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Reports over the weekend suggest that several widely anticipated restrictions will be left out of proposed new gambling legislation.

UK.- With the wait for the UK government’s delayed gambling white paper dragging on, there’s been plenty of speculation about what legislative changes might be in store for the British gaming industry. But media reports this weekend suggest that some of the biggest shakeups feared by the industry may not make it into draft legislation.

According to The Sunday Times, the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is planning to “water down” the overhaul of gambling legislation, leaving out some of the more radical proposals. That would include the widely expected ban on gambling sponsorship in sport.

The newspaper also claims the DCMS is planning to leave out a mandatory levy on gambling operators, which bodies such as GambleAware have called for to provide steady funding for problem gambling research, treatment and prevention.

No mandatory levy on gambling operators?
GambleAware had called for a mandatory one per cent levy on post-winning earnings to allow better longer-term planning and commissioning for problem gambling services. It said the tax would raise £140m.

But the Sunday Times believes the government will finally opt to stick with voluntary contributions.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has spoken out strongly against calls for a mandatory levy.

Amid criticism that its lobbying may have influenced the government, CEO Michael Dugher tweeted: “For the record, we’ve repeatedly met with ministers, officials and advisers across government.

“Government should rightly engage about future changes with an industry that pays £4.5bn in tax and supports 119,000 jobs. Government have also met anti-gambling campaigners and that’s how it should be too.”

A spokesperson for DCMS told The Sunday Times: “We are undertaking the most comprehensive review of gambling laws in 15 years to ensure they are fit for the digital age. We will be publishing a white paper… in the coming weeks.”

Tory MP promises “war” if gambling harm measures are watered down
Anti-gambling campaigners have reacted strongly to the report, with Iain Duncan Smith, vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling-Related Harm, saying he would “go to war” with the government if the reports are true.

The ex-Tory leader told the newspaper: “I will go to war with the government on this. The evidence is clear about the damage problem gambling can cause. I will not compromise on the levy.”

Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group, told the Mirror: “I am more than disappointed. If this is true, they have missed a fantastic opportunity to completely change the gambling environment and to protect those who need our help.”

Supporters of a bill to legalise mobile sports betting in North Carolina hope it to pass in time for the football season.

US.- Sports betting supporters in North Carolina hope to see legal online wagers in time for the next football season as Senate Bill 688 gains support. Last summer, the Senate approved the sports betting measure on a 26-19 vote and sent the bill to the House of Representatives for consideration. It is awaiting action in the House and could pass before June 30 when the legislative session ends.

The bill proposes an 8 per cent tax rate on gross gaming revenue. Half of the tax revenue would go to a newly created fund to help attract sports, entertainment and political events to the state. Also, $1m annually would be used to treat gambling addiction. Analysts predict that sports betting in North Carolina could generate between $25 and $50m in taxes.

If the bill passes, punters will be able to place bets at the state’s commercial land-based casinos and from their phones. SB 688 would allow the state lottery to issue 10-12 operating licences that would last five years and have an initial fee of $500,000 and a $100,000 renewal fee.

Platform and odds providers would be able to apply for licences, paying a $25,000 application fee and a $10,000 renewal fee. Other providers would be required to pay $15,000 and $5,000.

Bettors would be able to download apps to wager on professional and collegiate sports anywhere in North Carolina. At the moment, sports bettors in North Carolina can only bet at two tribal casinos operated by the Cherokee Indians.

State senator Paul Lowe told WRAL-TV he believes supporters have “drummed up” enough votes for the bill to make its way out of the Legislature. “I feel confident about it,” he said.

“We’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve not heard any new opposition,” said state representative Jason Saine, an advocate of the bill. “I think we have a pretty smooth glide path once we do kind of start rolling into session.”

KSA has written to 50 affiliate sites to remind them of advertising rules.

The Netherlands.- The national gambling regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has written to more than 50 affiliate sites that are active in the Netherlands to warn them to respect the country’s rules on the advertising of online gambling.

The KSA warned affiliates that they should only advertise gambling sites that are licensed by the regulator to operate in the Netherlands. They must not display banners advertising non-Dutch licensed offerings, an offence that could be punished with fines.

The regulator also warned that adverts for licensed operators must follow regulations. That means they mustn’t target those aged under 24. Adverts must also make it clear which operator they are advertising.

The regulator said: “Affiliate websites can make an important contribution to better advertising compliance by gambling companies. This is why the KSA is calling on these websites to account for their social responsibility. Consumers can be protected even better in this way.”

