Industry News
The Most Common Gambling Restrictions in European Countries
It’s reaaly no secret that Europe is a continent of strict laws and regulations. Every country has its own solid attitude towards gambling and gaming. Let’s see what the most common laws are.
Gambling Restrictions in Europe
The whole of Europe can be called a gambling heaven. In the majority of countries it’s legal to gamble in both online and land-based casinos, and to bet on sports and other activities. The biggest markets are the UK, Spain, and Germany. Unfortunately, some countries are against gambling altogether or limit gamblers in some way.
For example, you may not be allowed to play at online casinos, but visiting land-based ones would be totally okay. In addition, some countries allow sports betting only.
The United Kingdom is a country of strict laws and obedient people. All the spheres of the country are under control to various degrees. Gambling has also been under a strict control since 2005 when the Gambling Act was signed. There is a special body which is responsible for the control of lotteries, betting, real and online casinos, etc. The UK Gambling Commission also grants licenses. These licenses are recognized as the most reputable. It basically means that all casinos with UK licenses can be fully trusted.
France isn’t famous for delicious wine and croissants only. It is also a country where the classic roulette wheel was invented. Up until recently, you were allowed to visit numerous land-based casinos but were forbidden to play at online casinos here. The weak gambling activity was further dampened by high taxes for such businesses ‘till 2009. That year the Bill for the legalization of poker, sports betting and horse races betting was passed. The year after, in 2010, the ARJEL was established. The French Regulatory Authority for Online Games is now regulating the whole gambling sphere.
Spain is a legal place for online betting. Mostly legal, anyway. Since 2011 all betting activities are supervised and regulated by means of electronic, interactive and technological systems. The regulation entered into force after the presentation of the Spanish Gambling Act and the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling Activities. According to the Act, fixed-odds betting, roulette, mutual sports betting, slots, horse races betting, bingo games, baccarat, poker, blackjack and some other games are legal and can be played by all adults. There is only one strange law about online casinos – if a casino wants to get a license from a Spanish regulator, it should have a website on a Spanish domain – .es. This restriction bars most international online casinos.
Italy is the birthplace of gambling. Venice is known as the first gambling city and as a place where baccarat was invented. Any gambling activity used to be forbidden by the Italian laws as it was considered a criminal activity. Not all gambling is illegal. The games are divided into categories. Games of luck are forbidden, but games of skill are fully legal. In addition to the latter, it was also legal to play state lotteries, sports betting, etc. In 2006 one more legal category appeared – games of chance. They included poker, video poker, and some cash games. The European Commission demanded to change the gambling laws in Italy in 2009. According to the Commission, they used to be too strict. After that, Italy started to issue licenses from AAMS. Only casinos with licenses from Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies can operate in this country.
Germany used to allow only horse races betting. From 2008 to 2012 the federal legislation was against all manifestations of gambling. Everything would be easy if one state, Schleswig-Holstein, hadn’t legalized gambling and started issuing licenses. That was due to the existence of two types of laws in Germany (both with names too complicated to pronounce), and only one of the types was against gambling. That mess ended in 2012 with the signing of German Interstate Treaty. This law prevented the licenses from being issued within the country. All the licenses issued before 2012 have stopped being legal in 2018 only.
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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