Portfolio without minister
UK gambling to get a new minister – but same set of problems
UK gambling waits on a word from its new political masters.
In +More: DraftKings gets fined, rebuked for NJ data misreporting.
Will calmer heads prevail in the DFS 2.0 debate?
BC.game in sights of the Swedish regulator.
Say you want a revolution, we better get on right away.
The in-tray
Handing over the reins: The advent of a new Labour administration in the UK brings with it the chance of a little more stability than was achieved under the previous Conservative regime and its revolving cast of ministers with responsibility for gambling.
But not just yet: As of the time of writing, the name of the new minister is not yet known.
Previous shadow minister for gambling, media and sport Stephanie Peacock retained her seat but shadow culture secretary Thagham Debbonaire lost hers and Lisa Nandy has since been appointed.
Warm words: Ahead of a new minister name, the Betting and Gaming Council was quick to welcome the election outcome. “The BGC had long treated Labour as a government in waiting,” said outgoing CEO Michael Dugher. “We have been working closely with shadow ministers in recent years on behalf of our members and their millions of customers.”
Look busy: Whoever is handed the role will also find themselves confronted with a bulging in-tray. While the direction of travel for the regulation of the sector is unlikely to change, the specifics of what is to come are still up for discussion. As detailed by the analysts at Peel Hunt, issues yet to be resolved include:
Land-based reform: the measures proposed by the government just before ex-PM Rishi Sunak called a snap election remain a possible source of early legislation.
Online changes: the new rules on maximum stakes for online slots also require legislation.
Regulatory approach: the new government can set the tone for any future regulation, and the relationship with the Gambling Commission will be key.
Don’t bet on it: Both the government and the Commission will likely hope the furore over alleged betting on the election date by people within the Conservative Party organization can be quietly buried.
But as the team at Peel Hunt pointed out, the tone of public debate in relation to gambling in the UK has “changed materially over the past decade.”
Signpost: Notably, the brief mention of gambling in the Labour manifesto appeared in the section on public health and not business.
As the Peel Hunt analysts suggested, proponents of the argument that gambling is a public health issue and not a leisure activity appear to be winning.
Iceberg ahead
Flashpoint: The looming publication of the contentious new statistics on the prevalence of problem gambling will be the first test for whoever is in the gambling hot seat. Despite fears that the new data will provide a distorted picture, the UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes has stuck by the stance that the new figures will prove to be a reliable barometer.
New gold dream: Notably, going by the preliminary findings in November, the “new gold standard” is likely to find PG rates at around 2.5% of the population or around 10x the results from the previous “gold standard” Health Surveys.
“This is likely to feed into public policy narrative that problem gambling in the UK is at a higher level than previously thought and that more restrictive regulation is required,” noted Peel Hunt.
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Conduct unbecoming: The New Jersey gambling regulator has accused DraftKings of “unacceptable conduct” and fined the company $100k for reporting inaccurate sports-betting data to the state for what it said were demonstrable weaknesses in the company’s business abilities.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said the errors resulted in the body having to post corrected financial data for several months.
It added this was something that had not happened in 13 years.
The mistakes involved overstating the amount of money wagered on multi-tiered bets, or parlays, and understating other categories of wagers.
DraftKings said in a statement yesterday it had fixed the issue. “We are committed to ensuring compliance with all regulatory guidelines,” the company said.
“There was an error in the reporting of our wagering mix breakdown to the state that we have corrected by implementing additional controls.”
Other news
The Canadian Football League has come out in opposition of the proposed regulations for gaming advertising in the country. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has written a letter to the Canadian Senate’s standing committee on transport and communications, saying national advertising regulations are unnecessary as the league is self-policing.
Dutch trouble: The industry received the worst news possible when it comes to the next minister with responsibility for gambling as the sector-skeptical NSC saw their man, Teun Struycken, appointed as state secretary for legal protection.
The NSC, or Nieuw Sociaal Contract, promised at the last election to reverse the legalization of online gambling as part of its party manifesto.
Vanuatu: The South Pacific island has launched an updated licensing framework for the country’s Interactive Gaming Act that will allow operators to apply online for licenses. According to Asia Gaming Brief, the new license will include a $5k application fee and a $10k annual licensing fee.
Licenses will have terms of 15 years from initial issuance and a flat 1% wagering activity tax charged on gross gaming revenue.
Flutter has pulled New York Racing Association content from its FanDuel offering, with talks between the two sides over new terms reportedly stalled. It means pari-mutuel wagering and live video from the ongoing Belmont meet are not available on FanDuel’s platform.
Commercial
DoTrust: Player safety platform and financial risk checks provider Department of Trust has entered a multi-year partnership with the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS), the UK’s central database of vulnerable individuals.
