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Colorado senators divided on whether state should ban prop bets

SBC AmericasMarch 19, 2026046 views

Colorado lawmakers, licensed sportsbooks, gaming regulators and more industry stakeholders spent four hours on Tuesday debating Senate Bill 26-131, a wide-ranging measure that aims to protect against “abusive practices” in sports betting.

Amid the lengthy debate in the Senate Finance Committee on March 17, including discussion of measures that attempt to limit sports betting advertising, one question featured prominently throughout the afternoon: Should Colorado try to ban prop betting?

Section five of SB 26-131 would explicitly prohibit any licensed online sports betting operator from offering wagers on “any outcome other than the final result or score”, regardless of whether they are placed before or during the game.

The Finance Committee ultimately passed SB 26-131 by a narrow 5-4 vote and was sent to the Appropriations Committee, but not before numerous lawmakers, as well as sportsbook representatives, expressed grave concerns.

Colorado sports betting has changed fundamentally,..

KSA provides full checklist for targeting of Dutch gambling ads

iGamingExpertMarch 19, 2026047 views

Dutch gambling licence holders have been informed of new guidelines to ensure that marketing campaigns comply with ‘targeting rules’ set by the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).

Since July 2023, the KSA has imposed a ‘ban on untargeted mass-market gambling advertising’, a policy applied across all Dutch media channels.

The ban formed part of the first revisions to the Remote Gambling Act (KOA), the legislative framework that launched the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market in October 2021.

Under strict orders, licence holders must ensure that marketing campaigns target audiences aged over 24 years old, with campaigns required to demonstrate a minimum 95% compliance threshold.

Operators must also show evidence of age-gating, audience segmentation and protective algorithms, with clear instructions that campaigns should be terminated when these compliance tools are deemed insufficient.

Since 2023, the KSA has issued penalties of €400,000 to operators, including Bingoal, Hillside ..

GamCare warns of gambling debt crisis amid another push for reforms

A.J. KoehnMarch 18, 2026049 views

More people than ever in the UK are seeking financial guidance following gambling losses, according to new data from GamCare and PayPlan.

Debt provider PayPlan reported record demand in January 2026, with 21,000 contacts across the month – a 22% year-on-year increase – as specialists flagged a growing link between debt and gambling harm.

Publication of the results comes amid political pressure mounting on the UK gaming sector once again, with MPs like Dawn Butler of the Labour Party focusing heavily on the industry’s societal impact and effect on vulnerable people.

Butler is leading a campaign for the government to scrap the ‘Aim to Permit’ rule around retail licensing, taking particular aim at Adult Gaming Centres. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Gambling Reform is also calling for another review of betting legislation, despite the last one having only concluded in 2023.

Growing demand

Meanwhile, GamCare revealed that the number of people using its Money Guidance Serv..

Paf drops mandatory annual loss limit again as Finland launch beckons

A.J. KoehnMarch 18, 2026055 views

Finnish gambling operator Paf has reduced its mandatory annual loss limit from €16,000 to €15,000, meaning it has now halved its original €30,000 annual loss cap introduced in 2018.

The move marks the latest step in a multi-year strategy to curb high-intensity play and shift towards “more sustainable revenues”.

Paf has previously stated an ambition to lower the annual loss limit further to €8,000 per year, though no timeline has been confirmed.

“We are extremely proud that, through concrete measures and long-term investments in responsible gaming, we have now managed to halve the first loss limit that was introduced in 2018,” said Christer Fahlstedt, CEO of Paf.

“It clearly shows that we are serious about our ambition to be a sustainable entertainment company. We have been clear about our ambition to take a strong stance on responsibility as a gaming company and to drive development towards a better gaming market.

“Unlike many other operators in the industry, we are also prepared..

EU courts can freeze bank accounts linked to offshore gambling

iGamingExpertMarch 17, 2026061 views

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has delivered its opinion that insolvency proceedings should enable EU states to freeze the bank accounts of non-European licensed online gambling operators.

The legal opinion, published on 5 March, was delivered by Advocate General Rimvydas Norkus in his review of Case C-716/24.

The AG was tasked with examining the interaction between “EU cross-border debt recovery and insolvency proceedings” and how certain mechanisms can be applied to offshore gambling operators operating outside of the EU’s remit.

