Compliance Updates

Regulatory action against EU Lotto

Published

8 months ago

September 24, 2021

LOTTOLAND AWARDED A 20 YEAR KENO LICENSE BY THE VICTORIA STATE GOVERNMENT

Reading Time: 2 minutes

A gambling business must pay a £760,000 fine and undergo extensive independent auditing after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and money laundering failures.

EU Lotto – which operates the lottoland.co.uk website – has also received a formal warning for the failures which occurred between October 2019 and November 2020.

Social responsibility requirement failures included neglecting to take into account the Commission’s formal customer interaction guidance.

Examples included:

customers frequently changing deposit limits not being considered as markers of harm
no evidence of suitable financial and affordability assessments being conducted to identify whether a customer was being harmed or at risk of harm
customer interactions predominately consisted of an email detailing the responsible gambling tools available and did not require a customer response – there was little evidence of interactions being adapted depending on the extent of potential harm.

Anti-money laundering failures included:

not effectively reviewing or analysing bank statements provided by customers to prove address
not restricting customer accounts following source of funds (SoF) requests
allowing customers to register third-party debit cards (such as those in a different name to the customer) to their account
relying too heavily on ineffective threshold triggers and generally lacking information regarding how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on income, wealth or any other risk factors.

Helen Venn, Commission Executive Director, said: “This case, like other recent enforcement action, was the result of planned compliance activity. All operators should be very aware that we will not hesitate to take firm action against those who fail to meet the high standards we expect for consumers in Britain.”

Read EU Lotto’s full penalty on the Commission’s regulatory sanctions register.

Nigel Birrell, CEO of Lottoland commented: “Lottoland is fully committed to ensuring the highest standards of compliance, including its anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations in all of the jurisdictions in which it operates. The Gambling Commission fine was related to legacy issues around some of our compliance controls which have now been addressed. Lottoland has extensive compliance measures in place and we are confident that our current policies and processes meet all relevant standards.

Remedial action taken included significantly increased investment in our compliance function, more than doubling headcount, alongside a host of other initiatives including bringing in third party support, enhancing training and a review of key policies. In addition, we recently committed to building our individual processes into an automated system to improve the system even further. “

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Central Europe

ZEAL Receives Licence to Broker Lotteries in Germany Until 2029

Published

8 hours ago

May 25, 2022

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

ZEAL Network SE has been granted a follow-up licence to broker lotteries in Germany for its subsidiary LOTTO24 AG. The responsible gambling authority has informed LOTTO24 that the company may continue to broker lottery products nationwide beyond 30 June 2022 in accordance with the new State Gambling Treaty (GlüStV). The licence is valid for seven years and expires on 30 June 2029.

The licence is the first one under the new State Treaty on Gambling, which came into force on 1 July 2021. LOTTO24 AG’s previous licence, dated 26 July 2017, was extended until 30 June 2022 when the new GlüStV came into force.

“We are pleased about the trust of the federal states. The licence duration of seven years underlines the company’s reliability under administrative law, which has already been proven for ten years,” Dr. Helmut Becker, CEO of ZEAL, said.

The newly granted licence is already the second follow-up licence – after 2012 and 2017. The separate advertising licence required under the previous State Gambling Treaty is no longer necessary. The responsible gambling authority is the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport. On 1 January 2023, the responsibility will change to the new national gambling authority (Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL)) in Halle (Saale).

Compliance Updates

SoftGamings’ Sportsbook Solution Gets Licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority

Published

8 hours ago

May 25, 2022

George Miller

SoftGamings’ Sportsbook Solution Gets Licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority

Reading Time: 1 minute

SoftGamings is thrilled to announce that another one of its products has received a licence from the Malta Gaming Authority. Namely, SoftGamings’ sportsbook solution powered by BetRadar is now fully licensed by the MGA, bringing fixed odds and live betting within reach of all clients holding a B2C Maltese licence.

By getting approval from the leading regulators in the business, SoftGamings can stay on track with its development plans and tap into a larger pool of potential clients.

Apart from having thoroughly tested and safe sportsbook solutions, SoftGamings’ offer abounds in attractive features that both the operators and users can enjoy. There are over 370,000 pre-match betting events per year across 60+ different sports, including eSports.

Live betting is not far behind either — with thousands of betting opportunities players have at their disposal daily, they can capitalise on the shifting odds as the action unfolds. BetRadar’s software is among the fastest available, allowing players to receive information in real-time in a matter of seconds.

Completely risk-free trading, advanced reporting systems, and a myriad of bonuses and promotions set SoftGamings’ sportsbook solution apart in a competitive market.

As one can expect, the entire team at SoftGamings rejoiced upon hearing the news. Here’s what Dzianis Niasmelau, Head of Sportsbook department, had to say about the latest milestone: “The entire sales team is over the moon about this positive development with the Malta Gaming Authority. Having licensed our sportsbook solution, we had more sway in our negotiations. This allowed us to show our clients that we can offer a fully regulated package through a single unified API. All they have to do is choose and watch us deliver”. To conclude the interview, Dzianis stated: “Expect SoftGamings to continue exploring further jurisdictions and bring only safe and regulated products to those markets.”

Compliance Updates

Leap Gaming Licensed in the UK

Published

1 day ago

May 24, 2022

George Miller

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Leap has just received a Supply License by the UKGC.

“We are pleased to announce that Leap received a content supply license by the UKGC.
The long-awaited UK license is a meaningful milestone for Leap, allowing it to access the UK gaming market.

The UKGC license is added to the other recent licenses obtained by Leap in Sweden, Netherlands, Romania , South Africa and Greece.

Yariv Lissauer, CEO of Leap commented: “We are delighted and honored to have been granted the UKGC Supply license. The UK is a very important territory for Leap as it is one of the prime gaming markets in the world.

The UK is a key benchmark and a trendsetter for most of the gaming jurisdiction globally and serves as a hotbed of innovation. Moreover, the UK is also within the footprint of many of our live and contracting partners, and we look forward to rolling out our content there shortly”.