Betchoice, which Unibet acquired in 2012 and now trades as Unibet, has been found breaking the NSW Betting and Racing Act and hit with fines of AU$25,000 (€15,500) for violating gaming laws in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court handed out the penalty, following government agency Liquor & Gaming NSW’s investigation into Unibet’s promotions.

The penalty specifically relates to a Unibet website offer in February, which offered consumers the chance to “earn $50 cash for each friend you refer.” A separate advertisement, appearing on The Canberra Times website in November, also offered “deposit $20, win $100.”

Under the Australian state’s Betting and Racing Act, it is deemed an offence to publish adverts which attempt to induce customers into any form of gambling activity without the requirement to be logged into their respective account first.

The states’ new gaming laws mean betting operators found guilty of marketing using inducements to gamble can now face fines of up to $110,000 per offence, while company directors can now also be held personally liable.

Director of Compliance Operations, Sean Goodchild at Liquor & Gaming NSW, said:

“Betting operators have an obligation to ensure all advertising complies with NSW laws on gambling advertising. Inducements are known to increase the risk of gambling harm so any breaches are taken seriously.”

Recently Unibet’s parent company, Kindred Group, got fined €470,000 for offering online gaming to Dutch customers (read more). Though the company initially appealed against the fine, it has recently dropped it and agreed to pay up.

AYO.NEWS says:

Online gambling operators are getting hit with fines all over these days, and with all the new gambling and advertising regulations, it’s only going to get hard to remain compliant.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a settlement with Blockchain of Things Inc. (BCOT) for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO).

Under the terms of the settlement the New York-based startup, which has not admitted or denied the SEC’s findings, will be subject to an order requiring it to cease and desist from violating the registration provisions of federal securities laws, and will have to cough up a $250,000 penalty.

Furthermore, BCOT will have to return the almost $13 million of funds it raised during the illegal ICO to any investors who request a return of the funds. The company will also be required to registered its tokens as securities and file the appropriate periodic reports with the SEC.

Blockchain of Things Inc, ran the initial coin offering to raise funds to develop and implement a blockchain-based platform that would enable third-party developers to create application for messaging, digital asset generation, and digital asset transfer.

Explaining the SEC’s actions, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Carolyn M. Welshhans, said:

“BCOT did not provide ICO investors with the information they were entitled to receive in connection with a securities offering. We will continue to consider appropriate remedies, such as those in today’s order, to provide investors with compensation and required information and to provide companies who conducted unregistered offerings with an opportunity to move forward in compliance with the federal securities laws.”

While, CEO of Blockchain of Things, Mr De Castro, added:

“This resolution with the SEC gives Blockchain of Things the path forward to full compliance with the U.S. securities laws and clears the way for Blockchain of Things to pursue its continued vision of bringing to industry, a cost saving, easy to use, powerful blockchain integration technology. Blockchain of Things is thankful that the BCOT token is included in today’s action by the SEC and that we are thereby being given the opportunity to continue to deliver our innovative second layer technology while continuing to participate in the ever-evolving blockchain application space.

“We believe many purchasers of BCOT tokens share our vision of revolutionizing the way business is conducted through blockchain technology, and this action today is an important step in solidifying our compliance and further developing our state-of-the-art 2nd layer Catenis technology platform targeted towards enterprises, entrepreneurs, and developers alike.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Though many would argue the US SECs is being too heavy-handed when it comes to ICOs, it’s good to see it is at least willing to reach settlements with companies that breached laws in a non-malicious way, and offer them a way forward towards compliant operations.

Staying with the SEC and ICOs, just last week we reported that Eran Eyal, founder and former CEO of Shopin, had been convicted of orchestrating a fraudulent ICO after pleading guilty to charges in New York (read more).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

TruNarrative and Playtech have launched a new iGaming global compliance platform.

According to the companies, the new platform enables Playtech’s customers to benefit from a single platform to manage customer risk, including: Age & Identity Verification, Document Validation, Safer Gambling Services, PEP & Sanctions Screening and Ongoing Monitoring.

Gaming operators using Playtech’s IMS platform can now use the TruNarrative solution via direct integration, enabling multi-brand risk management strategies to be built from within a single platform.

Discussing the platform head of regulatory affairs and compliance at Playtech, Ian Ince, explained:

“The increasingly complex regulatory framework is the single biggest challenge facing gambling businesses operating in regulated markets. This partnership will help operators answer this challenge.”

