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Gambling ads will no longer be allowed to feature sports people or celebrities who are well-known among minors.

UK.- The UK’s Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) has announced the introduction of tough new rules for gambling ads that it says aim to safeguard young people and vulnerable audiences.

The rules will significantly impact gambling advertisers looking to promote their brands using prominent sports people and celebrities or social media influencers who appeal to under-18s.

The new rules state that gambling and lottery ads must not “be likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture”.

This is a step-change from the existing rules that gambling ads must not be of “particular appeal” to children – that is, that they must not appeal to children more than adults. The new “strong” appeal test prohibits content (imagery, themes and characters) that has a strong level of appeal to under-18s regardless of how it is viewed by adults.

In practice, this will significantly restrict the imagery and references that gambling ads will be allowed to use. CAP said this should decrease the potential for gambling ads to attract the attention of under-18s. Gambling ads will not be able to use:

Topflight footballers and footballers with a considerable following among under-18 on social media.
All sportspeople well-known to under-18s, including sportspeople with a considerable volume of under-18 followers on social media.
References to video game content and gameplay popular with under-18s.
Stars from reality shows popular with under-18s, such as Love Island.
The rules will come into effect on October 1.

CAP director Shahriar Coupal said: “The days of gambling ads featuring sports stars, video game imagery and other content of strong appeal to under-18s are numbered. By ending these practices, our new rules invite a new era for gambling ads, more particular to the adult audience they can target and more befitting of the age-restricted product they’re promoting.”

CAP added: “In October 2020, CAP launched a consultation to respond to GambleAware’s Final Synthesis Report: The impact of gambling marketing and advertising on children, young people and vulnerable adults. The findings of this report indicated that regulatory changes would help continue to protect under-18s from gambling-related advertising harms.

“Our gambling advertising rules have always placed a particular emphasis on protecting young and vulnerable people and we will continue to review our rules, policies and guidelines to make sure that they are effective.”

Betting and Gaming Council welcomes new ad rules
The Betting and Gaming Council, the gambling industry lobby group, has welcomed the changes and again stressed the commitment of licensed operators to responsible gambling.

CEO Michael Dugher said: “The BGC supports these changes not least because they build on a whole range of measures we have led in recent times to drive up standards and ensure further protections in advertising.

“In 2019, BGC members introduced the whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting commercials during live sport before the 9pm watershed, which led to the number of such ads being seen by young people at that time falling by 97 per cent. Our members also introduced new age gating rules on advertising on social platforms, restricting the ads to those aged 25 and over for most sites.

“It is worth remembering that according to the Gambling Commission, the proportion of young people who gambled in a previous seven day period fell from 23 per cent in 2011 to 11 per cent in 2019. The most popular forms of betting by young people are playing cards, scratchcards, bets between friends and fruit machines – not with BGC members. The BGC take a zero tolerance approach to gambling by those under the age of 18 and we enforce the toughest possible action.

“The regulated betting and gaming industry is determined to promote safer gambling and greater customer protection – unlike the unsafe and growing online black market, which has none of the safeguards that apply and will apply to BGC members.”

GambleAware, the industry-supported responsible gambling charity, also welcomed the changes. Its research contributed to the decision to introduce the new measures.

Chief executive Zoe Osmond said: “We are pleased to see this proactive measure to protect under-18s from exposure to gambling adverts. We are also delighted that GambleAware’s research led to these steps being taken. Our research, published in 2020, showed that 94 per cent of 11-17-year-olds in Great Britain had been exposed to gambling adverts in the last month, seeing six adverts on average.

“Nearly two thirds of this group had seen gambling adverts on social media, while nearly half had seen sports teams, games or events sponsored by a gambling operator.”

Meanwhile in France, the ANJ has called on operators to do more to reduce the intensity of advertising, and in the Netherlands, the government is looking at introducing controls to limit advertising due to a spike in ads after the launch of regulated online gambling.

The undersecretary for sports Valentina Vezzali wants a permanent extension of the temporary turnover tax introduced in 2020.

Italy.- Back in 2020, Italy introduced a temporary 0.5 per cent tax on sports betting turnover designed to help boost the recovery of the country’s sports in the wake of Covid-19. Now undersecretary for sports Valentina Vezzali wants to bring in a permanent 1 per cent tax on revenue.

