The moving parts — explained, and kept current.
iGaming’s rules shift constantly, and we are not a newsroom — we keep the record. Four ways in: In brief reads a fresh development in three lines; The Ledger logs every change the moment it is dated and sourced; Living data turns the datasets we maintain into the current state of play; and Data-essays walk one number back to what it actually means for you. No fabricated headlines.
Brazil bans sports betting and online casino games by provisional measure
Provisional Measure 1.394, in force from 25 September 2026, prohibits fixed-odds betting across Brazil and ends every federal and state authorisation 30 days after publication; Congress must convert it into law or it lapses.
Read the brief →02🇧🇷 BrazilBrazil opens a public consultation on fixed-odds betting authorisation
The SPA has put a draft ordinance out for 45 days of comment — the next step in bedding down the federal Bets regime.
Read the brief →03🇧🇷 BrazilBrazil makes harm warnings mandatory on betting adverts
From 17 July 2026, every fixed-odds betting advert must carry a rotating harm warning on at least 10% of its area, and ads aimed at under-18s are deemed abusive.
Read the brief →04🇬🇧 United KingdomUK sets out a staged rollout of financial risk assessments
After its pilot, the Gambling Commission confirmed frictionless affordability checks would start with the largest operators at a GBP 5,000 net-deposit trigger, with lower thresholds intended later.
Read the brief →Living data
maintained datasets, kept current — the state of playThe state of regulation
Where online gambling stands, jurisdiction by jurisdiction — regulated, in transition, partial or prohibited.
Open the data →02Living trackerHow the world taxes gambling
Every jurisdiction by tax base and headline rate — and why a low number can bite harder than a high one.
Open the data →03Living trackerWhere gambling ads are being pushed back
Every tracked market by how hard it restricts gambling advertising — from a content test to a total ban.
Open the data →04Living trackerSelf-exclusion around the world
Every national self-exclusion scheme by how far the block reaches — from online-only to every channel, online and land-based.
Open the data →05Living trackerThe FATF lists — where AML risk is flagged
Every jurisdiction FATF places under increased monitoring or a call for action — the global signal that shapes where gambling money can flow, and how hard operators must look.
Open the data →06Living trackerUS online gambling, state by state
Where online casino and online sports betting are legal across the United States — the fastest-moving map in the industry, and the two are not the same fight.
Open the data →Data-essays
one number, walked back to what it meansWhy a “97% RTP” slot still costs you money
RTP is the number the marketing shows you. The house edge is the one that decides your night.
4 min read →02Data-essayHeadline tax rates lie: why the base beats the rate
A 15% tax can hurt an operator more than a 40% one. What is taxed matters more than the number.
5 min read →03Data-essayGambling ad rules only move one way
A decade ago gambling ads were everywhere. Now market after market restricts or bans them — and in mature markets, almost none loosen. The direction of travel is one-way, and it quietly reshapes how operators reach you.
5 min read →04Data-essaySelf-exclusion is only as wide as the licence behind it
Every national self-exclusion scheme blocks every licensed operator at once — that is the easy part. Where they differ is how far the block reaches and how hard it is to undo. And every one of them stops at the same edge: the licence.
5 min read →05Data-essayHow a game earns its keep
Every title in the lobby is quietly on trial. Here is the arithmetic that decides which games survive — and which vanish.
6 min read →06Data-essayHow big is the gambling black market? It depends who is counting
Regulators, trade bodies and consultancies all publish a share for unlicensed gambling. For the same country and year the figures can sit 20 or 30 points apart, and the gap is not a mistake: it is the method. Here is every estimate we could trace to a primary document, side by side.
8 min read →The rules keep changing. We keep the record.
A living, dated, sourced record of every change we track — each linked to the profile it came from and the fundamentals it touches. Announced-but-not-yet-live changes are flagged coming into force and never shown as already in effect.Coming into force 7
Announced and cited, not yet in effect — a clean forward look no news feed keeps.
Phased advertising restrictions continue; sports-shirt/stadium sponsorship being phased out through 2025-2028.
Belgium: all sports shirt/jersey and sports sponsorship advertising banned from 1 January 2028.
