Florida sends fantasy chill
Florida warning, Swedish tax hike, FA accused, helpline calls rise, fintech focus – Trustly +More
Good morning. On today’s agenda:
Florida throws the future of fantasy operations in the state into doubt.
Sweden raises its online gambling tax to 22%.
FA accused of ‘double standards’ over betting policy.
GamCare reports a rise in helpline calls.
Fintech focus looks at Trustly’s deal with BNY Mellon.
They want to take it away from you.
Florida warning
Florida’s regulator sends cease-and-desist letters to three major DFS operators.
Causing a storm: Underdog Fantasy, PrizePicks and Betr, which runs the recently launched Betr Picks offering, have each received letters from the Florida Gaming Control Commission asking them to halt operations in the state forthwith, alleging that each is illegally taking bets.
In a letter to SidePrize, which operates PrizePicks, dated September 19, the Commission said it had “received information that your company may be offering or accepting illegal bets or wagers from Florida residents”.
The letter added that the company “may be promoting or conducting an illegal lottery”.
“Under Florida law, betting or wagering on the result of contests of skill, such as sports betting, including fantasy sports betting, is strictly prohibited and constitutes a felony unless such activity is otherwise exempted by statute,” wrote Commission executive director Louis Trombetta.
Agree to disagree: In a statement, PrizePicks decided to interpret the letter as a “regulatory review” and said that “at this time, there is no change to our business operations within the state”. The company added it was “eager to meet” with Trombetta and the Commission “to discuss our skill-based gaming platform”.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Levine, CEO at Underdog Fantasy, took to X (formerly Twitter) to “strongly disagree” with the Commission’s stance.
“We will continue operating our fantasy contests in Florida as we engage with the Commission and elected officials,” he said.
Pick and mix: At issue would appear to be the new pick’em games on offer with the three operators. Neither DraftKings or FanDuel offer such games and neither received letters.
PrizePicks exited both Maryland and West Virginia after similar warnings from the regulators in each state.
LegalSportsReport reported in July that Wyoming requested PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy cease operations earlier this summer.
Hypocritical oafs: Underdog Fantasy recently accused its rivals DraftKings and FanDuel of making “essentially the same arguments” used against them pre-PASPA as a way of shutting down the competition.
However, also likely playing into Florida’s fantasy move is the situation around sports betting and the state’s compact with the Seminole, which is currently the subject of a legal battle between the state and West Flagler.
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Reputation Matters
There is one month to go until the discussion about the future of the UK gambling sector takes place in London at the Barbican on the afternoon of October 26.
After the White Paper: Reputation Matters returns on October 26, this time to the Barbican in London, where representatives from Entain, Playtech, Gamban, Regulus Partners and many others will convene to discuss the next steps for the sector following the publication earlier this year of the UK government’s Gambling Act Review.
Sponsored by UK law firm Wiggin, the event consists of an afternoon of panels, fireside chats and keynotes.
Tickets can be purchased for the event via the Reputation Matters 2023 Eventbrite page.
The line-up includes:
Grainne Hurst from Entain, Ian Ince from Playtech and Stephen Ketteley from Wiggin discussing the legal response to the White Paper.
A fireside chat between Matt Zarb-Cousin, co-founder of Gamban and a high-profile figure in the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, and Dan Waugh, partner at gambling consultancy Regulus.
A keynote from ex-BHA CEO Nick Rust on the future of horseracing and betting.
Representatives from Armalytix, Department of Trust, Betsmart Consulting and ClearStake discuss how the financial risks debate is being pushed towards open banking solutions.
Roberta Caccia from Investec, Simon French from Panmure Gordon, Sam Sadi from LiveScore and Robin Chhabra from Tekkorp discuss where the industry goes from here.
For ticket details, go to the Reputation Matters Eventbrite page.
Sweden’s tax hike
The Nordic country’s finance ministry has proposed raising the online operator annual levy from 18% to 22% of GGR as part of its budget plans for the forthcoming year.
Channel changer: Sweden’s finance ministry said the online market should have stabilized since reopening in 2019, but while the tax rate has remained the same since then channelization is higher. Minister of Finance Elisabeth Svantesson said a tax of 22% is “compatible with an aim to achieve a channelization rate of at least 90%”.
The move is likely to rake in an extra $45m.
Sweden’s government still has to rubber stamp the plans and is already feeling the heat from lobbyists who say they were not consulted.
The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS), which counts Flutter and Entain among its members, was first out of the traps, calling the plan “deeply disappointing”.
More, more, more: Industry groups have already agreed to hand over more cash to the regulator in efforts to fight financial crime and believe further taxation is a step too far. “Sweden’s government must perform much better than this,” said BOS secretary-general Gustaf Hoffstedt.
“There is still time to withdraw the proposal,” he added.
BOS argued channelization is more like 70%, decreasing, and will further plummet to the levels of the unregulated era if the tax rise goes ahead.
“The announcement from the government is deeply disappointing, above all because it shows that the government does not understand or has taken to heart what kind of market it is set to govern,” he said.
