CasinoBeats is breaking down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most fascinating stories. Our latest headline reflection features regulatory action in the UK, Nasdaq non-compliance and gambling tax increases in New Jersey.
5
The UK Gambling Commission has published its Corporate Strategy 2024 to 2027, explaining the key areas of the British gambling market that the regulator will focus on over the next three years.
The strategy – ‘Gambling regulation in a digital age’ – is part of the UKGC’s commitment to delivering the proposals set out within the UK Government’s White Paper ‘High stakes – Gambling reform for the digital age’.
It highlighted five key areas for the next three-year period: using data and analytics to make gambling regulation more effective; enhancing core operational functions; setting clear evidence-based requirements for licensees; being proactive and addressing issues at the earliest opportunity; and regulating a successful National Lottery.
“Our new three-year strategy ‘Gambling regulation in a digital age’ sets out how we will deliver the reforms set out in the Government’s gambling white paper, and successfully regulate the National Lottery under a new licensee,” commented Marcus Boyle, Chair of the UKGC.
“We are also setting out an ambitious programme to enhance the effectiveness of our regulation. A new data innovation hub will foster the smarter use of data. We will increase the transparency of our work to raise standards in the gambling industry, and we will be creative in disrupting those who seek to operate illegally.
“I want a fair, safe, and crime-free gambling market where consumers and the interests of the wider public are protected. This strategy will improve gambling regulation and move us closer to that vision.”
840,000
Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gaming authority, has issued an order subject to a penalty on Casbit Group NV for offering games of chance without a licence.
The KSA stated that it informed Casbit at an earlier stage that it intended to impose an order subject to a penalty on the operator for illegal games of chance on its lala.bet website.
Casbit responded by removing accessibility to its website for players in the Netherlands, but upon re-inspection, the authority claims the website is still accessible in the country, so a penalty has been imposed.
With the order subject to penalty, KSA has called on Casbit to immediately stop the illegal offering, with a penalty of €280,000 per week with a maximum of €840,000 being imposed if this is not complied with.
Casbit Group has launched an objection against the decision.
180
Inspired has provided an update to its investors after it received an expected notification letter from the Nasdaq over non-compliance due to not having timely filed its Form 10-K for last year.
The gaming firm revealed that it will report financial results for the fourth quarter and the 2023 on Monday, April 15, 2024, before the market opens.
The current update from Nasdaq doesn’t have any immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock on Nasdaq.
Nasdaq, if it agrees to, can grant Inspired an exception of up to 180 calendar days from the filing’s due date, or until September 11, 2024, to regain compliance. However, if the firm fails to publish its accounts by this date, it may be delisted from the exchange.
86.4
A co-commissioned study by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario has found that 86.4 per cent of online gamblers in Ontario prefer to wager in the regulated igaming market.
Conducted by Ipsos in February this year, the study interviewed 2,016 Ontarians aged over 19, including a general population sample of 1,009 and an additional sample boost of 1,007 who had gambled or wagered real money bets online in the past three months.
Ipsos noted that “quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the general population sample’s composition reflects that of the Ontario population according to census parameters”, which resulted in a total sample of 1,299 Ontarians who gambled or wagered real money bets online in the past three months.
The study found that 86.4 per cent of Ontarians who wager online did so with regulated operators in the past three months. In a similar study conducted in 2023, this figure stood at 85.3 per cent.
However, the study also discovered that 19.9 per cent of those who had gambled online during the three months wagered on regulated and unregulated sites. Meanwhile, 13.6 per cent of those surveyed wagered solely on unregulated sites in the same period.
As of April 4, the Ontario igaming market has 47 registered operators and 77 regulated websites.
Dr Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar of the AGCO, commented: “In Ontario, regulated sites are held to high standards of game integrity, data security and player protections, including having significant responsible gaming safeguards.
“While it’s encouraging to see most participants are choosing regulated gaming options, those who are not are unfortunately risking far more than their wagers.”
30
A bill has been introduced in the New Jersey Senate that would increase the tax rate for online casino and sports betting operators in the US state.
Sponsored by Senator John McKeon, S3064 seeks to increase the annual tax on igaming and online sports betting gross revenues to 30 per cent, up from the current rate of 15 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
S3064 was first reported back in March, but now it has been introduced in the New Jersey Senate, where it has been referred to the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee.
The current igaming tax rate for operators in the Garden State is split as 15 per cent tax to the Casino Revenue Fund, plus an additional 2.5 per cent to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
Under S3064, only an additional 1.25 per cent would go to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
A rise in the tax rate would bring New Jersey in line with some of its neighbouring states such as Pennsylvania, which has a 54 per cent tax rate for online slots and a 16 per cent tax rate for table games and poker.
8
Twitch is under increased scrutiny in Sweden over the promotion of unlicensed casinos.
As reported by Dexerto, Kulturnyheterna, an investigative branch of Swedish television network Sveriges Television AB, detailed that “eight out of ten Swedish influencers on Twitch had promoted unregulated casinos.”
Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling authority, has been warned off the back of the report and may well intensify action against the global streaming platform, which has long been a hub for slots streamers.
It comes after continued efforts from Twitch to improve social responsibility when it comes to the promotion of gambling.
Just last year, the platform detailed that its ban of the promotion on unlicensed gambling would be extended to deposit limits, waiting periods, and age verification systems.
A statement from the firm said: “After monitoring the update’s impact for the last year – as well as hearing directly from you -it became clear that some people were circumventing those rules, and that further steps were necessary.”
The latest findings in Sweden will likely prompt further action from Twitch as it aims to build a sustainable and socially responsible model when it comes to gambling content. Governance in Sweden takes a strong approach to combating the promotion of unlicensed gambling operators.
