Case not proven
BGC chief says UK’s risk checks produce unreliable outcomes
FRA row: BGC says UKGC still has not proven the checks work.
Evolution to pay £4.75m in regulatory settlement in the UK.
Brazil introduces strict advertising rules for fixed-odds betting.
Amazon agrees to potential class-action settlement over social casino claim.
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Trust issues
Little triggers: The UK Gambling Commission has still not proven the financial risk assessments (FRA) system it wants operators to use is accurate, consistent or reliable enough to support decisions affecting customers, says Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC).
The Commission said last week it was pressing on with the contentious checks.
Talking to C+M, Hurst said the regulator’s own pilot exposed a flaw at the heart of the model: namely, the same customer could receive different assessments depending on which credit reference agency (CRA) was used.
In some cases, she pointed out, “a large number of customers” could have different scoring across all three CRAs.
If you get it wrong, you’ll get it right next time: Automation is not the same thing as accuracy, Hurst argued. A check can happen in the background and still produce the wrong answer, with the friction coming later via restrictions, interventions, document requests or open banking demands.
“These checks cannot be described as genuinely frictionless if they produce unreliable outcomes, lead to unnecessary account restrictions or ultimately result in customers being asked to provide documents or open banking information,” she said.
Mystery loves company: The Commission has presented FRAs as a way of replacing document-heavy affordability checks with credit-reference data. But the BGC’s point is that an unreliable frictionless check is not a solution; it is a new regulatory trigger wrapped in a black box.
The BGC’s suspicions are aggravated by the fact the Commission has not published the full pilot evaluation.
Hurst said neither the sector nor the public has seen the evidence needed to justify checks that could ultimately affect hundreds of thousands of customers.
The regulator is moving from pilot to implementation while the industry is still being asked to trust a conclusion rather than interrogate the evidence behind it.
Giving an inch: The Commission has sought to blunt the criticism by delaying implementation, raising the initial thresholds and moving to a staged rollout.
Stage one will apply only at very high spend, with most over-25 customers triggering an FRA only after £5,000 of net deposits in a rolling 24-hour period.
The eventual threshold is £1,000 in 24 hours or £3,000 over 90 days for those aged 25 and over, with lower thresholds for younger customers.
Begrudge match: Hurst accepts the change is a concession. “The fact it has delayed implementation, raised thresholds and abandoned its original timetable is a clear recognition that those concerns were well founded,” she said.
But the BGC’s view is that a higher threshold does not cure a faulty mechanism.
“Simply slightly reducing the number of customers to undergo an FRA but leaving the results as erroneous at lower thresholds is not success,” she added.
Goalposts on the move: The Commission has said there will be no enforcement action in the early stages for failing to act following an FRA, while making it clear existing license obligations still apply. That is unlikely to give operators comfort and it has not removed the gray zone, but merely shifted it.
Operators will still have to decide what to do with an adverse or ambiguous CRA return.
Ignore it because the pilot evidence is incomplete; restrict the account to protect themselves; or ask for documents, creating the friction FRAs are designed to avoid.
The BGC’s answer is that the Commission should not put operators or customers in that position until it has shown the checks will not wrongly identify customers as financially vulnerable.
Model misbehavior: The ever-present risk is the black market, with Hurst claiming unnecessary friction will drive customers towards illegal operators. Modeling based on the original £2,000-over-90-days proposal estimated 74,400 customers could migrate to the illegal market taking ~£624m of GGY with them.
The Commission has now increased the 90-day threshold to £3,000, but Hurst said it has not published updated modeling showing how those displacement estimates change.
Without that modeling, the Commission is asking licensed operators to implement a measure whose consumer-protection benefits remain asserted.
Meanwhile, the risks to channelization, racing funding and tax leakage remain under-analyzed.
Drop the pilot: Hurst was careful to say the BGC is not opposing protection for vulnerable customers. The sector has implemented more than 60 reforms following the Gambling Act review, while operators continue to invest in identifying signs of harm.
But she argued there has been no evaluation of whether those existing measures, including stake limits and financial vulnerability checks, have addressed the concerns that first led to FRAs.
The BGC is asking that the Commission publish the full pilot evidence, prove the data is accurate and consistent, and show ordinary customers will not be wrongly identified or pushed through unnecessary friction.
Until then, the Commission’s “frictionless” claim will continue to be read by operators not as reassurance but as assertion.
UK sponsorship consultation
Getting shirty: The UK government has opened an eight-week consultation on banning gambling sponsorship and advertising by operators not licensed by the Gambling Commission. Proposed secondary legislation would make participation in such arrangements a criminal offence, covering physical assets including kits, stadium boards, programs and venue naming across all sectors. Online advertising is excluded. The government prefers implementation in August 2027, although existing contracts could alternatively run until August 2028. Responses close September 9.
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CFTC Michigan rejection: The CFTC has rejected Kalshi’s emergency request to suspend and refund open sports event contracts in Michigan, saying the action could undermine market integrity and harm traders. Kalshi sought approval after a court ordered it to stop offering sports contracts in Michigan by August 12, finding they constituted unregulated online sports betting. The exchange argued geofencing and refunds were necessary to comply without breaching CFTC rules. Kalshi reportedly proceeded with refunds regardless, potentially exposing it to federal regulatory penalties or further enforcement action.
Polymarket block: The Czech Republic’s Ministry of Finance has ordered internet service providers to block Polymarket, saying the prediction market offers gambling services without the required local license. The action adds the Czech Republic to a growing group of jurisdictions restricting the platform or prediction markets, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, New Zealand and Spain, amid mounting international regulatory scrutiny worldwide.
