Compliance panel discussion: Gambling in Czech Republic - Note on the 3 years activity
Compliance panel discussion: Focus on the Slovakian Licensing Procedures
Compliance panel discussion: Decrypting Poland's Licensing Procedures and Regulation
Compliance panel discussion: DACH market industry trends
IMGL MasterClass™
Horus Session - Safe gambling - IT Security and AML / KYC
Marketing & Innovation: Understanding Millennials - eSports, DFS, Virtual Sports
Innovation & Industry Trends: Practical use of AI in Sports betting, Lottery and Payments
The Czech Republic's gambling regulation has been in force for 3 years and there is plenty of legal issue to talk about when it comes to licensing and market investment opportunities for operators.
Act No. 186/2016 Coll., on the Gambling Act, became effective on 1 January 2017 and replaced Act No. 202/1990 Coll., on Lotteries and Other Similar Games.
Besides these acts, the are several legislations that impact gambling activities, such as Consumer Protection Law, the Code on Administrative Procedure, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, Advertising Regulation, AML law, Personal Data Protection, Electronic Evidence of Sale and recently the GDPR regulations.
The panel discussion will focus on giving a briefing about how the industry took shape in the last 3 years, who are the key players and what is to be expected in the near futures.
Slovakia aims to replace the current legislation with a new one which could open up the market for private operators from March 1, 2019. The new legislation is set to mirror the neighbouring countries positive realizations in the field.
The now submitted legislation has a three-month period of standstill as the European Commission examines whether it is constitutional.
The new law is a significant change for Slovakia, which has black-listed more than 200 gambling domains – including household names such as Bet365 and 888 – since a previous bill was passed in 2016. Currently, online casino and poker activity remains the sole responsibility of the state-owned TIPOS national lottery.
Poland’s new gambling law took effect almost precisely a year ago. And while the legislative framework was touted as one that would liberalize the market and provide international operators with attractive opportunities to operate in a regulated environment, the country’s newly formed gambling landscape looked a bit different in reality.
Recently, Polish media reported that the Provincial Administrative Court had upheld the Ministry of Finance’s right to compile and publish a list of online gambling domains deemed to be serving the country’s gamblers without local permission.
But the Court noted that the amended Polish Gambling Act had been submitted to the European Commission, which found no issues with its restrictions. As such, the Court found that the Ministry was within its rights to swing its censorial ban-hammer as it saw fit.
Germany (D) forms together with Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH) the so-called DACH market. It is by far the largest and most promising market for IT in Europe.
Although the DACH region is both technologically and economically strong, it is missing some vital developments when it comes to regulating the online gambling industry.
2018 has been a wakeup call for the region and it seems that some of the legislators and regulators are starting understand why it's important to have a clear regulation and stop banning and industry which is currently grey or black.
It may not be the likely case in Austria, but there have been clear signals in Germany and Switzerland toward creating a regulatory framework which will enable international or local operators to apply for online gambling licenses.
”Safe Gambling” is a new term used in the industry and is a possible replacer for the notion ”responsible gambling”. While the responsible gambling focuses on studying and fighting the negative effects of excessive gambling practice, the broader concept of ”safe gambling”, also contains the prevention area. IT security, compliance is also a huge aspect of the term.
There is no doubt that the industry has to maximize the focus on Millennials and implement verticals which are still being considered as alternatives or secondary options for operators. While the number of service providers and active users has increased, there are not that many companies that announce the addition of eSports, Virtual Sports or Fantasy Sports options next to their traditional offerings.
2019 is a year in which there will be many shifts in terms of technology and staying competitive with bonus offerings will not be sufficient. Operators need to consider alternatives that are currently being titled as "Millennial options" and stay ahead of the world wide trends.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence have been the talk of the industry for the past few years—and the hype isn't slowing down anytime soon.
2019 is going to be the year for businesses who have waited to finally jump on board to witness a goldmine of advancements in the gambling industry.
Some predict that AI could be of great use in Responsible Gambling and combating money laundering, others are using AI as Virtual Assistants to complement their Customer Service and Marketing strategies.
There have been a few companies that have anticipated the use of AI in sports betting, payments or even lottery.
The further evolution of human and machine interaction will rise and the industry has to be ready to keep up with demands.