SBC Eurasia Weekly Digest: November 18 — 25, 2024

SBC Eurasia Editorial Team is happy to present a quick recap of the gambling industry events, news, regulations and partnerships that happened last week.

Lithuania is considering several changes to its gambling regulations. Liutauras Ulevičius, president of the National Gambling and Gaming Business Association of Lithuania, was critical of the piecemeal regulatory efforts by individual lawmakers and the Ministry of Finance, advocating instead for comprehensive reforms modeled.

Crash games debuted about ten years ago, introducing a unique and dynamic betting format to the iGaming industry. Thanks to its innovative approach, the genre is constantly evolving. BGaming co-CPO, Yulia Alekseeva, and Evoplay CEO, Ivan Kravchuk, talk about current trends in crash games and how the genre can be adapted for its long-term development.

Germany’s Joint Gambling Authority (GGL) has observed a notable drop in advertisements for unlicensed online gambling operators on Google Ads.

A union of Conservative parties in Slovakia has called for a reset of the “Law of Advertising and Media Services” to include new protections for youth and vulnerable audiences. While Serbia’s Greens, the “Zeleno-Left Front”, have called for stricter restrictions on gambling advertisements.

Montenegro will develop a “new legal solution for gambling”. The Ministry of Finance has begun consultations with key stakeholders, including the “public, media, state authorities, local communities, and businesses,” to discuss amendments and resolutions. 

Confidence continues to grow that the integrated resort bill in Thailand will be passed by the end of 2025. Secretary-General Prommin Lertsuridej stated that the law should be passed six months from now at the earliest. While as part of a regulatory overhaul, New Zealand plans to limit the number of licenses for online casino operators to 15 in order to slow down the rapid growth of this sector. 

President Santiago Peña of Paraguay has endorsed a new bill to reform national gambling laws and revise the privileges of municipal gambling monopolies. While SENACON, Brazil’s National Consumer Protection Secretariat, has banned all forms of customer incentives. As a result, bonuses and registration offers have been excluded from gambling-related regulations.

Resorts World Sentosa has had its license renewed for just two years following a tourism performance evaluation conducted by the Singapore Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA). GRA pointed out the need for significant improvements to raise the casino’s standards.

The CEO of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk set out his plans to change the game for igaming affiliates with the new Grok AI chatbot.

There is anticipation from the industry that we will see a myriad of new cease and desist orders dished out to various sweepstake operators in the USA imminently. At the same time, Jamison Selby, President at Rubystone, explains how social and sweepstake casinos have provided European operators with the perfect opportunity to step foot into the US for the first time.

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has celebrated the performance of the Maltese land-based and online gaming industry in 2023. The Authority detailed its achievements and also offered a medium-term outlook for the future.

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has identified multiple opportunities to enhance its commercial pipeline as a stand-alone iGaming technology supplier. While Gambling.com has once again raised its full-year 2024 guidance, reinforcing confidence in meeting its commercial and operational targets.

Former co-founders of FanDuel DFS, Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones have come back together to launch the crypto sportsbook and casino, BetHog. While Data.Bet has teamed up with Nubet to support the expansion of its sports and esports betting services.

The sports betting and iGaming operator BetMGM has announced the extension of its partnership with the Vegas Golden Knights. The deal, which runs through the 2026-27 season. While the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has banned professional snooker player Mark King for five years after an independent disciplinary committee found him guilty of match-fixing and providing inside information to bettors.

Jesper Søgaard, the CEO of Better Collective, addressed the company’s financial status following a round of layoffs completed ahead of its latest earnings report. Additionally, LiveScore Group, a sports media specialist, is planning to cut over 100 jobs across several offices, including in London.

Raketech Plc trades cautiously as challenging conditions continue to impact the performance of its affiliate network and media partnerships. In its Q3 report, Raketech disclosed a 39% drop in corporate revenues to €12.9m, compared to €21.5m in Q3 2023.

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