Tag Archives: Sports betting regulation

Fanatics hires Brandt Iden as VP of government affairs

Fanatics hires Brandt Iden as VP of government affairs

Fanatics Betting and Gaming has hired former Michigan legislator Brandt Iden as its new vice-president of government affairs, as the business edges closer to launching its betting product.

Iden was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2014, until 2020 when he reached the state term limit. During this time he spearheaded the efforts to legalise both sports betting and online casino gaming in the state.

He then joined Sportradar, where he was head of government affairs during a period in which the business went public on the Nasdaq exchange.

Now, he joins Fanatics ahead of the apparel brand’s long-rumoured launch of a sports betting operation.

Read the full story on iGB North America

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Ontario report

Ontario report

iGB’s new report on Ontario offers exclusive insight into Canada’s most populous province – and the first to regulate betting and igaming.

When the Ontario market opened in April this year, it wasn’t quite brand new ground.

Anyone in the industry could tell you that the grey market in Canada’s largest province had been thriving for quite some time.

Still, bringing the province from grey to white offers certainty and new opportunities for many.

Six months on, we have a sense of the spoils available. Operators – excluding the lottery – brought in a combined CA$267m in the three months ended 30 September.

The biggest challenge in the province, however, may be marketing rules. Operators can offer bonuses, but may not promote them. As Marese O’Hagan writes in our progress report, that’s been difficult, but it hasn’t seriously dampened excitement about the jurisdiction.

And for now, those complying with the rules still need to compete with some unlicensed brands, which continue to do b..

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Gibraltar to replace one-size-fits-all licence fees with tiered system

Gibraltar to replace one-size-fits-all licence fees with tiered system

Gibraltar is set to implement a new, tiered system for gambling licence fees, meaning that larger operators will pay more and smaller ones less, as part of a package of reforms for the point-of-supply market.

The British Overseas Territory launched a consultation on new licence fees, following its earlier proposal for a new Gambling Act.

Previously, operators of remote betting, remote gaming, other remote products, land-based gaming and retail betting each had to pay a £100,000 licence fee every year. B2B suppliers, meanwhile, were required to pay an £85,000 annual fee.

However, in its consultation, the government said that “licensing fees for startup operators and small operators who are building for growth can be a disproportionate cost in the early stages of the life cycle of the business”.

As a result, it opted for a new, tiered system for remote betting and gaming licences, based on annual gross gambling yield (GGY).

As operators need to apply for a separate licence for each..

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World Series of Politics: Brazil, Indiana and Ontario

World Series of Politics: Brazil, Indiana and Ontario

Just in time for G2E, iGB brings you episode five of the World Series of Politics, this week featuring Brazilian elections, Indiana online casino and Ontario's offshore issue.

We kick off by looking at Brazil, where the competing presidential candidates go into a run-off at the end of October.

This is likely to impact gambling across multiple channels. Not only sports betting may be on the line, but a reshuffling of the country’s lottery sector and even integrated resorts are being held back.

Indiana online casino is also up for discussion in this week’s episode, as US states look for new ways of finding revenue. Could this lead to a wave of igaming legislation in the remainder of 2022 and into early 2023, especially after commentators were disappointed by a lack of action in 2021?

It’s a question of tax, Brendan says. If they set the rate too high, states risk stifling the market before it can get going.

Remember, The World of Series of Politics is available on Apple Podcas..

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Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Integrity has long been a major issue in sports betting. While this is a problem for even the most established of sports, emerging sports can be blindsided by the scale of the problem. Marese O’Hagan speaks to Steve Hall, commissioner of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), about how emerging sports are approaching the issue of integrity.

In its second quarter 2022 report, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received a total of 88 suspicious alerts pertaining to sports betting worldwide. Football was the subject of 32 of these, while tennis and horseracing followed at 27 and 12 respectively.

But virtually every sport has been touched by match-fixing and betting corruption. Routinely, headlines appear that detail a variety of penalties across a number of sports for engaging in the practice.

