Month: March 2022

According to FATF guidance, the grey list is made up of countries that have defects in their “regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing”, but recognise and have “committed to resolve swiftly” these issues.

In its February 2022 review, the FATF added that Malta had “substantially completed its action plan” by making reforms – including the increased use of the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) services to pursue money laundering and criminal tax cases. However, the organisation decided that the country requires an on-site review to ensure the AML measures are being implemented.

The FATF noted that the Philippines has several areas of concern, although the country had increased FIU sources.

The organisation noted that the Philippines should demonstrate how supervisors are implementing AML measures to counteract risks with casino junkets, how FIU sources have been increased and how money laundering investigations have intensified.

Both countries were first moved to the list in June 2021, along with Haiti and South Sudan. At this time the pair made what the FATF described as a “high-level political commitment” to work with the organisation, with Malta also committing to work with MONEYVAL, one of eight regional FATF-style bodies.

In October 2021 both countries remained on the list, but the FATF recognised that they had both advanced their AML measures.

Last week, Malta gaming regulator the MGA reminded its licencees of their obligations with regards to sanctioning, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which included anti-money laundering rules for countries facing sanctions.

When facing parliamentary questions, the Netherlands’ Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind confirmed that the Dutch gaming authority de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) had flagged that players could deposit money from a bank account other than their own with a particular operator.

The KSA addressed this issue with the operators in question, who communicated that they will solve the issue so that this deposit method is no longer possible. Weerwind also attested that no minors were actually involved in the deposits that led authorities to learn about the loophole.

Weerwind reiterated that Dutch gaming regulations specify that players may only deposit money from an account that can be unambiguously traced back to them, prohibiting deposits from a third-party account.

A further issue arose with operator Holland Casino whereby players who were logged into the betting account of another player with exactly the same last name could link their own payment details to this account. This issue has since been resolved.

Weerwind outlined the protection the gaming legislation has in place to prevent minors from gambling.

He said: “When creating a player account, the identity is established and verified, among other things by means of a check on the Citizen Service Number. In addition, a player must identify himself every time he or she wants to access his player account, for example by means of username
and password.

“In addition, only money can be deposited with a payment account that can be unambiguously traced to the person of the player. This minimises the chance that a minor can actually play with a licensed provider.”

The KSA has previously warned operators about their advertising practices, amid concerns that their activities could attract minors and young adults to online gambling.

Playson has a development studio in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and while the developer said some staff remain to continue “business-critical operations”, many employees have volunteered to defend the country in a number of ways.

The developer said some staff have taken on roles to fight disinformation and to help with resettling and providing food and logistics for Ukrainian refugees. Others have volunteered for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Playson said that, as a result, it is likely that the develop will experience some disruption in its everyday processes, with some future releases likely to be delivered later than initially planned.

“A big part of our team is based in Ukraine,” Playson said. “On 24 February, Russia started the war in Ukraine, and as a company, we strongly condemn the Russian military invasion into the country. We stand with Ukraine. 

“Please bear with us in these unprecedented times. We at Playson are working together as a global family to help Ukraine and provide full support to our Ukrainian employees, their families, and close ones, including help with relocation to more secure regions.”

Playson added that it remains committed to its plans for ICE London 2022 from 12-14 April and will exhibit at the event as scheduled.

“We stand firm, will overcome these difficult times, and will continue to delight you with fantastic slot games that we love to create,” Playson said.

A number of operators, developers and other businesses within the gambling industry have withdrawn their services from Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion.

Genius Sports Group suspended operations in Russia and Belarus, while online gambling operator LeoVegas halted all betting on domestic Russian and Belarusian sports.

Parimatch Tech also said that it would withdraw its franchise from Russia in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Parimatch brand was founded in Ukraine in 1994 and the main development centre of Parimatch Tech is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Last week saw the launch of Gaming Industry for Ukraine, an initiative that aims to raise £250,000 for those affected by the war. So far, more than £180,000 has been raised, with the largest donation of £25,000 coming from Betsson Group. 

The amount bet during the period from 31 January to 27 February, which included the Super Bowl, was 5.5% lower than the $1.63bn spent in the opening 23 days of the state’s legal market.

New York launched legal online sports betting on 8 January and the total wagered in the first 23 days of operation comfortably surpassed the US monthly handle record of $1.30bn set by New Jersey in October last year.

Gross gaming revenue from sports betting in February was also 18.9% lower than $113.0m in the opening period for the state’s legal market.

February included figures from Caesars Sportsbook, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street Interactive, all of which began operations on opening day in New York, as well as BetMGM, which went live on 17 January, PointsBet on 25 January and WynnBet on 2 February.

Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group led the way in terms of handle, processing $568.3m in bets during the four-week period and bringing in gross gaming revenue of $26.6m.

DraftKings followed with a $390.0m handle and state-leading revenue of $31.8m.

Caesars took $328.4m in bets and posted $22.9m in revenue, while BetMGM’s handle was $154.4m and revenue $4.1m.

PointsBet accepted $52.5m worth of bets and recorded $3.3m in revenue, while Rush Street Interactive’s handle reached $37.2m and revenue $2.2m. WynnBet, which entered the New York market on the first day of the reporting period, took $4.7m in bets and posted revenue of $731,043.

Last week, Genting Group-owned Resorts World became the latest operator to enter the New York mobile sports betting market, launching its new Resorts WorldBET app in the state. Bally’s has still not enetered, despite being licensed to do so.

Also last week, New York state Senator Joseph Addabbo introduced a bill that would legalise online casino gaming in the state.

Put forward in the state’s Senate, SB 8412 calls for the implementation of remote wagering, allowing for players to play online casino games through virtual or electronic means provided they remain within New York, and that their bets are accepted by electronic equipment located at a licenced gaming facility.

While the details of the deal are yet to be disclosed, RIO founder and professional poker player Phil Galfond said that the process of agreeing a deal took 18 months.

Under the deal, RIO will integrate its software into RSI’s platform.

“We spoke with many potential partners over the last 18 months and are very excited to be on team RSI,” Galfond said. “They share our values: Honesty, integrity, fairness, and transparency – and not only with their players. They stood out to me in the fair and honest way they dealt with us.

“RIO Poker created a platform that people loved, with features and innovations that the poker world was excited about, but we also heard things like ‘if only they could iterate on their software faster’ or ‘I’d move all my volume to RIO if they were bigger.’

“Well, now we are bigger – much bigger. And now we add to our existing tech team the expertise and experience of those who have built huge poker platforms in the past. I’m extremely excited about what we’ll be able to accomplish together.”

RSI co-founder and former chief executive Gregory Carlin recently resigned from his position on the board of directors and departed from the company entirely.

McDavid becomes the first active professional athlete from the four North American major sports leagues to join BetMGM as a brand ambassador and will now feature in the operator’s marketing campaigns, promotions, social media content and fan events.

The Oilers centre burst onto the NHL scene in 2016 and became the league’s youngest ever captain at the age of 19.

Widely considered among the best players of his generation, McDavid is also the reigning most valuable player MVP for the NHL and has led the league in scoring three times.

“I am very excited to partner with BetMGM as they continue to shape the future of sports betting,” McDavid said. “It’s also a real honor to be on the same BetMGM team with star athletes like Wayne Gretzky and Kevin Garnett, both of whom I admire very much.”

BetMGM chief revenue officer Matt Prevost added: “The accomplishments that Connor already has earned on the ice is astonishing and we are excited to welcome him to the BetMGM family. We look forward to working together to engage BetMGM players across North America.”

The move comes with the Canadian province of Ontario set to open up its legal sports betting market next month after a bill to allow single-event sports betting became law last year.

Internet Vikings went live with its data centre in the state during the fourth quarter of last year, and as Indiana does not require the business to hold a license to operate in the state, Internet Vikings has now commenced hosting service operations.

Indiana law currently permits online sports betting and daily fantasy sports, as well as retail sports wagering and land-based casino gaming. Online casino remains specifically prohibited in the state.

“It is just wonderful to see how the US is responding to our innovative offerings; as we have moved across the States, we have quickly acquired customers and had amazing results,” Internet Vikings’ head of hosting services Kristoffer Ottosson said.

“Internet Vikings has no doubt that our arrival in Indiana heralds yet another bright star on our unfolding path towards helping the industry to grow and find solid ground.”

The business is now active in 19 states across the US including West Virginia, Colorado, New Jersey and, since January, Illinois.

Plans are to launch in other US markets where forms of igaming is legal, as well as in Ontario in Canada, where Internet Vikings has established a data centre.

The revenue fall came as the monopoly’s market share fell by 5% to 74%, meaning the unlicensed market made up the other 26%.
Casino games generated €323.4m of the total, down 30.1% from 2020. Slot machines made up €142.9m of this and other casino games brought up the remaining €35.7m.

Lottery games revenue came to €627.6m, a decrease of 5.0%. Weekly lottery games amounted to €383.6m of this and daily lottery games revenue came to €187.6m. Scratch cards added €56.3m.