Through the partnership, operators using the DoTrust Complete player protection platform can perform a frictionless check against the VRS register in real time, around the clock.
VRS checks provide the kind of personal, relevant and timely insights essential to the new light-touch financial vulnerability checks regime coming into force in August.
Mindway AI has partnered with Evoke, which will see the operator behind 888 and William Hill employ Mindway’s AI, neuroscientific and human evaluation tools to help with its efforts in the area of responsible gambling.
Gentoo Media’s GiG Comply regulatory tool will be utilized by New Zealand’s SkyCity Entertainment to ensure its affiliates follow brand guidelines and regulatory requirements.
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Geolocation and compliance technology provider XPoint has appointed Ron Braunfeld as its new chief revenue officer. Braunfield was most recently VP of business development at Mobi Systems.
DFS 2.0
Let’s go ’round again: Virginia Del. Paul Krizek plans to introduce legislation in 2025 that, as he told the Virginia Mercury, would clarify the currently blurry lines between sports betting and certain DFS 2.0 contests.
Maybe we'll turn back the hands of time: Describing the current situation as a “compliance nightmare,” Krizek underscored the need for clarity. With the Virginia Lottery overseeing the state’s licensed sportsbooks and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) regulating DFS sites, the situation is far from straightforward.
“I think they’re kind of taking advantage of the lack of regulatory oversight,” Krizek said.
I can see clearly now: With the current bifurcated regulatory system and several disparities between licensed sportsbooks and DFS sites, Krizek sees an opportunity for a more equitable system. He aims to bridge these gaps and create a level playing field for all involved, including:
Age requirements: sports betting is 21+ and DFS is 18+.
Problem gambling funding: 2.5% of sports-betting revenue must be directed towards problem gambling treatment, but DFS operators do not have this requirement.
Licensing fees: sports-betting licenses cost $250k, with an annual renewal fee of $200k; DFS licenses cost $8,300 per year.
Two sides to the story: According to DraftKings lobbyist John Mohrmann, the real issue is the wagers. Licensed sportsbooks have argued that DFS 2.0 contests don’t simply walk like a duck, they are a duck.
Mohrmann used an example of an NFL player prop wager and claimed DFS sites can offer better returns due to the different burdens.
According to Mohrmann, a two-player parlay would pay a little less than $25 in winnings on a $10 wager. The same wager through a DFS site would pay out $30.
Eye of the beholder: DFS companies have argued that while some of their offerings can also be offered through a sportsbook, that doesn’t mean they don’t fall in the DFS bucket. Underdog Fantasy general counsel Nicholas Green made the following point in a white paper published in September 2023: “Regardless of whether a contest ‘looks’ like sports betting, the legal analysis disregards optics and focuses instead on the letter of the law.”
“Taken to an extreme, all paid fantasy sports could be construed as a form of sports wagering, which is plainly not the law.”
The mixer: Green also argued that fantasy sports operators are far more limited in the wagers they can offer. “Fantasy sports patrons cannot mix-and-match player predictions with wagers on team or game statistics.”
The unanswered question is: Will there be a true compromise, or will the side with the larger lobbyist team and budget get their way?
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BC.game in Swedish hot water
Rocket from the crypto: The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has moved to issue proceedings against the Curaçao-licensed entity behind the BC.game crypto gambling site, claiming it was advertising the fact it also traded in Swedish krona and used Swedish-facing affiliate marketing partners.
Spelinspektionen said it was unable to prove Swedish consumers are prevented from registering and creating an account on the relevant website.
The entity called Small House operates sites including hash.game, bc.fun, bc.casino, bcgame.im and bc.online.
BC.game is yet to respond to the allegations.
Hitz factory: The move against BC.game comes less than a week after Spelinspektionen went after an operator called Hitz Gaming, which runs the wisho.com website. The regulator found the company uses a payment service provider that is registered in Sweden and is used exclusively or predominantly by Swedish consumers.
Moreover, the authority found the website employs an e-identification system that is exclusively used by Swedish consumers and which its affiliates marketed into Sweden.
Hitz-ing back: The Tallinn, Estonia-based Hitz, which also operates winnerz.com, trickz.com, and celebrino.com, countered that it no longer has contractual relationships with the affiliates that marketed the company’s games towards Sweden and has instructed its partners that no marketing for its websites should target the country.
Beg to differ: But following further investigation, Spelinspektionen found this not to be the case and instead the verification services used by Hitz sites were indeed focused on Sweden.
It therefore concluded Hitz “conducts gambling activities targeted at the Swedish market.”
“The company lacks a license to provide games in Sweden. Therefore, Hitz Gaming shall be prohibited from offering games in Sweden without the necessary license,” it added.
Calendar
Jul 17-20: National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, Pittsburgh
Sep 24: Player Protection, SBC Summit, Lisbon
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