In jeopardy
Brazilian president warns sector ahead of upcoming market launch
President Lula says he will act if “regulation doesn’t work.”
In +More: Sorare pleads not guilty.
UK Gambling Commission promises microbetting probe.
The Illinois regulator is eying further constrictions.
The UAE takes a “discreet” approach to licensing Wynn Resorts.
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Lula’s warning
Danger signal: In a preemptive shot across the bows of the sports-betting operators, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has warned the industry he “won’t hesitate” to shut the industry down if there is a marked increase in problem gambling.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in municipal elections in São Paulo, Lula said “if regulation doesn’t work, I won’t hesitate in putting an end to [betting] definitively.”
He added that he felt it was unacceptable for low-income families on social security to be spending that money on betting.
Weeding out: Lula’s comments came after the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) published a list of 89 operators that would be allowed to continue to operate in the transitional period between now and the market launch in January.
Noting the licensing process, Lula said the authorities would be going about the process of blocking some 2,000 sites it now deemed to be offering illegally into Brazil.
“Then we will know what benefits the regulation will guarantee,” the president told journalists.
The facts of life: Lula’s comments about social security came after a cabinet meeting held last Thursday, which discussed a report from the central bank that showed BRR3bn (~$550m) was spent on betting in August by recipients of the Bolsa Familia program.
Lula admitted that betting was, however, a fact of life. “Everyone knows that the person going to buy bread in the morning will make a small bet using the bread money,” he said.
“But what I cannot allow is betting to turn into a disease, an addiction, and for people to become dependent on it, because I know people who lost their house and car.”
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+More
Sport NFT platform Sorare has pleaded not guilty in a Birmingham, UK court to charges of carrying out unlicensed gambling activities. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Thursday this week with the trial resuming on 16 June. See tomorrow’s The Token Word for more.
Bovada: Massachusetts has joined the lengthening list of states – now up to 15 – that have issued a cease-and-desist warning to the offshore operator for operating in the state without a license.
Nonprofit group Empathy in Action has filed a lawsuit against operators of skill-gaming machines in Kentucky with the aim of recouping gamblers’ losses, according to Louisville Public Media.
The lawsuit uses the precedent set in 2011 when Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration filed a lawsuit on behalf of gamblers against PokerStars to recoup losses for bets made on illegal online gaming.
That case resulted in a $300m settlement by PokerStars after reaching the state Supreme Court.
Pace-O-Matic, Prominent Technologies and Skill State are named in the lawsuit.
A policy unit of the ministry of finance in Thailand has put forward a report detailing 45 recommendations for the proposed casino regulation bill. Among the suggestions is to rename the legislation from the Entertainment Complex with Casino to the Integrated Resort Act.
The Coalition for Fantasy Sports has announced a partnership with idPair, a safer gaming and RG provider. Via the partnership, fantasy sports players will be able to self-exclude from all coalition members – PrizePicks, Underdog Fantasy, Betr and Dabble – regardless of their location.
Commercial
Neccton, OpenBet’s responsible gambling and anti-money laundering provider, has signed a long-term agreement with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians’ casinos in Michigan and Indiana.
What we’re reading
You’re through to customer service: Task Force Pogo Closure has been formed by the Philippine authorities as it hopes to follow through on the government’s aim to pull the plug on the entire Philippine offshore structure by the end of the year. But some of the organized crime groups involved are looking to shift operations – to become call centers.
UKGC’s microbetting complaint
Paranoid android: Real-time sports data companies that provide valuable in-game information are not transparent enough and deserve further scrutiny, according to the UK’s gambling regulator.
Friction factory: The “explosion” of micro-markets is “causing grief between operators and consumers,” said UK Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes at G2E in Las Vegas on Monday.
Rhodes said the source of the in-game information used by gambling companies to make decisions on payouts was “big warehouses of player-level data,” which presented a “huge challenge for the regulator.”
He added that, for operators, “the margin is attractive” for microbetting via parlays, bet builders and accumulators.
But for consumers, getting riled up about incorrect referee calls had real-life implications when money was involved.