Gambling Act enters into force in full; licensed online betting and casino market opens; Veikkaus loses online exclusivity
Remote General Betting Duty to rise from 15% to 25% from 1 April 2027 (Autumn Budget 2025); remote bets on UK horseracing and bets placed on self-service betting terminals in licensed premises stay at 15%, and Pool Betting Duty is unchanged at 15%
Gambling Commission confirmed new Gaming Machine Technical Standards for land-based machines on 30 September 2026: new category A and B machines must offer limit setting and show net position and elapsed time, and new category A, B and C machines may not celebrate returns at or below the stake or let customers speed up a result; a new session definition applies from 30 March 2027, most changes from 30 June 2027 and staff alerts from 3 October 2028, and existing machines are largely exempt
Cross-operator joint deposit limits take effect (Real Decreto 520/2026, published 25 June 2026): a national system aggregates a player deposits across all licensed operators, with default ceilings of EUR 700 per day, EUR 1,750 per week and EUR 3,300 per four-week period that the player can lower or raise
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Kansspelautoriteit's market scan for 2025 and monitoring report on the first half of 2026: the gross gaming revenue of the whole licensed market, online and land-based, fell in real terms from EUR 4.5 billion in 2024 to EUR 4.1 billion in 2025, with online casino down 18.2% and online betting down 30.2%; in the first half of 2026 legal online GGR rose about 11% to EUR 670 million, and channelisation was 94% of players and 59% of money, up from 54%
Kansspelautoriteit announced the award procedure for the single land-based totalisator licence (pari-mutuel betting on horse races, a statutory monopoly) for 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2032: applications run 4 to 31 January 2027 with a non-refundable EUR 40,900 fee, a notary's draw decides if more than one applicant qualifies, and the holder pays 10% of gross gaming revenue on Dutch races to the horse-racing sector; ZEbetting & Gaming Nederland B.V.'s current licence expires on 30 June 2027
MGA published a thematic review of sports-betting integrity monitoring at licensees that had filed few or no Suspicious Betting Reports: low volumes mostly reflected restrictive limits, the removal of vulnerable events and reliance on external monitors' alerts; it clarified that suspicious activity first seen under a foreign licence must also be reported to the MGA when MGA-licensed players bet in that market, and asked for written escalation workflows naming the key compliance function
All federal, state and Federal District fixed-odds authorisations ended on 25 October 2026, thirty days after MP 1.394 was published (art. 4 and art. 2 §1), without refund of the R$30 million grant fee; the SPA published no separate notice, keeps its supervisory powers over the authorised period (art. 5), and former operators have until 15 December 2026 to settle its obligations
Three people were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 23 October 2026 for cheating under section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005 over bets on the date of the 2024 General Election placed with confidential information: suspended custodial sentences of 4.5 to 10.5 months, unpaid work and a 12-month bar from online gambling apps; the Gambling Commission describes it as its first prosecution of this kind, with one further guilty plea awaiting sentence and ten defendants due for trial in September 2027 and January 2028.
Kansspelautoriteit fined EOD Code SRL EUR 37 million (22 October 2026), its highest fine yet for unlicensed offering: the company ran Instantcasino, Skyhills and ten other sites reachable from the Netherlands after an earlier order subject to a penalty payment; the amount was set on estimated turnover, with no visible age verification and crypto and anonymous payment options counted as aggravating.
L & L Europe Limited (seven sites including allbritishcasino.com) agreed a GBP 900,000 regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission (21 October 2026) for withdrawal-related failures (a one-withdrawal-at-a-time term judged unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015; manual reviews that demanded extra information at withdrawal), plus anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement codified data-driven responsible gaming requirements into state regulations (announced 20 October 2026): every operator must appoint a responsible gaming lead, apply mandatory patron play thresholds and behavioural triggers, run a due-diligence review of flagged patrons, keep an at-risk patron list and deliver three phases of intervention; New Jersey states it is the first US state to make such measures mandatory.
AGCO and PointsBet Canada settled the regulatory proceeding from the AGCO's February 2026 Notice of Proposed Order (20 October 2026): a two-day suspension of PointsBet's Ontario gaming site and an independent audit of its control environment, using an auditor and methodology approved by the AGCO, with independently validated remediation.
