Legal – Bookielink

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 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..

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Tag: Legal