Legal & compliance – Bookielink

October 1, 2024

Episode 34: Football returns, DC gets in the game and more

Welcome back to the World Series of Politics! This week Brandt Iden and Brendan Bussmann guide you through the early weeks of the NFL’s $35bn season and Washington DC sports betting finally getting competitive.

If that’s not enough we’ve also got Missouri sports betting confirming its place on the ballot and some rumblings about Arkansas igaming. Arkansas sports betting – limited to one casino and two racinos – hasn’t quite hit the numbers so will replicating that model work for online casino?

Listen to the World Series of Politics on Apple Podcasts

We’ve got all the latest regulatory wranglings in this episode. Brendan even finds time to solve a Rubik’s cube live on air.

October 1, 2024

Influx of Brazil betting licence applications as enforcement deadline passes

With the deadline for licence applications from operators wishing to be active in Brazil during the transition period closing at 11.59pm yesterday (30 September), a late flurry has taken the total of requests to 182.
In mid-September, the Brazil government published Normative Ordinance No 1,475. This set out plans to launch enforcement action against operators that failed to submit a licence application by 1 October.

Only companies that were both already active and that had applied for a licence would be allowed to continue operating in the transition period between 1 October and 31 December. This counts down to the legal online market launch on 1 January 2025.

This is the second key licensing deadline in Brazil. The first passed on 20 August when the initial 90-day window of preference shut. The 113 operators that applied during that period ensured their applications will be processed by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) ahead of the legal market’s launch date.

The announcem..

September 30, 2024

Weekend Report: DraftKings penalty, former deputy PM talks UK election betting, David takes over at Entain

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB looks at the news that you may have missed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week, DraftKings agrees to pay $200,000 over disclosure violations, former British deputy PM speaks to the regulator about election betting probe and Stella David takes the helm at Entain.
DraftKings faces $200,000 penalty
First this week, DraftKings has agreed to pay a $200,000 (£149,251/€178,756) penalty for selectively disclosing certain material non-public information on social media accounts, instead of all investors.

In July last year, DraftKings’ public relations company published posts on LinkedIn and X, formerly Twitter, about “strong growth”. This was despite DraftKings having not released its Q2 2023 financial results. DraftKings asked for the posts to be removed but did not distribute information to investors for another week.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission hit out at DraftKings. It said such information must be made available to all inves..

September 30, 2024

Brazil bills call for spending caps among various vulnerable groups

Two new bills in Brazil aim to curb addiction and prevent gambling harms by limiting how much vulnerable groups can bet. These include the elderly and those receiving financial benefits. President Lula is expected to address these measures later this week.
Ahead of the licensed betting market’s launch on 1 January 2025, various government officials have raised concerns about the harmful social and fiscal impacts gambling could have on Brazilians.

PL 3,718/2024, presented by Senator Alessandro Vieira, and Congressman Elmar Nascimento’s PL 3,745/2024, both seek to limit how much various vulnerable members of society can gamble. Both bills were presented late last week on 26 and 27 of September.

PL 3,718/2024 would limit betting among the elderly, those registered in the active debt or credit protection registry and low-income families on the government’s CadÚnico social welfare programme.

Spending caps would be enforced once a certain amount of money is lost via betting. Additional ..

September 27, 2024

Brazil’s IBJR members agree to expedite credit card ban to October

The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) have both advised their members to bring forward their ban on gambling with credit cards. All of the IBJR's members have agreed to expedite the ban.
Published in April, Normative Ordinance No 615 banned the use of credit cards, crypto, cash, payment slips or cheques for betting when the legal Brazil online betting market goes live on 1 January 2025.

However only companies already active in Brazil that have applied for a betting licence will be able to continue operating from 1 October.

Both the ANJL and IBJR have urged their respective members to voluntarily bring forward the prohibition of credit cards after discussions with the ministry of finance. For the IBJR, which claims its members account for around 70% of the betting market in Brazil, the move is aligned with its wider objective to secure a safe betting market in the country.

Notably, the ANJL said almost a..

September 26, 2024

Former police officer jailed over £44m horse racing betting fraud

A former UK police officer has been sentenced to six years in jail for his role in a horse racing betting syndicate scam that defrauded thousands of people out of £44m (€53m/$59m).
Michael Stanley, 67, of Chatham in Kent pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to a series of fraud offences on 24 September. He admitted to operating the ‘Layzey Racing Syndicate’, a Ponzi-style scheme disguised as a horse racing betting syndicate.

The scam ran from 2013 to February 2019, claiming to be a lay betting horse racing gambling scheme. Members were invited to invest funds supposedly for collective gambling controlled by Stanley.

However, Stanley instead used new investments to pay earlier members, creating a Ponzi-type scheme. He also lied about the amount of successful gambling that took place, falsely inflated the value of investments and paid money from the scheme into his own accounts.

At its peak, the scheme had over 6,000 members, including friends and family of Stanley.

Estimated £10…

September 25, 2024

Dutch operators face player losses lawsuit dating back to 2021

Dutch advocacy organisation Gokverliesterug has initiated a class action lawsuit against a group of licensed online gambling operators in relation to their activities before being licensed in the country.
The Gokverliesterug lawsuit is seeking reimbursement on behalf of Dutch consumers for losses made prior to October 2021. The Netherlands launched its legal online gambling market on 1 October 2021 but several operators – which are now licensed – were active prior to this.

