Legal – Bookielink

September 9, 2024

Brazil government preparing heavy crackdown on illegal betting payments

Pay4Fun director Ari Celia tells iGB Brazil's ministry of finance has established a new department to target black market operators. He expects Pix blocking efforts to be successful.
Brazil’s government is implementing hefty measures to prevent illegal operators from processing payments ahead of the legal betting market’s launch on 1 January 2025.

The government’s ministry of finance is setting up a team of eight civil servants who will specifically work on preventing illegal sites from taking and receiving payments, according to Celia.

The team will process complaints from the sector and seek to punish unlicensed payment providers and illegal sites.

Blocking Pix payments will be successful
One measure the government has publicly announced is blocking payments involving illegal operators made via Pix, an instant payment service controlled by the Central Bank of Brazil which the majority of the betting market uses.

Regulators in other markets like Germany and across Europe..

September 2, 2024

Federal Revenue Service to address Brazil sports betting tax concerns at CPI hearing

Special secretary of Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service Robinson Barreirinhas will appear in front of the parliamentary commission inquiry (CPI) on match-fixing to explain how sports betting tax from companies abroad will be kept in Brazil.
The special secretary will appear at the request of Carlos Portinho, who is looking to clarify how tax payments will be made across borders.

Barreirinhas will be heard this Wednesday (4 September) by the CPI on manipulation, which was set up in April to counter match-fixing on sports betting in Brazil.

As set out in Normative Ordinance No 827, operators must have a headquarters on Brazilian soil. Foreign companies are still eligible for a licence, although they must have a local subsidiary of which a Brazilian owns at least 20% of the share capital.

Businesses must also provide a joint certificate from the special secretariat of federal revenue and the attorney-general’s office of the national treasury to show they are registered to pay tax in the ..

August 30, 2024

Does Flamengo’s Flabet set a blueprint for sports teams to become betting operators?

Brazilian football club Flamengo’s new Flabet sportsbook could set a trend for other teams to become operators, according to two lawyers from Bichara e Motta Advogados.
Udo Seckelmann and Pedro Heitor de Araújo, who work in the gambling & crypto practice of Brazilian law firm Bichara e Motta Advogados, say other clubs may adopt a similar model to grow revenue.

Earlier this month, Flamengo revealed plans to launch Flabet with Pixbet, the club’s master sponsor, managing the brand. Essentially the arm’s-length agreement allows the operator to become an active participant in Brazil’s sports betting market, rather than only generating revenue through sponsorship.

The Flabet agreement lasts until 2027, with Pixbet paying Flamengo a minimum amount of BRL82.5m (£11.1m/€13.2m/$14.7m) over that timespan. The club will receive BRL10m in 2024, BRL22.5m in 2025 and then BRL25m in both 2026 and 2027.

Additionally, the club could receive a royalty fee of 1% of gross gaming revenue (GGR) if that ..

August 21, 2024

Yield Sec: Black market gambling ads present on almost half of illegal Olympic Games streams

Gambling adverts promoting black market brands appeared on 46% of all illegal streams showing coverage of this summer’s Olympic Games, more than any other industry, according to new data released by technical intelligence platform Yield Sec.
Published today (21 August), the report outlines the scale of illegal streaming of events at the Paris Olympic Games. This year’s Games ran from 26 July to 11 August.

Yield Sec estimates there were 266.7m illegal stream views of 90 seconds or more during the Olympics.

“Illegal streaming is not about getting something for nothing – it’s about the serious risks users unknowingly expose themselves to,” Yield Sec said.

“Users believe that they get premium entertainment content for ‘free’ but in fact settle their ‘bill’ through the unknowing provision of their data, devices and device processing power to illegal streamers and the often criminal groups that back them.”

Users do not get something for nothing – they are the product, Yield Sec added.
..

August 21, 2024

ACMA orders blocking of more illegal affiliate websites in Australia

The Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has asked internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to a further four illegal gambling sites.
Casino Australia Online, Pokies.bet, Pokiesman and Smart Pokies were all identified as targeting consumers illegally earlier today (21 August). The four affiliate sites promote illegal online gambling in Australia, in breach of the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act.

The Act bans products such as online casinos, online slots and in-play sports betting.

Websites may also face action for offering online gambling without an operating licence in Australia. ACMA can also block sites publishing adverts for prohibited or unlicensed gambling services.

Ongoing effort to combat illegal online gambling in Australia
ACMA began making blocking requests in November 2019. Since then it has blocked 1,026 illegal gambling and affiliate websites.

In addition to this, 220 services have exited Australia since ACMA began enforcing illegal offshore gam..

July 29, 2024

Weekend Report: Kayshon Boutte’s “dumb decision” and Betway partner Man City

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB covers the news you may have missed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week we’ve got news of Betway partnering with Premier League champions Manchester City, a bill to restrict online gambling advertising in New York and more.
NFL’s Kayshon Boutte glad to be back
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte spoke of his delight at being back to playing football after charges against him for gambling were dropped earlier this month.

Boutte was arrested in January over accusations he had placed over 8,900 bets while under the legal gambling age of 21 in his native Louisiana. However, the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division dropped those charges in July.

Speaking to reporters after the fourth day of Patriots’ training camp, Boutte labelled his actions as a “dumb decision”. He also said he was glad to be focusing on football again, admitting he needs to “stay away” from gambling.

