Legal & compliance Archives - Page 9 of 11

Audit claims Colorado regulator “did not complete” background checks

The Colorado office of the state auditor released a report criticising the state regulator for limited background checks and failures to investigate temporary licensees, as well as raising questions about the operator tax filings.

The regulatory failures documented by the report places into stark relief the first years of legal sports betting in the state.

“During the first year of regulating sports betting, the Division of Gaming, within the Department of Revenue, did not have an effective process to investigate sports betting operations for temporary licensure, or to collect sufficient documentation to determine if sports betting operations’ monthly tax filings were accurate,” the report states.

The audit found the commission issued the majority of operators only temporary licences. With these licences, the operators receive the same privileges as permanent licences but with far less stringent background check procedures.

“As of March 2022, 35 out of the 39 licensed retail and i..

June 15, 2022

Early takeaways from Ontario igaming

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

With the first regulated igaming market to open to non-monopoly operators launching in a province with nearly 40% of the Canadian population, Ontario was always going to be an enticing prospect. Geoffrey Smorong provides analysis of the opening two months for iGB Affiliate.

On 4 April, the first Canadian province went live with a regulated igaming market for private operators, as Ontario officially opened its door to non-government operated online casinos and sportsbooks.

Ontario boasts a population of nearly 15 million, making it one of the largest new North American markets for regulated online gaming. The Ontario iGaming market will likely be a sizable one financially, as it’s expected to generate gross revenues of CA$989m by the end of this year and CA$1.86bn by 2026, according to VIXIO.

A couple of months have now passed, making this an ideal time to assess how the launch of the expanded igaming market in Ontario has gone so far.

Early engagement

The Ontario igaming marke..

June 14, 2022

Rhodes reveals Gambling Commission plans to “ramp up” enforcement

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Gambling Commission chief executive officer, Andrew Rhodes says the regulator will escalate penalties for failings, adopt more “prescriptive” approach to customer interaction and “ramp up” enforcement if industry continues to fail to live up to the Commission’s standards.

Rhodes made the remarks at the Westminster Media Forum Regulation Conference, where he spoke on the current state of the landscape in the industry ahead of the release of the Gambling Act review white paper. Rhodes hinted that the contents of the white paper should not necessarily be a surprise to anyone paying attention to the GC’s public comments.

“On behalf of the Gambling Commission, without waiting for what the white paper may bring, I can give you an overview on what we think needs to happen to make gambling in Great Britain as fair and safe as it can be, and what our next steps are to achieving that,” said Rhodes.

However, the regulator also said again that the regulator will not wait for the review to chan..

June 8, 2022

Kindred secures Dutch licence

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Unibet operator Kindred Group has secured an online gambling licence from the Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).

The licence, which comes into effect from today (8 June) will enable Kindred to offer both commercial online gambling and betting to players in the country’s regulated market.

Kindred said the issuing of the licence follows an extensive application process including the successful completion of relevant audits.

The group added that it will launch its flagship Unibet brand in the Netherlands within the coming days.

“The Netherlands is a large and important European market and one that we look forward to operating in with a local licence,” Kindred chief executive Henrik Tjärnström said.

“We have been advocating local licence schemes for the past decade, and are thrilled that our newly awarded licence in the Netherlands will allow us to deepen and develop our involvement in the Dutch society, as well as actively contribute to a fair and sustainable gambling ma..

May 27, 2022

Kenya Finance Committee throws out government’s tax hike plan

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The Finance and National Planning Committee of Kenya’s National Assembly published its updated version of the country’s Finance Bill, following a period of public input on the Treasury’s version of the bill.

In the committee’s version of the bill, the excise tax on betting stakes would remain at 7.5%, while no new tax would be brought in for gambling advertising.

Both of these were amendments from the Treasury’s version of the bill, which proposed a 20% excise tax on betting stakes, plus a 15% tax on gambling advertising spend.

The committee argued that this was not wise, however, as the current 7.5% rate has been in place for less than one year, so there has not been enough time to judge if it has been a success.

“The committee observed that excise duty on gaming activities had been increased in the Finance Act, 2021 and there is therefore need to give the sector time before taxes are increased,” the committee said. “The committee therefore recommends that the amendment be deleted..