Specifically, the lawsuit names major operators such as Unibet, Bwin, PokerStars and Bet365. However, Bet365 has contacted iGB to clarify it was not active in the Netherlands prior to regulation.

Gokverliesterug states operators allowed hundreds of thousands of Dutch people to gamble prior to the legal market opening, which left many consumers without sufficient supervision and protection against problem gambling behaviours.

Gokverliesterug said it has chosen to act now following several recent rulings from Dutc..

September 23, 2024

Grupo Silvio Santos partners OpenBet for new betting brand in Brazil

Grupo Silvio Santos has announced it will partner with OpenBet for the launch of its Todos Querem Jogar (TQJ) venture in Brazil, deploying the provider’s end-to-end betting ecosystem.
The new long-term agreement will see Grupo Silvio Santos, a conglomerate that includes the Brazilian Television Network (SBT), offer OpenBet’s responsible gambling technology, its player account management (PAM) system and its managed trading services.

Grupo Silvio Santos applied for a licence on 19 August, the day before the 20 August deadline for the initial 90-day window of preference. Operators that applied for a licence during that period will be guaranteed to have their applications processed by the legal market launch date of 1 January 2025.

The TQJ platform will aim to leverage Grupo Silvio Santos’ extensive media reach, with the conglomerate claiming its shows on SBT reach over 113 million Brazilians every month with an average per day viewership exceeding 29 million.

José Roberto Maciel, Grup..

September 17, 2024

ICO investigates Sky Bet for unlawfully processing player data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reprimanded Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, for an outdated cookie policy that players couldn't opt out of.
The ICO found Sky Bet had used cookies to collect player data and share it with various marketing platforms before players were able to provide their consent and opt in or out of advertising cookies.

A complaint from campaign group Clean Up Gambling was submitted to the ICO, sparking an investigation into whether the Flutter business was deliberately misusing personal data to target vulnerable gamblers.

While Sky Bet was found to have processed data in a way that was “not lawful, transparent or fair”, the ICO said it found no evidence of deliberate misuse.

ICO deputy commissioner Stephen Bonner believes the case should be a lesson to gambling operators as she urged them to reconsider how they process player data.

“Our enforcement action against Sky Betting and Gaming is a warning that there will be..

September 12, 2024

Apuesta Total CEO warns against reintroduction of consumption tax on Peru gambling

Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez has warned the Peru government against the introduction of a consumption tax on gambling operators.
Law no 31557, which looked to regulate online gaming and sports betting in Peru, came into effect on 9 February. This sets out a tax of 12% on gross gaming revenue (GGR), although legislation originally included a 1% tax on the value of every bet, or consumption tax.

That 1% consumption tax was removed from legislation in July 2021. However the Peru congress is now discussing its reintroduction, with the potential rate not yet confirmed.

Perez fears this could be hugely detrimental to the licensed gambling industry and is urging the government to reconsider. “The consumption tax is, depending of course on the percentage they will apply and depending on the base fee, very harmful for us,” Perez tells iGB. “We are trying to reach the government to talk, to explain the possible impact.

“The proposed 1% consumption tax discussed in congress was crazy beca..

September 12, 2024

Chinese Football Association bans 43 players, officials for match-fixing

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has imposed lifetime bans on 38 soccer players and five club bosses accused of gambling and match-fixing. A two-year probe found that 120 matches were compromised.
In comments on Tuesday (10 September), Zhang Xiaopeng of the Chinese ministry for public security said the investigation “uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery cases”. They involved 128 suspects and 41 clubs.

Who’s involved?

Among those banned for life are midfielder Jin Jingdao, forward Guo Tianyu and goalkeeper Gu Chao, all of China. They can no longer take part in football or football-related activities. Seventeen others received five-year bans.

In a press conference on Wednesday, South Korea’s Son Jun-Ho protested his innocence. A tearful Son said he was “dumbfounded” by the “ridiculous charges”.

“They threatened that if I didn’t admit to the charges, my wife would be arrested,” he declared. “I said I hadn’t done anything like that.”

China targets spor..

September 11, 2024

Apuesta Total CEO: There isn’t room for everyone in Peru’s regulated market

Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez expects three or four operators will dominate the newly-regulated online market in Peru, while the remaining brands will fight for single-digit market share.
Law no 31557 came into effect in Peru on 9 February of this year as the government sought to regulate online gaming and sports betting in the country.

Operators active in Peru before the announcement had until 10 March to submit a licence application. Gambling regulator Mincetur warned those who did not comply could face a fine of up to Sol990,000 (€245,394/£212,401/$257,838) or criminal prosecution.

According to the law, Mincetur will process licence applications within 30 business days of submission. Perez said operators have a 15 November deadline to submit final certifications for their platform and content. Failing to meet that deadline could result in authorisation being revoked.

During that initial window in March, 145 licence requests were submitted. Meanwhile new entrants to Peru were g..

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Tag: Legal & compliance