Month: June 2021

The claims and their sources were assessed by the Riksdag’s Constitutional Committee (Konstitutionsutskottet/KU) in its annual review of the Swedish government’s performance.

Shekarabi made the claims at a press conference on 23 April 2020, which was held to address temporary measures, claimed to better protect players, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The regulations included an SEK5,000 (£428/€476/$540) deposit limit that was originally intended to cover all products, before being limited to online casino – as well as limits on playing time and bonus restrictions.
The deposit was introduced ostensibly to protect consumers during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and were originally in place until the end of 2020. However, the deadline has been extended multiple times, most recently until November 2021.

“What we see now is a dangerous cocktail of several circumstances that risk the increase of problem gambling and gambling addiction,” said Shekarabi at the April 2020 conference.

“The picture of this problematic situation is further strengthened when we see the gambling statistics available. Here, there are indications of increased gambling on the most dangerous games.”

In its findings, the KU noted that Shekarabi, in his ministerial position, should only provide correct information from trusted sources.

“The review shows that the government has based its statement on information that does not provide space for any definite conclusion as to whether or not gambling had increased,” read the report from the KU.

“The Minister for Social Security is responsible for his opinions and thus also for the information he provides.”

In support of its stance, the KU cited findings from the Swedish state-owned operator Svenska Spel, which had labelled the sources used by Shekarabi as “misleading” two weeks before he made the claims.

The report also cited data from the country’s gambling regulatory authority Spelinspektionen, which showed that betting and gaming sales were down 6% in March 2020. The available figures for April, at the time of the press conference, also showed a decline.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of the Swedish online industry association Branscheforenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), stated that Shekarabi’s claims led to the deposit cap measures being extended until late 2021.

“The Minister’s statements about the alleged but unfounded increase in online casinos during the pandemic are the main reason why this form of gambling is still subject to very strict temporary restrictions,” said Hoffstedt.

“The next step must reasonably be for the government to quickly end these restrictions,” he added. “Ministers must have a basis for their statements, it is not enough to say things just because it fits into the policy you want to pursue.”

The new proposal would require private and public sector bodies within the EU to offer e-IDs to citizens, allowing them to authenticate themselves in public and private sector businesses -including online gambling sites – across the EU.

“It is about giving a choice to consumers, a European choice,” European commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton said. “Our European companies, large and small, will also benefit from this digital identity, they will be able to offer a wide range of new services since the proposal offers a solution for secure and trusted identification services.”

EGBA said it believes regulators would benefit as it would be easier to deal with fraudulent activity, customers would be able to control which information they choose to share and administrative costs for operators would be reduced.

EGBA director Ekaterina Hartmann said: “An ever-increasing number of Europeans are using online services and a common electronic identification method would help them to access online services in a practical, secure way which safeguards their data.

“We welcome the proposal for a Europe-wide e-ID, which would have significant positive impacts on the way KYC is conducted in Europe’s online gambling sector and help establish more common approaches to identity verification.

“An EU e-ID would, for example, help strengthen existing processes to prevent minors from accessing online gambling and to fight fraud and money laundering.” 

Sulsky was formerly president of Monkey Knife Fight, the daily fantasy sports operator that was acquired by Bally’s Corporation in January this year.

Prior to this, Sulsky co-founded InGamer, an in-game fantasy platform that launched in 2010 in partnership with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

The appointment marks PointsBet’s first senior hire in Canada and represents the first step toward its strategy of building a Canadian leadership team for its potential expansion into the country.

Canada is close to passing new legislation that would legalize single-event sports betting in the country. Last week, the bill passed its second reading in the Senate and is now with the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce.

If passed by the Committee, the bill will receive Royal Assent and become law, allowing operators to offer bets on individual sporting events, instead of only on multiples.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Of these 50 operators, 35 were full licensees, while 14 held associate certificates to operate.

The number of licensees bounced back from 46 in 2019, but remained lower than the 53 that were active in 2018.

The regulator issued six new licences, the same number issued in 2019, while no applications were refused and no licences revoked.

“At the Alderney Gambling Control Commission we redoubled our efforts to maintain an environment of continuity and stability for eGambling operators as they navigate in an industry facing numerous challenges,” the Commission’s chair, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, said.

“It is pleasing to note that not only has this strategy benefited our existing operators but it is also proving attractive to other high-quality large global operators that during 2020 found a new home in our jurisdiction.”

Inspections conducted by the Commission drastically declined, from 33 to 13. Similarly, the number of sanctions issued dropped from 86 in 2019 to 27 in 2020.

TheAlderney Gambling Control Commission received 16 player complaints, down from 23 in 2019, with none of these complaints progressing to the need for a hearing.

The regulator made a total of £4.0m in revenue during 2020, down 14.6% from 2019. Of this total, £3.4m came from licence fees, also down 14.6%, while £513,000 was in fees charged to clients.

The Commission’s expenses totalled £2.3m, an 11.5% reduction. The majority of these costs, £1.6m, were staff costs, with administrative expenses and web hosting fees also contributing.

This meant the Commission’s total comprehensive income was £1.6m, down 16.0%

The figures were compiled using data from operators representing around 80% of the online gambling market. While the Commission has now reported more than a year’s worth of data since lockdowns began, it said it was “not advisable” to compare year-on-year figures, due to “different operating circumstances”.

The overall revenue figure was the second-highest since the regulator started publishing monthly data, behind December 2020.

The regulator said impact of horse racing events such as the Grand National helped contribute to the figure increase, as GGR from real event betting increased 7.0% in March to £267.4m.

The GGR of slots and other casino games both declined by less than 0.5%, at £202.0m and £71.0m respectively. The slight decline in slots comes after the vertical hit a record high in revenue in March.