For sports in their infancy, the issue of betting corruption can be difficult to grapple with. Time and resources are needed to tackle the problem, both of which some emerg..

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World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

It's a busy episode this week, with Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden looking at the NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil's election.

The dynamic duo kick off by discussing sports betting activity around the National Football League’s kickoff on 8 September. This season is set to be the biggest ever for sports betting; 46.6 million Americans plan to place a bet during the season.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

However, there are some issues emerging on where bets can be placed – the league is trying to prevent betting on match days.

There’s also some intrigue around the Wire Act, in the wake of a Rhode Island District Court judge ruling that the Department of Justice must formally state that it only applies to sports betting. Could this provide much-needed clarity after an attempt to enforce the act across all forms of gambling?

Does this mean the issue is dead and buried? Brandt is confident, but Brendan is not so sure.

Further afield, Brazil is preparing to go to the polls in a ..

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German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

The German supreme court for administrative matters, the Federal Administrative Court, has ruled that municipalities will no longer be able to levy a betting shop tax.

A lawsuit had been originally brought about by the bookmakers that operated betting shops in the German city of Dortmund. Since 2014, the city had been levying a municipal tax based on the dimensions of the physical area of the betting shop – which was defined as areas where bets were processed and monitored. The tax was designed to be passed directly onto consumers.

However, in 2017 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the tax could not be based on the area of the shop, leading to the city rewriting the statute as a 3% stake tax – this was in addition to the federally imposed 5% stake tax for sports betting.

Following this, the Münster Higher Administrative Court allowed an appeal about whether this tax by multiple levels of government was inadmissible due to similarities with taxes imposed under the Lottery A..

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Rumour Truss will scrap gambling review may be bad news, analyst warns

Rumour Truss will scrap gambling review may be bad news, analyst warns

Regulus Partners analyst Dan Waugh warned against the industry celebrating rumours new prime minister Liz Truss would abandon the Gambling Act review, instead arguing the news may be “worst outcome for industry”.

A report from Guardian chief political correspondent Jessica Elgot concerning general government plans to scrap a number of legislative proposals noted “rumours” that the Gambling Act review was among the proposals that could be axed.

Long-delayed process

The Gambling Act review has been in motion since late 2020, having initially been on the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019.

However, various delays have meant that a white paper outlining the government’s wish list for reforms has still not been published.

A major factor in the repeated delays appeared to have been changes in personnel, with four different ministers having overseen the legislation since it began.

Chris Philp, who at the time was responsible for the review, said in his July resignation letter that th..

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Norwich City director: club will “never again” have betting shirt sponsor

Norwich City director: club will “never again” have betting shirt sponsor

Norwich FC's commercial director, Sam Jeffrey, has said that the club will “never again” sign a betting shirt sponsorship deal, adding that the club must “almost self-regulate” when it comes to deals of that nature.

Instead, the club is set to sign a one-year sponsorship contract with Norfolk-based car manufacturer Lotus Cars.

The club’s latest home kit, which features Lotus, was released at the end of last month.

While Jeffery emphasised that the club must “assess all opportunities” for sponsorship, he stringently ruled out future betting deals.

“There were some [sponsorship] opportunities specifically in the betting space,” said Jeffrey. “These opportunities derived a higher partnership fee as is the case in industries such as betting.

“However, we believe this is the time, as a board and club-wide decision, to almost self-regulate when it comes to betting on the front of our shirts.

“So, certainly with the club in its current structure we will never again have a betting b..

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North Carolina House committee passes sports wagering bills as deadline looms

North Carolina House committee passes sports wagering bills as deadline looms

North Carolina’s House Judiciary Committee has passed two bills that would bring sports wagering to the state, just nine days before the legislative session ends on June 30.

The bills will now be referred to the state’s House Finance Committee and will be heard today (June 22).

The main sports wagering bill – Senate Bill 688 – had its first reading on April 8 2021.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

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