Nevada: The Nevada Gaming Control Board has recommended easing progressive jackpot regulations by cutting the minimum progression rate from 0.4% to 0.1% of total handle. Proposed by the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, the change reflects larger handle pools across wide-area and multi-site systems. It would permit casinos to link progressive jackpots with casinos in other states, subject to commission approval.
Publication note: Compliance+More will be taking a week off next week. Headline news will be covered in Earnings+More before C+M returns on Tuesday, July 28.
Chief Compliance Officer – London
Head of Payments – Malta
Internal Security Integrity Lead – Malta
Evolution pays up
An expensive slap on the wrist: Evolution will pay £4.75m to settle a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) license review over the availability of its games through unlicensed offshore operators.
The settlement concludes the review, initiated in December 2024, which Evolution had warned could result in outcomes including the suspension or revocation of its UK supplier license.
The announcement triggered a share-price fall of more than 10% at the time. The shares nudged up a couple of points in yesterday’s trading.
Hands up: Evolution said the settlement primarily related to its content being offered to UK consumers by two operators across six websites without UK licenses. This breached the company’s terms of supply, while the operators had “actively evaded” the restrictions Evolution had in place.
The company stressed that the 18-month investigation found no broader pattern of unlicensed access to its games in the UK.
Evolution terminated its commercial relationships with both operators immediately after identifying the websites and has since introduced enhanced ring-fencing measures alongside other technical and procedural controls.
Up with this we will not put: CEO Martin Carlesund said it was “not acceptable” that the six sites had offered Evolution content in the regulated UK market. He added that the supplier did not want traffic from unlicensed operators and would act quickly whenever such activity was detected.
The review followed warnings from the UKGC that licensed operators should conduct greater due diligence to ensure their suppliers were not directly or indirectly supporting black-market activity.
Evolution had previously said it was cooperating fully and noted the UK generated only around 3% of group revenue.
The Commission has yet to publish its own account of the settlement or provide further details of the regulatory findings.
Brazilian rules
Banning order: Brazil has introduced advertising rules for fixed-odds betting that prohibit promotions for unlicensed operators, marketing to minors and claims presenting gambling as a source of income or financial recovery.
An ordinance published last week applies not only to operators but to individuals or companies producing, sponsoring, distributing, broadcasting or promoting betting advertising.
Participants in the advertising chain must check an operator against the list maintained by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting before carrying its material.
They must retain its name, CNPJ tax registration and authorization number, and display its identity and licensing status.
Can’t touch this: Advertisements cannot include the brands, logos, social media accounts, links or promotional codes of unauthorized operators, or show winning bets and prizes.
Betting cannot be presented as an investment, easy money, a solution to financial difficulties or a means of recovering losses.
Urgent calls to wager, encouragement of excessive play, and misleading claims about winning probabilities or the role of skill are also barred.
The ordinance prohibits betting predictions, strategies or analysis that encourage wagers on a market when placed close to sports editorial content.
An exemption covers incidental appearances of betting brands or sponsorships during broadcasts of overseas sporting events, provided they are not highlighted or commercially exploited.
Leave them kids alone: Any advertising directed, directly or indirectly, at children or adolescents is deemed abusive. Promotions cannot feature under-18s, use youth-culture content, or appear in schools, medical facilities or psychological care centers.
App stores and operating systems must prevent minors’ accounts accessing betting apps or apps without age verification, while social platforms must block gambling advertising from minors.
The National Consumer Secretariat will enforce the provisions under consumer law, while the betting regulator will supervise licensed operators.
Breaches may also lead to suspension or cancellation from Brazil’s national register of advertising media agents after an administrative process.
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Amazon settlement
Primed: Amazon has agreed to a proposed $201m settlement of a class action alleging it facilitated illegal gambling through social casino applications distributed via its Appstore, although the structure means the judgment would not be enforced against the company.
The case was filed in November 2023 by Nevada resident Steven Horn in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.
It alleges Amazon violated Washington gambling laws and its Consumer Protection Act by serving as the exclusive processor of payments for virtual casino chips and retaining a 30% commission.
Amazon denies wrongdoing and the settlement remains subject to court approval.
Delivery driver: The proposed judgment represents 30% of the money class members spent on the apps. Rather than collect it from Amazon, the class would receive control of a litigation trust empowered to pursue 32 social casino developers through Amazon’s contractual indemnification rights.
Amazon would contribute $2.5m towards class notices, administration and initial costs.
Plaintiffs said the arrangement could recover a proportion of consumers’ losses in line with previous settlements involving game developers.
It also preserves claims against the developers, which would become the source of compensation.
Amazon said developers would be required to improve the customer experience and ensure their apps comply with applicable laws, warning that non-compliant products could be removed.
Not the whole package: The agreement would settle all claims against Amazon while shifting the pursuit further along the distribution chain. It adds to legal pressure on technology platforms over their role in processing payments and distributing social casino and sweepstakes products.
Separate litigation remains pending against Apple, Google and Meta, including claims brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The settlement therefore avoids a determination of Amazon’s liability, but leaves unresolved when app stores and payment intermediaries can be held responsible for unlawful gambling products offered by third-party developers.
Calendar
Jul 22-24: NCPG Annual Conference, Nashville
Sep 21-24: NASPL, Orlando
Oct 15: Gaming in Spain, Madrid
Sep 29-Oct 1: Regulation and compliance track, SBC Lisbon
Nov 10: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
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