Last month, the KSA began an investigation into the targeting of gambling advertising at minors and young people aged between 18 and 24.

While MPs await legislation to clamp down on what they see as a “barrage” of gambling ads since the launch of the regulated online gambling market in October, the KSA said it would request information from licensed operators on whether they have sent ads to minors and young people.

The regulator reminded licensees that the Netherlands’ legislation does not permit gambling ads, including bonus offers, to be sent to young people aged under 25. It believes that young people are “particularly vulnerable” to gambling addiction.

Swedish treasury recommends tougher controls on gambling affiliates
Last month, the Swedish Treasury called for tougher controls on affiliates after its report on the regulated gaming market found channelisation lagging behind the country’s target.

The report looked at various aspects of gaming in Sweden following the introduction of regulation for online gambling in 2019. Looking at how much play takes place with licensed operators, it found that channelisation to legal offerings increased from 50 per cent in 2018 to 88 per cent in 2019, 85 per cent in 2020 and 87 per cent in 2021. However, those figures all remain below the target figure of 90 per cent.

The chief executive of the BGC has continued his final volley as the UK government prepares to draw up new gambling legislation.

UK.- Michael Dugher, chief executive of the industry standards and lobby group the Betting and Gaming Council, has warned the UK government that overly strict gambling regulations would alienate it from public opinion.

Writing in the House of Commons news site, Politics Home, Dugher reflected on the results of this month’s local elections in the UK and how gambling legislation fits in with the politics of the ruling Conservative Party.

He said: “For the Conservatives, results showed predictable mid-term blues and whilst there were warning signs of trouble ahead, results were not entirely catastrophic.”

However, he highlighted current economic headwinds and the words of David Canzini, prime minister Boris Johson’s new deputy chief of staff, who insisted that “Conservative governments don’t legislate their way to economic growth”.

Again Dugher criticised “anti-gambling prohibitionists” saying their “default position is just to ban stuff”. He said they were “determined to use a pseudo public health approach as a Trojan horse to deliver draconian state regulations over how millions of individuals choose to spend their time and their own money”.

He suggested that the public would not welcome many of the campaigners’ proposals, which include strict affordability checks, a £2 stake limit for online slots and a statutory levy to fund gambling harm treatment and prevention.

He said: “Polling backs up much of this anger. A YouGov poll for the BGC found almost 60 per cent of punters thought the government should not be allowed to set limits on how much money they could bet.”

He added: “The government needs to tread carefully. Ministers might not like a bet themselves. But millions of people do. Gambling regulation won’t decide the next election. But people think politicians in Westminster live on a different planet as it is. Telling the good voters what they can and cannot do with their own money won’t help.”

Earlier this month, Dugher wrote an op-ed piece in the Daily Telegraph with another warning on the dangers of tightening regulations on the licensed gaming market. He began by attacking the anti-gambling “prohibitionists”.

The UK government’s review of gambling legislation should – we think – be about complete. For months, gambling minister Chris Philp has been promising the delayed gambling white paper proposing new regulations would be “coming soon”.

British associations publish safer design code for gaming machines
The three major British gaming operator associations, Bacta, the Bingo Association and the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), have finalised a joint safer design code for land-based gaming machines. Work on the code began over two years ago in a Gambling Commission industry working group.

The new land-based gaming machine design code includes a ban against gaming machines showing “losses disguised as wins” in which machines use visuals or music to celebrate a player win despite the win being less than the original stake.

A two-year moratorium on casino licences in Iowa would jeopardise Linn County casino.

US.- The Iowa Legislature has approved a moratorium on issuing any new approvals for casinos for two years. The moratorium is part of House File 2497, a broader law on gaming and regulations. The bill was passed 35-11 in the Iowa Senate and later 60-23 in the Iowa House.

If it’s signed by governor Kim Reynolds, the bill would block P2E’s Cedar Rapids casino project. Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, who chairs the House State Government Committee, said the objective was to preserve an “equilibrium” in the number of casinos.

Kaufmann said he’s concerned that with 19 state-licensed casinos, and 23 casinos in total, Iowa’s gambling market was saturated, which he fears could impact on casinos’ donations to local nonprofits. The Iowa Gaming Association’s president, Wes Ehrecke, said the group supports the moratorium.

However, Cedar Rapids mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that this can happen seemingly in the dark of night without the city to even have the opportunity to respond.

“It’s disappointing knowing the voters wanted the casino, the amount of time, money, and effort from investors, as well as from the governor’s appointed Racing and Gaming Commission, that something like this can happen so quickly without any of us knowing about it.”

