Compliance Updates

Armenia to regulate gambling ads

Published

2 years ago

April 6, 2018

Niji Narayan

Photo credits: capitolmediasolutions.com

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Ombudsman of Armenia is ready to launch a bill to regulate gambling advertisements and apply certain restrictions to them. The new development emerges as many countries, including the UK and Australia, has already slapped regulations on gambling advertisement. Following on those countries, the Ombudsman of Armenia has formulated a bill and is pushing for its passage to apply restrictions and regulations on gambling advertisements.

The bill has been developed to end the suggestion (allegedly created by ads) that gambling could turn into a steady income or a job substitute. That’s why it aims to ban commercials which may suggest that winning is guaranteed or that betting can turn into a way to improve a person’s social, professional or private life.

Australia has recently passed a bill designed to give further power to the national media watchdog and joined other countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom in targeting and/or regulating gambling advertisements.

The Ombudsman’s Office explained that current legislation does not include specific regulations, which is why it expects the bill to reach Congress and finally turn into a Law.

Compliance Updates

Stars Group and Flutter Entertainment Combo Gets UK CMA Clearance

Published

9 mins ago

April 1, 2020

Niji Narayan

The Stars Group Receives UK Competition & Markets Authority Clearance for its Combination With Flutter Entertainment

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The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has unconditionally cleared the combination of The Stars Group with Flutter Entertainment following CMA’s Phase 1 review under the Enterprise Act 2002.

The Stars Group and Flutter had signed a contract that allows an all-share acquisition of The Stars Group by Flutter pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act.

The Stars Group and Flutter continue to work carefully for completing the acquisition, provided the contract gets approval from a small number of other regulatory bodies and certain approvals by each of Flutter’s and The Stars Group’s shareholders.

Compliance Updates

Red Rake Gaming continues its regulated market focus with Belarus

Published

1 hour ago

April 1, 2020

George Miller

Red Rake Gaming continues its regulated market focus with Belarus

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Player-focused casino games developer Red Rake Gaming, based in Spain and Malta, is delighted to announce its newest regulated market, Belarus. Red Rake Gaming made the move due to the demand from its clients and the response of their game content in the region.

Belarus introduced regulations in 2019 with operators required to obtain the relevant licenses ahead of a potential closure for non-regulated operators scheduled to take affect from 1st April 2021, 2 years after it introduced the licensing framework.

A selection of the top performing games will be made available to the Belarus licensed operators which include its records breaking Super12Stars – the non-stop, action packed slot which combines feature games and bonus rounds from all its predecessors in the Super series of games, all of which are firm favourites in the region. Additional titles from the diverse portfolio include Million 7 – giving players a million ways to win, The Asp of Cleopatra, Ryan O’Bryan and Mysteries of Egypt, to mention but a few.

Delivering into regulated markets is at the heart of Red Rake Gaming’s growth strategy, and our latest market entry represents a superb opportunity for the company to further its reach in Belarus.

Nick Barr, Managing Director for Red Rake Malta, commented: “We are continuing our commitment to driving our regulated market strategy and Belarus is the first new market for 2020, with more markets in the pipeline. It is important to Red Rake Gaming that we continue to support our clients in new markets strategies. Our games have been notably well received in the region, and we are looking forward to continuing to grow with our clients and delivering the finest games to the Belarusian players.”

Compliance Updates

Gambling Compliance tracker reports record breaking quarter for regulators

Published

3 hours ago

April 1, 2020

George Miller

Gambling Compliance tracker reports record breaking quarter for regulators

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Online gambling regulators were busy in the first quarter of 2020, issuing a total of in excess of £25m in fines to just five online gambling operators between January and March.

This is a huge increase over penalties issued in previous years. Online gambling compliance tracker GamblingIndustryFines.com tracked a total of over £16m in fines doled out to iGaming operators for the whole of 2019.

The first fine of the year was issued in January by the Malta Gaming Authority – a £2M fine for Blackrock Media for “servicing unauthorized transactions”.

GVC Australia was up next on Valentine’s day – receiving a fine for £106k after two GVC brands, Ladbrokes and Neds – were found guilty of offering betting bonuses to people who opened new betting accounts – contrary to Australian law.

The same month, Mr Green was on the receiving end of a £3M fine from the UK Gambling Commission for systemic failings in its measures to stop money laundering and problem gambling.

The UKGC issued Betway with a record £11.6m fine in March as a settlement for accepting stolen money from high spending “VIP” customers, some of whom were displaying clear signs of gambling addiction.

The final regulator fine of the first quarter went to Kindred Group when Spooniker Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kindred Group received a warning and a sanction fee in the sum of SEK 100 million (USD 9,5m/£8.5m) by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) for offering customers financial incentives which are in breach of the new gambling legislation.