Betting accumulated €148.9m in revenue, up 8.6%. Betting games, which include multiplayer, live bets and long bets, made up €86.3m of this, while toto games accounted for the remaining €62.5m.

Other business profits drove the revenue up by €3.6m, but lottery tax of €60.3m caused it to decrease. This lottery tax was 60.0% less than in 2020.

Costs for the year amounted to €128.2m, a decline of 24.0% year-on-year. Much of this came from sales, commission and placement fees, which amounted to €83.4m – down 24.3%. Target cooperation costs fell by 8.5% to €11.5m, while lottery costs decreased 12.8% to €9.0m.

The remaining amount came from a number of sources, including authority costs and product advertising.

Employee benefits expense, which comprised of salaries and fees, pension costs and other personnel expenses, totaled €90.6m, a rise of 4.1% year-on-year.

Other operating expenses, including service purchases, depreciation and impairment and others fell by 18.1% to €144.0m.

After considering all costs, the remaining net profit amounted to €680.3m, down by just 0.04% year-on-year.

The decreased revenue came in a year in which Veikkaus increased its focus on responsible gambling.

Yesterday (2 March) Veikkaus released a survey which revealed that problem gambling had fell to 0.8% in Finland from November 2020 to November 2021. This is compared to 1.8% in the previous year.

In November 2021, Veikkaus released data that showed an “all-time low” in problem gambling following its introduction of loss limits for slot machines.

Finland has had loss limits for online games, including slots, for quite some time but this was extended to physical slot machines in August 2021 as part easing restrictions put in place by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In December 2021 Finland’s Constitutional Committee stated that there was no justification to protect Veikkaus’ monopoly in relation to proposed amendments to the country’s Lotteries Act.

If passed into law, the bill, which was first filed in September 2021, would see all payments to other operators except Veikkaus blocked.

In a statement, LeoVegas explained that it had never accepted customers from Russia or Belarus, but is suspending bets on these markets because did not wish to “lend legitimacy” to the teams and leagues based in either country.

The operator added that teams from Russia and Belarus have already been banned from taking part in a large number of international events by various sports federations.

These include the Paralympics, which announced that it would ban Russian and Belarusian teams earlier today, as well as global and European football governing bodies Fifa and Uefa.

Earlier this week LeoVegas donated SEK500,000 to the Red Cross in support of relief work in Ukraine.

Today Parimatch Tech announced the withdrawal of its brand from Russia in response to the invasion. Parimatch’s main development centre is based in the Ukraine capital of Kyiv.

This week also saw the launch of the Gaming Industry for Ukraine initiative, which aims to raise £250,000 for those affected by the war. So far, more than £150,000 have been raised.

The DSWV said that, after stakes dropped by 21% in a 2020 “shaken” by Covid-19, activity bounced back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, representing growth of roughly 27%.

The €9.4bn staked on sports during 2021 was roughly the same as the figure from 2019. With a 5% turnover tax on sports bets, this meant that operators paid €470m into the German treasury.

DSWV president Mathias Dahms said that an important development in 2019 was the implementation of Germany’s Fourth State Treaty on Gambling, which would allow online slots and poker nationwide for the first time. Meanwhile, the first sports betting licences under the Third State Treaty were issued in late 2020, with more licences being awarded in later rounds.

“Sports betting has long since arrived in mainstream society,” he said. “We are therefore glad that last year’s State Treaty on Gambling eased the previous strict prohibition policy in the gambling sector, which has proven to be ineffective in the digital age.

However, he added that currently operators working within the regulatory framework have been let down by a lack of action against the black market.

“But anyone who grants permission to providers under strict framework conditions must also take action against the providers who offer sports betting without permission – and there are many of them,” Dahms continued. “There is a blatant deficit in implementation.”

The DSWV added that it analysed 507 unlicensed online gambling sites in February 2022 and found that 405 allowed Germans to open accounts, while 297 offer pages in German.

“Only 36 providers have a nationwide license to host these games on the web. For every legal provider, there are multiple providers without permission,” DSWV managing director Luka Andric said.

“In the meantime, there are also numerous other websites that evade any control, regulation and taxation. There is a risk that a substantial part of the bets placed by German customers will migrate to illegal black market providers.”

Dahms urged authorities to start blocking unlicensed sites before the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in November.
“By the start of the World Cup at the latest, the gambling supervisory authorities should have ensured that sports betting providers are not allowed to operate in this country or advertise their products without a German permit,” he said. “If this succeeds, an estimated €40m to €50m in additional sports betting tax could be collected during the tournament. We would think it would be good if the states allowed this sum to go towards grassroots sport.”