A month ago, Gamesys, a leading international online gaming operator, was fined in the United Kingdom over AML and social responsibility violations. Now, Gambling with Lives, a charity set up by families bereaved by gambling, seeks to convince the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to revoke the licenses of companies that commit serious violations.

Gambling with Lives launched a petition, asking the UKGC to be less benevolent to operators that violate its rules. Dubbed “Stop reckless gambling firms,” the petition urges stricter enforcement of the UK’s social responsibility rules since fines are easily paid by huge gambling companies.

Gambling with Lives argues that unregulated gambling can sometimes lead to suicides. As a result, fines that multibillion companies can easily pay are not a proportional punishment, the organization said. Citing recent statistics, the charity pointed out that a whopping 496 people in Britain take their lives because of gambling addiction every year.

Big Companies Will Never Change Unless Forced to

According to Gambling with Lives, big gambling operators earn billions of pounds a year, meaning that even fines in the realm of millions are easily payable. The charity said that, for many of these companies, fines are nothing more than a cost of business.

Because of this, multi-billion-pound gambling companies do not feel the need to change, the charity pointed out. Gambling with Lives cited Gamesys’ recent fine as an example, noting that the operator had promoted new games and promotions to a customer who had just lost £10,000.

These violations earned Gamesys a £6 million fine. However, its parent company, Bally’s, earns almost £2 billion a year.

Because of that, Gambling with Lives believes that operators should risk something more than a slap on the wrist.

The big gambling firms will never change their ways unless forced to. If they knew they could be shut down, they would be forced to behave better.

Gambling with Lives statement

Now, Gambling with Lives is seeking public support as it hopes to convince the UKGC to revoke the licenses of serious violators and help prevent gambling-related deaths in Britain.

The petition was launched yesterday and already has 1,117 of its target 2,000 signatures.

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Brazil continues to move forward with its sports betting legislation despite still experiencing setbacks. As the coming of wagering to the Latin American country seems around the corner, Brazil continues to revise its rules on advertising.

Two days ago, the Chamber of Deputies’ Communication Committee greenlit bill 3915/2023, which seeks to restrict the promotion of unlicensed gambling by influencers and digital celebrities. This proposal would mitigate the negative impact of the black market on younger players, lawmakers believe.

Since unlicensed gambling operators rarely offer a sufficient level of player protection to their players, Brazilian legislators believe that its promotion may lead to significant losses. This, paired with the influence digital celebrities have on younger audiences, may lead to higher problem gambling rates among the Brazilian youth.

The New Rules Envision Strict Sanctions for Violators

As a result, the new bill prohibits digital influencers from promoting unregulated gambling products and companies. The same rules apply to overseas entities that target the local market. It covers content on social media, video-sharing platforms, livestreaming services and other digital platforms.

Under Bill 3915/2023, Brazil will require many of the big digital media platforms, such as Facebook and TikTok to join forces with the local authorities and ensure that inappropriate content is reported and taken down.

The bill envisions fines for entities that violate its rules. Companies that breach these promotion restrictions risk fines of up to 2% of their revenue to a maximum of $10.2 million (converted to USD). Under the bill, online influencers also risk a permanent ban.

As mentioned, the bill was already given a go-ahead by the Chamber of Deputies’ Communication Committee. Now, it is up to the Finance and Taxation Commission to decide whether the bill would go to the Constitution and Justice Commission. If approved by the two entities, bill 3915/2023 will be eligible for further evaluation and plenary vote.

In the meantime, sports betting in Brazil continues to be delayed amid disagreements and calls for ambitious amendments. While the country is in the later stages of discussing betting legislation, its future remains uncertain.

This means bad news for Entain, which was just forced to shut down its dotcom operations in unregulated markets. While the DPA says that the company may request its exit date to be postponed if there are reasonable grounds to consider that the process of regulation will be completed within a reasonable time of the exit, Brazil’s slower pace when it comes to legislation may be a setback to the company.

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French-Canadian online streamer who started his career as a professional Overwatch player, Félix Lengyel, whom you might know as xQc (ex xQcOW), has made an announcement that sparked plenty of heated conversations in the streaming community. 

