regulation – Page 13

October 31, 2022

Nigeria introduces new permit for offshore-licensed operators

Nigeria is set to introduce a new remote operator permit for offshore-licensed operators, allowing businesses to offer online gambling in Nigeria without a local presence.

Businesses will be eligible for a remote operator permit if they already hold a licence in another jurisdiction and wish to offer their services to Nigerian players.

It will allow operators to offer casino games, bingo, slots, sports betting and poker.

The permit will be valid for five years. Operators will pay an initial $100,000 to receive the permit, followed by fees of $50,000 in each of the next four years.

The Nigerian National Lottery Regulatory Commission will issue terms and conditions which permit-holders must adhere to.

Holders of the new permit will be allowed to offer their services in Nigeria and to advertise within the country in print media or via affiliate programmes.

Key to the new regime will be an updated tax collection system, powered by UK-based fintech company E-Technologies Global Limite..

October 26, 2022

World Series of Politics: Bill Miller of the American Gaming Association

The World Series of Politics welcomes Bill Miller of the American Gaming Association as first guest.

AGA CEO Miller joins Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden to look back on this year’s Global Gaming Expo.

American Gaming Association, G2E and illegal gambling

Miller discusses this year’s Global Gaming Expo after almost 25,000 visitors descended on the Sands Convention Centre earlier in October. He also talks about the US gaming industry’s post-Covid recovery and the threat of the illegal market.

Read his interview, published earlier this week, with iGB for more from the AGA.

Maryland sports betting

This episode also features Maryland, where lawmakers have taken a step towards launching mobile sports betting after a fraught process. There’s a wager on the line between our hosts on this one, just to up the stakes further.

Brendan also discusses the state of play for Macau casinos, where recovery has been hindered by China’s zero Covid policy.

And there’s even more intrigue aroun..

October 26, 2022

Ontario report

iGB’s new report on Ontario offers exclusive insight into Canada’s most populous province – the first to regulate betting and igaming.

When the Ontario market opened in April this year, it wasn’t quite brand new ground.

Anyone in the industry could tell you that the grey market in Canada’s largest province had been thriving for quite some time.

Still, bringing the province from grey to white offers certainty and new opportunities for many.

Six months on, we have a sense of the spoils available. Operators – excluding the lottery – brought in a combined CA$267m in the three months ended 30 September.

The biggest challenge in the province, however, may be marketing rules. Operators can offer bonuses, but may not promote them. As Marese O’Hagan writes in our progress report, that’s been difficult, but it hasn’t seriously dampened excitement about the jurisdiction.

And for now, those complying with the rules still need to compete with some unlicensed brands, which continue to do busin..

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 20, 2022

Gibraltar to replace one-size-fits-all licence fees with tiered system

Gibraltar is set to implement a new, tiered system for gambling licence fees, meaning that larger operators will pay more and smaller ones less, as part of a package of reforms for the point-of-supply market.

The British Overseas Territory launched a consultation on new licence fees, following its earlier proposal for a new Gambling Act.

Previously, operators of remote betting, remote gaming, other remote products, land-based gaming and retail betting each had to pay a £100,000 licence fee every year. B2B suppliers, meanwhile, were required to pay an £85,000 annual fee.

However, in its consultation, the government said that “licensing fees for startup operators and small operators who are building for growth can be a disproportionate cost in the early stages of the life cycle of the business”.

As a result, it opted for a new, tiered system for remote betting and gaming licences, based on annual gross gambling yield (GGY).

As operators need to apply for a separate licence for each..

October 10, 2022

World Series of Politics: Brazil, Indiana and Ontario

Just in time for G2E, iGB brings you episode five of the World Series of Politics, this week featuring Brazilian elections, Indiana online casino and Ontario's offshore issue.

We kick off by looking at Brazil, where the competing presidential candidates go into a run-off at the end of October.

This is likely to impact gambling across multiple channels. Not only sports betting may be on the line, but a reshuffling of the country’s lottery sector and even integrated resorts are being held back.

Indiana online casino is also up for discussion in this week’s episode, as US states look for new ways of finding revenue. Could this lead to a wave of igaming legislation in the remainder of 2022 and into early 2023, especially after commentators were disappointed by a lack of action in 2021?

It’s a question of tax, Brendan says. If they set the rate too high, states risk stifling the market before it can get going.

Remember, The World of Series of Politics is available on Apple Podcas..

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 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 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 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: regulation