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Compliance Updates

UK Gambling Commission Fines LeoVegas £1.32M for AML, Social Responsibility Breaches

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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced that it has fined online gaming company LeoVegas £1.32 million ($1.34 million) after investigations discovered social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

The operator, which runs a series of sites – leovegas.com, slotboss.co.uk, pinkcasino.co.uk, betuk.com and 21.co.uk –, will also receive an official warning and undergo an audit “to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies, procedures and controls,” the regulator said.

Leanne Oxley, Gambling Commission Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said: “We identified this through focused compliance activity and we will continue to take action against other operators if they do not learn the lessons our enforcement work is providing.

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“This case is a further example of operators failing to protect customers and failing to be alive to money laundering risks within their business.”

Social responsibility failures included:

  • setting spend triggers for Safer Gambling Team customer review significantly higher than the average customer’s spend without any explanation as to how this was appropriate
  • setting six hours as the point at which customers were made to take a 45-minute cool off period without explaining how they concluded that playing for six hours was the point at which harm would occur
  • not acting on their own policy of interacting with customers exhibiting indicators of harm including denied deposits, cancelled withdrawals, long gameplay sessions, gambling sessions occurring late at night or early in the morning
  • not sufficiently taking into account the Commission’s 2019 guidance on customer interaction.

Anti-money laundering failures included:

  • financial triggers for anti-money laundering reviews being too high and unrealistic to effectively manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks
  • relying too heavily on ineffective threshold triggers and inadequate information regarding how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on their income or wealth, or any other risk factor
  • inappropriate controls allowing significant levels of gambling spend to take place within a short space of time without knowing anything about customers’ financial situations.
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Compliance Updates

Wisconsin Division of Gaming Awards Genius Sports Sports Betting Contractor License

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Genius Sports Limited, the official data, technology and commercial partner that powers the ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media, announced that it has been certified by the State of Wisconsin Division of Gaming as a gaming-related contractor with immediate effect.

With the addition of Wisconsin, Genius Sports now holds 50 licenses or equivalent, or is otherwise permitted to operate, in North America across the U.S. states, territories, tribes and Canada powering award-winning official data, streaming, and marketing solutions for leading sportsbooks and lotteries.

“We are honored that the State of Wisconsin Division of Gaming has authorized Genius Sports to provide state-licensed sportsbooks with access to our groundbreaking NFL products and media solutions. As the majority of U.S. states legalize sports betting, Genius Sports welcomes the opportunity to work with states like Wisconsin, on providing sports fans with our exclusive official NFL sports data-powered solutions for betting,” Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports, said.

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Balkans

Bulgarian National Revenue Agency, the State Agency for National Security and the Gambling Operators Join Forces Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

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The Bulgarian National Revenue Agency, the Specialised Administrative Directorate “Financial Intelligence” of the State Agency for National Security and branch organisations of the organisers of gambling operators will join efforts against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This became clear during a working meeting, which took place on March 20 at the invitation of the Director General of the National Revenue Agency Rumen Spetsov, and his deputy Georgy Dimov.

The participants discussed the possibilities for the branch organisations of gambling operators to monitor the implementation of measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism by their members. The talks also discussed changes in normative and sub-normative acts regulating the activity in the sector, which would lead to better accountability and guaranteed protection of the public interest.

During the meeting, it was decided that representatives of the National Revenue Agency would discuss with the branch gambling organisations issues related to the implementation of normative and sub-normative acts, providing guidelines for the correct fulfilment of obligations by gambling operators.

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“The National Revenue Agency is partner-oriented and is available to assist businesses in fulfilling their obligations by the current legislation. We highly value the commitment of industry gambling organizations in the prevention and effective fight against money laundering and terrorist financing,” said Rumen Spetsov – Director General of the National Revenue Agency.

The post Bulgarian National Revenue Agency, the State Agency for National Security and the Gambling Operators Join Forces Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Brazil

GLI® First Lab to Achieve Accreditation by the Secretaria De Prêmios e Apostas to Certify Betting Systems, Live Game Studios, and Online Games to be used by Fixed-odds Lottery Operators for Brazil

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Gaming Laboratories International (GLI®) has become the first laboratory to achieve accreditation to certify for betting systems, live game studios, and online games to be used by fixed-odds lottery operators by the Secretaria De Prêmios e Apostas (SPA) in Brazil.

The accreditation means GLI is authorized to test and certify equipment, programs, instruments, and devices that comprise betting systems, live game studios, and online games to be used by fixed-odds lottery operators for the recently enacted national regulatory regime of Brazil.

“We commend the outstanding work that SPA has done in creating a regulatory framework by adapting global best practices to their jurisdiction need and thank them for the transparency and professionalism of this laboratory accreditation process,” said Karen Sierra-Hughes, GLI Vice President for Latin America, Caribbean, and Spain. “We are grateful for the trust put in our work by Brazilian operators and suppliers in the past years in their self-regulatory efforts to voluntarily adhere to compliance processes, which puts them in the position to transition effortlessly to the rise of regulations that are in development today. We have witnessed the efforts that the government and the industry had made throughout all these years to regulate different forms of gaming and lottery, and we feel fortunate to have been part of it while sharing our global expertise and putting the local focus needed in providing support customized to the Brazil culture and particularities of this unique market. We are looking forward to being part of this very exciting time in Brazil and now finally also as an official accredited laboratory for this great country.”

GLI has been working with regulators, lotteries, and industry stakeholders across the Latin American and Caribbean region for more than 26 years in their efforts towards regulation, sustainable growth, and eradicating illegal gaming. In Brazil, GLI has been side by side with government entities and all industry stakeholders for nearly 20 years, participating in public hearings in the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and State government level, and in recent years, adding strategic local representation to strengthen their local support.

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This milestone is the latest for GLI in Latin America. Last month, GLI became the first lab to achieve accreditation to test online gaming, wagering, and retail sports betting in Peru. Last year in Brazil, GLI was the first lab authorized to test and certify for the Lottery of Parana LOTTOPAR, and GLI will become accredited in all states where laboratory accreditation will be required in Brazil.

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