On an AGU application the 21st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro ordered Select Operations (MMA, Betvip, Papigames) to report players' final balances and transactional-account funds under a daily fine of R$50,000 capped at R$1 million and to keep the refund money segregated, the first ruling in the AGU's actions against eight operators that missed the 7 October Sigap reporting deadline (7MBR, Enseada, Foggo, Laguna, Pixbet, Responsa Gaming, Select Operations and Zeroumbet)
Congress closed the amendment window on MP 1.394 with 99 amendments filed (five withdrawn), many seeking to narrow the ban to online casino games; no mixed committee or rapporteur yet, the urgency regime starts on 9 November and the measure lapses on 23 November 2026 unless converted or extended
The bank refund window opened on 9 October (to 14 October) with R$1.24 billion owed to 26.3 million bettors by the SPA's bulletin; the president of the TRF3 suspended a São Paulo federal court injunction that had let Stake Brazil keep operating until 25 October, citing the pending ADIs 8024, 8027 and 8028; and the Justice Ministry's Ciberlab had referred 20,318 illegal betting sites and channels for blocking since 25 September
Kansspelautoriteit published guidance on verifying bank accounts and other payment methods after finding that operators did not always check them properly, so that minors could deposit from youth accounts or link their account to an adult's player account; the guidance covers first-name checks on payment accounts, business accounts and other payment methods
Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited and Gaming Group Limited (Rank Group; 51 casinos in Great Britain) agreed a regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission: a payment in lieu of a financial penalty of GBP 5,012,261 to the Consolidated Fund and a third-party audit, for anti-money-laundering failures (policies not updated for the 2020 Money Laundering Regulations, enhanced due diligence not carried out when required) and social-responsibility failures (no safer-gambling interactions with customers losing GBP 50,000 and GBP 250,000, and with a returning self-excluded customer until GBP 25,000 lost)
Justice Ministry reported the first day offline: of the 188 sites authorised until 5 October only one was still up (blocking requested), R$1.325bn awaited refund to about 26.5 million bettors, 86.2 million accounts held between R$0.01 and R$0.99 (R$15.5m in total), and 13,241 illegal sites had been sent for blocking since 25 September
AGCO issued a CAD 200,000 monetary penalty to Score Media and Gaming Inc. (theScore.Bet) under Standard 4.07 of the Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming: two cash-out offers of about CAD 380,000 and CAD 100,000 on a CAD 1,000 parlay were presented and accepted but not honoured, and the bet settled as a loss; the operator may request a Licence Appeal Tribunal hearing within 15 days
Portaria SPA/MF no 3.005 (2 October 2026) set the wind-down procedure after the ban: voluntary withdrawals closed at 23:59 on 5 October, sites and apps had to go offline from 6 October, operators reported final player balances as at that cut-off to the SPA through Sigap by 7 October and to the banks for refunds between 9 and 14 October (Caixa Econômica Federal takes over refunds a bank could not pay once the bank window closes on 14 October), and former operators have until 15 December 2026 to settle the financial and regulatory obligations of their authorised period, keeping a legal representative and current contact details, with changes notified within 48 hours
AMLA announced on 1 October 2026 that it had sent the European Commission its final draft regulatory technical standards on customer due diligence (AMLR art. 28(1)), on telling business relationships from occasional and linked transactions (art. 19(9)) and on group-wide requirements, including branches and subsidiaries in third countries (arts 16(4) and 17(3)); once adopted and published in the Official Journal they are proposed to apply six months after entry into force
Revised gaming-tax and VAT frameworks take effect under L.N. 84 and 86 of 2026 (published 1 April 2026): the gaming tax and the separate charge on gaming devices are merged into a single gaming tax classified by game type for players in Malta, and the VAT exemption for gambling is recast
Gaming tax on revenue from players in Malta is now 15% for Type 1 (casino/RNG) games and 10% for Types 2 to 4, in place of the flat 5% (L.N. 84 of 2026); a 5% rate applies to controlled gaming premises and junkets, and B2B suppliers broadcasting from a studio pay a fixed EUR 3,000 a year
Gambling (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/828) raised Gambling Commission fees by about 25% overall with new GGY bands: a remote casino operating licence now costs £7,000 to £1,453,949 a year (plus £272,324 per £200m of GGY above £1.6bn) and £8,185 to £74,902 to apply for, and personal management licences cost £463 to apply for and maintain (previously £370; functional licences £181)
