Insights Archive

October 22, 2024

Tax Rate, Regulator Pose Portugal's Greatest Challenges, Says Local Lawyer

Long a trendy tourist spot and now the host of one of Europe’s largest gambling conferences, Portugal has struggled to replicate this success in its online gambling market. Vixio sat down with Pedro Cortés, managing partner of law firm Rato, Ling, Lei & Cortés, to discuss the market’s biggest obstacles.

October 22, 2024

Regulators Upskilling, Collaborating To Address Global Challenges

Gambling regulators around the world say they are facing a host of new challenges due to the fast-paced changing nature of the gambling industry and require innovative solutions to keep up.

October 22, 2024

Regulatory Influencer: A Transparent and Simplified Market — Australia's Proposals to Address Concerns Over Merchant Payment Fees

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is seeking feedback on its issue paper on merchant payment costs and surcharging, with a view to addressing its concerns about interchange fees, scheme costs and merchant surcharging.

October 22, 2024

New Open Banking Feature Adopted By 94 Percent Of Virgin Money Credit Card Users

Although open banking is struggling to gain a foothold in the UK, many Virgin Money customers are using pay by bank to pay down their credit card balance.

October 22, 2024

UK Regulator Seeks Feedback From Merchants On Card-Acquiring Remedies Implementation

The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) wants merchants to provide feedback on its card-acquiring remedies, which it introduced to help merchants save money by simplifying the process of comparing prices and switching providers.

October 22, 2024

Dutch Regulator's First PSD2 Intervention Addresses Rabobank Complaints

Rabobank has agreed to lift access restrictions for payment institutions following discussions with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

October 22, 2024

SPAA Scheme 'Pre-Compliance' For Open Finance Rules, Say Payments Firms

Payments players believe the European Payments Council’s SEPA Payment Account Access (SPAA) scheme should be viewed as a ramp-up towards compliance with the proposed Financial Data Access framework.

October 22, 2024

Daily Dash: G7 Wants Urgent Action On Quantum Computing Risks In Financial Sector

The G7 is calling on financial institutions to prepare for a world of quantum computing risks, while Commonwealth Bank has paid another major fine for breaking Australia’s anti-spam laws.

October 22, 2024

Regulatory Influencer: BNPL Rules Come To the UK

The UK’s new Labour government has launched a public consultation on proposals to regulate buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The plan aims to apply the Consumer Credit Act to these services, ensuring that consumers receive clear information, avoid unaffordable borrowing, and have stronger rights in case of disputes.

October 22, 2024

Italy's Online Tender Delayed By Malta Intervention

The tender for new Italian online gambling concessions is to be delayed after Malta submitted a detailed opinion to the European Commission on legislation needed to issue new licences.

October 21, 2024

Ecuador Lifts Ban On Sports-Betting Advertising

With little fanfare, the President of Ecuador has removed a ban on sports-betting advertising from the country’s communications law.

October 21, 2024

New York Congressman Campaigns For Federal Oversight Of Sports Betting

U.S. Representative Paul Tonko took his campaign to pass federal sports-betting legislation to upstate New York last week where he heard college athletes and coaches offer details of the social-media harassment they have received from gamblers.

October 21, 2024

Wise Becomes First Non-Bank To Gain Direct Access To Japan's Payment System

Wise has received a coveted regulatory approval in Japan, becoming the first non-bank firm to gain direct access to the country’s domestic payment system.

October 21, 2024

Daily Dash: UK Stats Reveal APP Fraud Down, CNP Fraud Up

UK Finance has reported a surge in card-not-present (CNP) fraud, while Klarna has announced that it is now available via Apple Pay, following the demise of Apple’s own buy now, pay later service.

October 21, 2024

FATF Overhauls Greylist Rules To Help Poorer Nations

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced significant changes to its criteria for greylisting countries, shifting its focus towards nations that pose greater risks to the global financial system while providing relief to the least developed countries.

October 21, 2024

BNPL Firms Enthusiastic As UK Government Unveils Legislation

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) firms and other stakeholders have applauded the UK’s new Labour government for introducing regulation that will bring firms into the scope of supervision from the Financial Conduct Authority.

October 21, 2024

Ireland's Next Steps After Passing Historic Gambling Law

With one final minor hurdle to clear, Ireland’s new era of gambling regulation is on the cusp of finally commencing, but a clear timeline for its next steps is still unclear.

October 21, 2024

Dutch Regulator Threatens Curaçao Operator With Daily Fines

The Netherlands Gambling Authority has warned it will issue BlockDance with daily fines for offering illegal gambling, after it initially complied with an order to block Dutch players.

October 18, 2024

Election 2024: What's At Stake For U.S. Gaming Industry

With less than three weeks left until voters go to the polls to determine who resides in the White House for the next four years, down-ballot in several states will be initiatives that will directly impact the gaming industry.

October 18, 2024

Operators Left Off Brazil Whitelist Take Legal Action, Seek State Licences

Operators that did not make Brazil’s “whitelist” are not taking it quietly, and have either filed lawsuits to be included on the list or sought a state-level licence in order to remain in business at least through the end of this year.

October 18, 2024

Get On With It? But Get On With What? VRPs Bring More Fatigue Than Opportunity

Variable recurring payments (VRPs) are a recurring theme for UK payments players, and although they disagree on the best way forward, they agree that the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) needs to get a move on.