Compliance Updates
UK Gambling Commission Considers Banning VIP Schemes

The UK Gambling Commission is considering whether to ban VIP schemes after collecting data from betting firms, including one that took 83% of all deposits from 2% of its customers.
The much-criticised membership programmes reward gamblers who habitually lose large sums of money with perks such as free bets, cashback on losing wagers or football tickets. The award of VIP status has been cited as a factor in seven out of 10 regulatory penalties issued to companies by the commission for failures to prevent problem gambling.
A Gambling Commission spokesman said it was already taking action to address poor practice linked to VIP programmes but was prepared to go further.
The regulator said: “Operators must improve their interaction with VIPs and we have challenged the industry to make faster progress to improve how they manage their customers. We have also taken robust action against operators who fail to protect consumers and we will be even tougher if behaviour does not change.”
The commission collected data on VIP schemes from nine companies that have been granted anonymity but are understood to be among the UK’s largest and best known. In one case, an operator told the commission that while only 2% of its customers are VIPs, they account for 83% of deposits made on the site.
“This report shows how completely reliant the industry is on people with gambling problems and that they are profiteering from them. As the Gambling Commission has itself suggested these practices should be banned to protect problem gamblers and stop the transfer of money from vulnerable addicted gamblers directly into the pockets of the online gambling industry,” Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs a cross-party parliamentary group on gambling, said.
Baltics
Aviatrix granted certification in Estonia

Aviatrix has received certification to offer its award-winning crash game to operators in Estonia.
It marks the latest regulated market that Aviatrix has entered into, with the game already live in the country with leading brand FenixBet.
Anastasia Rimskaya, Chief Account Officer at Aviatrix, said: “Securing certification in Estonia is another exciting step forward for Aviatrix as we continue to expand into regulated markets. We’re thrilled to already be live with FenixBet and look forward to delivering our innovative crash game experience to even more players in the country.”
Aviatrix has added a host of regulated markets over recent months, including Spain, Colombia, Brazil and Peru.
It underlines the team’s commitment to bringing the game to players around the world.
Aviatrix is a constantly evolving game, with regular feature updates for partners, including the recent launch of free bets, now available through in-game promo codes.
The post Aviatrix granted certification in Estonia appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
KSA: Fine of €734,000 Imposed for Breach of Duty of Care

The Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) has for the first time imposed a fine of €734,000 on one of its licensees because the company failed to adequately protect young adults against excessive gambling and gambling addiction.
Gambling companies have a duty of care and must protect players as much as possible against excessive gambling and gambling addiction. According to the KSA, the provider in question has not sufficiently complied with this duty of care and will be fined for this.
The KSA started an investigation after signals about large losses suffered by young adults. In this investigation, a selection of 10 of the player files with the largest losses were examined at the provider, whereby violations were found in all files. These were young adult players (18 to 23 years old) who gambled away tens of thousands of euros in often a relatively short period of time.
Michel Groothuizen, chairman of the board of the KSA, said: “We have a licensed gambling market based on the idea that anyone who wants to gamble can do so safely. That is why providers have a duty of care towards their players and must respond adequately to excessive gaming. Major losses are an important signal of that. We have intensified our supervision of the online duty of care and we take tough action against violations such as those we find here, because we really do not want to see providers continue to fail in their duty of care, especially for vulnerable young players.”
The post KSA: Fine of €734,000 Imposed for Breach of Duty of Care appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
Nebraska: Proposal to Legalize Mobile Sports Betting Advances