She’s gained the ear of Italy’s fiscal ministries and secured a meeting to examine her proposal with representatives from Italy’s treasury, the Customs and Monopolies Agency, ADM, which regulates gambling, the ministries of Economic Development, Labour Policy, Finance Commission, and the Income Revenue Office.

Italian media reports that there will be another meeting in two weeks’ time, with the ministries to present individual proposals on the tax. It’s reported that a 1 per cent tax on betting revenue would give the treasury an additional €160m in betting duties on top of the €500m it collects through fixed duties of 18 per cent for retail and 22 per cent for online.

The temporary 0.5 per cent betting levy approved for 18 months back in 2020 in Italy’s Covid-19 Revival Decree raised €90m.

The latest figures show annual sports betting, virtual games and horseracing betting turnover of €16bn in Italy. The industry claims that the proposed tax would mean a 10 to 20 per cent drop in revenue, which would cause licensed bookmakers to offer less favourable prices, pushing more players to the black market.

Plans revealed for overhaul of Italian gambling market
In February, the Ministry of Economy and Finance drafted a preliminary reorganisation plan to revamp market safeguards in Italy’s betting market. It came as operators continued to wait for a definitive answer from the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) on licence expirations.

The ministry proposes three key objectives: “minimising problem gambling, terminating black market activities and optimising tax incomes from licensed businesses”.

The plan mentions reducing stake and win limits, but does not go into detail on the amounts or what verticals they would apply to. It also wants to impose a central player registry with which all problem-gambling self-exclusion schemes and licensed operators must integrate

The bill has been approved by the Minnesota House Tax Committee.

US.- The Minnesota House Tax Committee has voted 13-5 to advance a sports betting bill that would legalise online and retail sports betting at tribal casinos. HF 778 had already been approved by the House Judiciary, Finance and Civil Law Committee and the Commerce, Finance and Public Policy and State Government Finance Committees. It now heads to the Ways and Means Committee.

If the bill introduced by Rep. Zack Stephenson passes through that fifth committee, it can be discussed on the House floor. If it’s passed by the house, the State Senate will also then need to approve an identical form of the bill. Finally, Governor Tim Walz would also have to sign off.

If approved, the bill would allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and create up to two 20-year master online sports betting licences to organisations comprising two or more Minnesota Indian Tribes. The bill sets the minimum age for participation at 21.

The initiative proposes a 10 per cent tax rate for mobile bets made off tribal land. Stephenson and state representative Pat Garofalo have estimated tax revenue at $20m. Of the revenues collected by the state, 40 per cent would go toward addressing problem gambling, 40 per cent to youth sports with an emphasis on areas with high juvenile crime, and 20 per cent to regulatory efforts and ensuring athletic integrity.

Stephenson estimates that about $2bn is wagered illegally in the state each year, and he believes a regulated market would be better for residents.

Andy Platto, the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association has reiterated tribes’ support for Stephenson’s bill. However, Sam Krueger, executive director of the Electronic Gaming Group, opposes the amount of influence the tribes have on the bill and Rep. Peggy Scott has expressed concerns that the bill does not list the extent of criminal and civil penalties for tribes or individuals who break sports betting regulations.

The game content aggregation software has passed a technical and security certification to offer services in the regulated market of Spain.

Press release.- After having passed a technical and security certification, SOFTSWISS Game Aggregator will be able to offer its services in the Spanish regulated market.

The Game Aggregator went through a security audit conducted by Asensi Technologies, a DGOJ-accredited testing company, and certification laboratory. As part of the audit, Asensi tested each individual technical integration with a game provider entity.

Certification by Asensi and the DGOJ (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego), Spain’s main regulatory authority for land-based and online gambling, means that the Game Aggregator can now offer services to licensed gaming entities in Spain.

For local operators in Spain, an integration with a game developer or studio normally means passing a similar security audit and acquiring certification. Therefore the more game providers the operator wishes to add, the more time and resources they have to spend on every single integration.