The Cedar Rapids casino project
In March, the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission opened the licence application process for a new casino in Cedar Rapids, Linn County, after around 55 per cent of voters in Linn County, Iowa, said yes to a casino last November, however the regulator could still deny a gaming licence.

Attempts to bring a casino to Cedar Rapids failed in 2014 and 2017. On both occasions, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said a casino would take away from other nearby casinos.

Developer Jonathan Swain, president of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, the potential Cedar Rapids casino operator, said it seems the commission recognizes that the citizens have said twice now they want a casino: “I think they feel this responsibility as a commission to respect the vote of the citizens and the will of the Cedar Rapidians that voted for this.”

EPIC Risk Management wants regulation for the video game devices.

UK.- The gambling harm prevention consultancy EPIC Risk Management has called for regulations to be introduced for loot boxes. The devices have often been criticised for introducing gambling to video games, but regulators have been unsure of how to respond, although Belgium and the Netherlands have already introduced regulations.

EPIC says the sale of loot boxes to under 18s should be banned and that parents and guardians need education to give them a better understanding of the devices.

It said research into schoolchildren’s betting behaviour in the UK had found that 30 per cent of 1,793 children from 31 schools had purchased loot boxes or video game skins and 19 per cent had gambled in the past 12 months. Some 88 per cent of those described loot boxes or gaming skins as part of their gambling.

EPIC Risk Management’s gaming and eSports consultant Jonathan Peniket addressed the House of Lords, where a gambling committee had already proposed a ban in 2020. He said: “The survey results are extremely concerning; they suggest once again that the true scale of the issue of loot box gambling is terrifying.”

Some UK ministers have taken the view that games developers should self-regulate to prevent the sale of loot boxes to minors, whilst those such as Lord Foster of Bath are in favour of a ban.

Peniket said: “It is disappointing that we are still yet to hear any response to the government’s call for evidence on the issue which closed some 16 months ago now. Loot boxes continue to create awful situations in people’s lives and their regulation in the UK, as seen in other European countries, is critical.”

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said that it would consider introducing new legislation to regulate loot box rewards as part of its review of the 2005 Gambling Act. It received more than 30,000 responses to its call for evidence on how loot boxes should be regulated.

Meanwhile in Spain, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has said it intends to open a dialogue with the aim of regulating loot boxes, play-to-earn (P2E) games and crypto games. It said it was carrying out “very exhaustive monitoring of this entire series of phenomena” but did not go into more detail. However, minister Albero Garzón is known to have been working on the regulation of loot boxes for months, following a consultation last year.

The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos will allow Portugal’s licensees to apply to offer crash games.

Portugal.- The Portuguese gaming regulator, the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), has approved regulations allowing crash games in the country. Existing licensed operators can apply for permission to offer them.

These are games banked by the house that let customers play against the operator with a multiplier, which increases through the game from 1 to a maximum of 100. The idea is that players aim to pull their bet before the end of the game to recover their stake multiplied by the current multiplier if they manage to do so.

The new regulations state that the return to player must be at least 80 per cent.

Earlier in the year, the SRI implemented a new rule taking a hard line on live odds. Rule No.1/2022/SRIJ prohibits gambling operators from publishing live odds on sports events on any platform, physical or online, including on advertising boards at stadiums and arenas.

The display of live, up-to-date odds will be considered illegal advertising and could result in regulatory action, it said. The move follows the national legislature’s approval of new limits on gambling advertising last October. Other countries, including the Netherlands, have introduced similar measures.

The British regulator has suspended Goldchip Limited’s operating licence while it conducts an investigation.

UK.- The Gambling Commission has suspended Goldchip Limited’s operating licence pending a review conducted under section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005. The regulator said it had received reports of possible contraventions of licensing conditions that may render the company “unsuitable to carry on the licensed activities”.

The Gambling Commission said the suspected breaches involved social responsibility and anti-money laundering issues. The regulator instructed the company to ensure it keeps customers informed of developments. The operator can allow consumers to access their accounts and withdraw funds during its licence suspension.

It said in a statement: “We have made it clear to the operator that during the course of the suspension, we expect it to focus on treating consumers fairly and keeping them fully informed of any developments which impact them.”

Gambling Commission fines Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play
Two gambling businesses will pay a combined £675,000 in regulatory settlements after the British Gambling Commission identified social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

Guernsey-headquartered Jumpman Gaming Limited, which runs 243 websites, will pay £500,000. Cyprus-based Progress Play Limited, which runs 201 websites, will pay £175,718.

In both cases, the settlements will be directed to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.

