UKGC dismisses concerns that additional regulations would lead to black market growth
In a letter responding to the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), UK Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur said he is “not convinced” that further regulation of the licensed market could send consumers offshore to the unregulated realm.
A report authored by accountancy giant PwC was “not consistent with the intelligence picture” gathered by the UK regulator in its own research, McArthur added. The PwC report claimed the UK’s unlicensed gambling market could be worth as much as £1.4bn, attracting 200,000 punters annually.
“We know that licensed operators and their trade bodies are concerned about the impact of the illegal market, but our own evidence suggests that the impact may be being exaggerated,” McArthur further said.
McArthur said black market concerns should be kept in proportion “despite reports from consultants paid for by the industry, and should not distract from the need to continue to drive up standards and make gambling safer in the regulated market.”
Spanish trade associations appeal “disproportionate” gambling advertising ban
Spanish operator association Jdigital and media association la Asociación de Medios e Información (AMI) have both submitted appeals to the country’s Supreme Court, challenging the controversial advertising regulations that were brought in last year.
In a statement, Jdigital, which represents more than 80% of the regulated Spanish online market, said that new advertising rules are “inconsistent with the reality of the online gambling sector in Spain, clearly disproportionate” and are more likely than not to boost the growth of the illegal market.
Jdigital has long claimed, not entirely without evidence, that the Spanish government is in the process of waging an “ideological crusade” against the country’s gambling market.
Upcoming events
The following events may be of interest to the GiH community.
Events
SiGMA Europe has been rescheduled to 13 – 15 April, 2021.
The third edition of CasinoBeats Summit will return to Malta from May 18 – 20, 2021, as part of Spring iGaming Week organized in partnership with KPMG and Gaming Malta.
The Betting on Sports America conference and expo has been scheduled for 8 – 10 June, 2021 and will bring together all the major players in the fast-growing North American sports betting industry.
ICE London 2021 will now take place 29 June – July 1, 2021, with the co-located iGB Affiliate London taking place 1 – 2 July.
iGB Live 2021 has also been moved to 28 September – 1 October, 2021, but will still take place in Amsterdam!
Webinars and virtual events
Mindway AI has published an on-demand webinar on player profiling and efficient responsible gaming interventions.
G4 and KPMG have joined forces to offer a safer gambling training for customer support professionals on 28 January, 2021.
Sportradar, the global provider of sports betting services, announced the launch of Sportradar Connect, a new curated event series. The first session, on 23 February, 2021, will feature Ted Leonsis, founder, chairman, principal partner and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Washington DC.
Join the iGaming Next Power Hour every Friday @3pm CET for a short, compact, educational and social weekly digital gathering with some of the brightest and most connected minds of the industry.
Ministry of Justice confirms entry into force of Remote Gaming Act on April 1, 2021
In a letter to the Lower House, the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security has confirmed that the country's Remote Gaming Act will enter into force on April 1, 2021 – one month later than originally envisioned. The regulated online market will open six months later, on October 1, 2021. The cooling-off period for online operators who previously targeted the Dutch market will also be extended by one month. The resignation of the current administration over a child benefits scandal will not impact this timeline.
In the same letter, Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker said that the government will not reconsider the requirement that land-based operators implement a visitor registration.
Furthermore, the minister stressed that data from other gambling markets indicate that it is unlikely that there exists a causal relationship between the opening of the online gambling market and changes in lottery revenues.
Finally, Minister Dekker reported that the Netherlands Gambling Authority will take over the rotating chairmanship of the Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF), in which capacity the Dutch regulator will take up a pioneering role in the prevention of problem gambling and cross-boundary enforcement.
Other news
Due to the Covid-related lockdowns, illegal land-based gambling is on the rise in the Netherlands.
The Gibraltar gambling industry will continue to grow and thrive post-Brexit, says Andrew Lyman, Executive Director of the Government of Gibraltar’s Gambling Division.
26 Capital, the new ‘special purpose acquisition company’ of billionaire gambling investor Jason Ader, filed its initial IPO offering.
Spain’s national self-exclusion scheme for online gambling saw a 12% increase in registrations during 2020 to 56,329.
The Latvian Parliament has approved at the first reading a bill to ban alimony debtors from gambling, and scheduled a second reading for January 20.
Online betting operator 888 Holdings said it expects revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciations and amortization (EBITDA) for 2020 to come in “moderately ahead of expectations.”
SAZKA Group has assembled an advisory team of high-powered local businessmen to assist the lottery operator in competing for the fourth UK National Lottery license.