With the latest certification, the Game Aggregator will be able to offer all gaming content as part of a single integration, where the local operator only needs to secure one certificate – between their online gaming entity and the Game Aggregator.

“The move towards regulated markets has been on our radar for a while. The Game Aggregator already offers games for regulated markets Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and international ones such as Curacao, Isle of Man, and Malta. We are pleased to be adding Spain to that list. Spain is known as a very demanding market from the point of view of its regulatory framework, both for operators and software suppliers like ourselves. What we want to do is make the lives of operators easier by getting all gaming content from one game hub” said Tatyana Kaminskaya, Head of Game Aggregator at SOFTSWISS.

The Game Aggregator will soon be sharing more news about the first client to go live on the regulated gaming market of Spain

Revenue was down against 2021, but stakes were 25 per cent higher.

Spain.- The Spanish gambling regulator, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), has published gaming revenue and stakes figures for 2021, showing a decline in online gambling revenue despite a rise in stakes. Online gaming revenue fell 4.2 per cent year-on-year to €815m but stakes were up across all verticals.

There may have been concern that a decline in revenue was related to Spain’s new advertising restrictions, but with stakes up by 25 per cent and deposits up 216 per cent at €2.77bn, it appears to be more a result of trading.

Online casino overtakes sports betting in Spain
Online casino overtook sports betting for the first time with revenue rising by 16 per cent to €407.1m. Slots accounted for €241.4m (up 23 per cent) live roulette revenue €120.6m (up 18.6 per cent), blackjack €23.2m (down 5.7 per cent) and RNG roulette €22m (down 27.2 per cent). Total casino stakes rose by 50 per cent year-on-year to €13.6bn.

Online betting revenue fell to €305.9m, a drop of 16.2 per cent and the lowest total since 2016. In-play sports betting accounted for €192.2m (from €5.81bn staked), live sports betting €114.9m (stakes of €4.65bn) and horse racing bets actually generated negative revenue of €355.1m. Finally, poker revenue was €85.4m, down 22.7 per cent, despite stakes rising by 8.8% to €2.4bn.

Spanish gambling marketing spend down slightly
Operators marketing spend fell by just 0.9 per cent in a year that saw the introduction of new advertising restrictions for gambling operators in Spain. Football sponsorship was banned as of the start of the current season and TV and radio advertising was limited to between 1am and 5am.

Sponsorship spending dropped by 29.3 per cent to €19m. Advertising spend actually increased slightly to €205m while bonus spending slipped 1.1 per cent to €195m.

According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, casino revenue for February reached $1.1bn, up 44 per cent comparedyear-on-year.

US.- Nevada casinos generated revenue of more than $1bn for the 12th consecutive month in February. Casinos generated $1.1bn, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. It marks a new record for the state and topped the winnings for January, despite February having only 28 days.

February 2022’s revenue represents a 44 per cent year-over-year increase from February 2021, when casinos won $772.4m. It was also up 7 per cent against February 2020 and 10 per cent on February 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rise is attributed to bets placed on sporting events such as the Super Bowl and a high number of concert performances in Las Vegas in February. The city hosted the NFL Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star Game on the same weekend, and the state saw nearly $180m wagered on pro football’s championship game.

Clark County led the way with nearly $950m in gaming win. Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip recorded $599.1m, while in downtown Las Vegas the gaming win was $69.2m. According to the Gaming Control Board, the state has collected $58.9m in percentage fees based on taxable revenue generated in February.

For Michael Lawton, senior research analyst at the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the streak will inevitably slump because of factors such as rising petrol costs and inflation caused by the aftereffects of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

He said: “Our comparisons are going to become extremely difficult in the upcoming months and we are optimistic that this level of gaming win will continue.

“However, as you are aware there is a great deal of macro-economic and geopolitical events that are happening in real-time, which are concerning and it is unknown how it could impact the trends we have been witnessing for the past year.”

However, MGM Resorts’ director of trading, Jeff Stonebeck, is confident of high sports betting numbers for the NCAA College Basketball Tournament (March Madness).

Stonebeck said: “We get the same people who come out every single year for it. It’s an annual ritual for a group that will get four, five, or six guys who come out every year. A lot of people don’t pay attention to college basketball until the tournament.”

