As many of us get ready to head to Lisbon, perhaps to see heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk take the main stage, there’s a sense that the industry itself is
As many of us get ready to head to Lisbon, perhaps to see heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk take the main stage, there’s a sense that the industry itself is taking a few punches. This week has been defined by a coordinated, cross-continental assault on gambling advertising and a fundamental, long-overdue shake-up of one of the world’s most prolific licensing jurisdictions.
The theme is clear: the perceived ‘easy ride’ is well and truly over. From Canada to Curaçao, regulators are demanding more accountability, more substance, and a lot less noise.
If you’re in marketing, this week was a rough one. We saw significant moves on multiple fronts to curtail or even eliminate gambling advertising.
For years, a Curaçao licence has been seen as a cheap and easy entry point to the grey market, with minimal oversight. That’s all about to change. In a landmark move, the jurisdiction is introducing new requirements for local substance, including physical offices and staff on the island.
This is a fundamental overhaul designed to end the “postbox company” model, where hundreds of operators exist in Curaçao in name only. This will force a massive reckoning for licensees, who now face the choice of investing seriously in a local operation, relocating to another jurisdiction, or shutting down entirely. After years of criticism, this is the most significant step Curaçao has ever taken to legitimise its industry.
It was a tough week for markets with big ambitions, as political and fiscal hurdles appeared across the globe.
In Asia, Thailand’s hopes for casino legalisation have been shelved after a vocal opponent of the plan, Anutin Charnvirakul, became the new Prime Minister, halting momentum. In the Philippines, the industry is bracing for a major AML probe into casinos over links to a public corruption scandal, adding another layer of instability.
Meanwhile, in the Americas, Mexico has proposed a punitive 50% gambling tax, sparking immediate fears that it will kill the legal market and empower black-market operators. In the US, a push to repeal the cap on tax deductions for gambling losses was blocked, leaving players with a bigger tax bill. And in a significant move against the grey market, California is on the brink of banning sweepstakes casinos after a bill passed the senate unanimously.
The key takeaway this week is “substance.” The Curaçao reforms are about demanding substance from operators. The ad crackdowns are a reaction to what regulators see as a lack of substance in marketing messages, replaced by sheer volume. Even the Dutch KSA’s criticism is about a lack of substance in operator safety-net systems.
The days of easy licences, loud and unrestricted advertising, and ticking compliance boxes are fading fast. The industry is being forced to grow up in public, and it’s proving to be a painful process. The conversations in Lisbon will be optimistic, but the reality is that the path forward requires more strategic thinking, not just a bigger marketing budget.
