Gaming regulation – FairOdds Network

April 11, 2025

Swedish government loosens grip on ATG ownership

The Swedish government is relinquishing control of racing monopoly ATG as part of a new agreement which calls for its board to have fully independent members.

The Swedish government has made the agreement with Svensk Travsport and Svensk Galopp, both of which share ownership of ATG. The state announced on 10 April that the agreement reduces government control over ATG.

ATG was first founded in 1974 to oversee and correct financial problems faced by equestrian sports at the time. Svensk Travsport and Svensk Galopp were in financial difficulties and the state decided it would be best to form a joint venture for horse betting. Any profits were intended for trotting and galloping sports and the Swedish horse industry national foundation.

The new agreement sees the Swedish government give up part of its controlling powers over ATG. As a result, it will no longer nominate ATG board members. Previously it had the power to appoint six of the 11 board members.

Moving forward, the board’s n..

March 21, 2025

Finland gambling reform bill enters parliament

Finland’s government has submitted a bill on its proposed new gambling framework to the country’s parliament, raising hopes of hitting online gambling trade body Rahapeliala Ry’s target of passing laws by mid summer.

Presented yesterday (20 March), the bill sets out a new-look gambling market for Finland. The main change in regulations would be opening up the country’s online gambling market to private operators, following in the footsteps of its Nordic peers Sweden and Denmark.

At present, Veikkaus holds a monopoly on online gambling, across lottery and online sports betting and casino games. Should the bill pass in its current form, this setup would stop by the end of 2026. Veikkaus will, however, keep exclusivity for lottery and scratchcards, as well as retail gaming machines and casino games.

Previous guidelines have said operators could apply for licences from 1 January 2026, when the new regulations officially come into effect. This would be with the view of the new-look mar..

March 18, 2025

Dutch trade bodies urge more advertising opportunities in new gambling policy

The Licensed Dutch Online Gambling Providers (VNLOK) and Netherlands Online Gambling Association (NOGA) trade bodies have urged the government to allow for more opportunities for gambling advertising among licensed operators, as part of recommendations for new regulations.

Tomorrow (19 March), the government will host a round-table discussion on its proposals for new gambling policy. This will feature input from various stakeholders including a number of licensed operators, trade bodies and regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).

Teun Struycken, minister for legal protection in the Netherlands, revealed in December that the government was working on new policy, with hopes of having a new gambling bill in place by the end of 2025.

In their submission, the industry trade bodies VNLOK and NOGA set out several key points for the government to consider before signing off on new laws. Much of these focus on protecting players from harm and on tackling unlicensed activity.

Advertising must r..

March 18, 2025

Lords veto gambling sponsorship ban in latest Football Governance bill debate

An amendment to ban gambling sponsorships and advertising in English football has been vetoed in the latest Lords debate on the UK's pending Football Governance bill.

Last night (17 March), the house of lords voted against the amendment via a clear majority of 339 to 74. It was raised in the latest version of the Football Governance bill, which this week finished being debated in the chamber.

The bill, which was initially introduced via the house of lords in October, aims to create an independent football regulator to oversee the sport and handle issues such as club licensing.

It passed the committee and report stages in early March, and the second iteration of the bill has been debated in the house over the last two weeks.

The clause seeking to ban all gambling sponsorships and advertising in the sport was put forward by Liberal Democrat politician Lord Addington in the latest round of amendments.

“Duty to prevent advertising and sponsorship related to gambling in English f..

March 14, 2025

Netherlands concerned sports advertisement ban could be bypassed, points to Belgium

Dutch lawmakers have expressed concerns that its incoming online gambling sports advertisement prohibition could be bypassed by operators, pointing to apparent circumvention in Belgium.

Responding to questions from parliament on 12 March, state secretary for legal protection Teun Struycken reaffirmed the need for greater player protection but noted a complete ban on gambling advertisements was not in favour. Struycken also suggested it was possible Belgian cases of circumvention could be repeated in the Netherlands.

Since 1 January, sports clubs in Belgium have not been allowed to display gambling sponsors on their team shirts. However, there is a view this is being bypassed by operators.

For instance, the football Club Brugge was sponsored by Unibet. Now, the jersey is displaying “U-experts”, the name of an application made by Unibet that links to its casino offering. Cercle Brugge’s jersey sponsor also changed from “Golden Palace Casino” to “Golden Palace News”.

A total ban on sp..

March 13, 2025

Man charged for illegal gambling operations in UK

A Stoke-on-Trent-based man in the UK has been arrested for running an unlicensed gambling operation between October 2023 and September 2024.

Haydon Simcock of Stoke-on-Trent was arrested by Staffordshire police in September following an investigation by the UK’s Gambling Commission.

The 39-year-old was charged with providing gambling facilities to consumers across the UK without a licence between 8 October 2023 and 11 September last year. Simcock was also charged with advertising betting offers between 26 May 2023 and 1 March 2024.

The UK regulator said it led the investigation into Simcock and worked with the Staffordshire police department on the case. Simcock will appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 24 March.

Racing Post interview

In February 2024, the Racing Post publication conducted an undercover interview with a Haydon Simcock who claimed to be working for an illegal horse racing bookmaker in the UK. “The Post Bookmakers” took players’ bets via WhatsApp.

