Counterpunch
Counterpunch
Sweepstakes’ trade body promises new code of conduct as pressure mounts
Nascent sweepstake sector attempts to turn the tide of criticism.
In +More: NBA props move, Dutch crypto warning.
Ireland gets a gambling bill at long last.
The UK Gambling Commission sets out its black market methodology.
The Chinese are targeting US casinos, the IRS warns.
You gotta fight for your right to party.
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Defense into offense
Push back: A self-regulatory Code of Conduct for sweepstakes operators is imminent, the sector’s top lobby group told C+M, as the nascent industry battles back against a rising tide of criticism.
Mounting opposition from multiple corners of the gambling sector prompted a robust response from the Social and Promotional Gaming Association (SPGA).
A spokesperson for the SPGA confirmed its members are working with regulators to tackle consumer protection and transparency concerns.
“The reality is that these are complicated, nuanced topics that don’t fit neatly into posts on LinkedIn or X,” the spokesperson said.
We don’t like it here: At the recent Global Gaming Expo event in Las Vegas, Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson said all sweepstakes should be regulated, while Derek Stevens, CEO at Circa Resort & Casino, said Fliff, Novig and their ilk have “found a loophole” via the sweepstakes law.
However, the SPGA fired back that several regulated sports-betting and casino operators offer “gambling-like or gambling-adjacent products” that are not licensed or regulated in every jurisdiction where they operate.
“Regulation and licensure are not magic lines where everyone stands firmly on one side or the other,” the spokesperson said.
They added that, in the weeks ahead, the body would release details on the SPGA Code of Conduct.
This will further articulate the measures that the SPGA said its members already take, including age verification, KYC, geolocation and AML policies.
Higher ground: The spokesperson insisted the association’s members “and virtually all social casinos with sweepstakes prizes” operate within the bounds of qualified legal opinions issued by experienced gaming firms.
“Policymakers decided long ago that not everything adjacent to gambling requires licensure or regulation,” they said. “There’s a laundry list of products, from packs of baseball cards to loot boxes in video games, that share elements with gambling games but aren’t licensed or overseen by gaming regulators.”
The spokesperson added that criticism about the fairness of games, which critics have said stems from the lack of oversight, has been overblown.
“Many real-money games, including several operated by regulated gambling stakeholders, are outside the formal testing structure embedded in traditional casino regulations.”
US consumers “spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually on digital games with no external testing or certification regarding fairness.”
The SPGA said the vast majority of games from its members are provided by external suppliers that certify random number generators and other core mechanics, adding such issues would also be included in the forthcoming Code.
Smelling blood: In the last week, several lawsuits have been lodged against major sweepstakes players, while senior tribal gaming figures promised to see off the “Vampire Squid” in a similar manner to which they took down daily fantasy sports in key markets.
The SPGA said its members were seeking further dialog with regulators and were keen for legislative clarity, but also cautioned against some of the language used by critics.
“The key point here is that commentators and interested parties in the gaming industry do not conflate ‘unlicensed’ or ‘unregulated’ with ‘illegal’,” the spokesperson said.
“That just cuts against the long history of innovation driven by products from outside of the traditional regulatory structure.”
“The unlicensed and unregulated products of yesterday have an interesting track record of developing into the market leaders of tomorrow.”
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+More
The NBA is reported by ESPN to have reached agreement with the major sportsbooks to limit the number of ‘unders’ bets on players who are on two-way or 10-day contracts to combat attempts at manipulation.
The restriction is a result of discussions the NBA had with sportsbooks over the summer following the Jontay Porter scandal.
Dutch regulators have warned operator BlockDance that a site it allegedly runs, BC.Game, is in violation of gambling laws and runs the risk of a €840k fine if it continues to target the Netherlands.
BlockDance, which has four weeks to pay, said it doesn’t own BC.Game and is contesting the accusations.
See this week’s The Token Word tomorrow for more.
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued remote licenses (31 and 32 to anyone counting) to Lucky 7 Casino and Starcasino.
Authorities in Colombia are using a new AI-powered tool to monitor the sector for illegal activity. Coljuegos, the regulator of games of chance in Colombia, inaugurated the Artificial Intelligence Center (CIAC) to watch real-time transfers made by 3,656 localized gaming establishments.
Illegal gambling in South Korea has trebled since the pandemic, new figures show. According to data from South Korea’s National Gambling Control Commission, the number of illegal gambling complaints received jumped from under 14,000 cases in 2019 to 48,648 last year.
Irish gaming bill
The long and winding road: The long drawn-out process of passing Ireland’s first gambling regulation bill has reached conclusion as the bill, first introduced in 2022 to establish a framework for online and land-based gaming, finally passed through the country’s parliament.
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 will now go to the desk of the minister for justice before President Michael Higgins adds his signature.
Meanwhile, the wheels have also now been set in motion for the formation of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, which will be headed by ex-senior civil servant Anne Marie Caulfield.
She said there would be a “phased introduction of our functions, with a focus on licensing initially.”
Transitional arrangements are included within the act for holders of current gaming permits, gaming licenses, lottery permits and lottery licenses, bookmakers licenses, remote bookmakers licenses and remote betting intermediary licenses.
Under the terms of the new bill, advertising of gambling products will be prohibited between the hours of 5.30am and 9pm.
Remit: Lawyers at Arthur Cox in Dublin said the regulator and the minister “may make further regulations” under the act and the regulator would have “quite a broad remit to prescribe additional obligations on licensees.”
Chinese laundry
Clean your own tables: Criminal gangs are using US-based Chinese nationals to launder illicit finance through casinos, according to the Inland Revenue Service Criminal Investigation chief Guy Ficco.
Ficco told the International Anti-Financial Crime Summit 2024 that many of the schemes are “more sophisticated than we’ve seen before and money laundering is often the tip of the iceberg.”
“In the United States, we’re seeing lots of ties to China,” he said. “Right now, there are many regulations in place which prevent Chinese organizations from moving money out of China and into the US.”
As a result, Chinese money laundering organizations are “in full force” tapping nationals based abroad to wash funds.
“Sometimes at casinos by sitting down to play table games for short durations or opening bank accounts using fraudulent identification documents,” Ficco said. “As soon as their work is done, they’re cashing out or closing accounts to avoid detection.”
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Paint it black
Back in black: The UK Gambling Commission has laid out a more detailed look at how it is setting out to capture, measure and bring to a halt black market gambling.
In relation to the task of identifying black market activity, the Commission revealed in a blog posting it has developed a methodology that combines web traffic data with gambling behavior data to estimate black market GGY.
But as the Commission stated, setting out to estimate the size of the market and actually achieving that aim are two different propositions. “Much activity is deliberately hidden – such as by virtual private networks (VPNs),” said the blog.
The Commission admitted this can only give an “indication” of activity and it details various limitations to the estimate.
We’ve only just begun: The Commission said this is “just the start” of the process, with additional work being done on its search terms and also the incorporation of questions in its own (somewhat questionable) Gambling Survey of Great Britain.
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Events calendar
Event highlight: The 2024 Gaming in Germany Conference, which is being held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at the five-star Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin, has announced a raft of new speakers. These include Christian Heins, director iGaming at Tipico; Stanisław Szostak, CEO of Astral Forest; Britt Boeskov, non-executive director at Mindway AI; and Annika Lindberg, psychologist and trustee at Gordon Moody.
Oct 21-24: World Lottery Summit, Paris
Oct 21-24: IAGR/IMGL joint conference, Rome
Nov 5: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
Dec 2-4: Thai Entertainment Complex Summit, Bangkok
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