New remote 'deposit limit' requirements (RTS 12) take effect, extended from 30 June 2026: operators must offer a gross deposit limit based solely on money paid in, reserve the term 'deposit limit' for that form, and give it at least equal prominence to other financial limits
Three constitutional challenges (ADIs 8024, 8027 and 8028) against MP 1.394 were filed at the Supreme Federal Court by the operator associations Anseja and ANJL and the mayors' association ANPV, seeking its suspension and a transition of at least 180 days; all were assigned to Justice Luiz Fux and no decision had been published by 26 October
Decreto no 13.128 set up the inter-institutional committee that MP 1.394 created to supervise illegal betting and its advertising, coordinated by the Casa Civil with the Finance, Justice and Sports ministries, Secom, AGU, the Central Bank, COAF, the Federal Police, Anatel and ANPD, meeting and reporting every six months
Nationwide ban on fixed-odds betting (Medida Provisória no 1.394, signed and published in an extra edition of the DOU on 25 September 2026 and in force that day) prohibits operating, offering and advertising sports betting and online games in Brazil, including from abroad: new deposits are barred at once, licensed sites and apps must go offline 10 days after publication, all federal and state authorisations end 30 days after publication without refund of the federal R$30 million grant fee, and betting payments, advertising and sponsorship are banned; the measure lapses unless Congress converts it into law (first deadline 23 November 2026)
Brazil: Provisional Measure 1.394 (in force 25 September 2026) banned all advertising, marketing and sponsorship of fixed-odds betting in any medium, with existing material to be removed within 10 days; internet platforms, app stores and operating systems must keep such content and apps off their services, on pain of fines of up to 10% of the group's annual revenue in Brazil or, where it has none, R$10 to R$1,000 per registered user, limited in total to R$50 million per infraction.
Targetlocal Ltd (trading as Ken Howell's Sports Betting, kenhowells.com) had its combined remote operating licence (no 000422-R-336567-002; casino, sports betting, virtual event betting) suspended by the Gambling Commission for anti-money-laundering failings, with a section 116 licence review opened; customers may still access accounts and withdraw funds
MGA and the Malta Digital Innovation Authority launched the AI Gaming Charter, a voluntary, principles-based framework for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in gaming operations, complementing the EU AI Act
Gambling Commission published Industry Statistics for April 2025 to March 2026: total GB GGY GBP 17.5bn (+4.4%), remote casino, betting and bingo GBP 8.3bn (+6.9%) of which online slots GBP 4.8bn, land-based GBP 4.9bn (+1.1%); 2,154 licensed operators and 8,081 licensed premises at 31 March 2026
MGA suspended the authorisation of Condor Malta Limited (C 70089, licence MGA/B2C/340/2016) with effect from 16 September 2026 under reg. 8(1)(f) of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations, citing regs 9(1)(a), (c), (d) and (m): it may no longer carry out gaming operations but must keep registered players' access to their accounts for visibility purposes; appeal lies under article 43 of the Gaming Act
Payment-blocking ordinance (Portaria SPA/MF no 2.750, signed 10 September, published and in force 14 September 2026) replaced Portaria SPA/MF no 566/2025: on an SPA blocking notice, financial and payment institutions and payment-arrangement institutors must block an unauthorised operator's accounts and stop new transactions to it within 24 hours, close suspicious-pattern analyses within 45 days and report suspected irregular activity to the SPA, blocked funds may be forfeited to the Union, and the SPA must publish a downloadable, API-accessible list of authorised operators with CNPJ, brands and domains
MGA published its thematic review on governance assurance of key functions (chief executive, compliance, internal audit and AML/CFT), finding mature frameworks at many licensees alongside over-reliance on a few senior decision-makers and weak audit trails
SPA opened a 45-day public consultation (27 July to 9 September 2026, via Brasil Participativo) on a draft ordinance setting the rules and conditions for authorising commercial fixed-odds betting operations.
Evolution Malta Holding Ltd fined GBP 4.75m by the Gambling Commission for supplying online games to unlicensed businesses
Brazil: Portaria SPA/MF no 1.964 (in force 17 July 2026) requires one of three rotating Ministry of Finance warnings on at least 10% of each fixed-odds betting advert, and the companion Interministerial Ordinance MF/SECOM/MJSP no 73 of 10 July 2026 bars misleading adverts, comments by specialists encouraging bets on a given game or event and the promotion of unauthorised platforms, extending liability to everyone involved in the advertising
Brazil: standardised ad-warning messages (≥10% of the ad) in force from 17 July 2026 (SPA/MF Ordinance 1,964/2026, signed 3 July and published 10 July).
