How to promote betting and gambling: January results

Publication date: 02 Feb 2024

The first month of 2024 brought so much news at once! In January, new laws were passed and new bills were drafted to promote betting and gambling.

Online casino and bookmaker laws: what has changed?

January started with great news from Brazil! The President signed the law regulating the sports betting and online gambling market in Brazil. Immediately, more than 130 companies applied for licensing.

Immediately, new proposals to improve the law started: a betting limit may be set for players: 10% of the amount declared in income tax for the previous year.

In addition, the Brazilian government announced the development of an innovative system to monitor online betting in real time. It will allow to observe the movement of bets, track tax collection, risk of fraud.

By the way, according to the Central Bank of Brazil, in 2023, Brazilians spent about $11.1 billion on online betting. At the same time, winnings totalled about $8.9 billion. Experts predict that the Brazilian sports betting and online casino market will reach a revenue of $20 billion in 3 years.  In February 2024, read an updated review with all the rules How to promote betting and gambling in Brazil? 

• In January 2024, 3S.INFO published the World’s Best Bookmakers: ranking by Europe, Asia, Latin America.

Italy has reformed online gambling for the first time since 2011. The new decree, signed in January 2024, introduces new work rules for gambling operators, as well as several rules to protect minors and strengthen the fight against crime.

It is planned that in 2024, as part of the “Reorganisation Decree” in Italy: 

• the license fee will increase 35-fold to USD 7.67 million (currently USD 219,000). 
• tax on the operating fee will be 3% and annual tax on net income 0.2%. 
• a limit for operators has been introduced – a maximum of 5 licenses can be bought for one company. 
• According to experts’ forecasts, at least 50 operators will apply for an Italian gambling license in the near future.  The revenue from the new reforms will bring USD 218 million in 2024 and USD 163 million in 2025.

Ecuador wants to allow casinos, betting companies and private gaming halls. The corresponding document was submitted to the Constitutional Court by President Daniel Noboa. The draft law will be submitted to a referendum, which will be held in March 2024.

Recall that gambling and betting were banned in Ecuador in 2011. Currently, for the establishment of gambling business you can get up to 3 years in prison or a fine of 100 to 150 basic salaries.

In January, a bill was passed tightening Belgium’s current gambling and betting regulations:

• a minimum age of 21 for players;
• a ban on bonuses;
• stricter advertising rules are expected to be introduced. 

Moreover, in January there was a unique news from the world of betting! For the first time betting from bookmakers is going to be integrated directly into a social network! In January, Elon Musk announced that there are plans to place bets from BetMGM in his social network X (formerly Twitter). Not only will there be a link to the betting site, but also odds and match statistics. The update will be released before the biggest sporting event Super Bowl LVIII and could attract a record number of bettors to the platform.

New rules for gambling and betting: what happened in January

On 1 January 2024, a new rule went into effect: online operators with a Curaçao license must display the regulator’s digital print on their website. 

In the Republic of Belarus, a new rule prohibiting the purchase and sale of betting and online casino accounts was introduced. Now the transfer of data to a third party’s gaming account will be considered illegal, and all winnings from such accounts will be recovered in favour of the state.

In Russia, January was also remembered by different news: 

• BC Bettery returned to the list of the Unified CUPIS, the bookmaker’s website started accepting bets again. 
• Since the beginning of 2024, the percentage of target deductions (TD) of Russian BCs has increased to 2%. Meanwhile, the minimum amount of target deductions remains at RUB 30 million per quarter.
• The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia made clarifications to the law on bookmaker advertising: a ban on the use of “youth slang” in advertising, a total ban and even the slightest hint of the presence of animals and people in the video, placement of advertising strictly on thematic sites. 

In Kenya, the regulator (BCLB) imposed a restriction on online betting advertising. The reason was an offence related to the setting of targeting without taking into account the age of potential players.

In France, sports betting opportunities have been reduced: the regulator (ANJ) excluded 179 competitions from the list for potential betting. From 1 March 2024, betting can be placed on certain sports from the new list.

But in Georgia, additional taxes have been introduced: 

• +15% of revenue for operators;
• 5% on payments to players (even if the winnings are less than the amount bet).

Besides, from 1 July 2024 in Georgia residents under 25 years old and foreigners under 18 years old will not be able to play online gambling and sweepstakes.

According to analysts, this could lead to players leaving Georgian sites for offshore ones, as well as activation of the black market of gambling in Georgia. 

The Estonian government is also slowly but surely moving to increase gambling taxes: in 2024 it rose from 5% to 6% of income. It is expected to rise to 7% by 2026.

And a bit of statistics on the target audience of casino and bookmaker websites:

• According to Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen, 75% of Swedes over the age of 18 gambled in 2023. Furthermore, 47% of those surveyed believe they have spent “too much time” gambling. Read more about gambling in Sweden in the review on 3S.INFO.
• Things are interesting in Denmark, too: according to a study by Spillemyndigheden in 2023, 21.7% of the surveyed Danes (about 1.08 million) played online games. And of those surveyed, 61.7% mostly played on legal sites, 19.1% played on illegal sites, and 19.2% played on both. 

The new year of 2024 has just begun, and there’s already so much news!  Every month we will search and analyse for you all the most important things for the effective promotion of online betting and gambling!

Always stay in touch with 3SNET!