The Malta Gaming Authority has granted a licence to Pinnacle’s B2B arm.

Malta.- Pinnacle Solution, the B2B arm of Curaçao-based sportsbook operator Pinnacle Sports, has gained a licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). The licence will allow it to provide services to sportsbook partners within the MGA’s jurisdiction.

Pinnacle said it was seeking partnerships in various new territories, particularly Europe and Latin America. It currently services more than 50 sports betting operators.

Chief executive Paris Smith said: “We’ve made great efforts to ensure our trading practices and technology stack can be scaled quickly, openly, and transparently in order to give our sportsbook partners a first-class service that delivers the enhanced hold and revenue performance they’re after.

“Obtaining the MGA licence is proof that our expert teams have developed products that meet the market’s demands and high standards, and we’re now looking forward to servicing new partners in more markets.”

In the last month, the MGA has also granted licences to Stakelogic Live and Delasport.

For the moment, the international anti-money laundering (AML) body, The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has decided to keep Malta on its grey list of untrustworthy jurisdictions. However, it has suggested that the country is close to coming off the list.

It recognised that Malta had made significant reforms through its action plan after it was grey listed last year and had increased its use of the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) services to pursue money laundering and criminal tax cases.

Meanwhile, the MGA has advised gambling operators licensed in Malta that the sanctions imposed on Russia require them to undertake new screening on business relationships and background checks on customers.

A House panel has given its approval to legislation that would ask Georgia voters to choose whether they want to legalise sports betting and other forms of gambling in the state.

US.- Voters in Georgia would be able decide if they want to allow betting on sports and horse racing, as well casino gambling, under a proposed constitutional amendment moving forward in the state House. The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee has green lighted a pair of bills that seek to put the legalisation of betting to voters in November.

The committee voted in favor of an amended version of Senate Resolution 135, as well as Senate Bill 142, which would legalise sports betting on college and pro sports. The constitutional amendment must pass both the House and the Senate with a two-thirds majority.

Rep. Ron Stephens, a longtime proponent of expanding gambling, said consumers are already placing bets offshore and it’s time for Georgia to join the roughly 30 states that have legalised sports betting.

The House proposal would tax sports betting proceeds at 20 per cent, double the amount the Senate had previously proposed. Bettors would have to be 21, and betting on high school games would not be allowed.

The constitutional amendment says half of any proceeds from casinos and horse race betting would go for health care programmes. Of the remainder, 20 per cent would go to economic development in economically distressed parts of the state, 15 per cent to prekindergarten subsidies and 15 per cent to college tuition for people making below the median income.

Stephens wants to see proceeds from gaming used to provide more funding for college scholarships: “With this being the 30th anniversary of the lottery vote creating the HOPE Scholarship, more than 2 million Georgians have lifted themselves up through a higher education and technical college careers,” wrote the author of the amendments. “More than 1.6 million families received pre-K head starts. We will take up sports gaming in the days to come to close the gap with HOPE and pre-K.”

The amendment would also direct some sports betting licensing fees to a fund to attract sports events and some casino and horse race betting licensing fees to a fund to subsidize arts venues.

Those who oppose the proposal say state-sponsored gambling encourages addiction and other social harms. Rep Randy Nix said: “This is not something that the state of Georgia wants to its stamp of approval on,” and he added: “This is what people do that are desperate, and this state is doing extremely well.”

The state Senate passed a constitutional amendment last March calling for a statewide referendum on the legalisation of sports betting. While Senate Resolution 135 failed to reach the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives, it marked the first time a gambling bill had made it through either legislative chamber.

Professional sports teams in Atlanta have announced their support. Some of them include Atlanta United, the Braves, Falcons, and Hawks. They have said that sports betting would boost fan engagement and make sporting events more enjoyable for viewers.

The new German gambling regulator will review current player protection rules and create a platform for complaints and whistleblowing.

Germany. Members of the board at Germany’s new national gambling regulator, die Glücksspielbehörde (GGL), have given the first details of plans to strengthen player protection measures in the country. They plan to carry out a “data-based evaluation” of the country’s current rules.

The new regulator is expected to be up and running to launch on January 1, 2023. However, board member Ronald Benter has said that it is already looking at strengthening player protection measures.