Beneficiaries of the Desenrola Adimplentes and Fies Empreendedor relief programmes (Provisional Measure 1.373 of 29 June 2026) barred from fixed-odds betting, with operators required to block their registration (Portaria SPA/MF no 2.066 and Instrução Normativa MF no 21, 13 July 2026); Novo Desenrola Brasil beneficiaries had been barred from 5 May 2026 (Portaria SPA/MF no 1.237 and IN SPA/MF no 3) and Fies debt-renegotiation beneficiaries from 26 June 2026 (Portaria SPA/MF no 1.638 and IN SPA/MF no 8)
MGA's 2025 annual report: 38 new licence applications received and 19 licences issued, 15 full-scope compliance audits and 109 thematic reviews, 35 cease-and-desist letters, 22 warnings, 30 administrative penalties totalling EUR 162,520, one licence suspended and two cancelled
Gambling Commission set out a staged rollout of Financial Risk Assessments: Stage 1 (largest operators) triggers at GBP 5,000 net deposit in 24 hours for over-25s (GBP 2,500 for under-25s), with intended final thresholds of GBP 1,000 in 24 hours or GBP 3,000 in 90 days (GBP 750 and GBP 2,000 for under-25s), assessed frictionlessly via credit reference agencies - announced, start date to be confirmed
Online casino tax rises from 18% to 20% in the sixth year after launch (~late 2026) per PA 21-23 section 17
GGL intensified enforcement against unlicensed operators (IP and payment blocking); ongoing industry and political debate over the 5.3% turnover tax and strict deposit/stake limits pushing players toward the illegal market, alongside a scheduled evaluation of the GlüStV 2021 regime.
UK Remote Gaming Duty rising to 40% (1 April 2026) is a major pressure on Gibraltar operators serving the British market
Online casino (slots/table games) still not authorized; would require new legislation
Ongoing operator pressure to switch the turnover-based sports-betting tax to a GGR base; no change enacted as of verification.
NGB issued Remote Gambling Server compliance notices and sought monitoring/blocking solutions to detect and block illegal online gambling
Spelinspektionen measured channelisation of the competitive market at 84% for 2025 (down from 85% for 2024), on licensed turnover of SEK 28.2bn
Remote Gaming Duty raised from 21% to 40% effective 1 April 2026 (Autumn Budget 2025); Bingo Duty abolished April 2026
HB 4397 / HB 4398 propose raising the iGaming and sports-betting tax to 25% — in House committee, not enacted.
Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd fined GBP 900,000 by the Gambling Commission for social-responsibility failures
Stakelogic BV fined GBP 122,835 by the Gambling Commission for responsible product-design standard breaches
A Ministry of Finance and Kansspelautoriteit monitor found the gambling-tax rises missed their target: receipts rose by an estimated EUR 2 million in 2025 and are forecast to rise by EUR 57 million in 2026 against 2024, against targets of EUR 108 million and EUR 216 million, because player-protection rules and other changes shrank the tax base
PGCB levied consent-agreement fines totalling USD 180,000 at its monthly meeting, mostly iGaming-related: Greenwood Gaming (betParx) USD 40,000 for underage floor access and USD 40,000 over unlicensed staff with access to iGaming patrons data, and Wind Creek Bethlehem USD 50,000 for KYC failures enabling fraudulent iGaming withdrawals
The cabinet set out a CRUKS reform for the revised Remote Gambling Act: voluntary registration would become open-ended and could be ended only after twelve months instead of six, with a statutory reflection period, and involuntary registration would last twelve months instead of six; the bill is expected to go to consultation in 2027.
