Nothingburger
Senate debate turns into trans athlete slanging match
Kennedy and Hawley hijack Senate committee debate on sports betting.
In +More: Sweden joins the Macolin Convention.
Casinos targeting Roblox users closed down.
Curaçao parliament backs regulatory overhaul.
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Much ado about nothing
In a false quarrel there is no true valor: “It’s critical that Congress looks into sports-betting’s impact on America and determine how the industry should be regulated moving forward,” said the US Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin in opening the session.
Yet, if that was genuinely Durbin’s aim then it is unlikely anyone involved in the session would have learned anything particularly salient to the wider debate.
For starters, senators John Kennedy and Josh Hawley took the opportunity of having Charlie Baker, NCAA president, testify before the committee to berate him over the issue of trans athletes in college sports.
That element of the discussion culminated with Hawley suggesting Baker search Amazon in order to locate “his spine.”
Looks like a duck: The timing of the hearing was questioned by analysts, coming as it does during a lame-duck session and with the committee Democrat-controlled.
“Net-net, we find the lame-duck timing of the session to be rather unusual, though interpreting the timing, and the implications, is challenging,” said the team at Deutsche Bank.
“We remain of the view that the regulatory and media scrutiny around the industry is elevated at present, though we don’t know that today’s hearing does more to illuminate this view.”
Can I get a witness? Along with Baker, there were five witnesses called, including Harry Levant, director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute at the Northeastern University School of Law; Johnson Bademosi, NFLPA representative; and Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
All of whom were critics. The only pro sports-betting witness was David Rebuck, former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The lack of any operators or representatives from the industry to sit in front of the committee was addressed in a statement by AGA senior vice-president Joe Maloney, who said the “unfortunate exclusion” left the meeting short-changed.
He added that the AGA and its members were “committed to robust state regulatory frameworks that protect consumers, promote responsibility and preserve integrity of athletic competition."
Gripes of wrath: Before his session of questioning veered off course, Baker repeated previously aired gripes about prop betting on college games, suggesting the format should be outlawed in the 19 states that still allow it.
Baker cited the scrutiny student athletes were under and the threat of harassment caused by sports betting.
For his part, Bademosi, a former NFL player, spoke about the increased level of fan engagement stemming from sports betting, and the increased harassment and mental/emotional distress of athletes that has come with it.
Whyte, meanwhile, expressed concerns around advances in technology, an unlimited betting menu and the exponential growth in advertising.
He noted that states lacked the wherewithal to establish and maintain proper problem gambling support.
No iDEA: The DB team noted that Rebuck, “as expected,” advocated for state-run sports betting, saying federal oversight is “clearly not needed.” This point was reiterated in a statement issued by the iDevelopment and Economic Association, which said proposals by Congress to regulate sports betting represented “unnecessary federal interference.”
States have taken the lead in regulating sports betting, crafting solutions that address their individual economic, social and cultural considerations,” the statement added.
Imposing federal mandates on sports betting would “risk undermining this progress and introduce confusion and inefficiencies in a regulatory environment that is functioning well.”
iDEA said federal intervention “threatens to stifle innovation, disrupt state economies and jeopardize the benefits that regulated sports betting has delivered to communities across the country.”
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+More
Sweden has joined the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (Macolin) as part of its efforts to bolster sports integrity and stop match-fixing. Macolin is the only international legal framework designed to tackle manipulation in sports, and its members share information to address suspect betting patterns.
The Netherlands gambling regulator has threatened the operator of the FreeBitco.in platform with a fine of up to €840k if it does not stop targeting the Dutch market. Investigators for Kansspelautoriteit were able to create accounts, make deposits and participate in illegal games of chance.
Australia’s federal government has excluded gambling companies from accessing research and development tax breaks, much to the anger of industry lobbyists in the country. Responsible Wagering Australia said such incentives are designed to be “sector agnostic, without government interference and supportive of industries that create jobs and economic benefits in Australia”.
Star Entertainment has appointed a new group chief financial officer, Frank Krile, as it attempts to recover from a series of major compliance debacles that have risked the operator’s ability to trade in Australia.
Keep your open Counsell: The UK Gambling Commission has appointed Charles Counsell as interim chair for a nine-month term starting February 1. Counsell has been the Commission’s senior independent director since April of this year.
