Regulatory
Licensing, compliance, and regulator activity worldwide.
A working document submitted to the national regulator and the Gambling Policy Council on 7 September says Madrid's attempt to "coordinate" the protection of vulnerable players in land-based gambling is an attempt to direct powers the constitution gave the regions. Madrid's Ramón Cubián: "The autonomous communities are the authorities dealing with these matters every day."
The MGA and the Malta Digital Innovation Authority launched a principles-based framework on Thursday for operators using AI in player protection, fraud detection and customer contact. It sits under the EU AI Act, binds nobody, and is a rare instance of a gambling regulator writing down what it expects of a licensee's models. Charles Mizzi: "Our role is not to stand in the way of innovation."
Stella David wants the government's promised ban brought in immediately, "even if that means clubs ordering new kit mid-season", and extended to online advertising, where 22% of unlicensed users first found their operator against 13% through sponsorship. The count is up from eight clubs last season, and the newest deal was signed after the consultation closed.
Ontario and Alberta, the only two provinces with open markets, will argue alongside Flutter, GGPoker's parent and the Canadian Gaming Association that pooling poker and fantasy players with other jurisdictions is lawful under the Criminal Code. Four Crown lottery corporations say it is Ontario conducting gaming outside Ontario. Every other province's monopoly turns on the answer.
The state court that granted Spribe an injunction against NSX in April, then revoked it in July when a federal court suspended the developer's trademark, has now ruled on the merits: no trademark infringement, no copyright infringement, no unfair competition. It is the third Brazilian decision in a row to go against the Estonian studio, three days after a Brasília judge ordered it to police its own distribution.
The Administrative Jurisdiction Division ruled on 16 September that the single-licence system for instant lotteries, retail sports betting and the lotto is a proportionate restriction on the free movement of services, that the East Brabant court used evidence it was not allowed to use, and that JVH's separate attack on Lotto BV's licence came too late. A second ruling the same day kept the charity lotteries at 69 draws a year.
Diomar Tadeu Dantas de Farias was taken into preventive custody in Jacumã on Thursday morning as the second phase of the money-laundering inquiry served five more warrants against the bookmaker's leadership. The Receita Federal says offshore companies were set up to make a Brazilian-run operation look foreign; the law firm that represents Pixbet says it only ever did the lawyering.
The Gaming Commission added the word "wagering" twice to Regulation 5.200, so a private salon now logs only the guests who bet, not everyone who walks in. The attorney general's office said the industry found the 2025 rule "somewhat burdensome"; Commissioner George Markantonis said he does not understand compliance being called burdensome, then voted for it anyway.
Dario Durigan is the first minister to speak since UOL reported a decree was days away, and he cited a R$62 billion figure that confuses deposits with revenue. Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco and Botafogo, with the Rio, São Paulo and Alagoas federations, published a note titled "The End of Brazilian Football". The industry puts its exposure at R$120 billion and its lawyers are talking about compensation.
Sixty-two years after Law 351, the Senate has accepted the Chamber's amendments and sent a 195-article code to the president. It creates an autonomous regulator, taxes online betting at 10% a month, requires a .do domain, opens a self-exclusion register, and bans new licences for a decade in a country with more than 71,000 registered betting shops.
The Gambling Commission's 2025/26 report shows online casino up 14.8% to £5.7bn, adding more than the entire market gained. Online betting fell 6.6%, bingo fell, 208 betting shops closed before this year's cull began. The survey says participation is flat at 49%. The day after the Lords called for an advertising ban, the regulator's own numbers explain why the product mix is the argument.
"Scambling" sites take the deposit, let the balance grow, then demand a fee to release it. Scamwatch logged 806 reports last year, 45% of the losses from First Nations Australians, and the anti-scam centre says the real figure is higher because victims think they lost a bet. AUSTRAC has mapped the money: mule accounts, PayID chains, micro-laundering. From January banks are on the hook.