The cabinet set out a revision of the Remote Gambling Act: a ban on online gambling advertising and bonuses (except an operator's own website and results for explicit searches), a cross-operator deposit limit in a central KSA register with an affordability test for higher limits, open-ended voluntary CRUKS registration and a KSA power to suspend licences; it shelved raising the minimum age to 21 for the riskiest games and expects to consult on the bill in 2027
The cabinet announced a ban on online gambling advertising, bonuses included, as part of the Remote Gambling Act revision; the only exceptions foreseen are the operator's own website and results for explicit searches for gambling sites, and the role of affiliates is still to be examined
Expanded ban on gambling on credit took effect: the prohibition now covers all forms of deferred payment - including credit cards, invoices, buy-now-pay-later and loans from relatives - across all licensed operators and gambling intermediaries
Kansspelautoriteit's spring 2026 monitoring report: legal online gross gaming revenue was EUR 602 million in the second half of 2025, about 18% below 2024; channelisation was 91% of players and 53% of money, after the KSA removed three operators with suspected manipulated search volumes and revised the first half of 2025 from 49% to 56%
The application fee for a remote gambling licence rose from EUR 48,000 to EUR 61,300 (Regeling kansspelen op afstand, art. 2.1)
Kansspelautoriteit published guidance on the online-advertising exception: operators must offer a real opt-out, take the best available measures to keep ads away from under-24s, risky players and self-excluded players, document that at least 95% of the audience reached is 24 or older, and stay off platforms where they cannot meet these conditions
GGL set out its position on the 2021 State Treaty evaluation, describing the ~77% online-gambling channelisation rate as scientifically confirmed; the states final evaluation report is expected by end-2026
MGA set out its 2026 supervisory priorities: cash and cash-equivalent controls, crypto-asset use, sports-integrity and athlete betting, and the quality of ADR reporting
National Police Board begins accepting online gambling licence applications (partial entry into force)
GSC published the Island's first dedicated gambling-sector money-laundering national risk assessment, rating overall risk 'Medium High' (updating the 2020 assessment), ahead of the 2026 Moneyval inspection
GRAI opened B2C remote (online) betting licence applications
Gaming tax rose to 37.8% of gross gaming revenue on 1 January 2026, the second step after 30.5% to 34.2% on 1 January 2025
New licensing policy rules (Beleidsregels vergunningverlening Koa 2026) took effect: applicants must submit an exit plan for rapid repayment of player funds on wind-down and a Wwft (AML) risk analysis, face tighter restrictions on holding player funds, and can be refused on a trustworthiness ground for non-compliance with Dutch court rulings
2025 37
First phase of the Autumn 2023 RTS changes took effect: every customer must be prompted to set a financial limit as early as possible (RTS 12A), and operators rated 'not protected' for customer funds must remind those customers of it every six months (LCCP 4.2.1)
UK CAP Code extended from 1 September 2025 to cover non-paid social, influencers and overseas operators' UK-facing marketing.
AGCC continued to update its fee schedule and enhance AML and technical/testing standards
UK-facing operators licensed in Alderney still require a UK Gambling Commission licence and pay UK duties on GB customers (UK Remote Gaming Duty rose to 40% on 1 April 2026)
Government considering the 2023 Murphy inquiry ('You win some, you lose more') recommendations, including a phased ban on gambling advertising — response pending
Regulated market live; SPA and courts pursuing blocking of unlicensed operators; ongoing debate over advertising and a possible higher tax
Complementary Law 224/2025 (sanctioned 26 Dec 2025) raised the operator GGR tax to 13% (2026), 14% (2027) and 15% (from 2028), adding a social-security contribution on top of the original 12% earmark.
Brazil: only SPA/MF-authorised operators on .bet.br domains may advertise from 1 January 2025.
Temporary 19% VAT on online gambling: taxed player deposits 14 Feb–31 Dec 2025 (Decree 0175/2025, upheld by Constitutional Court C-431/2025); a January 2026 emergency decree moved the 19% VAT to GGR for 2026, now under constitutional challenge.
Curaçao LOK: new National Ordinance for Games of Chance in force 24 Dec 2024; direct CGA licensing replacing the master/sub-licence model; old sub-licences expired in 2025 and the transition (portals, migration, detailed rules) is ongoing — high volatility.
Ministry of Finance continues maintaining the illegal-gambling blocklist (IP and payment blocking) and updating player-protection rules
New B2B game-supplier licensing requirement and updated game-certification programme took effect 1 January 2025; revised Executive Orders for betting and online casino issued June 2025.
Finnish Parliament passed the new Gambling Act in December 2025, confirming a 22% GGR tax and market opening
Government proposal to legalise online casino (2025 Budget) withdrawn after opposition from land-based casinos; online casino stays prohibited.
The 2025 Social Security Financing Act raised GGR levies from 1 July 2025 (online sports betting to ~59.3%, poker to a flat 10%, horse-race betting to ~52.9%) and added a 15% tax on operators' advertising spend.
Gambling Act 2025 in force 1 October 2025, replacing the 2005 Act: new B2C/B2B/GOSS licence categories, substance requirements, empowered Commissioner and Appeals Tribunal; a new tiered fee schedule (up to £200,000 for the largest operators) and codes of practice
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 fully replaced the 2013 edition — certifications had to migrate by October 2025.
