Latest Gambling News: UK Gambling Commission Launching Seven More Consultations 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.

‍

UK Gambling Commission Launching Seven More Consultations In 'Coming Weeks'

The UK Gambling Commission is preparing to open seven consultations “in the coming weeks", according to a blog post on November 15 by its executive director of research and policy, Tim Miller.

The update states that the topics that will be consulted on will cover socially responsible incentives, customer-led tools, transparency of protection of customer funds, a requirement to make annual financial contributions to research, prevention and treatment, regulatory data, financial penalties and financial key event reporting.

The consultations will be open for 12 weeks, with the expected closing dates to be set in February or March.

Miller said the Gambling Commission is “rightly putting emphasis on implementing the Government’s Gambling Act Review recommendations”.

“This goes hand in hand with our vital regulatory ‘business as usual’, to keep gambling safe, fair and crime free.”

Dutch TOTO Loses Lawsuit Over Technical Error Payout

Nederlandse Loterij’s TOTO sports-betting unit is being forced to pay out bets on a Danish football match after what it called a technical error when a court said its offer to pay out at corrected odds rather than giving a refund “opens the way to arbitrariness”.

On November 14, The Hague district court ruled that the company’s offer to settle the bet at corrected odds is “contrary to the principle of transparency and opens the way to arbitrariness”.

The August 2022 bets were made in a TOTO Winkel shop on a Danish Cup competition between the second-division club Skovshoved and the first-division club HB Køge.

According to the court, the plaintiffs submitted their complaints to the Dutch Lottery Ombudsman, which rejected their request to have the payout made at the original odds as there was an “obvious error”, and they would not be disadvantaged by payout at the corrected odds, as opposed to a simple refund of their wagers.

TOTO had blamed the problem on a technical issue with a supplier.

The company was ordered to pay out the €19,400 winnings, plus interest and legal fees.

A company spokesman told Casinonieuws affiliate site that it was considering appealing the decision.

U.S. Teen Pleads Guilty In Sports-Betting Hacking Case

A Wisconsin teenager, who conducted a scheme to hack accounts at fantasy sports and sports-betting websites, pled guilty Thursday (November 16) to conspiracy in New York.

Josh Garrison, 19, admitted to taking part with others in conducting a “credential stuffing attack” that stole approximately $600,000 from roughly 1,600 victims.  

These credential stuffing attacks are where a cybercriminal uses log-in credentials that usually have been stolen during a data breach and then uses them to gain access to accounts where the user has the same password.

In total, Garrison and others gained access to some 60,000 accounts.

Garrison, who once bragged that “fraud is fun,” pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York did not name the sportsbook operator in its statement, several media outlets identified DraftKings as the target of the attack.

North Carolina Approves Sports-Betting Rules

The North Carolina Lottery Commission on Thursday (November 16) approved the first set of regulations allowing for mobile wagering in the state.

The rules had been discussed Tuesday by the commission’s sports-betting committee.

Commissioners approved the regulations without a provision that would have redefined fantasy sports to prohibit contests based on proposition wagering.

The rule would have also prohibited contests where players do not compete against other individual fantasy players, including those where players compete against the operator.

The commission also approved a catalog that outlines what sports and league operators will be able to accept wagers on. There is a petition process that will be in place to add to the catalog in the future.

North Carolina’s sports-betting law allows wagering on professional, collegiate, amateur and esports.

Public comment remains open for a second batch of regulations. A public hearing is scheduled for Friday (November 17), and the written public comment period ends on November 27, a commission spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

California Tribes Oppose Sports-Betting Initiatives

The California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) board voted Thursday (November 16) to oppose the two sports-betting proposals that have been submitted for the 2024 ballot.

The tribal gaming association also wants the initiatives’ supporters to pull the proposals.

“The entire effort surrounding these initiatives was handled abhorrently by the initiative sponsors,” CNIGA chairman James Siva said in a statement.

“It is hard not to be offended when listening to these individuals speak.,” Siva said. “This is another example of outside influences trying to divide and conquer Indian tribes. We will not let history repeat itself.”

The two initiatives, the "Sports Wagering Regulation and Tribal Gaming Protection Act" and the "Tribal Gaming Protection Act", were filed with the California Attorney General’s Office on October 27.

Some of the details of the new initiative include requiring that tribes enter compacts with the state and contract with sportsbook operators strictly as vendors. All tribal-run sportsbook platforms would also have to be branded exclusively under the tribe’s federally-recognized name.

“Now that the sponsors have heard directly from tribes that their efforts are not supported, we call on them to drop the initiatives as they have pledged to do if tribes were to oppose them,” Siva said. “Our opposition could not be more clear and is irrevocable.”

Ohio Regulator To Ban Former Alabama Baseball Coach

The Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) on Wednesday (November 15) initiated the process of adding former University of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon and Bert Neff Jr. to the state’s Sports Gaming Involuntary Exclusion List.

Matthew Schuler, executive director of the OCCC, said their “presence and/or participation in sports gaming poses a threat to the interests of the state and the effective regulation of sports gaming.”

“Bohannon and Neff are entitled to due process, including a hearing if they choose, and any final action pertaining to the Sports Gaming Involuntary Exclusion List will occur at a public commission meeting,” Schuler said in a statement.

At Wednesday’s commission meeting, Schuler said that letters have been sent to both Bohannon and Neff. Neff, who is from Indiana, was added to the Indiana Gaming Commission’s involuntary exclusion list in September.

Neff allegedly received non-public information from Bohannon on April 28 about Alabama’s game with Louisiana State University (LSU) later that day. Neff raised suspicions at a BetMGM Sportsbook in Cincinnati, after placing a large wager on LSU and trying to place another bet.  

Schuler also lifted the emergency order Wednesday prohibiting the acceptance of wagers on Alabama baseball that was issued on May 1.

‍

Want to know more? Request a demo with one of our experts today to gain full access to the stories we cover - and much more - and start learning how you can make compliance a competitive advantage for your organisation.

‍