Betway becomes global betting partner of ..

July 22, 2024

In Macau, most suspects bail out in illegal sports betting case

Prosecutors in Macau have indicted 59 people swept up in a sports betting sting earlier this month. All but two have been released on bail. The illicit operation purportedly reaped millions per week during the recent UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.
The Macau Public Prosecutions Office has indicted 59 people allegedly involved in an online sports betting ring. Two of the defendants remain under pre-trial detention. The rest have been released on bail, with orders not to leave the city.

A total of 93 people were arrested in the 2 July sting in Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong. Police seized MOP88.4m (£8.5m/€196.2m/US$11m) in cash and froze bank accounts containing MOP22.1m.

The websites, based outside Macau, took bets on football and basketball games. They reportedly generated about MOP72m per week during the recent UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.

Authorities estimate the illegal operation has pulled in more than MOP1.08bn since 2016.

Online gambling is illegal everywhere in China, including M..

June 11, 2024

How senate redistricting could make Alabama more gambling friendly

A seemingly unrelated legal battle playing out in a federal courtroom could have an impact on the future of gambling in Alabama. The case, centred on the potential redrawing of state senate districts in Montgomery and Huntsville, may hold the key to whether the state legalises casinos, sports betting, or lottery in 2025.

The backdrop for this potential shift lies in the narrow defeat of gambling legislation in the Alabama senate in April. The bill fell short of passage by a single vote.

Proponents of the legislation, which included both Democrats and Republicans, argued that casinos would generate significant tax revenue for the state, create jobs and boost tourism. The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama previously reported analysis that showed that gambling could lead to $749m in annual state revenue. Other reports put the total at as much as $1.2 bn.

On the other hand, opponents, primarily on moral grounds, expressed concerns about the potential social ills associated with..

June 5, 2024

Episode 30: Minnesota, DC, Delaware and Illinois

In the latest episode of the World Series of Politics, Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden navigate the latest updates from Minnesota, Washington DC, Delaware and Illinois.

The World Series of Politics is back after some technical hitches and we’ve got a lot to catch up on.

We begin in Minnesota. Hopes were high for the state to legalise sports betting before the close of the legislative session, but it inevitably ended without sports betting being considered. Minnesota had been one of four US states that stakeholders thought might pass sports betting legislation, alongside Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. None of them did.

A number of elements factored into Minnesota falling at the final hurdle, Bussmann highlights, one being the arrest of state senator Nicole Mitchell for burglary.

“In the end, one of the downfalls off of this was just, you had, you know, a bunch of people, some are some Ds that just didn’t want to get along at the end,” he says. And although a result was achieved in ..

June 5, 2024

Analyst warns Illinois betting tax hike could trigger similar moves in other states

The decision by lawmakers in Illinois to push ahead with an increase in sports betting tax could push other states across the US to take similar action, an analyst from consultancy B Global has warned.

Last week, the Illinois house of representatives passed a progressive wagering tax rate. This will see the state’s most prolific sports betting operators pay tax at 40%, a sharp rise from the current rate of 15%.

The new-look structure sets rates at between 20% and 40%, depending on each operator’s adjusted gaming revenue (AGR). Operators posting more than $200m (£157m/€184m) face the highest rate of 40% – the second-highest tax rate in the US behind New York at 51%.

Other boundaries include a 20% tax rate for operators with an AGR of under $30m, 25% for between 30m and $50m, 30% for AGR ranging from $50m to $100m and 35% for AGR of $100m to $200m.

The proposal, which forms part of the FY2025 budget in Illinois, is now with Illinois’ governor, JB Pritzker, for sign-off. Should Pritzk..

May 24, 2024

Delaware sports betting growth continues as expansion bill progresses

Delaware reported further year-on-year growth across sports betting handle and revenue in April, while a bill proposing plans to expand the state’s online market beyond its current monopoly has moved forward.

Introduced in April, House Bill 365 is seeking to open up the Delaware online market to more operators. This comes just months after the Delaware Lottery launched its first online sportsbook with Rush Street Interactive and BetRivers.

The Lottery’s sportsbook went live in January and has already had a marked improvement on the Delaware sports betting market. Monthly handle and revenue totals are higher, with this trend continuing into April.

Against this background of early success, lawmakers are already looking at ways to grow the market further.

At the centre of this is HB 365, which this week was assigned to the house appropriations committee. The bill had been assigned to the house administration committee upon its introduction in mid-April, but no further action was take..

May 17, 2024

Australian A-League footballers charged over alleged betting corruption

Police in New South Wales (NSW) have charged three footballers playing in the Australian A-League with alleged betting corruption linked to yellow card manipulation.

The A-League footballers, who have not been named, all play for a team located in south-west Sydney. The players have been bailed and will appear in court soon to hear more on the corruption charges.

In a statement confirming the news, the NSW police force says the arrests were made following an investigation by the organised crime squad. The investigation is into alleged betting corruption under Strike Force Beaconview.

Established in December, Strike Force Beaconview is focusing on yellow card manipulation. The State Crime Command’s Organised Crime Squad is being assisted by Great Britain’s Gambling Commission.

Investigators found a senior player was allegedly taking instructions from a man to organise for yellow cards to occur during certain games in exchange for profit. The man in question is believed to be locate..

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Tag: Legal