Public tender for new nine-year online concessions (€7M entry fee) under D.Lgs 41/2024 expected to proceed; each concession limited to a capped number of skins/domains.
2025 Budget Law raised the online betting tax to ~24.5% and online gaming/casino/poker/bingo to ~25.5% of GGR (up from 24% and 25%).
Effective 1 July 2025, NJ raised the tax on online casino GGR from 15% to 19.75% (and internet sports wagering from 13% to 19.75%, DFS from 10.5% to 19.75%) via the FY2026 budget bill A5803; Gov. Murphy had initially sought 25%.
New Jersey moved to restrict/ban unlicensed sweepstakes ('social casino') operators offering casino-style play.
iGO continued as an independent agency (12 May 2025) under the iGaming Ontario Act, 2024, ending its subsidiary relationship with the AGCO; national single-event/interprovincial questions continue to develop.
PGCB reported record annual gaming revenue with interactive gaming (iGaming) continuing strong growth; the 54% online-slots / 16% table-games iGaming tax rates were unchanged.
Continued legislative debate over taxing and regulating unlicensed 'skill games' and possible future online-tax changes, but iGaming rates remained as set as of 2026.
Rapid growth of domestic online e-Games prompting tighter advertising and responsible-gaming restrictions amid public concern
Planned privatisation of PAGCOR's own casino operations advancing, aiming to resolve the operator/regulator conflict
Authorization tax ~30% of GGR (min ~EUR 480,000) from 1 Aug 2025; self-exclusion register procedure (Order 79/2025) effective 17 June 2025
Online betting revenue surged, overtaking casinos, intensifying calls to regulate interactive gambling
National Gambling Amendment Bill / Remote Gambling Bill proposals under discussion to create a national interactive-gambling framework — not yet enacted
Safer-gambling rules under RD 176/2023 (intensive-player monitoring, mandatory limits) in force and being enforced.
Updated annual supervision fees (around SEK 264,000 per licence) applied from 1 January 2025.
Continued focus on channelisation and measures against unlicensed/offshore operators targeting Swedish consumers.
Statutory levy on operators (0.1%-1.1% of GGY; 1.1% for remote) commenced 6 April 2025; financial-risk / affordability checks being piloted under the 2023 White Paper
UK statutory RG levy came into force on 6 April 2025 (0.1%–1.1% of GGY, banded by sector).
51 of the 64 new PCI DSS v4.x requirements became mandatory on 31 March 2025 (current v4.0.1).
UK 'light-touch' financial-risk checks began 28 February 2025 (>£150 net loss in 30 days).
Game-design rules first applied to online slots in October 2021 were extended to all online casino products: no autoplay (RTS 8A), a minimum game cycle of five seconds and no features that speed up play (RTS 14), and no celebration of returns at or below the stake
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New player-protection rules took effect: a player setting a deposit limit above EUR 350 a month (EUR 150 for under-24s) must first contact the operator, operators must check affordability once net deposits pass EUR 700 in a calendar month (EUR 300 for 18-to-23-year-olds), sessions show feedback every 30 minutes and players are logged out at their time limit
Australia banned online betting with credit cards from June 2024; seven rotating RG taglines mandatory since 30 March 2023.
Minimum gambling age for betting and casino products raised to 21, effective 1 September 2024.
SPA issued implementing ordinances (portarias) and granted the first federal authorisations for a 1 Jan 2025 start
2024 consolidation package raised the general gambling-tax rate from 23% to 30% (effective 1 Jan 2024) and increased the minimum per-machine tax; technical games remain at 35%
Rush Street/BetRivers relaunched online casino and launched mobile sports betting (January 2024)
Undisclosed paid content and fake reviews brought under the UK DMCC Act 2024.
EU AML package adopted May–June 2024 (AMLR 2024/1624, AMLD6 2024/1640, AMLA 2024/1620, seated in Frankfurt).
GSC adopted an updated enforcement policy (June 2024) emphasising civil penalties and public disclosures; increased enforcement activity since.
Storting adopted DNS-blocking powers (May 2024) to reinforce the monopoly against offshore operators; ongoing EU/EEA scrutiny of the model
President Marcos banned all POGOs (July 2024); operations to cease by 31 December 2024
Online casino launched 1 March 2024 via Bally's - the newest US iCasino state at launch
GEO 80/2024 and related measures tightened local-presence and B2B compliance obligations
Constitutional Court (April 2024) annulled parts of advertising decree RD 958/2020, easing some sponsorship/advertising restrictions.