The Twitch and Kick streamer said he was planning on giving up gambling after he shared a link with his online community, showcasing a massive $5 million win on Stake.com. The latter is a popular online crypto-gambling platform that boasts about offering the best casino and sports betting platforms for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

xQc Took It to His Offline Chat to Make the Announcement 

Last September, Twitch announced an important update to its policy aimed at forbidding content creators from streaming from gambling sites featuring roulette, slots, and dice games that are not licensed in the US and other gambling markets with consumer protections in place. 

Before the controversial ban was imposed, xQc had become one of the top “gamba” (gambling) streamers there. After the streaming platform made the crucial announcement, xQc decided to move his gambling content to Kick, Twitch’s direct competitor launched on October 18, 2022. 

The Juicer who had been streaming on Twitch almost on a daily basis therefore resumed his gambling. His debut gambling stream on Kick ended with an impressive win of over $553,000.

Now, xQc has announced he would put an end to his gambling habits online after hitting an impressive $5 million win in an online game. The news follows the streamer’s $1.1 million gambling loss in Las Vegas.

xQc used his offline chat to share a screenshot showcasing the whopping win on Stake.com while also letting his viewers and subscribers know that he had already cashed out the money and that he would not be gambling anymore. 

$1.5 Billion in Wagers

In September 2023, the streamer also openly shared his statistics on the Stake.com platform with his viewers, proving that he had placed no less than 788,877 bets there. Out of these bets, xQc won 76,398. The rest of the bets were losing ones. 

The French-Canadian streamer and online personality also emphasized the fact that his wagers had gone over the $1.5 billion mark.

It remains to be seen if xQc will truly give up gambling, as the streamer has a track record of not always disclosing the full truth with his community.

In the spring of 2022, xQc openly spoke about his gambling addiction on Twitch, explaining that he felt compelled to take unnecessary risks in every game he plays while also claiming that he “can afford to be ill”. 

Last month, Stake.com announced that a cyberattack affected its ETH/BSC hot wallets, leading to $41 million in losses. 

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Adelaide’s casino operator, SkyCity, has taken a decisive step by appointing a forensic investigations firm to conduct a comprehensive review of the company’s adherence to anti-money laundering regulations.

The move comes as part of the casino’s commitment to ensuring strict compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.

Kroll Australia has been approved as the ‘independent monitor’ for this crucial task by South Australia’s liquor and gambling commissioner. This decision follows a directive issued by the commissioner back in May.

Kroll is a globally recognised provider of governance, risk, and compliance services, operating in more than 30 countries. It is noteworthy that Kroll is also currently overseeing the operations of Crown’s Sydney casino, a responsibility that has gained heightened attention given the increased scrutiny of Australia’s casino industry.

While an independent investigation into SkyCity Adelaide’s operations by the commissioner is currently in limbo due to pending Federal Court proceedings involving financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC and the casino operator, this move underlines SkyCity’s proactive approach towards ensuring regulatory compliance.

Commissioner Dini Soulio expressed confidence in Kroll Australia’s capabilities, both domestically and internationally, in similar matters.

“I approved the appointment of Kroll, after being satisfied that they would be sufficiently independent and have the expertise to effectively monitor SkyCity Adelaide to ensure they are meeting these very important requirements,” he said, further emphasising that Kroll’s team comprises individuals with experience at the national regulator, AUSTRAC, in addition to their expertise in fraud and risk management. This diverse experience positions them well to ensure that casinos fulfil their regulatory obligations.

As the sole casino operator in South Australia, SkyCity Adelaide bears a significant responsibility to uphold anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding measures, as well as policies to mitigate gambling-related harm, in alignment with regulatory mandates. Commissioner Soulio pointed out that SkyCity Adelaide’s role extends to serving the broader South Australian community and ensuring these regulatory requirements are met.

Kroll Australia’s role will involve a meticulous review and monitoring of SkyCity Adelaide’s enhanced anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programs. Their findings will be reported back to the commissioner, contributing to a transparent evaluation of the casino’s compliance efforts.