Rhodes to nowhere: In what was billed as his first ever attendance at the Global Gaming Expo, Rhodes said it was not easy to understand how the integrity of the data held by the companies was preserved, and it deserved more scrutiny.
Earlier this year, the Gambling Commission met with several operators to discuss how incorrect in-game calls had been reconciled with punters.
Illinois threat
Us again: On the heels of its tax rises, Illinois is mulling an overhaul of the state self-exclusion program, the gaming regulator’s executive director said on a panel at G2E in Las Vegas on Monday.
Administrator Marcus Fruchter said the current program was “strong… but it was created in 2002, and we are working to update” taking into account the changed gaming landscape in that time, most notably in regard to sports betting.
The incredible growth of wagering on sports has been flagged as “a major contributing factor to the increase in gambling problems,” by the nonprofit National Council on Problem Gambling.
Recall: Last month, the Illinois Gaming Board tightened advertising and marketing restrictions on regulating sports wagering, casino and video gaming promotions across the state.
Fruchter said the regulator was reassessing existing rules and measures linked to the expansion of gaming in Illinois since 2020.
Illinois recently overhauled its sports-betting tax rate, shifting from a flat 15% to a graduated rate starting at 20% up to 40%.
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Softly, softly
All things go: Wynn Resorts has received a gaming license from the United Arab Emirates for its Al Marjan island IR project in Ras Al Khaimah. This is the second license awarded by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) since launching in September 2023.
The first license was awarded in July to Abu Dhabi-based The Game for the UAE Lottery.
See yesterday’s Earnings+More for more on Wynn’s UAE opportunity.
Strictly between you and me: Analysts at CBRE noted this was a “discreet” announcement that came without a press release from the GCGRA but with confirmation coming through a statement in the press.
The team suggested this subtle approach was “in line with our expectation.”
“While we might see an official release from the GCGRA, we would not be surprised if the confirmation from state media and press release from Wynn are the only forms of publication,” the team added.
The CBRE team went on to say that they didn’t anticipate any broad publication of formal legislation decriminalizing gaming, “at least not yet, partly due to the cultural sensitivities to gaming in the region.”
“The UAE is very thoughtful and deliberate in its approach and we remain comfortable enough with the legislative and regulatory landscape,” they concluded.
Ads concerns
See you, pal: The “saturation” of sports-betting advertisements is irking state regulators. At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas on Monday, senior figures voiced their unease about the advertising landscape since the 2018 overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act by the US Supreme Court.
Marcus Fruchter, administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board, said he has witnessed a shift in public perception and growing frustration over the pervasiveness of sports-betting ads.
“If I ever get invited to parties, one of the things people ask is, ‘Can you do something about the advertising?’,” he said.
He added that the “ubiquity” of sports-wagering advertising was something the teams and leagues “need to sort out.”
Fruchter referenced the infamous Chicago Black Sox bribery scandal as an example of how times had changed, with ads for betting covering now “in the stadium, on the bullpen,” along with TV, radio and the internet.
Surprise, surprise: Acting boss of the Indiana Gaming Commission, Dennis Mullen, said the sheer volume of promotions that often follow legalization had shocked his contemporaries in other states.
“I heard from a lot of legislators that they did not realize the velocity and the nature of advertising,” Mullen said. “It is incumbent on regulators to step in when things get out of line,” he warned.
For the first time since the legal market opened, more sports-betting operators have quit Indiana than joined it over the last year, Mullen said, indicating that current levels of advertising were almost certain to result in a rise in enforcement action.
Way ahead of you: The UK Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes said he found similarities across the Atlantic in how “the saturation” of gambling ads during sports events was “extraordinarily unpopular” with the British public.
In the UK, he said advertising regulators were increasingly probing how popular sports personalities are with children when assessing the severity of marketing breaches.
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Events calendar
The Thai Entertainment Complex Summit will be held at Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse from December 2-4, 2024 and will bring together government officials and top executives from the property, hospitality and entertainment sectors to discuss the future of Thailand as a global entertainment hub.
Oct 7-10: G2E, Las Vegas
Nov 5: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
Dec 2-4: Thai Entertainment Complex Summit, Bangkok
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