Compliance – Page 3

November 28, 2022

Dutch operators under tax investigation for pre-2021 activities

The Dutch government has published a memo revealing that – as of last year – eight operators were under tax investigation for their activities in the country before it regulated online gambling, with authorities planning to look into seven more.

The memo was dated 28 October 2021 – four weeks after the Dutch online gambling market launched. The memo was written by the Corporate Service for Professional Technology (CD VT) within the Tax and Customs Administration and was sent to “Dutch online gambling companies”.

It was revealed last week following a freedom of information request.

The memo said that – prior to the launch of regulated online gambling – a number of operators made money from the Netherlands that should have been subject to tax, but that these taxes were not paid.

These companies, it said, were in practice based in the Netherlands but on paper were listed as being from other countries in order to escape taxes.

In particular, the companies with unpaid tax bills were t..

November 22, 2022

Industry slams NYT sports betting coverage

On Sunday, the New York Times (NYT) published an article on sports betting lobbying efforts, which has been criticised by industry trade groups and individuals as including “several mischaracterisations”.

Titled “Cigars, Booze, Money: How a Lobbying Blitz Made Sports Betting Ubiquitous”, the article makes the argument that the gambling sector “got their way with lawmakers after showering them with donations, gifts and dubious arguments”.

This assertion has been criticised by a number of US-based trade organisations, who pointed to the already stringent regulatory environment and the industry-wide commitments to responsible gaming.

Criticised by trade bodies

In a statement published on LinkedIn, the American Gaming Association (AGA) said that the NYT had made “several mischaracterisations” in the article, and emphasised that there is a high standard for obtaining gaming licences in the US.

“As unapologetic advocates for our industry, the AGA engages with the New York Times and any..

November 15, 2022

SportNation and RedZone to cease trading in UK

Esports Entertainment Group (EEG)-owned brands SportNation and RedZone will cease trading in the UK from 30 November 2022.

SportNation and RedZone both said the sites were “closing for a variety of reasons including the economics of operating a small igaming business in the UK market”.

Users will be able to place bets and use their accounts will normal functionality until 30 November – after which they will be able to login to withdraw funds from 7 December, when the final closure is due to take effect.

Following this, there will be another seven-day period where the operator will process requests to withdraw funds of any amount over £1. From 14 December, SportNation and RedZone stated that “should any customer balances remain, we will continue to comply with requests for refunds of such balances to the extent required by law and in accordance with our terms and conditions”.

The operator has said that it intends to keep possession of customer data for five years following the clos..

November 14, 2022

DSWV partners IBIA to protect sporting integrity

The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in an effort to protect sports integrity.

Under the arrangement, the DSWV and IBIA will work in partnership and coordinate their activities on betting and related integrity issues in Germany.

The two associations will bring together their expertise on activities aimed at promoting a viable regulated sports betting market in the country that has high consumer channelling and related consumer, sports and operator integrity protection measures.

“The partnership between the DSWV and IBIA is another welcome step forward for the German sports betting industry,” DSWV president Mathias Dahms said. “With its many years of international experience and expertise in the field of sports integrity, the IBIA will support us in strengthening the regulated market and protecting it from manipulation.

“We therefore look forward to many joint projects..

November 9, 2022

Voters reject both California sports betting proposals

Two different measures to legalise sports betting in California have both been defeated.

While vote counting is ongoing, the Associated Press has already called both races, with the proposals set to be defeated.

The failures of both the tribal-backed Proposition 26 and commercial-supported Proposition 27 leaves unclear the future of sports betting in California, which is the most populous state in the US.

As of 5am ET, Proposition 27 stood at 16.4% for and 83.6% opposed with 38% of votes counted so far. This compares with its rival ballot measure, which is behind 70.7% to 29.3%, also with 38% of votes counted according to data supplied by the New York Times.

The failures of both proposals is a major setback in the expansion of sports betting in the US, which has exploded in the years since the Supreme Court ruling on Murphy vs NCAA repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), allowing sports betting to spread across the country.

The campaigning on ..

November 9, 2022

Flutter CEO: Gambling Act white paper likely pushed back to 2023

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said that he thinks that the Gambling Act white paper is most likely to be delayed until next year, as he suspects new ministers will wish to “make their mark” on the document.

Speaking at Flutter’s Q3 earnings call, Jackson said he could not predict the the Gambling Act white paper timeline with any confidence, given that its release had repeatedly been pushed back by personnel changes in government and at the Gambling Commission. However, he said he would think its release was more likely to be in 2023 than this year.

“I don’t know if I can really comment on timing because I’ve tried to comment for the last two years and keep getting it wrong, so I might have lost some credibility there,” he said. “But I suspect it’ll end up coming out after Christmas as there isn’t much time now before Christmas.

“The new ministers I think will want to make their mark on it.”

Gambling Act review delays

The white paper is the next phase in the Gambling Act r..