Mobile online sports betting would be legal in Nebraska under a bill advancing in the Legislature, but trouble could still lie ahead for the proposal.
Sen. Eliot Bostar introduced the proposed state constitutional amendment that would let people make sports bets on their phone from anywhere in the state. Bostar says Nebraskans are already betting, either by going to a casino, a neighboring state or using illegal, unregulated platforms.
“I introduced this not because I think gambling is a great thing, not because I want everyone to do it, not because I think you should like it, or anyone should, but fundamentally because it’s already happening. Our prohibition on mobile sports betting here in save Nebraska is not stopping anyone from engaging in that activity,” Bostar said.
Sen. Jason Prokop has made the proposal his priority this session. Prokup talked about Nebraskans who cross the Mormon Bridge into Iowa and congregate at the first off I-680 to place bets during the football season.
“There’s no reason why a corn field in Iowa, just off the interstate, should be touted as the busiest corn field in America. Senators, those are your and my constituents using this product, spending their money and paying taxes in another state, simply because our Constitution does not provide for it,” he said.
Bostar said Nebraska is losing tax revenue.
“Nebraska is currently missing out on a $1.6 billion state online industry and $32 million in annual tax revenue, which instead goes to neighboring states like Iowa, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. Legalizing online mobile sports betting through LR20CA could significantly boost state revenues dedicated to the property tax credit fund, helping to address the burden of high property taxes,” he said.
Sen. Jared Storm seemed unmoved.
“I’ve been in the body for three months. I’m a freshman senator, and it seems like the common thread I keep seeing here is, if you want to pass your bill or get something through here, you say it’s going to lower property taxes. That’s kind of the buzz word,” he said.
Strong offered a different interpretation of any tax revenue.
“I would view this as taxation by exploitation. We’re going to exploit people to get tax revenue out of them, mainly young men. So you’re going to have students at UNL, students at UNK, other universities, who are going to gamble away their tuition on online sports betting. They’re going to gamble away their rent online sports gambling. I think as state senators, we have to stand up for those people,” he said.
Sen. Rob Clements read a letter from a mother whose son got in financial trouble from sports betting and died by suicide last year.
“The $10,000 bet my son frenetically placed on a losing NHL Stanley Cup game during the last 48 hours of his life, was followed by a series of still more frenetic bets placed in isolation on his phone as he tried to win back his massive loss. It is clear that he died alone,” Clements read.
But Sen. Ben Hansen argued incidents like that should not be enough to prohibit sports betting.
“How far do we restrict people’s liberties and their rights? This is always a tough one, because we do see some of the ills, the pitfalls some of our citizens can fall into. But do we take that right away from them for that reason? If we take away that right because of addictive factors, we better get rid of alcohol. We better get rid of smoking. We better get rid of refined sugar, one of the most addictive things that we legalize here in Nebraska. We better get rid of a lot of addictive behaviors in the state of Nebraska,” he said.
Sen. Rick Holdcroft read a letter from former Congressman Tom Osborne, former Gov. Kay Orr, Sen. Pete Ricketts and State Auditor Mike Foley opposing the proposal.
“Legalizing online sports betting in Nebraska would turn every cell phone, laptop and tablet into a gambling device available 24 by seven, online sports betting can lead to new people developing gambling disorders, puts young men in the addiction bulls eye and will take money away from the main street Nebraska businesses,” he said.
Gov. Jim Pillen has supported legalizing online sports betting in the past. And Sen. Tom Brandt said the proposal should be approved.
“In Nebraska, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, guns, whether you wear a helmet, we let grown ups decide that. We let our people decide that. Does everybody make a good decision? They do not. There are consequences to some bad decisions, but we let them decide for themselves. Mobile betting should be the same way,” he said.
But Sen. Brad von Gillern said mobile betting was an especially threatening form of gambling.
“My opposition to LR20CA is not from a moral position against gambling as a whole. I provided tons of data to you that illustrates that this is a predatory process that primarily pursues young men,” he said.
After about three hours of debate, senators voted 27-16 to give the bill first-round approval. But von Gillern vowed to filibuster it at the second round of debate, when opponents need only talk for four hours, instead of eight, before supporters can try to cut off debate and vote on the bill itself. That takes 33 votes, and von Gillern predicted it would be close.
The post Nebraska: Proposal to Legalize Mobile Sports Betting Advances appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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