Archived Insights

An alleged illegal bookmaker taking bets via WhatsApp has been arrested in the UK and Nevada proposes tougher punishments for illegal gambling.

In recent weeks, the European Commission has published two significant regulations under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) which will contribute towards firms’ compliance efforts, standardising reporting of major ICT-related incidents and cyber threats. The first, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/301, sets out technical standards for the content and timing of mandatory incident reports and voluntary cyber threat notifications. It sets out classification criteria, reporting deadlines and required details, such as impact assessments, remediation efforts and communication with authorities. Meanwhile, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/302 provides standardised templates, forms and procedures for reporting. This regulation mandates uniform reporting formats, secure submission channels and requirements for complete and updated information. Both regulations, published in the Official Journal of the EU, took effect on March 11, 2025, 20 days after entering the statute book.

Although US lawmakers appear to be aligned on the need for federal stablecoin legislation, they are no closer to an agreement on which bill should prevail and what provisions it should include.

A global outage at Mastercard has highlighted the risk of over-reliance on international card schemes — something the European Central Bank has warned of in its push for homegrown alternatives.

Spain’s data protection authority, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), has fined Iberia Cards €20,000 for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

A Republican lawmaker has reintroduced a bill that aims to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) without Congressional authorisation.

Canadian company Axes Network Solutions has filed a lawsuit against Polish national lottery operator Totalizator Sportowy, seeking close to PLN21.7m (€5.2m) in compensation.

Isle of Man police have arrested two suspects in the island’s latest raid on online gambling companies as part of an ongoing probe into global money laundering.

The co-sponsor of a bill that would impose a maximum bet limit in Connecticut has said that was not its intent and that the measure will seek to make operators explain why and how consumers are being limited.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is to decide on the legitimacy of Italian regulations concerning fines for violating the ban on advertising gambling, just as the government considers softening the country’s total ad ban.

The former operator of Unibet must repay a gambler’s grey-market losses in the Netherlands, as momentum continues to build behind player claims in the country.

Ghana’s government says it has delivered on its commitment to abolish the 10 percent withholding tax on winnings from lottery and betting winnings, known as the “betting tax”.

The Customer and Product Data Bill , introduced by the New Zealand Parliament in May 2024, aims to enhance consumer data rights by enabling individuals and businesses to share their financial data with authorised third parties securely. The aim of the bill is to foster competition, innovation and choice, and set data-sharing standards that will keep New Zealand’s financial sector modern and in line with global trends, empowering consumers with better financial products, while maintaining strict privacy and security protections. Expected to come into force 2026, the framework underwent its second reading agreement in March 2025, once again throwing a spotlight on the significant obligations it, if passed, will place on payment service providers regarding customer data access, sharing and security.

In an effort to combat illicit finance activity on the US-Mexico border, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has significantly tightened its cash reporting requirements for covered businesses in Texas and California.

The European Central Bank has made it official that central banks in the Eurozone will be developing Verification of Payee solutions, despite the existence of market options.

During a bittersweet hearing with the UK’s Treasury Select Committee, the head of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) endorsed the idea of social media platforms playing a bigger role in fraud reimbursement.

Less than 24 hours after the government announced plans to abolish the Payment Systems Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has withdrawn plans to name and shame companies under investigation, as well as new diversity and inclusion plans.

As sweepstakes gaming draws more interest from U.S. lawmakers and regulators, industry leaders predict several paths it could take in the coming months.

At least two Canadian provinces have banned the purchase of U.S. gaming machines and other lottery technologies in response to the escalating trade tensions with their southern neighbor.

Olympic Casino Group Baltija has been fined almost €8.4m in Lithuania for not taking sufficient steps to check the source of funds used by a businessman accused of embezzling more than €40m from BaltCap.

The UK government will scrap the Payment Systems Regulator under the Prime Minister’s "Plan for Change" to cut red tape and simplify financial regulation.