Compliance Updates
The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court rules that skill-based fantasy sports games belong to Veikkaus monopoly

Article written by Antti Koivula, consulting legal advisor at Legal Gaming
On May 24, 2022 the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court delivered its judgment on IS-Liigapörssi-case (KHO:2022:60), in which the Supreme Administrative Court analysed whether skill-based fantasy sports games are within the scope of the Finnish Lotteries Act (1047/2001) (“Lotteries Act”) and thus belong to the state-owned gambling operator Veikkaus Oy’s (“Veikkaus”) monopoly.
Finland has a statutory gambling monopoly in place, under which Veikkaus has exclusive rights to operate and market gambling. According to the Lotteries Act, all games which include a participation fee, prizes of monetary value and the result is based on chance, are within Veikkaus monopoly. The main question in the case was if it is enough the game to be even remotely based on chance to be within the scope of the Lotteries Act and thus belong to Veikkaus monopoly, and if that was the case, whether the element of chance was present in the skill-based fantasy sports games in question.
IS-Liigapörssi-case concerned popular fantasy sports games in Finland, in which participants form virtual ice hockey teams from real ice hockey players and points were awarded based on the ice hockey players performance on real ice hockey matches. The fantasy sports games included entry fees and prizes and they had been run since 1995 by a Finnish media giant Sanoma Media Finland Oy (“Sanoma”). It was an undeniable fact that skilled and analytical participants who invested a considerable amount of time to the fantasy sports games outperformed participants who picked the players randomly.
The background of the case is lengthy, as the national authorities had tried to shut down the fantasy sports games run by Sanoma for more than a decade. In 2008 the Ministry of the Interior made a request for investigation for the police, which carried out a preliminary investigation. However, in 2010 the National Prosecution Authority (“NPA”) made a non-prosecution decision stating that it was left unresolved whether the Fantasy Sports games in question are within the scope of the Lotteries Act.
In 2017 the gambling enforcement authority, the National Police Board (“NPB”) started administrative proceedings against Sanoma regarding the fantasy sports games and two years later in 2019 the process had reached the point in which the NPB imposed a prohibition order and a conditional fine of EUR 300,000 for Sanoma on the basis that Sanoma was not allowed to run the fantasy sports games as they qualified as gambling. Sanoma appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court arguing that the fantasy sports games in question were skill-games with which chance had no effect on the results and thus outside the scope of the Lotteries Act, but in 2021 the Helsinki Administrative Court ruled in favour of the NPB. Sanoma appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
The Supreme Administrative Court acknowledged that participants knowledge and skills were meaningful in the context of success, but reminded that at the same time random factors outside the participant’s control had a significant importance too. Thus, the chance of winning was at least partially based on luck. As the fantasy sports games also included entry fees and prize money, only Veikkaus was allowed to run them in Finland.
The Supreme Administrative Court’s decision hardly came as a surprise. The Lotteries Act’s definition of gambling is extremely broad, from which a good example is that even an ice fishing competition and an auction were previously deemed to fall within it. Nevertheless, the decision yet further strengthened the NPB’s authority and it remains to be seen what is the next competition or event after which they’ll go next.
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Compliance Updates
Vixio Launches Vixio Workspace: A Transformative Regulatory Management Tool