He tol..

March 13, 2025

Tipico hits back at ‘secret agreement’ media claims

German operator Tipico has rejected reports that a “secret agreement” on raising player deposit limits is in place between federal states and operators in the market. It has agreed to investigate an instance where a player was allegedly able to increase their deposit limit to €10,000 within seconds.

Joint research conducted by ARD and Die Zeit and Investigate Europe, published on 6 March, reported that gambling operators have benefitted from a “secret agreement” with the federal states.

The report, covered by ARD’s Monitor programme, claimed the state of Hesse concluded a settlement with sports betting providers in 2022 before the Darmstadt Administrative Court.

As per that reported settlement, sports betting operators can use a credit bureau to check a player’s financial standing, if they seek to increase their monthly betting deposit limit past €1,000. German private credit bureau Shufa is the credit agency referenced in the Monitor report.

However, the issue raised by Tipico, ..

February 25, 2025

Nevada’s Titus is latest to push back on prediction market wave

Longtime Nevada representative Dina Titus has become the latest official to reach out to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding tougher enforcement against prediction markets.

Nevada’s Dina Titus is in her seventh two-year term as an elected official in the house of representatives. As such, she has experience with following proper processes and protocols to get things done.

And in a letter sent last Friday (21 February) to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) acting chairwoman Caroline D Pham, Representative Titus took issue with prediction market operators offering a form of sports betting without going through all the proper processes and protocols.

“This year, platforms have started to offer contracts on sporting events,” Titus wrote about midway through her two-page letter, a copy of which she posted on social media. She was referring to the likes of Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood and others. The platforms permit users to risk money, in a stock market-..

February 20, 2025

Horse racing betting turnover impacted by affordability checks says BHA

The British Horseracing Authority has blamed the Gambling Commission's financial risk checks for falling betting revenue in 2024, as it says punters have moved to unlicensed operators.

In its BHA racing report 2024 published on 19 February, the authority stated that total betting turnover fell by 6.8% in comparison to the previous year. This is a 16.5% downturn when compared to 2022.

While the BHA would not disclose the betting turnover value, it told iGB that the rate consists of both retail and digital betting.

In its report, the BHA found that the decline in total betting turnover slowed to under 1% in the second half of the year. However, it stated that it had run more races in that period when compared to 2023, adding that the “average race turnover” was down by 4% in 2024.

BHA director of racing Richard Wayman wrote in the report that he has “no doubt” that the drop in betting revenue was “headed by the impact of affordability checks”.

Wayman said these have resulted i..

February 5, 2025

After IPI disaster, has CNMI abandoned land-based casino hopes?

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is drafting legislation that would dissolve its gaming commission. The Pacific island group is looking at igaming as a next step.

On 4 February, CNMI representative Ralph N Yumul told Marianas Variety that a house committee is reviewing the 2014 statutes which legalised gaming and established the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC).

If enacted, the move would transfer the regulator’s enforcement powers to the lottery commission. At that point, Yamul said, the CCC “will not be in existence anymore”.

Committee members are also looking at online gaming and “marketing it out to the world”, Yamul said. The CCC “can’t do its job anymore”, he added, “because it’s tied with the only casino licensee in the CNMI.”

And its experience with that licensee, Imperial Pacific International (IPI), has been nothing short of disastrous.

Ten years ago, IPI opened a temporary casino, called Best Sunshine Live, inside a shopping mall on Saipan, th..

January 16, 2025

Legislative roundup: MD tax hike, NJ sweepstakes, more

Legislative season is never dull for the gaming industry and this latest roundup includes a potential tax hike in Maryland and a sweepstakes bill in New Jersey.

Bills to legalise online casino gaming in Wyoming and Indiana, a proposed gambling tax rate hike in Maryland and a bill to legalise “sweepstakes gaming” in New Jersey were all rolled out this week as what tends to be a four-month flurry of legislative activity across the US begins.

In Maryland, gambling expansion backers have said they intend to reintroduce their own igaming legislation soon. But the more immediate news on Wednesday (15 January) was that Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, introduced his annual budget. It notably includes his endorsement of a boost in sports betting tax from 15% to 30% and a rise in casino table game rates from 20% to 25%.

Ohio and Illinois already have raised their sports betting tax rates in the past year. The former did so less than a year after the first legal bets were placed.

New Yo..

January 10, 2025

Las Vegas Strip revenue declines continue as Nevada posts 4% YoY decrease in November

The Las Vegas Strip posted its fifth consecutive monthly year-on-year revenue decline in November, with the state overall posting a 4.2% drop from last year.

According to figures from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) released on 9 January, the state’s gaming industry posted $1.31 billion (£1.07 billion/€1.27 billion) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in November. The 4.2% YoY decline is the fourth for the state out of the last five months. But this is somewhat qualified by the fact that FY24 was the best ever.

So far in FY25, Nevada gaming is down 2.8% from this point last year, per the NGCB.

The most notable figures from November came from the Las Vegas Strip. America’s gaming capital posted $788.7 million in GGR for the month, down just under 4% from last year. This is the first definitive proof that the second edition of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix did not live up to the inaugural race last November, although local officials had already acknowledged that to be the c..

December 2025
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Tag: Gaming regulation