November 3, 2022

Taking cover: How to handle bettors’ sensitive data

The popularity of legal sports betting and igaming has quickly spread. But challenges have surfaced in issues related to intellectual property, data protection and security. Russell Karp of DataArt explains how sportsbooks can manage and secure their data to overcome these challenges.

Nowadays, data collection, reporting and protection are as urgent as ever. These issues often intertwine with compliance within and across jurisdictions. With a mound of information to manage, operators must put extra effort into ensuring that bettors’ data is secure both on sportsbook platforms and mobile apps. So how can a sportsbook manage and protect data?

Data Management

Three of the most common data management challenges for sportsbooks include:

The inability to load high volumes of transactional data from gaming machines to legacy systems due to formatting and support issues. Many legacy systems exist in silos and don’t communicate well with other technologies, making it difficult to manage and..

November 3, 2022

Austrac orders SportsBet and Bet365 to conduct money laundering audits

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) has ordered an audit of both Bet365 and Flutter-owned SportsBet, to determine if the operators have broken money laundering rules.

If SportsBet or Bet365 is found to be non-compliant with the rules, Austrac may then take further action, such as a court-ordered fine.

Austrac, a government body focused on money laundering, noted the action was “the result of an extensive supervisory campaign that assessed entities within the corporate bookmaker sector and follows the recent commencement of an investigation into Entain”.

The auditors will examine compliance with four areas of money laundering laws.

The first is whether the two operators adopted and maintained “an AML/CTF programme that has risk-based systems and controls in place to effectively identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks”.

They will next look at whether the operators conducted proper money laundering risk assessments.

November 2, 2022

EU ups money laundering risk from online gambling to highest level

The European Commission has raised the threat level for money laundering in online gambling to its highest possible rating, and called for lower thresholds for due diligence checks to prevent criminal activity.

The European Commission carries out periodic supra-national risk assessments, determining the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing across the European Union in various sectors. The 2022 edition is the third such risk assessment, after previous versions in 2017 and 2019.

“As with the previous reports, this third edition analyses the present ML/TF risks and proposes comprehensive action to address them,” the European Commission said. “It also assesses the degree to which the Commission’s recommendations for mitigating measures in the 2019 report have been implemented and evaluates the remaining risks.”

One area of particular focus in the report was gambling, with each gambling vertical receiving its own risk assessment.

Online gambling was found to be especially vu..

October 25, 2022

American Gaming Association CEO on the rebirth and renewal of US gambling

Bill Miller could argue that his tenure has seen the most transformative period for the gaming industry since the American Gaming Association was established in 1995. He talks to Robin Harrison about sports betting, gaming expansion, Covid-19, safer gambling and the illegal market in this exclusive interview.

When Bill Miller took charge of the American Gaming Association (AGA) in January 2019, the US commercial gaming industry was poised for a period of explosive growth.

Legal sports betting, thanks to the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), was rapidly spreading across the US.

The industry as a whole posted its fifth consecutive year of revenue growth for that year, with 2019’s total breaking records at $43.6bn.

The industry generated $10.2bn in gaming taxes for state and local governments with 21 of 25 commercial gaming states posting year-on-year revenue growth. This sum covers annual education costs for 832,000 elementary and secondary scho..

October 21, 2022

Belgium’s €200 loss limit comes into force

Belgium’s new €200 weekly loss limit has officially come into effect, three months after a royal decree on the subject was published.

The lower limit was announced in July by a royal decree, having been put forward by minister of justice Vincent Van Quickenborne.

Previously, net deposits were limited to €500 per week, after an April 2020 decree.

The limit will continue to apply on a per-site basis, after attempts to introduce a “global” limit – to apply across all operators – fell through.

Players may request to have their limit raised, but only if they are not registered as defaulters with the Central Individual Credit Register of the National Bank.

“It is always possible for players to request a lower personal limit from the operators,” the Belgian Gaming Commission said. “To keep gambling fun, it is recommended to spend no more than 5% of income on gambling.”

Belgium is also hoping to implement a complete ban on all non-lottery gambling ads, a measure that has been the source ..

October 4, 2022

Italy to raise betting taxes this month

Italy’s new legislative decree on sports betting – featuring a tax rise, but no new tax on turnover – is set to come into force on 28 October, having been published in the country’s official gazette.

Under Italy’s previous sports betting law, retail betting revenue was taxed at 18%, while online revenue was taxed at 22%. However, under these new rules, the tax on retail betting revenue was increased to 20%, while for online it will be 24%.
Previously, Italy had considered introducing an additional 1% turnover tax instead, but this plan was scrapped.

The law will also introduce a €1 minimum bet, while winnings for any fixed-odds bet will be capped at €50,000.

These new rules will come into force on 28 October, which will be 30 days after their publication in the Official Gazette. They will cover any fixed-odds bets on events other than horse racing, including non-sporting events approved by the Italian Customers and Monopoly Agency.

Italian sports betting in recent years has been he..

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Tag: Compliance