News In Brief: April 8-April 12, 2024

The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) will fine an offshore gambling company €280,000 per week if it does not cease offering gambling to players from the Netherlands.

The KSA said that lala.bet was accessible from the Netherlands and had continued to be so even after initially complying with an order to block gamblers from the country.

As a result, the regulator said it was imposing a fine of €280,000 per week, up to a maximum of €840,000, until the operator of the website, Curaçao-based Casbit Group NV, blocks access once again.

An objection has been lodged against the enforcement action, the KSA said.

Sources in Brazil say that the government has at last anointed a new Secretary of the Prizes and Bets Secretariat in the form of lawyer Regis Dudena, who is unknown to the industry and inexperienced in gambling. 

He served as deputy secretary of legal affairs in 2016 during the presidency of former President Dilma Rousseff.  

Dudena also acted as a special advisor to the Executive Secretariat from 2013 to 2016. 

He is currently the head of the Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy practice at Brasilia-based law firm Manesco, Ramires, Perez, Azevedo Marques Sociedade de Advogados.

The appointment was written up by industry blog BNLData, but as of publication was unconfirmed by official documentation.

Kentucky lawmakers return to the state Capitol on Friday (April 12) for the last two days of the 2024 regular session of the General Assembly to act upon bills vetoed by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear. 

Among the 21 bills Beshear vetoed was Senate Bill 299 which would create the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corp., a standalone government corporation to regulate all pari-mutuel wagering, including historical horseracing machines, as well as sports betting and charitable gaming.  

Beshear vetoed SB 299 because it moved horseracing, sports betting, and charitable gaming to a new entity, with no reasonable explanation.

If lawmakers override the governor’s veto, the corporation would replace the existing Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Department of Charitable Gaming.

Mississippi legislators once again left open the possibility of enacting mobile sports-betting legislation in the state, with the Senate moving to keep the legislation alive ahead of a key deadline.

The Mississippi Senate voted Tuesday to approve House Bill 774, a bill that, upon original passage by the House, would permit each of the state’s casinos to offer mobile sports betting through one mobile skin. 

The Senate version of the bill, however, is a strike-all amendment designed to keep talks alive past Wednesday’s deadline for bills to clear their second house of the legislature.

“The amendment … makes no changes to the current law, it does not express a Senate position one way or another but it does express our position to continue to discuss this and hear from people across the state about this issue,” said Senator David Blount on the Senate floor before the bill’s passage.

“It simply keeps this issue alive and sends it to a conference for further discussion.”

The bill will now move to a conference committee where legislators from both chambers can negotiate a bill to be considered by both chambers before the May 5 adjournment of the legislative session.

The Maine Gambling Control Unit (MGCU) confirmed Wednesday (April 10) that five daily fantasy sport (DFS) operators are no longer licensed to operate fantasy contests after they failed to renew their state licenses. 

The operators who have left Maine include Data Force, Bidventures, Underdog Fantasy, Boom Shakalaka and Sportsbub. The state now has six licensed DFS operators, which include Certamen Games, DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo Fantasy Sports, FFPC, and RealTime Fantasy Sports.

Underdog’s exit from Maine was expected after the MGCU fined it $391,850 in October and ordered the company to immediately cease offering pick’em style games in the state. 

Underdog has been offering the pick'em style contests in Maine since January 2021 and has accepted more than 482,000 pick'em wagers from more than 7,800 unique users, bringing in more than $1.4m in revenue on the pick'em games through October 15, 2023. 

A Minnesota Indian tribe is asking the state;s Court of Appeals to block a Minnesota Racing Commission (MRC) decision allowing the state’s two racetracks to operate historical horseracing machines (HHR).   

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community filed the petition on Tuesday (April 9) asking the court to review and overturn the regulatory change approved last week. The HHR machines allow patrons to wager on past races and are considered pari-mutuel wagering in the eight states where they are legal.

On January 4, Canterbury Park and Running Aces submitted a joint request for approval of HHR. After receiving testimony, evidence and other documents, Camille McArdle, chair of the MGC, said the commission concluded that HHR “did not constitute an illegal gambling device” under state law.

McArdle described HHR as a system that relies principally on the skill of handicapping horse races rather than chance. In their filing, the Shakopee tribe argued the racing commission lacked the authority to authorize both tracks to offer up to 500 machines each. 

The machines have been approved to begin operating on May 21.

A bill introduced in the New Jersey Senate would prohibit sports-betting licensees in the state from offering or accepting wagering on player-specific proposition bets on college sports. 

Under Senate Bill 3080, sponsored by Republican Senator Kristin Corrado, a proposition bet is defined as a side wager on part of a sport or athletic event that does not concern the final outcome. 

Player-prop bets include which team or player will score first, as well as how many touchdowns or running yards a player might have in a quarter or single game.  

New Jersey already prohibits college player prop bets involving athletes attending universities located in the state. Corrado believes it is time to restrict all college player props. 

“Proposition bets have led to a rise in the harassment of student-athletes and have threatened the integrity of college sports,” said Corrado. “I have heard about many individuals who have been the victim of online harassment because they didn’t perform to the expectation of a bettor who made a side wager.”

Corrado said this legislation will ban player-specific prop betting in New Jersey, which will help curb that appalling behavior, and make college athletic events safer for all participants.”

College proposition betting is banned in several states, with Ohio, Maryland, and Louisiana the latest to prohibit the popular wager.

UK trade group the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has appointed a new chief executive from within the gambling industry, as its existing CEO moves to become chair.

Grainne Hurst has exited her role as Entain’s group corporate affairs director to become the head of the UK trade body, with existing chief executive and former Labour MP Michael Dugher becoming chair.