He said it would create a system to allow the data-based evaluation of existing player protection measures contained in the Fourth State Treaty on Gambling, which came into force last July. The current rules include a €1 spin cap for online slots. The regulator said it would propose changes to legislators if it deemed them necessary.

Benter said: “Our objective is an internal evaluation system to measure the effect of the player protection measures of the treaty.”

Complaints and whistle-blower system for online gambling
The regulator also plans to devise an early detection system for gambling harm and to create a centralised complaints and whistleblowing system that the public will be able to use to report ‘irregularities’ with licensed gambling operators, advertising violations and suspicions of illegal gambling.

It aims to develop an automated process “to quickly initiate appropriate measures and to receive automated evaluation options about the frequency of complaints on specific topics or providers.”

Benjamin Schwanke, another board member, said: “We will approach relevant experts and institutions in the area of ​​provider-related early detection systems for gambling addiction, because we need further development of common, cross-provider scientific standards for early detection of gambling addiction.”

He said the regulator was talking with industry associations about free gambling harm services available on the national public health hotline Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA).

The GGL, which is being hosted by the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, launched its website last month. It says that 110 staff will be required by the agency before it becomes fully operational on January 1.

Until then, the executive of Hesse remains the temporary body for German sports betting licences while Saxony-Anhalt is responsible for online casino and poker licences. The north-eastern state was chosen to host the federal gaming supervisor in 2020 as part of the development of the new federal treaty on gambling, which established a federal regulated online gambling market from last July.

Bundestag representative Anne Poggemann is serving as the state’s first gambling minister and overseeing the creation of the GGL, which will have its headquarters in Halle in the south of Saxony Anhalt. Ronald Benter and Benjamin Schwanke will lead the regulator as joint chief executives.

As well as licensing, the GGL will be responsible for maintaining databases monitoring player engagements and operator activities.

The latest feature from SOFTSWISS online casino platform grants players with balances in crypto the opportunity to play games that do not natively support cryptocurrencies.

Press release.- The SOFTSWISS Online Casino Platform has recently revealed its latest crypto-centric feature – the in-game currency exchange. The newest feature grants players with balances in crypto the opportunity to play games that do not natively support cryptocurrencies.

Previously, players who had registered at a casino with crypto as their primary currency would have access only to games that supported cryptocurrency denominations in-game. This meant that if the game provider had not enabled cryptocurrencies, such as mBTC or mETH, as supported currencies, players would have to create a fiat balance in order to open the game. According to due diligence procedures, players with a fiat balance must disclose more personal information, such as full name, date of birth, and address.

Once players open a game with their crypto balance selected, they will be able to select a fiat currency to which their active balance is converted via the rates of CoinMarketCap. Therefore, in-game bets will register as those made in a fiat currency in the player’s betting history. All winnings, bonuses, and balance changes will be reflected in the base crypto currency. The player’s will see the exchange rate and their active balance in the game currency as they play, while their base balance will be recalculated after they close the game window.

With the launch of the currency exchange feature, players no longer need to register a fiat balance and make a deposit to play their favourite slots, table games, or live dealer titles. They will now be able to make bets across all available games and game providers offered at the casino. If previously the list of crypto-friendly game providers counted 40+ game studios, today players will be able to enjoy game titles from across all 170+ game providers available through the SOFTSWISS Casino Platform.

Upon release, all bets made in crypto will be registered as USD bets, with more fiat currency pairs to be added later.

Andrey Starovoitov, COO at SOFTSWISS had this to say, “I am pleased to share that we are moving forward in making more games available to our operators’ players. A currency exchange feature has long been associated with crypto dice brands, which have amassed a big audience for classic casino content. With the latest innovation in the form of the currency exchange feature, we are opening up our entire game portfolio for crypto players and operators. We are also simplifying the entire player journey and gameplay experience. SOFTSWISS has always been associated as a crypto-fist brand, and we are happy to reaffirm that position yet again.”

Crypto-casinos powered by the SOFTSWISS Online Casino Platform will no longer be limited in the number of game providers available and will be able to increase their game offering. Curacao-licensed casinos will also be able to take advantage of the currency exchange feature.