Compliance Updates
Swifty Global (Dear Cashmere Holding Company), Confirms the Award of its UK Gambling License
Dear Cashmere Holding Company, known as Swifty Global (Swifty), is a technology company focused on creating ground-breaking solutions in the Financial and Sports Betting Sectors. The company has developed two disruptive mobile applications (apps) for sports predictions and a digital wallet which encompasses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Transactions.
Following its award of the Curacao license in November 2021, Swifty is now pleased to announce that it has successfully obtained its UK gambling license. The coveted UK license is the “Gold Standard” and one of the most difficult gambling licenses in the world to obtain. Its award now allows Swifty to upload its eagerly anticipated Swifty Predictions application to the UK Apple and Android stores, allowing users in the UK to download the app and register their account. In addition, Swifty has completed their 3rdparty security audit and is now adding the relevant payment providers. This couldn’t take place until the UK license was approved. Once the payment gateway is live, the software will be submitted for certification which, once obtained, will be made available in the licensed regions. Swifty’s in-house development team are working overtime to ensure that the product goes live as quickly as possible. The commercial team is simultaneously working on obtaining several further gambling licences, including for certain states in the USA.
To grow its user base in the licensed regions, Swifty is preparing to roll out its aggressive marketing plan, with the initial focus being to capture as many users as quickly as possible. From this point, the highly interactive Swifty predictions app brings a new form of engaged betting to users which Swifty is confident will stimulate a substantial amount of viral marketing.
After the successful “soft launch” of its Digital Wallet during the month of March, where several thousand users downloaded and used Swifty’s pre-configured digital currency wallet, the official launch of both the Swifty Wallet and Swifty Predictions app will take place in May. The official launch functions are expected to encompass several celebrity endorsements.
The Swifty Wallet will offer a referral scheme within the wallet itself. This will allow users to refer the app to other users, thereby earning credits which will be cashed in against the Swifty Token. The Swifty Token is scheduled to be launched once Swifty’s user base has reached a critical mass. The company anticipates this being in Autumn 2022. Referral vouchers will also double up to enter referrers into weekly prize draws.
Swifty will aggressively target the UK market to rapidly gain a lucrative share of the existing market whilst also creating a new category of gambling with its proprietary “swipe” technology for micro betting. This will create a new market of users who enjoy a more social, fun, and engaging form of gambling. According to the UK Gambling Commissioner, the UK’s online sports betting and casino gambling market was worth 6.9 billion pounds between March 2020 and April 2021. This was up 18.4% from the previous year. Despite the size of the UK market, there are only 287 companies that have a remote betting operating license and 469 companies that have a gambling software development license in the UK.
Swifty Global CEO, James Gibbons, commented, “We are ecstatic to have finally obtained this license following months of processes to demonstrate our compliance. We were always confident of obtaining the license since, in addition to our compliance, our technology, AML, and KYC capability is both next generation and world leading. However, it is a process that we had to go through, and we are very pleased to now finally be in the game within one of the world’s most active and lucrative gambling markets. We are excited to launch the Swifty Predictions app, especially since it’s within a few weeks of the successful launch of our Swifty Wallet. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished and incredibly optimistic about our next quarter of business and beyond.”
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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has backed Texas to legalise online sports betting in the state’s next legislative session.
Christie helped pave the way for sports betting liberalisation across the US by bringing the Supreme Court case that led to the repeal of PASPA.
The case was fought and won by prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who Christie hired to argue the case for states to make their own decisions on sports betting. Olson died last week at the age of 84.
After Missouri became the 39th US state to legalise sports betting in some capacity, attention has quickly turned again to the big three states of Texas, California, and Florida.
“I think it’ll happen in Texas in the next legislative session,” said Christie, speaking to Covers.com. The next session is due to commence in Texas on January 14, 2025.
Christie is less confident about California, however, where competing sports betting ballots failed in 2022 amid a bitter dispute and lobbying war between online operators and local tribes.
California is seen as essential to the future prospects of US sports betting operators, given its size and wealth and dramatic impact on the country’s total addressable market (TAM).
“I don’t know about California,” said Christie. “This really takes gubernatorial leadership, and Gavin Newsom has got to decide if this is one of the issues he wants to lead on.
“Without gubernatorial leadership, the legislature won’t do it because they’re pulled like taffy in too many directions by too many different interests. Without the governor pushing for it, I just don’t think it’ll happen.”