Virtual betting and poker saw 8.9% and 9.1% decreases to £7.6m and £8.4m respectively.

Esports betting was up 2.7% to £1.9m.

Real-event betting was also the only sector to see an increase in active players between March and April, increasing 12.0% to 6.7m. Slots and other casino games both decreased 1% to 3.2m and 2.2m, virtual betting players decreased 5% to 256,233, and poker players saw the biggest drop, 11%, to 300,520.

The number of bets placed decreased across the board. Slot spins fell 1.0% to 6.1bn, real-event bets dropped to 344.3m and virtual bets decreased 7.2% to 17.1m. Poker wagers saw the biggest decrease falling 19.1% to 94.7m. Bets placed on other casino games decreased 3.3% to 295.6m.

The average slot session length fell to 20 minutes, and the number of sessions lasting longer than an hour fell 4% to 2.6m.

Last week, the regulator also published full data for the GB market from April to September 2020, a period heavily impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. GGY for the sixth-month period was £5.89bn. Year-on-year comparisons were not available due to a change in reporting periods, but the figures suggest a drop of more than 10%.

Armadillo Studios will develop online casino games for EveryMatrix, with an insight on US player patterns and gaming logic.

The new studio will be managed by chief executive officer Razvan Haiduc and chief operations officer David Stoveld. Haiduc has worked in EveryMatrix’s payments division since 2019 after 5 years with iSoftBet, while Stoveld has worked with gaming production companies such as Scientific Games, Kalamba Games and NetEnt.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

In his new role, Flood will be responsible for the delivery and operational running of game and platform development at Swintt, as well as the provider’s IT systems. 

Flood joined Swintt after having served in the same position at Novibet for just over one year, prior to which he was also chief technology officer at Boss Gaming Solutions.

Earlier in his career, he was director of product operations at Gaming Innovation Group and also had spells as chief technology officer at FanLeague and technical operations manager with LeoVegas.

“I am incredibly excited to be joining Swintt and to be given the opportunity to play a part in taking the business to the next level,” Flood said.

“My remit is to really get things into shape from a technology perspective so that Swintt is capable of entering any new jurisdiction with minimal friction and as quickly as possible. I already have a great foundation to work with but believe I can bring a lot to the table.”

Swintt chief executive David Flynn added: “I am delighted to welcome David to the team and for Swintt to be able to leverage his incredible expertise and unrivalled experience when it comes to technology as well as the online gambling industry.

“We have grown at pace since day one and in order to continue to drive the business forwards, we require talent of David’s calibre. I look forward to working with him closely as we improve our technologies and processes which in turn will enable us to shift up another gear.”

Previously, only IT equipment that originated in Denmark, and had been inspected accordingly, was allowed to offer gaming services.

However, a change in EU regulation related to the free sharing of data prompted a change in Denmark’s rules.

The change in regulation means that after inspection, an IT gaming system owned by a Danish gaming licence holder in any country can be used for betting and gaming services in Denmark, provided that regulator Spillemyndigheden can perform an inspection of the systems involved.

However, if the licensee is permitted to offer games in another country, the inspection may be waived if that country’s regulator has a cooperation agreement with Spillemyndigheden.

The updated regulation came into effect on 30 May.

In considering the new regulation, two former Danish gaming executive orders that required the placement of IT equipment in Denmark have been removed and ceased effect on 30 May 2021.

The player in question lost their money in 2020, and claimed they should be reimbursed after claiming that the range of games they wagered on were illegal – something the player only discovered after the fact.

However Euskirchen District Court, following the precedent set by Munich and Duisburg regional courts, dismissed the lawsuit. As the player willingly participated in the game, they made themselves liable to prosecution, the court said.

In addition, the court noted the player received an opportunity to win.

A statement from Hambach and Hambach – the law firm representing the operator – said:  “Due to the terms and conditions of the provider, the plaintiff knew that he should have found out about the legal situation. 

“In addition, the plaintiff had made his stake voluntarily and in return received a chance to win from the provider. This also means that there is no damage in the legal sense, according to the court.”

Online casino is set to become legal throughout Germany after the Glücksspielneuregulierungstaatsverag (GlüNeuRStV) was approved by all 16 federal states.

Coming into effect from 1 July, the GlüNeuRStV treaty will diversify Germany’s igaming offerings to include online casino games as well as online betting.

However, its implementation could be delayed after industry body Deutsche Sportwettenverband (DSWV) and the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) both filed EU state aid complaints related to the proposed tax rates for the vertical. Under a Bundesrat proposal, online slots and poker would be taxed at 5.3% of turnover.

Currently, operators may offer online gambling in Germany through a transitional regime, where online casino is permitted but only under the terms of the new treaty. These terms include restricting slots to a €1 stake limit per spin, with an average spin speed of five seconds. Operators such as LeoVegas and Bet-at-Home said these restrictions have already hit revenue in Q1.

The state entered week-long lockdown on 27 May after a rise in novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and related restrictions were due to be eased from today (3 June).

However, with Victoria having recorded more positive Covid-19 cases during the week-long lockdown, the government announced that restrictions would stay in place until 10 June.

As such, operations at Crown Melbourne will remain suspended until 11:59pm on 10 June. This will include the temporary closure of gambling facilities as well as food and beverage, retail, banqueting and conference amenities.

Takeaway meals or meal delivery services will be permitted, while hotel accommodation will continue to be provided for approved purposes.

“As a result of today’s announcement of the extension of restrictions for a further seven days, Crown Melbourne will stand down the majority of its staff, but will continue to support them financially by paying a one off discretionary payment,” Crown said.

“Crown has previously announced that it will pay Crown Melbourne employees’ rostered hours and salaries (as applicable) over the initial seven-day lockdown period.”