Publication date: 01 Nov 2023
A lot of interesting things happened in the gambling market in October 2023. New legalization prospects expand the opportunities for gambling and betting promotion, and already regulated markets make online casinos more efficient and transparent. 3S.INFO has compiled all the important news for October 2023!
Where to find new GEOs for betting and gambling: plans for legalization
There will soon be another regulated and accessible casino and bookmaker market in Europe! Finland is planned to give up its state monopoly on gambling and betting and start the licensing process in the near future.
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior is currently drafting a new law that will spell out licensing mechanisms, fees and taxes, advertising rules and security requirements. Finland’s regulated gambling market will be fully operational from 2026.
Thailand is also considering legalizing online gambling. Local authorities have made a proposal to modernize legislation regulating traditional forms of entertainment, such as cockfighting and bullfighting. The new legislation will significantly increase tax revenues to the country’s budget!
Where can online betting and gambling be promoted legally?
Brazil has finally published the rules for accepting sports betting. All operators interested in entering the Brazilian gambling market are now required to declare their intentions within the next 30 days (i.e., November 2023).
India continues its gambling tax reform. Two months ago, the country’s authorities introduced a new tax for gambling operators – 28%. Now the authorities have put forward new requirements: to pay the arrears of fees for previous years. The government plans to get more than $12 billion in the budget.
However, after the introduction of the new tax – one of the highest in the world – many operators have already left the Indian gambling market. The remaining players are very likely to make the same decision: it is more profitable for them to change GEO than to meet the new requirements.
In addition, as part of the fight against illegal gambling platforms, the Government of India will tighten the rules for transfers through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The proposed measures may include introducing withholding tax collection at source (TCS) on UPI payments and improving verification processes to check illegal transactions and ensure compliance.
In Peru, the process of legalizing casinos and bookmakers has reached a new level. In October 2023, Decree 005-2023-MINCETUR was published, establishing technical and regulatory criteria for gambling operators in Peru. The new regulations will come into force in February 2024, operators will have 1 month to obtain a gambling license. An operator without a license will face a fine of up to $260,000 for attracting Peruvian players.
It is planned that the regulation of online sports betting and online casinos will bring about $42.5 million a year to the Peruvian budget.
In Russia, October was unusually rich in betting and gambling news:
- Police reopen an investigation into illegal online casino advertising. Previously listed bloggers will be checked again to see if they are distributing banned content.
- 1cupis has launched a new service “Responsible Play”. This will allow customers of bookmaker offices to independently set a limit on deposit amounts or impose a ban on gambling.
- Target deductions of Russian legal bookmakers are being misused! The Accounts Chamber found that the federations allocate only 55% of the money received to sports support. The remaining funds (about 4.5 billion roubles) remain on deposit accounts in banks to earn interest income. From January 2024, the Russian Unified Gambling Regulator (ERAI) will have the right to suspend and resume transfers of targeted contributions from BCs.
- The year 2024 has been declared the Year of Sports in Russia. We should expect a large number of competitions of different levels, which can be used to attract new players to legal bookmakers’ websites in Russia. Follow the schedule in the Sporting Events Calendar on 3S.INFO!
- The Russian authorities have decided to move foreign online gambling and games to domestic servers: from the .com zone to the .ru zone.
How will casino advertising rules change?
Bulgaria will soon restrict gambling advertising. A new law is planned to restrict aggressive land-based advertising near educational and public institutions. Similar restrictions are likely to apply to gambling advertising via TV and radio broadcasting. Thus, we can expect the growth of Internet advertising to promote betting and gambling in the near future.
In Italy, the ban on gambling advertising has led to a sharp increase in the illegal market. According to the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) Italians spend almost $26 million annually on the gambling black market. According to experts, this situation can be changed by revising the prohibition on advertising gambling, which has been in force in the country since 2028. In this case, more players will be aware of licensed platforms and choose them for placing bets.
In Colombia, new gambling advertising rules will come into force on 1 January 2024. Gambling regulator Coljuegos has published new rules on branding, social media and sponsorship. Furthermore, new advertising spending limits are set with no more than 20% of its gross gambling revenue (GGR) of its project on advertising or promotions.
How to make gambling safer?
The law on licensing of foreign online casinos has been approved in Armenia. They will now be able to pass licensing under the same conditions as local companies.
Armenia also continues to work on improving gambling and protecting players from gambling addiction. A new measure is the ban on accepting deposits and other cash payments at online casinos and bookmakers. Betting in Armenia can only be done with cards issued by banks with a national license.
China has adopted amendments globally tightening the gambling market. Attracting players from China to casino sites is now punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. This applies to both affiliate marketing and gambling operators. Meanwhile, according to MARC Group, the online gambling industry in China is showing impressive growth and huge prospects for further expansion. For 2022, its size reached nearly $10 billion. Experts predict that by 2028, the Chinese gambling market will grow to $15.7 billion!
The Kyrgyz authorities have also made an interesting proposal to protect the local population from gambling. Recall that according to local laws, gambling in the country is quite legal, but access to casinos and betting companies is prohibited for citizens of Kyrgyzstan itself.
In October 2023, local lawmakers proposed “to punish not with a fine, but with imprisonment from 2 to 5 years” as a measure to control this ban.
There was also a proposal to raise the cost of a Kyrgyz gambling license. According to the deputies, “if the cost of a casino license was more than $ 1 million, then gambling establishments would more strictly monitor who visits them”.
Currently, the cost of obtaining a casino or bookmaker license in Kyrgyzstan is about $900,000.
Sweden has summed up the results of the introduction of measures for player protection.
In 2019, the Spelinspektionen regulator launched a self-exclusion system: anyone wishing to limit their access to gambling or betting could enter themselves into a special register. By law, all licensed operators must be connected to this database and ensure that self-excluded customers cannot gain access.
In 2022, new software was developed and implemented for the registry’s operation, which enabled more efficient detection of infringements.
At the beginning of 2023, Spelinspektionen launched a special public awareness campaign to promote the self-exclusion system. Consequently, after 10 months, the Swedish self-excluded players’ register grew by 20 thousand people, and the total number reached 100 thousand users.
As a reminder, in September 2023, the Swedish government decided to allocate annually from 1 to 1.8 million euros for more effective work of the regulator, control over the work of licensed casinos and bookmakers and protect players from dangerous games.
Another register will be created as part of Sweden’s gambling regulation: the Skri Register (a unified register of loans and debts). Under the new rules, casino and bookmaker websites can no longer offer users credit for gambling and advertise third-party lenders.
