Legal & compliance – Page 21

October 4, 2022

Italy avoids turnover tax on betting

Italy’s new legislative decree on sports betting – which will not contain the tax on turnover that had been proposed – is set to come into force on 28 October, having been published in the country’s official gazette.

Under these new rules, the tax on retail betting revenue will be 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 heavily impacted by the introduction of a total marketing ban in 2019. This ban, referred to as the “dignity decree”, has bee..

September 30, 2022

Dutch market an early success, but true battles are ahead

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle says that the first year following the Dutch market launch has been an overwhelming success in channelisation terms, but tinkering with the formula could put all of that at risk.

In terms of the actual act of getting sites online and ready to take customers’ bets, the launch of the Dutch online market was a bit of a mess.

A technical hitch with self-exclusion scheme Cruks meant that sites were not permitted to launch on 1 October as expected, going live a day later instead. This, of course, followed a number of other delays for a variety of reasons.

But if we’re talking about the general performance in the months after opening up, the Dutch market looks to have been a success.

The country exceeded its three-year channelisation target within year one. Figures released today by regulator de Kansspelautoriteit – one day before the first anniversary of that launch – reveal that 85% of Dutch players are gambling within the licensed market.

Much of the reason f..

September 29, 2022

Danish regulator cancels one of two injunctions against Tipwin

Danish regulator Spillemyndigheden has cancelled a money laundering injunction it issued against Tipwin earlier this year, but left a second injunction against the operator in place.

In June, the regulator said it had reported Tipwin to local police and issued injunctions over failings in the anti-money laundering efforts undertaken at its retail betting shops.

The regulator said the business had breached two different sections of the Danish Money Laundering Act: Section 7, which deals with risk assessments, and Section 8, about policies and practices for staff to detect possible cases of money laundering.

However, after what Spillemyndigheden described as “careful consideration”, it cancelled the injunction that related to Section 8. It said that, as Tipwin’s staff that should have been responsible for these practices were outsourced, the operator did not commit a failing here. However, it did note that the failings would be covered by a different section of the Act: Section 24.

U..

September 26, 2022

World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

It's a busy episode this week, with Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden looking at the NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil's election.

The dynamic duo kick off by discussing sports betting activity around the National Football League’s kickoff on 8 September. This season is set to be the biggest ever for sports betting; 46.6 million Americans plan to place a bet during the season.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

However, there are some issues emerging on where bets can be placed – the league is trying to prevent betting on match days.

There’s also some intrigue around the Wire Act, in the wake of a Rhode Island District Court judge ruling that the Department of Justice must formally state that it only applies to sports betting. Could this provide much-needed clarity after an attempt to enforce the act across all forms of gambling?

Does this mean the issue is dead and buried? Brandt is confident, but Brendan is not so sure.

Further afield, Brazil is preparing to go to the polls in a ..

September 23, 2022

Sweden to open applications for B2B licences on 1 March

Sweden will open its application process for B2B supplier licences on 1 March 2023, regulator Spelinspektionen has announced, despite the fact the bill to implement these licences has not yet passed the legislature.

Currently, the bill to implement gambling software licences has not yet become law. The measure was proposed by the government in an effort to increase the level of channelisation in the Swedish market, but has not yet gone to a vote in the Riksdag.

While the results of Sweden’s recent election mean that the government that introduced the bill no longer holds a majority, Spelinspektionen said it was still working to ensure the bill could come into effect as planned if it is passed. The text of the bill says that the new licence regime will come into force on 1 July 2023.

In order to do this, it has now said that it will open applications for licences from 1 March 2023 and encouraged suppliers to prepare applications to be submitted from this date.

The regulator said the..

September 21, 2022

German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

The German supreme court for administrative matters, the Federal Administrative Court, has ruled that municipalities will no longer be able to levy a betting shop tax.

A lawsuit had been originally brought about by the bookmakers that operated betting shops in the German city of Dortmund. Since 2014, the city had been levying a municipal tax based on the dimensions of the physical area of the betting shop – which was defined as areas where bets were processed and monitored. The tax was designed to be passed directly onto consumers.

However, in 2017 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the tax could not be based on the area of the shop, leading to the city rewriting the statute as a 3% stake tax – this was in addition to the federally imposed 5% stake tax for sports betting.

Following this, the Münster Higher Administrative Court allowed an appeal about whether this tax by multiple levels of government was inadmissible due to similarities with taxes imposed under the Lottery A..

September 21, 2022

Betway fined £400,000 for marketing on “children’s webpages”

Online gaming operator Betway has been fined £408,915 ($463,178/ €467,776) by the Gambling Commission for marketing on “children’s webpages”.

The regulator determined that the Super Group-owned brand was marketing on the children’s pages of the West Ham United Football Club’s website, breaching Commission rules on socially responsible advertising.

