Insights Archive

July 24, 2024

U.S. Sports-Betting Operators Warn Of Over-Taxation

Executives with leading operators have warned state lawmakers that excessive tax rates risk stretching the U.S. sports-betting market past its breaking point.

July 24, 2024

UK Regulator Defends Problem Gambling Stats Feared By Industry

A Gambling Commission official has firmly defended its upcoming release of statistics from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain as “open and transparent”, and prepared to set a “new baseline” for tracking gambling-related harm over time.

July 24, 2024

UK Big Tech Review Could Drive Account-To-Account Payments Adoption

The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority are evaluating the benefits and risks of digital wallets for consumers and businesses, which may lead to new incentives for account-to-account (A2A) payments.

July 24, 2024

Brazil Delays Recurring Payments Feature For Pix Until June 2025

The Central Bank of Brazil has announced a new timeline for the implementation of recurring payments on its highly popular Pix platform.

July 23, 2024

Maryland iGaming Bill's Failure Sets Up Renewed Effort In 2026

A bill to allow Maryland voters to decide whether to legalize internet casino gaming failed to get out of the legislature and onto this year’s ballot due to strong and coordinated opposition from unions representing casino workers and several gaming companies.

July 23, 2024

Córdoba's Online Gambling Under Attack

Legislators in Argentina's province of Córdoba are fighting to repeal legislation from 2021 that legalised online gambling.

July 23, 2024

ECB Gives Non-Bank Payment Providers Access To Central Bank Systems

In a major shift for the EU’s financial sector, the European Central Bank (ECB) has introduced a harmonised policy allowing non-bank payment service providers to access central bank-operated payment systems, including TARGET.

July 23, 2024

EU Financial Supervisor Satisfied With Germany's Post-Wirecard Progress

In a new report on the German Financial Supervisory Authority's (BaFin) progress since the Wirecard scandal, the European Securities and Markets Authority says it is broadly satisfied with the changes that have been made.

July 23, 2024

Daily Dash: Bank Of Lithuania Issues Warning To EMI Over Sanctions Compliance

The Bank of Lithuania has ordered an e-money institution (EMI) to tighten its sanctions compliance processes following an investigation, while India has announced that its financial sector was mostly unaffected by last week’s Microsoft outage.

July 23, 2024

Full POGO Ban Raises Questions On Domestic Industry, Enforcement

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s landmark decision to ban foreign-facing online gambling operations (POGOs) has attracted near-unanimous political support, but leaves questions hanging on enforcement and the fate of the domestic online industry.

July 22, 2024

U.S. Sports-Betting Scandals Highlight Need For Industry Accountability

The principal owner and chief executive officer of Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates believes it is the role of gaming regulators and lawmakers to foster integrity in sports betting because the widespread legalization of wagering has changed the way people interact with the game.

July 22, 2024

Model U.S. iGaming Legislation Offers Few Details Beyond Tax Rate

Despite widespread belief in the U.S. gaming industry that internet casino gaming will drive significant revenue growth, efforts to expand the legal market beyond just a few states continue to be blocked over concerns about cannibalizing land-based casino and increasing gambling addiction.

July 22, 2024

Daily Dash: CFPB Proposes Rule To Clarify Fees For Paycheck Advance Products

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking to reclassify paycheck advance products as consumer loans, while Hong Kong has named Standard Chartered among the first participants in its stablecoin issuance sandbox.

July 22, 2024

Hong Kong Stablecoin Legislation Takes Shape Following Consultation

Major banks, fintechs and digital asset firms are watching lawmakers in Hong Kong closely as the financial centre moves towards its first bill to regulate stablecoin issuance.

July 22, 2024

Philippines Offshore-Facing Operators Banned In Surprise Presidential Decree

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has announced a full ban on foreign-facing online gambling operations (POGOs).

July 22, 2024

Top CEOs Warn Harsh Regulations Bolster European Black Market

The CEOs of Flutter, bet365, Entain and others have written an open letter claiming European lawmakers are fuelling a “worsening” black market with overly tough regulations.

July 19, 2024

Pennsylvania Remains Ground Zero In Skill-Games Regulatory Battle

As the gaming industry waits for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rule on the legality of unregulated skill-game devices, some lawmakers and casino executives believe it may be too late to implement a total ban on the machines, forcing the industry to find an alternative solution.

July 19, 2024

Colombia Regulator Blocks Thousands Of Gambling Sites

Colombia's Coljuegos has continued its strategy of blocking the websites of unauthorised operators, announcing this week that a total of 8,676 sports-betting and online casino websites have been blocked in the country to date.

July 19, 2024

News In Brief: July 15-July 19, 2024

Global mega-supplier Evolution has acquired table-games provider Galaxy Gaming for around $85m.

July 19, 2024

German Court Says Regulator Can Ban Slots Streaming From Abroad

A German court has affirmed the right of the Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States to ban streaming of online slots games from foreign venues, the regulator has said.

July 19, 2024

Vixio Summer Fraud Series: Preparing to Comply with the UK’s APP Fraud Reimbursement Rules (Part 1)

On July 12, 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published Policy Statement (PS) 24/3: Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) authorised push payment (APP) scams reimbursement compliance and monitoring. The PS follows the PSR’s April 2024 consultation for all payment services providers (PSPs) in scope of the reimbursement requirement policy to report data and information to Pay.UK, so as to allow it to effectively monitor and manage compliance with the FPS reimbursement rules.