Insights Archive

February 23, 2023

News In Brief: February 20-February 24, 2023

Brazilian state launches first ever regulated sports-betting site, Hong Kong will extract an additional HK$12bn from the Hong Kong Jockey Club over five years and Missouri committee favours bill without VLTs.

February 22, 2023

UPI Meets PayNow As India-Singapore Payments Linkage Goes Live

India and Singapore have announced that the bilateral linkage of their instant payment systems, UPI and PayNow, is now live, marking the first linkage of its kind for India.

February 22, 2023

Open Banking Surpasses Seven Million Milestone In UK

Open banking products are being used by 7m UK customers, it has been announced, five years on from the regulatory requirements introduced by the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

February 22, 2023

Extend RTGS Operating Hours For Cross-Border Payments Boost, Says BIS

A new report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has called on central banks to improve cross-border payments efficiency by extending the operating hours of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems.

February 22, 2023

CBDC Pilots Ready For Take Off In Brazil, Russia And Japan

Brazil, Japan and Russia have become the latest economies to announce a pilot for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as global momentum continues.

February 22, 2023

U.S. Betting Operators Begin To Re-Evaluate League, Team Partnerships

U.S. sports-betting market leaders have begun to take different stances in pursuing partnerships with professional sports leagues and their teams that have been a common but expensive marketing tool in recent years.

February 22, 2023

Australia's Online Regulator Punishes BetDeluxe Over Spam

Australia’s national online gambling regulator has fined corporate bookmaker BetDeluxe more than A$50,000 ($34,200) for spamming customers and ordered an operational review, the second such punishment since issuing a massive fine to Flutter subsidiary Sportsbet.

February 22, 2023

Swedish Regulator Will Not Issue Umbrella Supplier Licence

The Swedish Gambling Authority has said it will not issue umbrella licences or permits to online gaming suppliers, despite major concerns from industry stakeholders that this will be costly and time-consuming.

February 21, 2023

Greece To Use TIPS For Government Payments

The Bank of Greece has announced it will be the first central bank in the Eurosystem to join the TARGET Instant Payment Scheme (TIPS) as the beneficiary's bank for domestic and cross-border government payments.

February 21, 2023

UPDATE: Custodia Bank Sues Fed (Again) After Failed Master Account Application

Custodia Bank, a major digital asset bank based in Wyoming, has filed an amended complaint against the US Federal Reserve following the rejection of its master account application last month.

February 21, 2023

PayPal, Zip Back Australian BNPL Regulation

Large firms in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) arena support the Australian government's plans to regulate the growing sector, but could the collapse of provider Openpay affect final policy decisions?

February 21, 2023

Finnish Health Body Says Evidence For Licensing Lacking

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has warned the government that any change to the current licensing system must be based on evidence, which it claims does not show an increase in problem gambling or gambling outside the monopoly.

February 21, 2023

Brazil Betting Scandal Adds To Urgency For Regulatory Regime

A high-profile football match-fixing scandal in Brazil’s second division is piling pressure on the new Lula government to now swiftly implement a licensing system for sports betting, more than four years after legislation was enacted.

February 21, 2023

Virginia Budget Proposal Reinstates Sports-Betting Promotional Tax Deductions

As the Virginia General Assembly gets set to close out this year’s regular legislative session on Saturday, the fate of restoring promotional tax credits for sports-betting operators will be left up to lawmakers negotiating the fate of this session’s budget proposal.

February 21, 2023

Bally's, Gamesys Partner Acquires Fourth Japan-Facing Gaming Website

A Bally’s Corp partner online gambling company has acquired Japan-facing website CasinoSecret, expanding its Japanese exposure to four brands, amid hardening government rhetoric against the industry.

February 21, 2023

UK Lawmaker Says Sports Sponsorship Ban Should Be Phased In

A Conservative member of the UK parliament has called for phasing out sports sponsorships instead of banning them, saying they are key to survival for second-tier professional sports.

February 20, 2023

PSP Leaders Confirmed For Digital Euro Rulebook Group

The European Central Bank has nominated members for the Rulebook Development Group for a digital euro, which features representatives from the payments and electronic money sectors.

February 20, 2023

Banks Call US Beneficial Ownership Rules ‘Fatally Flawed’

US banks have said the Treasury’s beneficial ownership rules do not facilitate combating illicit finance and should be withdrawn.

February 20, 2023

Pragmatic Play Bets Big On Venezuela

Pragmatic Play, one of the only international gambling companies to openly acknowledge it is pursuing online operations in Venezuela, has big hopes for the struggling country’s economic future.

February 20, 2023

Lack Of Swedish Umbrella Supplier Licence Will Be Costly, Warns Industry

The Swedish trade association for online gambling (BOS) has written a letter to the gambling regulator to express its concern about the lack of umbrella licences for suppliers just days before applications are set to be accepted.

February 17, 2023

Almost A Year Since LUNA Crash Landing, SEC Charges Terraform And CEO

A US regulator has filed charges against Terraform, the company behind the TerraUSD stablecoin and its former CEO Do Kwon, accusing them of orchestrating a $40bn securities fraud.