Latest Gambling News: Brazil Operators Announce Preemptive Ban On Credit-Card Deposits, and more

Catch up on six of the stories our gambling compliance analysts have covered lately, and stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Brazil Operators Announce Preemptive Ban On Credit-Card Deposits

Leading online betting operators in Brazil have voluntarily agreed to stop accepting credit card deposits, three months before formal regulations to that effect are due to come into force.

Industry association IBJR said its members took the decision after a dialogue with the Ministry of Finance. The members of fellow trade association ANJL have agreed to do the same, according to Brazilian media reports.

The moves follow mounting political and media pressure on a Brazilian market that stands on the cusp of regulation. As highlighted by various publications, Brazil’s Central Bank released a new analysis earlier this week highlighting increased expenditures on gambling by Brazilians, including by welfare recipients.

Credit card deposits were prohibited under an April ordinance, but the restriction will not be legally binding until operators become licensed from January 1.

“Although this method accounts for only around 0.5 percent of deposits made by customers, the measure aims to mitigate financial risks and reinforce a more responsible and protected experience for users,” IBJR said in a statement published on LinkedIn.

Massachusetts Prohibits Bets On College Awards

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted Thursday (September 26) to officially prohibit sports bets on individual collegiate awards, such as the Heisman Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the top player in college football.

“This was an item that was brought to our attention recently that may cause confusion with our event catalog,” said Andrew Steffen, sports wagering operations manager with the MGC.

Prior to the commission’s approval of the changes, there was no specific carve out in the regulation for the prohibition of individual collegiate awards.

Since its launch in 2023, the sports-betting event catalog allowed operators to offer wagers on awards granted or recognized by the league or governing body based on regulator season statistics as outline in the catalog.

Steffen confirmed that no operators had offered these markets in the state, but there was no official language in the regulation prohibiting them.

“I think this proposed change lines up with the way I view the statute,” said MGC interim chair Jordan Maynard.

In other developments Thursday, Penn Entertainment told the MGC that it will be rebranding its retail sportsbook at Plainridge Park Casino to an ESPN BET branded sportsbook. The company’s mobile app has already been rebranded in Massachusetts, according to Karalyn O’Brien, MGC’s licensing division chief.

Nevada Grants Final Approval To GAN, Sega Sammy Merger

The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) unanimously approved the proposed merger of sports-betting technology provider GAN Ltd. with Sega Sammy Creation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings.

The merger, which was approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) earlier this month, still requires approval from seven state regulatory agencies, with West Virginia and Connecticut regulators expected to sign off in October.

Upon completion of the merger, GAN will cease to be a publicly traded company, and its shares will be delisted from the NASDAQ allowing it to be owned by Sega Sammy Holdings. The deal, which was announced in November 2023, valued GAN at $107.6m.

The deal was expected to close in the fourth quarter or by early 2025.

Ex-Cop Accused Of Murdering Fellow Philippine Lotteries Official

A serving senior official in the Philippine National Police has accused a former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) of arranging the assassination of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in 2020.

Police official Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza on Friday (September 27) told a joint House of Representatives committee probing extrajudicial killings that former PCSO general manager Royina Garma, previously chief of police in Cebu City and an acquaintance of former President Rodrigo Duterte, ordered Barayuga’s assassination.

Mendoza told the committee he was informed by National Police Commission head Edilberto Leonardo that Garma was behind a “special operation” targeting Barayuga, the Philippine Inquirer reported.

Barayuga was shot twice in the head and once in the torso by a motorcycle rider in a drive-by shooting in Manila’s Mandaluyong City in July 2020.

Garma has also been accused of being a police member of an alleged death squad during Duterte’s stint as mayor of Davao City.

Earlier in the committee hearing, lawmakers heard that Garma appointed at least seven members of her family to PCSO positions after becoming general manager.

Garma has been detained on the orders of committee lawmakers. She is a key suspect in the probe into the extrajudicial killing spree of drug suspects and other victims that exploded during Duterte’s presidency, and a potential witness to the activities of more senior suspects.

Flutter Announces $5bn Buyback, Increases U.S. Outlook

Flutter Entertainment Plc remains bullish about the future of its online sports-betting and internet gaming business, especially with half of its future revenues expected to be generated from the U.S. market.

At an investor day on Wednesday (September 25), the company behind FanDuel and Paddy Power announced plans to repurchase as much as $5bn of its shares over the next three to four years.

The board authorized the share repurchase program, which is expected to begin after the company releases its third-quarter earnings in November, Flutter CFO Rob Coldrake said.

Flutter is now projecting the North American mature total addressable market to be approximately $70bn, of which the U.S. is roughly $63bn and Canada $7bn. It issued a global industry forecast of $368m by 2030.

Revenue at Flutter was projected to increase 14 percent annually, reaching approximately $21bn in 2027.

FanDuel CEO Amy Howe confirmed the company’s advocacy strategy will be changing as it enters a new phase of growth, including a revamp to push its launch in California, Texas, and Florida, which combined represent more than 25 percent of the U.S. population.

“There’s a lot of hard work the team of gearing up to do to make sure we can legalize some of the biggest states in California and Texas,” Howe said at Flutter’s investor day in New York. “We know we’re going to need a much more proactive public affairs strategy going forward.”

FanDuel estimates that its mobile sportsbook will be available to 80 percent of the U.S. population by 2030, with iGaming available to 25 percent of the population by that same date.

Social Casino Ads Barred in UK Over Implied Wins

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has barred advertising from five social casino companies because the agency said the ads misleadingly implied players could win and withdraw cash from the games.

Cited in separate notices were Huuuge Global and its “Billionaire Casino,” Dataverse Co and its Gamehaus game, Mobee Co and its Ignite Classic Slots, SpinX Games and Zeroo Gravity Games with its “Cash Tornado.”

The ASA said that TikTok agreed that the ads breached its policies and removed them from its platforms.

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