New Tool Turns Vixio’s Regulatory Intelligence Into Auditable, Actionable Steps
Vixio, a leading provider of regulatory intelligence solutions, is excited to announce the launch of Vixio Workspace, a new regulatory management tool designed by compliance professionals, for compliance professionals. Vixio Workspace introduces a new intuitive workflow capability into Vixio’s regulatory intelligence platform, helping to transform Vixio’s world-class regulatory intelligence into actionable steps.
Compliance teams currently face multiple challenges when managing actions from regulatory change. Hours are spent juggling multiple disparate systems, from spreadsheets to emails and project management tools. This can cause errors and team misalignment between already siloed departments, meaning teams may miss actions or critical regulatory updates.
The average compliance professional spends 70% of their time, and in some sectors up to 95% of their time, on reactionary administrative tasks rather than strategic guidance. Furthermore, with 85% of compliance leaders reporting that compliance requirements have become more complex in the past three years, and 77% reporting that compliance complexity has negatively affected company growth drivers, now, more than ever, compliance teams need a solution to bring calm to the chaos of compliance complexity.
Vixio Workspace aims to address the challenges faced by compliance teams by fusing regulatory intelligence and workflow capability together, which means teams will never miss action items from critical regulatory updates.
“After two decades of providing comprehensive regulatory intelligence, we’re excited to add to Vixio’s core offering by turning that intelligence into action,” Mike Woolfrey, CEO of Vixio, said, “We’ve spent hours listening to our customers’ compliance challenges and designed Vixio Workspace so that users can see global regulatory updates, track their progress to implementation, and document everything for easier attestation, rather than using siloed systems that can slow that process down. With Vixio Workspace, complexity in compliance doesn’t have to mean complicated.”
Vixio Workspace’s streamlined platform combines regulatory intelligence with task management, eliminating the need for cumbersome copy/paste processes and tracking with spreadsheets. Furthermore, unlike other compliance SaaS software, Vixio Workspace doesn’t require any IT integration, allowing instantaneous adoption.
This new feature is available now and enhances Vixio’s existing RegTech platform, which provides essential regulatory intelligence to navigate the complex regulatory landscape.
Key features of Vixio Workspace include:
- World-class regulatory intelligence: Regulatory intelligence with unparalleled precision – precision is achieved through AI capability and a global team of expert regulatory analysts
- Checklists: Use checklists, integrated with precision-driven regulatory intelligence, as a single source of truth to action and track compliance initiatives
- Real-time dashboard: A single panoramic view of everything in one place, and real-time status of tasks and projects
- Task management: Create and allocate tasks in seconds with the ability to manage compliance team priorities
- Real-time data: This can be used for risk/compliance committees and meetings
- Attestation: A single repository to capture attestation across the business for multiple compliance use cases
- Chat function: Speeds up communication within compliance teams and the wider business
- User management: Role-based user management and permissions for security and audibility
- Audit trail: A digital audit trail which tracks discussions between collaborators and minimises the need for confusing email trails
- Easy file uploads: Use for evidence submission and Vixio Workspace as a single repository for supporting documents
Vixio will host an official launch event for Vixio Workspace at The Haymarket Hotel in London on April 29th at 3 PM, where attendees will be among the first to see the tool in action.
Today’s launch underscores Vixio’s commitment to collaborating with clients to implement innovative solutions that address pressing compliance challenges.
The post Vixio Launches Vixio Workspace: A Transformative Regulatory Management Tool appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Africa
Association of Gaming Operators in Kenya Announces New Regulations

The Association of Gaming Operators in Kenya (AGOK) in partnership with government agencies, regulators and civil society are spearheading a set of proactive initiatives designed to shape the future of the gaming industry and protect innocent Kenyans from addiction to gaming.
In a press release, the Association says nationwide awareness campaigns promoting informed, mindful participation in gaming will be carried out across the country.
Advocacy for tools such as time-out mechanisms, betting and deposit limits will be put in place to ensure a healthy and controlled gaming behaviour among Kenyans.
“The gaming industry in Kenya continues to evolve rapidly, creating opportunities for economic growth, digital innovation, and employment. However, with this growth comes a heightened responsibility to safeguard the welfare of players, particularly young people and vulnerable populations,” the statement by AGOK’s board reads in part.
“AGOK acknowledges the complex challenges associated with gaming, particularly around mental health, addiction prevention, and ethical standards. These are global concerns which members of AGOK take seriously. They are at the forefront of our agenda.”
The Association furthers contends that all its members operate under a “shared code of conduct” rooted in principles of fairness, transparency and social responsibility.
Among meaningful steps it says it has taken to prevent exploitation and minimise harm include putting into place advanced age-verification systems to block underage access, self exclusion tools that provide options for and permanent restrictions to gaming activities and round-the clock toll free helplines that offer confidential mental health and addiction support.
The regulatory measures comes amid calls to regulate the sector following increase in cases of mental health and some suicide cases attributed to betting.
The post Association of Gaming Operators in Kenya Announces New Regulations appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
Sumsub Maintains Compliance with iBeta Standards

Sumsub announced that its Liveness solution has successfully passed iBeta Quality Assurance testing in line with the ISO/IEC 30107-3 standard. The evaluation, conducted on both Android and iOS platforms, confirms the solution’s compliance with Level 2 of the Biometric Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) Standard—the solution showed zero mistakes during testing, validating Sumsub’s technology as capable of resisting sophisticated spoofing attempts.
Sumsub’s Liveness solution is designed to detect deepfakes and prevent biometric fraud using advanced in-house AI models. With deepfakes growing 4x year-over-year and now accounting for 7% of all fraud cases, according to the company’s 2024 Identity Fraud Report, robust anti-spoofing technology is critical for safeguarding businesses and users alike. By integrating AI-driven detection tools, Sumsub helps organizations stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain trust throughout the user verification process.
“iBeta Level 2 testing reflects our commitment to trust, quality, and staying ahead of fraud trends. The industry is facing a rise in attack sophistication and scale, and it’s essential that our solutions continue meeting the highest standards. Routine third-party testing like this ensures we’re prepared for these evolving threats,” Vyacheslav Zholudev, CTO and co-founder of Sumsub, said.
The post Sumsub Maintains Compliance with iBeta Standards appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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