The decision has been fuelled by a claim brought by a German player seeking to recover approximately €57,000 in online gambling losses from an operator incorporated in Curaçao. After obtaining a default judgment in Germany, the claimant applied to freeze bank accounts believed to belong to the operator in the member state of Cyprus using the European Account Preservation Orders (EAPO).

The EAPO scheme was created to enable creditors ..

CFTC notes sports integrity concerns in prediction markets guidance

SBC AmericasMarch 17, 2026047 views

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) delivered the first piece of its promised new guidance on prediction markets on Thursday, and devoted a large chunk of its public notice to highlighting how sports event contracts could be cause for integrity concerns.

In an advisory issued by the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO), the commission highlighted that one of the core principles that designated contract markets (DCMs) like Kalshi, Polymarket and Crypto.com must adhere to, Core Principle 3, is only listing contracts that “are not readily susceptible to manipulation.”

In particular, the federal derivatives regulator stressed that certain sports markets must be considered carefully as the explosion of sports event contracts continues across the U.S.

“As front-line regulators, DCMs should be proactive, ensuring proper surveillance and oversight of trading in all of the products that they list, accounting for the particular characteristics and attributes of each product,”..

Uruguay introduces bill to establish regulated online gambling market

A.J. KoehnMarch 17, 2026047 views

Uruguayan Senator Felipe Carballo has introduced legislation in the Senate of Uruguay aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for online gambling in the country.

The bill proposes the creation of a State Online Gambling Platform operated by the National Directorate of Lotteries and Pools, which would be responsible for offering, regulating and monitoring online gambling services.

Under the proposal, a new independent body – the National Online Gambling Regulatory Agency – would also be created with powers to issue licences, audit gambling platforms and algorithms, monitor financial transactions and enforce penalties against non-compliant operators.

The legislation would require all online players to register on a national database and set personalised spending limits, while ensuring financial traceability of gambling transactions. Operating an online gambling service without a licence would become a criminal offence.

“For us, this is a central issue. There have been other init..

Germany: Glücksspiel-Survey provides limp actions to fix Interstate gambling regime

A.J. KoehnMarch 13, 2026052 views

The third survey on German gambling prevalence calls for tougher monitoring of gambling environments as the Interstate regime provides stable data, but academics refuse to question unfixed liabilities.

German authorities and the Bundesländer (states) have been urged to strengthen the “Verhältnisprävention” (structural prevention) framework embedded within the Fourth Interstate Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021).

The recommendation forms the principal conclusion of the Glücksspiel-Survey 2025, conducted by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Addiction and Drug Research (ISD) and the University of Bremen. The survey is published on a bi-annual basis, with research funded by Germany’s state lottery association, the Deutscher Lotto-und Totoblock (DLTB).

The third edition of the survey concludes that the Bundesländer and the federal gambling regulator, the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), should prioritise “structural prevention rather than relying primarily on individual r..

Bipartisan Congress bill would ban political and sports event contracts

SBC AmericasMarch 12, 2026056 views

A pair of House members from Utah and California are the latest lawmakers to make a legislative attempt to change how prediction market platforms can offer event contracts.

Reps. Blake Moore and Salud Carbajal introduced the Event Contract Enforcement Act, legislation that would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to prohibit the delivery of certain event contracts to the public. The measure proposes amending the Commodity Exchange Act to ban event contracts tied to terrorism, assassinations, war, gaming, elections and government activities.

Carbajal and Moore said they introduced the act to protect Americans from safety and national security risks associated with “problematic” event contracts and to prevent sensitive information from being used for insider trading.

“Under-regulated prediction markets are creating an environment ripe for insider trading. The monetization of military activities or election processes threatens our national security and further erod..

Slovakia greenlights academic review of gambling governance

A.J. KoehnMarch 12, 2026052 views

The Faculty of Education at the University of Trnava has been enlisted to develop a new programme aimed at raising awareness of gambling risks and harms among the public, institutions and authorities of the Republic of Slovakia.

The project has been launched through a ‘memorandum of cooperation’ agreed by the university and the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Slovakia (URHH), with the aim of bringing “professional knowledge and academic training” into Slovakia’s education and government systems to minimise exposure to gambling harms.

The new initiatives will provide the faculty with access to national gambling data, enabling it to develop an educational framework for both lecturers and students.

The programme will examine key areas including gambling regulation, addiction prevention, the risks posed by digital environments and the emergence of new online gambling formats.

Academic fix

Upon completion, the University of Trnava will publish professional consultations and academic ..