What we’re reading: The European Gaming and Betting Association believes Austria’s ongoing government negotiations present a vital opportunity to transform its gambling regulation based on European best practices.
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Out of the ’blox
Blocks away: Three unlicensed online casinos linked to the hugely popular children’s gaming platform Roblox have closed following media and regulatory pressure.
Sky News revealed that Bloxmoon and RBLXWild “permanently ceased operations” on Tuesday, according to their websites, while BloxFlip later confirmed it would also close.
Predatory casino sites have sprung up that encourage children to join with Roblox credentials and allow them to gamble on slots and blackjack with Robux, the enormously popular platform’s virtual currency.
Roblox doesn’t host or authorize the casinos and is in the process of suing them, the company said.
“The legal team representing Roblox has begun to apply pressure compelling us to close our platform,” wrote a co-owner of BloxFlip in the casino’s official chatroom.
Bad moon rising: According to Sky News, users have lost approximately $11.4m on Bloxmoon since it launched in 2022, including $2.2m from RBLXWild, which Bloxmoon purchased in July 2024.
RBLXWild generates more than $10,000 in revenues per day on average, while BloxFlip is said to draw in around 2.7m monthly visitors.
The sites have evaded sanction previously by moving URLs and encouraging users to circumvent blockades via VPNs.
It’s been a minute: Sharpr broke the story last July that black market operators were exploiting Roblox IP to lure children into unregulated betting via video game-like experiences.
Last year, the parents of five children in the US filed a negligence lawsuit against Roblox.
In September, a class action lawsuit alleging Roblox knowingly allowed minors to gamble was given grounds to proceed by a US civil court.
“We will always take action against illegal gambling sites, and are pleased these sites have ceased operations,” said Andrew Rhodes, CEO of the UK’s gambling regulator.
Curaçao overhaul
Cowboy standard: Curaçao’s parliament has approved proposals designed to rein in aspects of the island’s controversial gambling license regime.
Under the previous system, licences were issued through a licence system with minimal regulatory oversight and enforcement.
The loose controls have given Curaçao a reputation as a hub for unscrupulous operators and led to criticism from other nations over the number of illegal casinos it houses.
Under the legislative tweak, a new regulator, the Curaçao Gaming Authority, will replace the previous licensing body.
It will supervise B2C operators and B2B suppliers, and oversee stricter compliance measures, from player protection to anti-money laundering protocols.
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Loot and toot
All I want for Christmas is… loot box regulation: A BBC investigation has revealed only two of the top 45 highest-grossing mobile games on the Google Play Store adhere to the Advertising Standards Authority’s regulations.
Rt Hon. the Lord Foster of Bath submitted a question to the House of Lords to ask the government “what assessment they have made of the video games industry’s self-regulation on loot boxes.”
He also asked: “What plans do they have, if any, to ensure mobile games disclose that they contain loot boxes and make available parental controls to prevent children from acquiring loot boxes without permission?”
Santa baby, disclose your loot boxes for me: The answer is due on Christmas Eve, but loot box academic Leon Xiao expects another “non-response” from the UK government.
Lord Foster, who sits as vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm, has been banging the loot box drum for quite some time.
This question was his 16th Hansard recorded mention of loot boxes, dating back to December 2020.
The ASA’s guidance reads that “the presence of in-game purchasing, including loot boxes, may be material to some consumers’ transactional decision, and therefore this must be made clear in advertising for the game.” The BBC investigation showed:
26 of the top 45 were labelled as showing loot boxes
22 were being actively advertised at the same time
Only 2 disclosed the presence of loot boxes in their adverts
Wake me up, before you go-go: Monopoly GO, the highest grossing game to contain loot boxes (generating more than £2.37bn in revenue) did not mention their presence in its adverts.
Debate around loot box likeness to gambling products has been prominent in recent years, with vocal critics arguing they are predatory in nature, and blur the lines between video games and gambling.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, told the BBC: “Exposure to this gambling-like content from a young age can lead to an increased risk of experiencing gambling harm later in life.”
The government's call for evidence surrounding loot boxes in video games was conducted in 2022 so it’s unlikely there’ll be a seismic shift in policy in the near future.
Lackadaisical enforcement of nascent loot box regulation isn’t UK-exclusive, with government and gambling regulators globally struggling to achieve any semblance of efficacy.
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