Founding chair Brigid Simmonds left the BGC this month.

“I am delighted to be joining the BGC at such a crucial time for its members and the millions of customers they serve,” said Hurst. 

“My focus will always be on ensuring that we have a well regulated industry which protects customers and looks after their interests.

“The betting industry in the UK has world leading businesses and iconic brands and I will work hard to ensure they remain so. There is much to be done and I look forward to getting started.”

Hurst led government affairs at Entain, one of the world’s largest gambling operators, and is a founder of the international arm of the Global Gaming Women charity.

"The BGC's role has never been as important as we move into a new era where the government and Gambling Commission work with industry to implement the recommendations from the white paper from a year ago,” said Ian Proctor, executive chairman at Flutter UK & Ireland.

Spain’s General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has published a call for funding applications for research into gambling disorders in the state gazette on Friday, April 5.

Entities that may apply include public and private research centres, public universities, public and private health institutions, research and development organisations and non-profits.  

Research proposals must meet one of the following criteria: early risk detection, the impact of gender,  relationships between video gaming and gambling, mechanisms to minimise the negative impacts of gambling and others. 

The budget for grants is worth up to €950,000 (US$1m). The window for applying for funding will be open until May 6. Winning projects are expected to be completed by June 30, 2025. 

The Dominican Republic’s gambling regulator, the Directorate of Casinos and Gaming (DCJA), has issued a reminder to players that big-name international operators are not authorised and finding a way to use their sites is illegal.

The reminder came just before the DCJA announced its licensing scheme.

The missive, which was issued from the office at the end of March, listed Betway, 888, PokerStars, Betsson, Betfair and William Hill, among others. 

“We recommend always verifying the operator's authorization through official channels and avoid participating in unregulated activities,” wrote the DCJA in an instruction to players who presumably can use VPNs and other methods to circumvent blocked access to sites. 

The country’s Ministry of Finance published a resolution last week that will regulate the licensing of online casinos and online gaming, and foreign operators will be able to apply with a local domicile. 

Those licences will last five years, with the first three years being non-transferable.

Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, has signed a bill strengthening oversight by the governor’s office of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission.

Legislative Bill 839, introduced by Republican Senator John Lowe, would grant the governor the power to remove commissioners “for cause.” A new executive director hired by the commission would be subject to approval by the governor.

“A violation by a member of the commission of Section 2-1219 or any malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect in office shall be considered cause for removal,” according to LB 839. Section 2-1219 governs the conduct of commission members in Nebraska.

The measure was introduced as the commission is overseeing the expansion of regulated casinos in the state, which were legalized by voters in 2020.

The seven-member commission has experienced some upheaval recently with its long-time executive director, Tom Sage, retiring, questions regarding a $48,000 market study done by The Innovation Group, and controversy over the purchase of ten assault-style rifles for its investigators.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given Spreadex and Sporting Index five days to address concerns that their merger may “substantially lessen” competition in online sports spread betting services in the UK.

The CMA said: “The deal may have created a monopoly by removing the only other licensed UK sports spread betting provider,” in its phase 1 investigation response published on April 4.

Naomi Burgoyne, the phase 1 decision maker for the case, said: “We believe that this deal could remove competition for sports spread betting services and give Spreadex a monopoly in this market. It is important that customers can rely on competition in the market to keep odds competitive.”

Spreadex has until April 11 to offer an undertaking that might be accepted by the CMA to address its concerns or the deal will be referred for a 24 to 32-week-long phase 2 investigation.

Spreadex and Sporting Index are the only two licensed operators of sports spread betting in the UK.

Spread betting varies to fixed-odds wagering and pari-mutuel betting as a player winnings are determined by the accuracy of their prediction.

Last year, Spreadex acquired the "business to consumer" arm of Sporting Index from Sporting Group Holding Limited (Sporting Group), a subsidiary of La Française des Jeux (FDJ).

FDJ retained ownership of Sporting Group, which includes sports-betting technology and trading service provider Sporting Solutions.

Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin has sent back to the General Assembly legislation that would allow Petersburg to become the fifth city in Virginia to host a casino, but amended the measure removing the re-enactment clause.

Senate Bill 628 was one of 11 bills amended by Youngkin on Friday (April 5).

The re-enactment clause on the bill would have required the measure to be passed by the General Assembly a second time after both the House of Delegates and Senate already approved it during the 2024 session that ended last month.

The clause was attached to the bill before the House passed it and was agreed to in the Senate.

By adding Petersburg to the list of eligible cities, it would give the city the ability to hold a ballot referendum asking voters to approve a casino.

Since Youngkin amended SB 628, that amendment will be considered when lawmakers return to Richmond for a budget session on April 17.

Australia’s most aggressive state gambling regulator has introduced mandatory, standardised spend and loss notifications for gambler activity statements issued by wagering providers.

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) on Monday (April 8) said the new requirements came into force on April 1 after an “extensive implementation period”.

“Account holders will more clearly see how much of their own money they have lost, with free and bonus bets excluded from net loss figures on their monthly statement,” the VGCCC statement said.

“Net wins will also be more accurate, with stakes (the money spent in placing the bet) being deducted from pay out amounts.”

Operators must limit statement colours to black and red, with red denoting losses, while using “plain English” and affixing gambling harm tags used in responsible gaming advertisements.

Violators of the new standard face fines of more than A$11,500 ($7,600) per “non-compliant activity statement”, the statement said.

The standard kicks back against inconsistent industry practice and is part of the VGCCC’s response to both the National Consumer Protection Framework for online gambling that was launched in 2018 and Victoria’s gambling harm minimisation directions issued in July 2022.