then be used to target the most vulnerable.”

The ICO investigation found that..

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published wave-1 datasets of Year-2 (2024) of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) providing statistics on gambling participation.

The redesigned survey forms part of the Gambling Commission’s new operating structure monitoring UK gambling prevalence and activities under a new methodology and approach to data collection.

As previously noted, the Commission supports a new survey “to establish a new baseline for understanding gambling behaviours in Great Britain.”

The Commission stands by its new methodology to provide the most comprehensive evaluation of gambling participation undertaken by a regulatory authority.

For 2024, wave-1 datasets on gambling participation have been published for fieldwork conducted on a sample size of 5191 adults aged 18+, by the National Centre of Social Research (NatCen) for the period of January-to-April.

Once more, the Commission reminds stakeholders that datasets of the GSGB are not comparable with previo..

Finland’s government has been advised to maintain an open approach to marketing and customer incentives as it begins its roadmap to launch a new gambling regime in 2027.

The recommendation comes from the European Gaming Betting Association (EGBA), the Brussels-based trade group promoting unified standards for regulated European gambling markets.

The EGBA welcomes Finland initiating a timeframe of 2024 to 2026 to launch its new gambling regime, ending its status as the “only EU member state with a monopoly system for online gambling.” The trade body welcomes Finland’s shift towards a multi-licensing approach for online gambling as a positive change.

Proceedings began in July with the Ministry of the Interior launching a consultation seeking feedback on how to structure Finland’s online gambling market to ensure consumers are protected from harm.

The EGBA supports the decision to withdraw state-owned monopoly operator Veikkaus Oy from Finland’s new online gambling marketplace in 2027..