SkyCity responded to this development by affirming their commitment to maintaining a proactive and cooperative stance in collaboration with both the commissioner and Kroll Australia.

In terms of financial performance, SkyCity reported a substantial 44.9% surge in full-year revenue to NZ$926.2 million ($854.9 million) recently. This growth was attributed to a resilient rebound and recovery in trading. However, the net profit of NZ$8 million ($7.4 million) was impacted by a NZ$49 million ($45 million) provision earmarked for potential penalties arising from legal proceedings with AUSTRAC, along with a NZ$49.7 million ($45.6 million) impairment of its Adelaide casino license.

Despite these challenges, SkyCity’s normalized EBITDA reached NZ$310.3 million, at the higher end of its previously adjusted guidance range. The adjustment was made in May due to the industry-wide focus on money laundering, resulting in increased legal and compliance costs.

On the stock market, SkyCity shares experienced a 1.4% decline, trading at $2.09 on Friday.

More gambling news

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The following article reflects the knowledge, experience, and well-reasoned opinions of the authors and is not meant to be construed in any way as legal advice. Online gamblers in all US states should consult their state laws or seek legal counsel to determine if online gambling at unlicensed offshore websites or gambling venues licensed by regulators located anywhere but within their domiciled states is a crime or a right to be exercised freely by responsible adults. The same applies to federal gambling laws or any other ancillary issue related to online gambling.

Regulators from seven US states have contacted the United States Department of Justice in an attempt to nudge the DOJ into “doing something” about offshore competition in the online gambling market.

Not Understanding Federal Law?

As is usually the case when such actions occur, the signatories refer to all offshore gambling sites with a broad brush whether purposefully or not – lumping all other operators of gambling into one basket and broadly referring to them as “illegal” online gambling sites.

At least that is the implication as state regulators and spokespeople from the American Gaming Association (AGA) consistently leave out any real differentiation among casino sites licensed offshore, illegal sportsbetting sites, and the very small handful of operators that provide services to players in the USA with no known license at all.

Painting every online gambling operator with the same broad brush appears to the informed consumer or observer as disingenuous at best.

The most recent public relations gambit is co-signed by regulators in some of the most financially successful US gambling states including Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Jersey.

Some of the issues addressed in the letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland are some real and unreal dangers the ill-informed assume are associated with gambling online. These include age verification, money laundering concerns, responsible gambling protocol, game fairness, and the lack of each or any state capturing tax revenues.

The letter also states that offshore operators are not subject to any licensing requirements. The vast majority of those points are incorrect and are most likely based on good-faith misunderstandings of how offshore online gambling operators actually operate.

Well over 90% of offshore casinos and most sportsbooks that serve US players are licensed in the jurisdiction of Curacao (formerly known as the Netherland Antilles). Operators are required to verify the identity, age, ownership of financial instruments used to deposit, a player’s address, their subscription to local utilities, and quite often a copy of their bank account statements at a minimum.

Three Decades of Compliance

Operators in the offshore jurisdiction of Curacao have followed essentially the same protocol since the mid-1990s.

These documents cover nearly all of the concerns raised by the regulators including money-laundering concerns.

The over-arching government-sanctioned gambling license issuer makes sure that anti-money laundering concerns are taken care of through international authorities in compliance with an anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework that addresses both risk issues.

In a nutshell, what’s known as “document verification” – which is enforced by 99% of all offshore operators as any offshore player knows – addresses all concerns listed except responsible gambling issues and tax collections.

Responsible gambling is only addressed at the most critical level which is gambler self-exclusion. Even there, if an operator refuses to let a gambler self-exclude, they will have their Curacao license revoked. However, there are no auxiliary tools available for players to set deposit or time limits, force breaks at prescribed time intervals, or any of the other things more stringent regulatory regimes such as the Malta Gaming Authority or the British Gambling Commission may require.

That leaves the competition for the gambling dollar and state tax revenues buried in slurs of illegality, and black market accusations.

While this may seem to be counter-intuitive, offshore casinos are actually not illegal at the federal level nor have they ever been in the United States. It is, however, incumbent upon each consumer to check their own state laws to determine if the practice might be legal in their state. If competent legal counsel is indicated, that should be sought.

