Compliance Updates
Metropolitan Gaming Wins Compliance Team of the Year Award
Metropolitan Gaming has won the “Compliance Team of the Year – Non-Financial Services” at the ICA Compliance Awards Europe 2023, recognising its effective approach in terms of ensuring player protection, combating financial crime and meeting high compliance standards.
The success of Metropolitan Gaming’s compliance output follows adoption of an advanced “3-lines of defence” strategy. In addition, the Group worked to further mitigate AML and social responsibility risks and to develop a more fluid customer journey. It also invested in additional manpower at venue level and centrally to develop more effective management information tools. Its delivery and monitoring regime was reviewed regularly, and a period of continuous improvement has since followed across the company-wide compliance programme.
Evidencing this in the HM Treasury Supervision Report 2020-22, the Gambling Commission presented Metropolitan Gaming as a positive case example of how far the company has progressed by making “significant improvements in culture, policies, procedures and delivery”.
ICA President, Bill Howarth, commented: “We congratulate Metropolitan Gaming for their outstanding achievements and for driving excellence in financial crime prevention and compliance. We have been really impressed by the volume and quality of entries and congratulate all winners and highly commended entrants for being recognised for their collaboration, innovation and dedication. Thank you to everyone who attended the ceremony last evening and we look forward to welcoming you again for another successful edition in 2024.”
Jimmy Howard, Group Compliance Director at Metropolitan Gaming, added: “Metropolitan Gaming strives to benchmark standards in compliance across the industry and we are honoured to be recognised for the work and commitment on the part of so many that has helped us to achieve this award. This award recognises the excellence within our venue teams who deliver compliance and the support teams that provide the tools to facilitate compliance.”
The ceremony was attended by over 360 guests, bringing together regulatory and financial crime prevention professionals, to celebrate the contributions of individuals and companies combating financial crime and meeting high compliance standards. The evening celebrated the achievements of a total of 119 shortlisted finalists. Selecting the winners for 2023 was an esteemed judging panel comprising 66 senior compliance and financial crime prevention leaders from across the ICA membership, ICA subject matter experts and the wider compliance community.
Armenia accelerated one of the most aggressive gambling regulatory reforms in Eurasia after approving new measures to control digital platforms, advertising, payments and financial supervision across the betting sector. The strategy promoted by the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan aims to strengthen legal gambling operations, increase fiscal oversight and tighten control over offshore operators in a market that has expanded dramatically over the past decade.
The reform is being driven by the Ministry of Finance of Armenia led in 2026 by Vahe Hovhannisyan, together with the State Revenue Committee headed by Rustam Badasyan. The main political architect behind the changes is MP Hayk Sargsyan from the ruling Civil Contract party.
The core of the reform focuses on payments and financial monitoring. Armenia plans to block transfers to unlicensed gambling operators, strengthen AML/KYC requirements and connect licensed platforms directly to state monitoring systems operating in real time. Armenia is advancing the software operator selection for its centralised gaming monitoring center, following the legal framework established in early 2024 to connect platforms directly to state systems in real time.
The 2026 update focuses on accelerating the public tender for the private operator, rather than the initial creation of the monitoring infrastructure, with the State Revenue Committee (SRC) leading the technological implementation. The fiscal framework is also becoming stricter. Since July 1, 2025, Armenia has applied a 10% turnover tax on gambling operations, while online gaming license costs doubled in April 2025 and are scheduled to continue increasing annually through 2028.
According to official figures cited by lawmakers, Armenia’s gambling turnover reached approximately AMD 6.3 trillion in 2023, equivalent to nearly €14 billion, while online casino deposits climbed to AMD 811 billion during 2024.
The government also tightened gambling advertising restrictions, limiting promotions to luxury hotels, border checkpoints and authorised operator channels. Armenian authorities argue that the new regulatory model is designed to protect legal operators, reinforce financial traceability and modernise state supervision over one of Eurasia’s fastest-growing digital industries.
The post Armenia Launches Sweeping Gambling Payment Reform appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has officially extended the deadline for licensed remote operators to implement Phase 2 of the new deposit limit regulations.
In October 2025 the first phase of improvements to tools that help consumers to manage their gambling were introduced in the Remote Technical Standards (RTS) with the second phase due to be introduced on 30 June 2026.
Following stakeholder feedback, the Commission has extended the implementation period of the second phase to the end of September 2026 to allow for further operator technical development time.
From 30 September 2026 operators must:
• offer gross deposit limits to customers, and in some cases re-introduce gross deposit limits to the options available to customers
• name gross deposit limits as “deposit limits” – only this type of limit can be called a “deposit limit”
• offer gross deposit limits with at least equal prominence as other types of financial limit.
“We have also updated our consultation response document to clarify that to ensure consistency across the industry, from 30 September 2026 only gross deposit limits must be offered over fixed time frames. Rolling and fixed time frames can be used for other limit types,” the UKGC said.
“In preparation for implementation operators are asked to refer to the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards: Consultation Response and linked annex for the RTS 12 in full effective from 30 September 2026.
“All operators are advised that an annex initially published alongside the supplementary consultation response on 7 October 2025 contained small errors and was temporarily removed from our website. Any downloaded or offline versions of the Annex saved prior to 22 May 2026 should be disregarded.”
The post UKGC Extends Phase 2 Deposit Limit Regulation Deadline to September 2026 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Coljuegos has officially authorized MrYoker as Colombia’s newest regulated online sports betting and casino operator.
It is estimated that, over the next 5 years, the new operator will obtain revenues close to $2.83 billion.
Through concession contract C2261 of 2026, Coljuegos authorized the entry into operation of the portal www.mryoker.co, a site where sports betting and online games can be carried out legally and monitored by the entity.
The online gaming sector is experiencing one of its best periods, thanks to the industry revitalization strategy implemented during the current administration. With MrYoker, there are now 15 authorized operators in Colombia.
The new portal belongs to the company Global Vitxo SAS, and will initially be able to offer live casino, virtual slot machines, and sports betting until 2031.
According to the projections presented, it is estimated that, for the next 5 years, this operator will contribute approximately $27.282 billion in monopoly revenues and administrative expenses, resources that will go directly to finance the subsidized health system.
It is worth mentioning that, during 2026, online betting portals have contributed $253.224 billion to Coljuegos in terms of exploitation rights, and it is expected that, by the end of the year, these transfers will exceed $450 billion.
The post Coljuegos Authorizes MrYoker as Colombia’s Newest iGaming Operator appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
-
Asia5 days agoS8UL streamer Payal Dhare and OWND! launch gamer-curated fashion capsule
-
Asia5 days ago
S8UL Announces Campa Energy as Title Sponsor for its Esports World Cup 2026 Campaign
-
Asia5 days ago
EGT Digital to Debut Highly Anticipated “TNT Jack” Slot at SiGMA Asia 2026
-
content-supplier4 days ago
Pragmatic Play adds football theme to Big Bass series with new slot
-
Compliance Updates5 days ago
PA Gaming Control Board Levies Fines Totaling $180,000
-
Africa4 days ago
MozzartBet is Live on Fast Track’s AI-native CRM Platform
-
Amatic Industries5 days ago
Amatic Industries to Participate in Belgrade Future Gaming Show
-
ANJL5 days ago
Betting in Brazil under credit restrictions and regulatory debates