The Commission said that the operator’s logo – which linked to its website – appeared on a page on the West Ham site which offered the option of printing off a picture of a teddy bear for children to colour in. It was visible on this page between 14 April 2020 and 6 November 2021.

Additionally, between 24 October 2021 and 15 November 2021, a similar logo that linked to Betway’s homepage was featured on the “Young Hammers at Home” page of the club’s site.

GC director of enforcement, Leanne Oxley, said the regulator had no reason to believe Betway was targeting children deliberately, but that the rule breach was still serious.

“Protecting ..

September 20, 2022

Dutch regulator issues 21st online licence

Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued its 21st online gambling licence, to a business known as Smart Gaming BV.

As yet, little information has been provided about Smart Gaming, which is registered in the Dutch town of Aalsmeer.

The KSA said that it will list the domain name that the business will use as soon as this is known, but Smart Gaming has not yet submitted the domain it intends to use.

The business is the 21st operator to receive a licence to operate in the Dutch online gambling market. It follows the ComeOn Group, which announced that it would launch its flagship ComeOn brand in the Netherlands after receiving a licence last week.

Also last week, the KSA launched a gambling harm prevention research programme, developed by Hague-based health organisation ZonMw. It said that the aim of the scheme will be to gather new knowledge on the prevention and treatment of gambling addiction and gambling-related harms, so it can be formed into new treatment measures.
..

September 16, 2022

Rumour Truss will scrap gambling review may be bad news, analyst warns

Regulus Partners analyst Dan Waugh warned against the industry celebrating rumours new prime minister Liz Truss would abandon the Gambling Act review, instead arguing the news may be “worst outcome for industry”.

A report from Guardian chief political correspondent Jessica Elgot concerning general government plans to scrap a number of legislative proposals noted “rumours” that the Gambling Act review was among the proposals that could be axed.

Long-delayed process

The Gambling Act review has been in motion since late 2020, having initially been on the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019.

However, various delays have meant that a white paper outlining the government’s wish list for reforms has still not been published.

A major factor in the repeated delays appeared to have been changes in personnel, with four different ministers having overseen the legislation since it began.

Chris Philp, who at the time was responsible for the review, said in his July resignation letter that th..

September 13, 2022

Operators challenge German sports betting proximity ban

The constitutional court in the German state of Baden-Württemberg will hear a case from four operators challenging a ban on operating sports betting facilities in the same building as casinos and gaming halls.

Section 21 (2) of Germany’s First State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV) prohibits sports betting and casino activities from taking place in the same building.

Germany’s Fourth State Treaty on Gambling came into force in July 2021.

The complaint states that administrative courts did not provide adequate protection for operators that had sports betting facilities in the same building as casino activities, when the GlüStV and, subsequently, section 21 (2) was enacted.

The complaint also cites a lack of temporary protection.

Section 42 (1) of the LGüG – Baden-Württemberg’s state-level gambling act, which was brought in in 2012 – states that gambling facilities must be at least 500 meters apart, measured from entrance door to entrance door.

The complaint will be discussed on 21 Nove..

September 5, 2022

FanDuel mobile and retail sports betting live in Kansas

FanDuel has launched its sports betting offerings in Kansas, in the form of an app as well as a retail sportsbook in conjunction with Boyd Gaming.

Kansas bettors can now place wagers on the online FanDuel Sportsbook, and can download its official app.

Alongside mobile sports betting, FanDuel has also opened a temporary retail sportsbook with Boyd Gaming at the Kansas Star Casino, with the grand opening of the permanent venue at the casino scheduled for 8 September.

The ceremony will see NFL wide receiver Jordy Nelson place the ceremonial first bet.

The retail sportsbook at the Kansas Star will feature four betting windows, 28 HD televisions and 20 self-service betting kiosks.

Kansas has become the latest US state FanDuel’s mobile betting app is live in, after most recently launching in Wyoming and Louisiana in March and January respectively.

Currently, FanDuel has 51% total market share in the US, according to parent company Flutter’s recently released Q2 results.

Last month, Fa..

September 2, 2022

Brazilian operators risk being punished for government inaction

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle argues that Brazil’s latest crackdown on sponsorship punishes operators that believed they had a clear pathway to launching before the winter.

Five matches into the season, the Premier League – and European club football in general – is well and truly back.

But the big moment of anticipation in the football world this year is still to come, when those domestic leagues will, of course, stop this winter, for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

However excited those in Europe may be, surely no nation can match Brazil in its enthusiasm for the World Cup.

So naturally, the event has long been the circled date on the calendar for the launch of regulated sports betting in Brazil.

Operators had surely hoped that the months in the build-up to the event would be a time to prepare to get their licensed operations up and running, putting the finishing touches in place to take bets on the World Cup.

But instead, it might be close to the exact opposite.

With the opening match n..

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Tag: Legal & compliance