While VP of product strategy at Playtech, Anthony Evans, said:

“In linking Playtech’s core gaming products and its BetBuddy safer gambling analytics software with TruNarrative’s compliance platform, we are enabling operators to access a unique safer gambling solution.”

And, head of gaming at TruNarrative, Adam Doyle, added:

“We are excited to be working with Playtech and are looking forward to delivering truly innovative customer onboarding, safer gambling and risk management solutions to its partners.”

The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has announced a new strategy against illegal gaming activities.

It has concluded the best way to combat the illegal gaming business is to encourage a form of self-regulation of the market, in which other entities in the market act to keep illegal actors out.

This means ensuring that subcontractors and payment service providers do not cooperate with illegal gaming companies. This approach is necessary because, as the Gaming Inspectorate itself admits, its opportunities to act directly are limited and will mainly focus on cooperation with other actors in Swedish and foreign authorities.

The Gaming Inspectorate does, however, have the opportunity to apply to the Administrative Court for the ability to block specific bank accounts.

A prerequisite for the goals of the new gaming regulation to be achieved is that those who conduct gaming operations in Sweden have a Swedish license “, states the Gaming Inspectorate in a press release sent out regarding the new strategy.

However, most of the illegal gaming activities over the Internet have their headquarters in countries outside Sweden and even outside the EU, which presents special challenges for Swedish authorities.

Providing illegal gambling or gambling without the necessary license is a crime in Sweden, as is the promotion of such activities. In this part, the Gaming Inspectorate needs to cooperate with police and prosecutors, along with other authorities such as The Consumer Agency and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.

Multi-tenant B2B sports betting software provider Metric Gaming has secured a Class 4 license from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

The Las Vegas and London-based company can now provide its products and services to the many potential customers operating from the Mediterranean online gambling hub.

Commenting on the news Metric Gaming’s CEO, Martin de Knijff, said:

“Securing this licence from the MGA is an important step in Metric’s evolution from a start-up to becoming the disruptors-in-chief of an industry ripe for disruption.

“We have been thrilled by the market’s reaction to our multi-tenant Sportsbook proposition, particularly from Malta-based operators. In the coming days we will announce the first Malta-based Sportsbook brands that will be launched using our Modulus platform over the next few weeks.

“We’ve spent the last three years and significant capital developing an organization and product proposition capable of solving the biggest challenges facing the B2B sector of our industry. We are excited to be showcasing the modern capabilities of our multi-tenant platform and each customer will benefit from near total product autonomy from the rest.

“We are confident this unrivalled degree of customisation paired with our superior sports betting products and features will deliver real leapfrog ability for our customers over their rivals.”

Metric Gaming is also licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.

Staying with Metric, two weeks ago AYO.NEWS reported the company had partnered with oddsmaker Sports IQ to build and launch a full suite of next generation US sports betting products (read more).

The Norwegian gambling regulator, Lotteritilsynet, has confirmed amendments to the unlicensed operator payments ban will be in effect from 1^st January 2020.

Though there has technically been a ban on payments to unlicensed gambling operators since 2010, it is estimated that around NOK6bn ($659.9m) is still being spent with offshore operators, so Lotteritilsynet has requested sweeping new powers.

The new amendments will give the regulator the power to request transactions are blocked based on company names and account numbers, and also cover payment intermediaries.

Discussing the new powers Lotteritilsynet lawyer and advisor, Gram Skår, explained:

“The foundation of the Norwegian gambling model is to help protect vulnerable groups from becoming gambling addicts. Good public control of gambling offsets both crime and gambling addiction. We see the effect of work we are doing today, but the purpose of the changes is to make the payment service ban more effective. This means we can, to a greater extent, prevent gaming companies from accepting deposits from Norwegian players.”

The regulator estimates around 250,000 Norwegians currently gamble with unlicensed offshore operators.

AYO.NEWS says:

If this payment ban is effective it is bound to sting quite a few operators and affiliates who’ve grown used to relatively high spending Norwegian players.

Coupled with the strict new regime in Sweden, it seems the Nordic countries are becoming decidedly less appealing to gambling operators – many of whom are looking across the Atlantic to North and South America, as well as emerging markets in Africa and Asia, for future growth.  

Just last week we looked at the state of the Norwegian gambling market – see GAMBLING IN NORWAY – A MONOPOLY OR FREE MARKET?

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.