In Jumpman Gaming’s case, a Gambling Commission investigation revealed that customers had lost £15,000, £20,000 and £19,000 over periods of a month, six weeks and four months, without the operator obtaining sufficient evidence on affordability.

In the case of Progress Play, while customer profiles contained some evidence of SOF information being recorded, there was a lack of a clear rationale regarding decision-making and a failure to effectively review SOF information provided, resulting in customers being able to spend more than their known earnings.

The British government’s under-secretary of state for technology and the digital economy, Chris Philp, has told campaigners that gambling reform is “long overdue” and that “change is coming”. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launched a review of British gambling legislation in the last quarter of 2020 but has yet to publish an expected gambling white paper outlining its proposed reforms.

Philp has given some hints in the past about what might be expected, including a single-customer view for operators and affordability caps.

The final version of the Swedish government’s gambling reform bill doesn’t include time restrictions for gambling ads.

Sweden.- The Swedish online gaming trade association Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) has welcomed the government’s apparent decision not to limit the hours that gambling ads can be shown.

The Swedish government has published the final version of its gambling reform bill, which introduces a requirement for new B2B licences. However, plans to limit the hours for gambling advertising appear to have been shelved, with the law only introducing “adjusted moderation”, which will be less severe than the “special moderation” imposed on alcohol marketing.

Under this standard, “the marketing of games must be adapted to take special account of the fact that different forms of gambling entail different risks of addiction”. However, it will not include the previous proposal to restrict the advertising of “high-risk” to between 9pm and 6am.

The government said it had determined that such a measure could “adversely impact channelling and media revenues” while still exposing the players most at risk.

BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt said the industry was “cautiously positive” about the bill.

He said: “The most striking thing is actually what is not included in the proposal, such as a ban on advertising for gambling on TV, radio and streaming media between 6am and 9pm.

“We are pleased that the government has listened to stakeholders in the gambling industry as well as several publishers who have pointed out the disadvantages of such a proposal.”

However, Hoffstedt added that the term “adjusted moderation” was ambiguous, leaving the industry with doubts about what marketing is allowed.

He said: “The remaining concern is the proposal for ‘adjusted moderation’. It seems to be a paraphrase of risk classification and the ambiguity of what it actually means is open to legal uncertainty.

“Here, the legislature should consider whether it really wants to introduce further uncertainty regarding the interpretation of regulatory measures, uncertainty that risks leading to protracted court proceedings.”

Sweden’s gambling reform bill
Other proposals to make the final version of the bill include the introduction of mandatory licences for B2B gaming software providers. Suppliers who offer services to gaming operators in Sweden would need a licence, which would have an application fee of SEK120,000 (€11,170) and remain valid for up to five years.

Licensees must have a headquarters in the European Economic Area or open an office in Sweden. The government said this measure would help reduce unlicensed gambling.

Malta is the first EU state to respond to Hungary’s proposed online gambling reforms.

Hungary.- Malta has submitted a “detailed opinion” on Hungary’s proposed gambling reforms, which would end the country’s state-controlled monopoly gambling market. It’s highlighted possible conflicts on technical arrangements and has called for Hungary to provide details of the technical parameters for licensed online casino operators.

Malta has asked Hungary to clarify what it means by a proposed exclusion for operators that “have organised gambling without a licence in an EEA State during the ten years preceding the application.” It also noted that Hungary’s draft proposal does not update tech and IT provisions from existing laws, which have been in place since 1991.

Hungary notified the European Commission (EC) of its plans for the liberalisation of its online gambling marketplace in February. The changes would introduce unrestricted licensing for EU-registered businesses.

The changes were made after Hungary’s Gambling Supervisory Unit was told to ensure competition rules complied with those of the European Economic Area (EEA). The order came after Kindred Group’s Unibet and Sporting Odds (a former brand belonging to GVC Holdings, now Entain) won European Court of Justice (ECEJ) appeals against the Hungarian government.

The operators, based in Malta, had challenged regulatory changes passed in 2014 that allowed unrestricted, uncompetitive advantages to the state-owned gambling operator Szerencsejáték Zrt.

German sports betting licensees sue over market restrictions
The newly regulated gaming market in Germany is notable for its tight conditions, and now operators have taken legal action over the matter. All 33 sports betting licensees have lodged lawsuits against the state of Hesse to challenge the market’s regulations.

The state will be represented by the Regional Council of Darmstadt, which confirmed that “all holders of permits for both land-based and online sports betting” had filed lawsuits. The operators complain that the market conditions, which limit in-play betting to match winners and total goals, favour unlicensed offshore competitors.