One week has passed since our iGaming news preview, so it is time to dive deep into them once again. There were several major news stories that occurred this week, and we at Nostrabet.com will share more details about all of them.
The Police Arrested a Malaysian Influencer in Taiwan
SEA has had several gambling scandals in the last couple of weeks and the latest one is from Taiwan. It involves a Malaysian influencer and the police arrested him for collecting fraudulent proceeds. According to local investigators, they have received information about a scam courier operating in the area.
Based on the evidence, Lin (the influencer) admitted that he had to pay a gambling debt. Originally, he traveled to Taiwan to meet his girlfriend, but after arriving, he became involved with a criminal group. An interesting fact is that the influencer had 10k fans and shared different images of the places he travelled to.
The European Lotteries and WLA Focused on Trust In the 2025 Security Seminar
There was an interesting seminar that took place in Oslo a few days ago and it was called the “Trust in the Supply Chain: Resilience and Oversight”. One of the things people were talking about was how lotteries can strengthen operational integrity, and they spoke of a variety of topics, including the fact that “Trust is under pressure”. This is no surprise, considering the many digital attacks that took place recently.
To make a long story short, people will do what they can to increase the security of everything. We expect to see new collaborations in this department and deeper integration of different security features.
The Higher Gambling Tax in the UK Could Expand the Illegal Gambling Market
There is an ongoing debate in the UK about the need to raise the gambling tax. Operators are against it and have stated that they will have to close some of their shops if that happens. In the midst of all that, a report from Ernst & Young warned that an increase in the gambling tax could result in the rise of unregulated gambling activity.
An increase in the remote gaming duty to 21% would add around 250M GBP to the Treasury’s revenue. While this is good, the negatives seem to outweigh the positives because they will lower the industry’s profitability. The initial statistics indicate that the Gross Value Added will decrease by £240M, resulting in the loss of 3,000 jobs.
These stats are troubling, to say the least. The authorities in the UK will have to be very careful if they decide to go along with it. On top of all that, the study also shows that these changes could increase the illegal gambling market in the country by 8%.
We will follow the debate to see what happens. The UK has one of the largest markets worldwide, and everything there can have a significant impact.
On this topic, around 360 people from the British horse racing industry have signed an open letter regarding the proposed gambling tax. According to it, the changes will have a devastating and irreversible effect on the sport. These individuals also point out that the racing industry employs over 85,000 people and is responsible for approximately £ 4.1 billion annually.
The Belgian Gaming Commission Wants to Make some Changes in the Current Laws
Belgium is slowly becoming one of the bigger markets in the European online betting scene. It appears that the current laws are somewhat outdated, as the Belgian Gaming Commission has decided to support a new bill that focuses on player protection and compliance oversight.
Based on the upcoming legislative changes, the KSC will have the opportunity to monitor the compliance of the gambling legislation. In terms of player protection, they will have access to deposit limit options. There should also be a ban on credit card gambling, as well as a cap on newsagents’ betting licenses. The bill even has rules regarding slot machines in bars and aims to reduce their number.
According to official research, the initiative has received support from the regulator, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
The Swedish Regulator Banned Yomoly Ltd
The Swedish gambling regulator decided to take action against Yomoly Ltd because the company offered its services in Sweden without a license. Based on the information, the company was operating illegally and will now have to face the consequences. These actions are a part of the regulator’s ongoing campaign in terms of enforcing the legislation and taking action against sites and companies that do not have a license.
Aside from Yomoly, Sweden’s regulator also took action against several other companies, including Ryker and Bitx Operations. Following these decisions, it warned that operators have to abide by the rules or they will face the sme kind of penalties.
Sweden has become one of the most lucrative markets for online betting, and it appears to be a position it will maintain. With that said, there are upcoming changes within the country’s gambling regulator structure, so we will have to wait and see how it will play out.
Denmark’s Government Received Support for its Gaming Package 1
Denmark will be one of the many European countries that will update its gambling regulation. The Government recently received support for its Gaming Package 1. It will focus on slowing down and reversing the development of gambling addiction in the country.
One of the new measures that will be in place is the so-called “whiste-to-whistle”. This is aban on gambling advertising while there are active sports events. In other words, people won’t be able to see any gambling-related promo 10 mins before the event starts and 10 mins after it ends. On top of that, sites won’t be able to use celebrities to enforce their gambling operations.
The interesting fact is that the the majority of politicians supported the Government’s idea.
A Betting Scandal with a Referee Shocked Turkey
Turkey is not often in the news when it comes to gambling because the country has strict laws against it. Well, it seems like not everyone abides by them because the country’s authorities recently discovered that many referees engaged in betting activities.
371 out of 571 active referees had some kind of betting accounts and 152 of them placed bets. This data comes from a broad investigation that took place within the football association.
There was a press conference and it became clear that 7 out of these referees fall into the “top-tier” section. What’s even more shocking is that 10 individuals placed more than 10,000 bets in total. One referee in particular placed over 18,227 wagers in the last couple of years.
Following the investigation, Turkey’s authorities said that disciplinary proceedings have started, but we would not be surprised if there are more serious penalties, including a criminal procedure.
Soft2Bet Partnered with Amusnet Gaming and Will Expand its Offerings Across Europe
Sof2Bet will expand its offerings in Europe following a new partnership deal with Amusnet Gaming. Thanks to it, Amusenet Gaming will have over 100 slot titles from the software provider. This includes some of the most popular options like Swiper, ElaBet, and more.
This partnership deal follows Soft2Bet’s expansion into various regulated markets. It started wth the brand’s arrival in Sweden, but nowadays, it is also available in Romania.
A Former Muay Thai Champion Was Arrested Following an Online Gambling Network
Thailand was out of the iGaming news for a few weeks after it became clear that the country would not legalize online gambling. This week, however, Thailand is back again and this time it is because of a former Muay Thai champion. Based on authorities, he was arrested for running an online gambling business that generated around $2.7M in illegal proceeds.
The investigation showed that the the site’s name was g2g69bet and processed large amounts of money. There was a large police action after that and it resulted in the arrests of 8 people in total.
GambleAware Believes There Should be a Reform on Online Gambling and Marketing Content Regulations
According to GambleAware, the current regulations on gambling content pose a risk to children. Although gambling is restricted and only available to individuals after a certain age, children are being exposed to different materials.
The people behind this organization believe that there should be tighter restrictions on iGaming and how companies market their services. There should be things like health warnings and other innovative measures whose goal is to control people’s gambling behaviour.
GambleAware released stats that revealed more than 85,000 children experienced some form of harm from their own gambling activities. These numbers are really high, so we expect to see some changes.
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