Despite another potential setback in California, Christie has backed sports betting to penetrate pretty much every state eventually.
“I really believe sports betting is inevitable to go just about nationwide, because people in America love their sports, they just do,” he said. “I think it is in the leagues’ best interests to grow their audience. The government gets some piece of the pie out of that which they enjoy, and the public seems to be pretty happy for the most part.”
Depending on expansion, US sports betting could, in theory, reach every state. It would then become a national issue, but Christie has warned the federal government not to interfere.
“Let the states handle it,” he said. “The states are doing fine. You haven’t heard of anything awful or irreversible happening since each state has been involved and they should have the ability to decide whether they want gambling or not.
“I don’t think the federal government should have anything to do with it and I don’t think they ever should have. I don’t think they have to be babysitters for the governors of the country.”
Compliance Updates
Spillemyndigheden Calls Attention to FATF’s Updated Lists of High-risk Jurisdictions
The Danish Gambling Authority has called attention to FATF’s (Financial Action Task Force) updated lists of high-risk jurisdictions: the Grey List (jurisdictions under increased monitoring) and Black List (call for actions). Among other things, gambling operators must include FATF’s lists of high-risk jurisdictions when risk assessing players.
Jurisdictions listed on the Grey List are Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Croatia, DR Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.
Jurisdictions listed on the Black List are Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar.
Gambling operators are required to conduct enhanced customer due diligence (EDD) pursuant to section 17(1) of the Danish AML Act, if a player is assessed to impose a higher risk of the gambling operator being misused for money laundering or terrorist financing.
Gambling operators shall conduct this risk assessment based on Annex 3 to the AML Act (high-risk factors) which includes the FATF high-risk country lists (the so called black list and grey list).
It is not required that gambling operators perform EDD if a country is listed on the FATF’s list. EDD are only a requirement for players from jurisdictions listed in the EU Regulation of High Risk Third Country list pursuant to 17(2) of the AML Act.
The post Spillemyndigheden Calls Attention to FATF’s Updated Lists of High-risk Jurisdictions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Africa
South Africa: Tribunal Grants Lottoland Interim Relief – Orders Google to Grant Lottoland Access to its Advertising Platform
The Competition Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has issued an interim order directing Google Ireland Ltd and Google South Africa (Pty) Ltd (collectively, “Google”) to permit Lottoland South Africa (Pty) Ltd (“Lottoland”) to access its advertising services known as “Google Ads”, for so long as Google permits any firm in South Africa to utilise Google’s Ads Services to advertise fixed-odds betting on the outcome of lotteries. The Tribunal’s order applies for a period of six months from its date, or the conclusion of a hearing into the prohibited practices alleged by Lottoland, whichever is the earlier.
This platform enables advertisers to display ads to users who utilise Google search, with Google Ireland acting as the service provider for Google Ads in South Africa.
The Tribunal’s order follows an interim relief application by Lottoland, a licensed bookmaker, which, inter alia, offers fixed-odds bets on the outcome of various lotteries around the world, including the South African national lottery, sporting events and other betting contingencies. Lottoland competes with other licensed bookmakers in South Africa such as Hollywood Bets, World Sports Betting, Betway, Betfred (which owns Lottostar) and Netbet (which trades as Sportingbet).
In summary, Lottoland alleged that Google terminated its access to Google Ads without justification while allowing access to its competitors, causing it financial harm and distorting competition in the market that Lottoland operates in, to the detriment of consumers.
Google contended that Lottoland’s offering of fixed-odds bets on the outcome of the national lottery in South Africa contravenes sections 57(1) and 57(2)(g) of the Lotteries Act. It submitted that in terms of its online advertising policies, which are designed to protect users, restrictions are placed on the promotion of certain gambling activities. Of particular relevance, the promotion of lotteries is limited to state-licensed entities and that this restriction is in place to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Lotteries Act.
Reasons for Decision
A non-confidential version of the Tribunal’s reasons will be published in due course once any confidentiality claims in relation to the reasons have been finalised with the parties involved. In deciding the matter, the Tribunal considered the following three factors holistically, balancing each factor against the other to determine what is reasonable and just:
• Evidence relating to the alleged prohibited practice;
• The need to prevent serious or irreparable damage to the applicant (Lottoland); and
• The balance of convenience.
The post South Africa: Tribunal Grants Lottoland Interim Relief – Orders Google to Grant Lottoland Access to its Advertising Platform appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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