Spain: April 2024 Supreme Court ruling 527/2024 partially annulled parts of Royal Decree 958/2020.
Gambling tax raised from 18% to 22% of gross gambling revenue effective 1 July 2024; industry (BOS) warned it could pressure channelisation toward unlicensed operators.
UK domestic PEPs recalibrated to a lower-risk baseline than foreign PEPs from 10 January 2024.
2023 17
ROFUS onsite betting-shop identity checks introduced from 1 October 2023.
UK crypto Travel Rule in force from 1 September 2023 (MLR Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2022).
BetStop national self-exclusion register launched; customer pre-verification ('customer ID') requirements strengthened
Belgium near-total gambling-ad ban effective 1 July 2023 (Royal Decree 27 Feb 2023); stadium ads banned from 2025.
Law 14.790/2023 signed (29 Dec 2023; published 30 Dec 2023), setting the 'Bets' framework, 12% GGR tax and R$30m fee
Tax reform (Ley 2277 of 2022) and subsequent debate over applying VAT to online gambling
Government launched the reform to move from Veikkaus monopoly to a partial licensing system (October 2023)
iTech Labs acquired by GLI Group in May 2023 (continues under its own brand).
Combined penalty for AML and social-responsibility failures, including weak source-of-funds triggers and controls
Bill 55 (Gaming Act amendment) shields MGA licensees from enforcement in Malta of certain foreign judgments contrary to Malta's regime — controversial with other EU states
Untargeted gambling-ad ban in force 1 July 2023: no ads on broadcast TV or radio, in print or in public places; sponsorship contracts signed earlier could run to 1 July 2024 (programmes, events) and 1 July 2025 (sport)
New consolidated Gambling Act (pengespilloven) in force 1 January 2023, merging three earlier acts and codifying the exclusive-rights monopoly
OASIS brought under the new federal regulator GGL from 1 January 2023 (GlüStV 2021).
GEO 82/2023 overhauled the regime: higher fees, GGR-based authorization tax, larger guarantees and enforcement/blacklist measures
UK DAML reporting threshold raised from £250 to £1,000 (January 2023).
Record UK settlement for widespread anti-money-laundering and social-responsibility failings across the group's brands
2022 4
UK CAP/BCAP 'strong appeal' to under-18s test in force from 1 October 2022.
AML and social-responsibility failings, including letting customers deposit up to £40,000 before source-of-funds checks
Then-largest UKGC penalty for AML and social-responsibility failures across online and land-based businesses
One of Malta's largest gaming AML fines, for breaches of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following a 2019 inspection
2021 3
PA 21-23 enacted; online casino and online sports betting launched 19 October 2021
First cohort of permanent online licences awarded; HGC continues tightening advertising, player-protection and self-exclusion rules
2020 2
Single Customer View originated from a 2020 Gambling Commission challenge (ICO regulatory sandbox).
GAMSTOP registration became mandatory for GB-licensed operators on 31 March 2020.
2019 5
UK whistle-to-whistle betting-ad ban effective 1 August 2019.
FIPS 140-3 approved March 2019, effective September 2019 (replaced FIPS 140-2).
Law 4635/2019 overhauled online gambling: permanent 7-year Type 1 (betting, EUR 3m) and Type 2 (other games, EUR 2m) licences and a 35% GGR tax
Lawful Internet Gaming Act (PA 152) and Lawful Sports Betting Act (PA 149) enacted
Lottery Interactive Wagering Act (art. 22E) enacted; online casino launched July 2020
2018 2
Italy Dignity Decree gambling-ad ban from 14 July 2018; sponsorship ban from 1 January 2019.
Lottery Sports Wagering Act (art. 22D); retail and online sports betting launched
2017 1
Interactive Gambling Amendment Act closed the in-play 'click-to-call' loophole and enabled ISP blocking of illegal offshore sites
2016 1
Acuerdo 04 of 2016 regulated online games; first operators live 2017
2013 2
Online casino and poker launched under the 2012 Gaming Competitiveness Act
Interactive online poker launched under AB 114 (Ultimate Poker Apr 2013; WSOP.com Sep 2013)
2010 1
GLI acquired Technical Systems Testing (TST) in 2010 to build its interactive/iGaming testing arm.