European notebook
France: MPs have begun considering amendments to a proposed bill to secure and regulate the digital space, which could lead to the regulation of iCasino. The bill calls for the regulation of “games with monetizable digital objects”. If passed, the bill would also regulate Web3 products like those powering Sorare and Socios, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Hungary: The gambling regulator has released a list of more than 300 blacklisted domain names associated with iGaming operators that are illegal in the country. The list includes Unibet, PokerStars, bet365, Betfair and Lottoland.
Denmark: Retail betting customers will be required to use player ID cards in order to place a wager from October 1. All player IDs must be linked to the gambling account held by the player in which winnings are paid out.
FA ‘double standards’
The English FA stands accused of hypocrisy over a ‘secret deal’ with Brentford owner Matthew Benham.
One rule for me: The owner of UK soccer club Brentford, Matthew Benham, whose star striker Ivan Toney is currently serving an eight-month ban for betting offenses, has been placing wagers thanks to a secret agreement with the FA, according to reports.
Benham, a former banker who founded Smartodds, is said to be one of a select few club owners the FA allows to bet on the game thanks to a private agreement.
According to a report in The Guardian, Benham won money from bets on football placed in his own name via a UK-based gambling syndicate called MSPP Admin.
Benham said he abides by all FA betting rules, and there is no suggestion he bet on games involving his own club.
English football’s ruling body prohibits anyone involved in football from betting on any match, anywhere in the world, under laws designed to protect the integrity of the sport. Brentford’s England striker Ivan Toney is currently out until January for placing bets in breach of these tough FA rules.
Toney’s lawyer and other industry watchers criticized the opaque agreement and the FA’s “double standards”.
GamCare helpline
The percentage of punters seeking help for online slot addictions has almost doubled in the past five years, according to the UK’s top gambling support charity.
GamCare said of disclosures to the National Gambling Helpline, which it operates, 60% named online slots as one of the main activities they struggled with, up from 34% in 2018-19. Of all callers to the helpline last year, 73% said that they had online gambling issues.
The UK government is currently consulting on maximum stake limits for online slot games.
Over the last five years, GamCare said betting exchange problems had risen from 0.3% to 7.6% of calls.
The proportion of people citing challenges with online financial markets, such as cryptocurrency and high-risk trading platforms, rose from 0.02% to 2.17%.
Curaçao licensing
Advisor says new regulatory regime “not reinventing the wheel”.
We come to praise Caesar: The marketing consultant to the Curaçao finance minister Javier Silvania, who is responsible for bringing in the Caribbean nation’s new offshore gambling regime, said the country was “not reinventing anything” with its new regulatory regime.
Aideen Short added the objective of the new rules was to forge a “really workable, practical, good, reputable jurisdiction”.
“It’s not to kill the industry. It’s not destroying it," she said.
Short said she expects the new National Gambling Ordinance regime to be launched in or around January 2024.
Storied appointment: Meanwhile, it has been announced that Hilary Stewart-Jones, currently a consultant with UK law firm Harris Hagen and CEO at provider/operator Skywind, is to join the Curaçao Gaming Control Board as an advisor.
Previously, Stewart-Jones was a partner at DLA Piper and before that head of betting and gaming at Berwin Leighton Paisner.
The Skywind-owned Intouch Games was recently the subject of a regulatory action in the UK where it has had its license suspended after racking up £12m of fines in the past four years.
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Fintech focus
Trustly partners with BNY Mellon to launch an open banking service.
Open season: Trustly’s latest partnership will see it provide the tech backbone for the UK banking giant’s new Bankify service. It will, according to BNY Mellon, help organizations receive consumer payments from bank accounts with a “seamless user experience and that offers guaranteed funds for business receivables”.
Bankify will give users the ability to make payments directly from their bank accounts instead of credit or debit cards and third-party payment platforms, according to the release.
What’s in it for me: In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Trustly’s vice-president of enterprise growth Ross McFerrin said the question the company was asked most about open banking was, “What’s in it for the consumer?”
Despite offering cheaper transaction costs for both the merchant and the consumer, McFerrin pointed out that without adoption these savings won’t matter.
He told the site the key to success might be tied to marketing the convenience of open banking to end-consumers.
This would also involve “bringing speed and convenience to the user”.
“What’s great about open banking payments is we can provide consumers with value in other forms,” he told PYMNTS.
“We can extend optionality when the ACH transaction actually processes,” he said.
Slim pickings: Trustly recently snapped up French fintech SlimPay for €70m, which CEO Johan Tjärnberg said was part of the company’s strategy to “enable open banking to consumers across Europe”. He said the rollout will begin in SlimPay’s existing markets in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Cybersecurity notebook
Horse, bolted, gate, locked: The International Gaming Standards Association announced the formation of a cyber-resiliency committee to create standards for cyber-risk management, cybersecurity governance and framework control for casino operators and their business partners.
The move follows highly publicized cyberattacks a fortnight ago on MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.
See you in court: Meanwhile, MGM and Caesars are each facing two class-action lawsuits from loyalty program members who claim the casino companies failed to protect their personal information during recent cyberattacks. The suits were filed on Thursday in a Nevada District Court, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Asia notebook
Macau: Operators are allowed to work with up to 50 junkets next year, according to Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, which has apportioned a maximum of 12 each to LVS and SJM and up to eight for MGM China and Melco Resorts.
Calendar
Oct 9-12: G2E Las Vegas
Oct 16: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
Oct 26: Reputation Matters, London
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