The Wire Act of 1961

Interstate or Inter-territorial sports betting is illegal in the United States and has been since 1961. While the US DOJ under various administrations has sided with casino moguls such as the late Sheldon Adelson in determining offshore casino gambling to be illegal, the world’s biggest lottery company by gross receipt,s, IGT recently sought and received a declaratory judgment (once and for all) that very specifically informs that The Wire Act only applies to sports betting operations. The act of casino gambling has no federal law to prohibit it.

The sticky wicket in this reality is the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006) which neither creates new gambling laws nor modifies any existing laws as clearly stated in the law itself. It does, however, make most online financial transactions (deposits and withdrawals) illegal and de facto money laundering simply because US financial institutions have been given “guidance” that assumes the Wire Act applies to all interstate or inter-territorial wagers.

However, the very act of providing a gambling service or a US citizen partaking in offshore gambling is not a crime at the federal level by any law this editor has seen in nearly three decades in the industry. so it’s unclear how Attorney General Merrick Garland could be of assistance to state regulators unless he attacks the practice “from the side” and deems them all to be illegal thanks to incorrect guidance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which was issued during the Bush administration in 2007 under the false premise that the Wire Act actually applied to anything but sportsbetting.

In the letter to AG Garland, the Executive Director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), Henry Williams states: “In Michigan, strict laws and rules govern internet gaming and sports betting and provide consumer protections, promote confidence and ensure fair and honest gaming. We are willing to help the US Department of Justice in any way we can as it pursues enforcement of US laws against offshore illegal gaming enterprises that take advantage of our citizens.”

“State regulators like the MGCB ensure operators offer products that pass technical standards and testing, and we also require operators to comply with reporting requirements.

“Offshore operators flaunt state regulations and offer products that do not protect the public, which greatly concerns me and my fellow state regulators,” Williams added.

He continued, “Regulated operators recognize licensing is a privilege that can be taken away, but illegal operators do not face similar consequences for failure to follow laws and maintain integrity.”

Source: Regulators urge DoJ to take action on offshore gambling, iGaming Business, May 5, 2023

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The majority of Australian Football League (AFL) players are unaware that they can opt out from having their images used by AFL’s sports betting partner, Sportsbet, for promotional purposes.

The Majority Has No Idea They Can Opt Out

The deal with Sportsbet brings between AU$12 million ($8.1 million) and AU$13 million ($8.7 million) a year to the league’s coffers, of which 28% is paid to the players. Players also receive a 28% share of all football-related revenue generated by the league and the clubs.

Under AFL rules, players cannot participate in any shape or form in activities encouraging sports betting on games from the league but the league’s sports betting partner can exclusively use their images to promote brand awareness unless they explicitly stated otherwise, The Age reported.

But the majority of them are not aware that they can opt out and not let Sportsbet use their images to promote gambling. Contacted by the media, some of the players expressed certain reservations about the idea of their images being used to promote betting, yet had not expressed that with Sportsbet, effectively letting it use their images.

Ethical Reasons and Past Gambling Problems     

Several high-profile players such as Melbourne’s premiership full-forward goalkicker Ben Brown have refused to allow Sportsbet to use their image and promote betting on the AFL, citing ethical, reputational and even commercial reasons.

In addition to Brown, who opted out for ethical reasons, the media claims there is another high-profile player who also opted out as he was feeling uncomfortable with the idea of his image being associated with gambling activities but wished to remain anonymous.

And these two players are not the only ones who have opted out as according to agents, other players also used the option to restrict the AFL’s wagering partner from using their images citing their own gambling problems in the past.

The percentage of players who have opted this year remains relatively small, in line with the fewer than 4%, or around 30 players out of more than 800, who chose to stop the league’s official wagering partner from making them a passive part of its promotional activities.

Public attitude towards gambling and gambling advertising in particular in Australia is increasingly shifting from being one of indifference to proactively asking for more scrutiny of the increased presence of betting firms in the country’s biggest media and its impact on gambling harm.

Leagues and operators are likely to expect further curbing of gambling advertising as evidence suggests that the current regime is weak.

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