Insights Archive

April 5, 2023

UK BNPL Consultation and Beyond: Regulatory Impacts on Firms

The aim of this regulatory analysis is to bring attention to the expansion of the use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) products, with a focus on the UK’s approach. It also provides an overview of other countries’ positions towards this type of product to highlight the main differences in their approaches.

April 5, 2023

RBA Sees Promise In QR Code Payments, But Will Australians Follow?

As the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) gets behind efforts to expand QR code payments, we ask whether a market dominated by debit and credit cards is open to change.

April 5, 2023

Impact Index March 2023

VIXIO’s impact index rose 23 points in March, continuing the steady rise but below the same period last year, a year after sanctions.

April 5, 2023

Under Siege, Gaming's King Of The South Mulls Internet Sports Betting

As bordering states such as Tennessee and Louisiana continue to produce impressive revenue from online wagering, Mississippi is finally taking a hard look at expanding its sports-betting operations to the internet.

April 5, 2023

Botswana Advances Online Licensing Plans

Botswana’s gambling regulator has published a draft betting licence application, kickstarting the country’s long-held ambition to grow its sports betting and online gambling industry.

April 5, 2023

Ontario Officials 'Thrilled' At One-Year iGaming Anniversary

Ontario’s gaming industry on Tuesday celebrated the first anniversary of private online gambling operators launching in the province, with top provincial officials hailing year one of regulated iGaming as a major success.

April 5, 2023

Mendoza Awards Online Betting Licences

Argentina’s province of Mendoza has finally announced its long-awaited list of successful online gambling licence applicants, accepting five of the ten applications.

April 5, 2023

White Label Provider TGP To Pay Six-Figure UK Penalty

The UK Gambling Commission has assessed white label operator TGP Europe £316,250 over a series of anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.

April 5, 2023

Sweden Warned Supplier Licensing Won't Stop Black Market

Sweden’s goal to limit the supply of services to the black market by licensing suppliers will be “easy to circumvent” and companies remain confused about how many permits they should apply for, say several people close to the market.

April 4, 2023

Canada Cuts Credit Card Interchange Fee For Small Businesses

In its Budget 2023, the Canadian government said it has secured commitments from Visa and Mastercard to lower credit card interchange fees for small businesses, but some merchants say the measures do not go far enough.

April 4, 2023

QR Code Payment Linkage Between Singapore, Malaysia Goes Live

The central banks of Malaysia and Singapore have announced that a new QR code payment linkage between the two countries is now live, in another win for regional connectivity.

April 4, 2023

EU Banking Watchdog Attempts To Solve Continent’s De-Risking Problem

The European Banking Authority has issued its final guidelines on de-risking, which it hopes can stop banks in the trading bloc from using anti-money laundering controls to deny access to customers.

April 4, 2023

New Sheriff In Nevada Governor's Mansion Seeks Regulatory Changes

Facing a deadline set for the end of the month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board will host a workshop next week to receive industry input on whether a selected group of gaming regulations should be deleted or updated before a final list is eventually submitted to the governor’s office.

April 4, 2023

UK Trade Group Backs Likely Statutory Levy

UK trade group the Betting and Gaming Council has said it welcomes the idea of a mandatory levy to fund research, education and treatment services as long as it “is independent and tiered to protect land-based operators”.

April 3, 2023

Payments Ecosystem Ponders Role In ESG World

Payments industry interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues continued to bubble at the Merchant Payment Ecosystem conference this year, as panellists considered how to approach the sustainability juggernaut.

April 3, 2023

Consumer Duty Grey Lines - FCA Discusses Acquirers And Open Banking Firms

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has emphasised there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to Consumer Duty and firms, including merchant acquirers and open banking firms, may be in scope to the extent they influence good consumer outcomes.

April 3, 2023

Denmark Latest Country To Highlight Social Media Concerns

The Danish gambling regulator is showing no signs of slowing its efforts to tackle illegal gambling and improper promotions on social media sites and streaming platforms, after stepping up its enforcement action in 2022.

April 3, 2023

Lawsuit Seeks To Block Enforcement Of Kentucky's Grey-Market Ban

As state legislatures crack down on the rapid expansion of unregulated “grey-market” games that play like slot machines, companies that manufacture or distribute the games are responding to any bans or seizures of their machines by filing lawsuits in state courts.

April 3, 2023

Gambling Antagonist In U.S. Congress Not Satisfied With New Ad Code

The senior U.S. senator from Connecticut, who is arguably Congress’ leading critic of the gaming industry, has said new self-regulatory restrictions adopted by the American Gaming Association do not go far enough to rein in sports-betting advertising.

April 3, 2023

Personnel Moves - April 2023

The UK's Health Lottery has a new boss, gambling veteran Joe Asher gets a presidential appointment, Star Entertainment appoints a new chair and Colombia finally appoints a new chief regulator.

March 31, 2023

Lithuania Demands Better Compliance From Bulging Payment Sectors

Lithuania joins other jurisdictions in Europe such as the UK in calling for better compliance processes at payments and electronic money firms as it reviews its activities for 2022.