May 23, 2022

Córdoba opens tender process for 10 online gambling licences

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Córdoba, Argentina’s second most-populous province, has opened its tender process for 10 online gambling licences.

Participants will bid for one of 10 online gambling licences on offer, with each lasting 15 years.

All bidders must provide their “legal documentation, legal capacity [and] history of technical and economic/financial capacity” to operate online gaming, as well as their offer for a licence fee.

Operators will have until 5 July to submit bids, with plans for licences to come into effect from 14 September.

The licence will allow an operator to offer online casino games and betting on sports, horse racing and certain non-sporting events. Each vertical will be subject to a 10% gross gaming revenue tax rate.

Córdoba – which is home to 3.3 million people – passed a bill to legalise online gambling in January, after it was introduced at the end of 2021. The original version of the bill only allowed for five licences, before this was expanded to 10.

Argentina allows for gamb..

May 9, 2022

Rivalry goes live in Australia

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Toronto Venture Exchange-listed Rivalry has launched esports and traditional sports betting in Australia.

The operator received a sports bookmaker license by the Northern Territory Racing Commission in February, and took its first bets in Australia last week.

“We are very excited to bring Rivalry to customers in Australia,” said Steven Salz, Co-Founder and CEO of Rivalry. “We take a very different approach than traditional betting operators, and have been particularly successful among Gen Z and young Millennial’s across the globe.

“We are very eager to start building our brand equity in Australia through a series of innovative activations and campaigns as we ramp up services throughout the remainder of 2022. As we do everywhere, servicing and helping to grow the esports and gaming community will be a priority for us.”

The launch comes just over a month after Rivalry launched in Ontario, as one of the initial operators to go live when the market opened on 4 April.

The business rev..

May 5, 2022

Californians to vote on legalising online betting this year

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

A proposition to allow online sports betting in California – but with licence fees of up to $100m – will to appear on the state’s ballot this November.

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson confirmed that the measure – backed by Flutter’s FanDuel brand, as well as DraftKings and BetMGM – was set to appear on the ballot this November, having gained more than the required 997,139 signatures.

“We’re very excited abut the Californian situation,” he said. “Clearly getting to this stage was not straightforward but we’re very, very happy to be on the ballot.”

These signatures must still be verified, though the measure reportedly has enough signatures that this is expected to be a formality. If it appears on the ballot and is approved by a majority of voters, it will become law.

The measure is titled the California Legalize Sports Betting and Revenue for Homelessness Prevention Fund Initiative (2022), as 85% of tax proceeds will gowards reducing homelessness. Sports wagering will be taxed ..

May 3, 2022

Brazil publishes sports betting rules

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Brazil’s Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP) has published its rules for sports betting in the country, which include a BRL22.2m (£3.6m/€4.2m/$4.4m) licence fee.

The Ministry of the Economy will act as the regulator and will establish a deadline – which will fall within the next six months – for operators already doing business in Brazil to comply with these rules.

There will be no limit on the number of licences that can be issued, with licences lasting five years. However, operators must pay a BRL22.2m (£3.6m/€4.2m/$4.4m) licence fee.

In addition, operators based abroad must set up a subsidiary in Brazil and must have “sufficient capital and economic and financial capacity” to operate.

The bill said whether a business’ financial capacity was “sufficient” would be determined by the relationship between its share capital and the volume of bets it takes, rather than setting a specific minimum amount of capital.

Operators will be permitted to offer bets o..

April 22, 2022

ComeOn approved for Ontario licence

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

ComeOn has secured approval for an Ontario sports betting licence, becoming the 31st operator to do so.

The operator’s registration by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) as a sports betting operator was effective yesterday (21 April).

The operator’s licence will expire in two years, in April 2024. This would make ComeOn only the 12th operator to be approved for a two-year licence, with most operators approved for only one year. Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the provincial lottery operator, has a licence running until 2052.

Ontario launched its regulated market on 4 April of this year. Operators such as Unibet, theScore, BetRivers, 888, PointsBet, LeoVegas, Bwin, Bet365, FanDuel, BetMGM and Caesars all secured licences on launch day, April 4, while more recent licensees include Betway and North Star.

This market launch followed almost three years of work to open up the market, after the government revealed plans to end the lottery’s online gambling monopo..

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