Spribe has won a legal reprieve in the United Kingdom, claiming copyright infringement against a prominent rival, while Light & Wonder is pivoting towards the Australian Stock Exchange. This is the week in gambling news.
The supplier of next-gen games, popular in online casino markets across the globe,SPRIBE, achieved a major legal milestone in itsfight against Aviator LLC, a Georgian company.
Only recently, the formerobtained an interim injunction from the UK High Court, preventing Aviator LLC frommarketing or launching a copycat game of SPRIBE's hit title, Aviator.
In the meantime, Light & Wonderhas confirmed that it will be moving listing addresses, with the prominent global gaming major now shifting its stock exchange fromNASDAQtoASX, the Australian Stock Exchange.
The decision was announced by the company’s boss, CEOMatt Wilson, during thesecond quarter earnings call, and it caught investors by surprise. It was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, either.
Business & finance
Bet365 continues to gain ground in the United States, with the privately-held companyentering a 14th state with Kansas. This is another major move for the sportsbook, which has maintained competitive operations at a time when many others, including Super Group and b, have been sounding a retreat from the US market.
Following several intense months of debate, the Texas Lottery has agreed to pay the outstanding $83.5 million reward to the February lottery winner, a Texan resident, who couldn’t claim the money because of an ongoing political debate over whether courier services constitute a legal purchase of a winning ticket.
Nevertheless, Kristen Moriarty will receive $45.8m before taxes, as she has chosen the lump sum for the purchase.
SkillOnNet has said that it will be releasing its MegawaysCasino once again, relaunching the popular destination for megaways mechanic and features. More information about the launch will be forthcoming.
A New Yield Sec report suggests that the vast bulk of gambling is taking place with non-regulated entities, the company says. Around 74% of the revenue – out of $90.1 billion – is funneled through non-regulated websites.
The company further noted that 917 illegal gambling websites operate in the country, compared to about 106 legal ones. The estimates are fresh and even controversial, as they suggest that the United States has a very long way to go still to capture even 50% of its gambling market in terms of spending.
Laws & regulation
VNLOK, a trade group in the Netherlands, has issued a warning that the tax increase in the country has had an adverse effect on licensed operators’ competitiveness and has reduced the tax revenue to the central government.
This exact opinion was confirmed and reflected by the Dutch Gambling Authority’s assessment of the matter, with the watchdog agreeing that the tax had been counter-productive and had gone against the grain of the core goal: protecting consumers, by making it harder for operators to compete with unlicensed operators.
The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has said that he would tread cautiously in the matter of issuing new regulations concerning the country’s domestic online gambling sector, administered by PAGCOR. The debate over whether to impose new, stricter measures on the activity or ban it outright has been raging.
The American Gambling Association (AGA) has released a new consumer survey in which US players said that they recognized sweepstakes casinos as a form of gambling and played there mostly to win real money. This is part of AGA’s efforts to convince policymakers that sweepstakes should be regulated under the same laws as traditional online gambling, as they constitute a loophole as things stand.
Michigan has gone after more illegal gambling websites, naming six domains that have been handed a cease-and-desist letter each and a 14-day compliance period. The new domains are targeted under the same provisions used in previous cases, and going after operators that have not formally obtained a license to offer their gambling products by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
Responsible gambling
Responsible gambling was a huge topic this week for several important reasons and developments.
First, the National Council on Problem Gambling welcomed a decision by theSenate Appropriations Committee to include a provision that will now directly allocate money for examining and researching gambling-related harm among US military service members, and how gambling affects personnel.
New comparative research presented to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, and tracking results from several years, has revealed two major trends in the Bay State and in its gamblers. First, public sentiment against gambling is shifting – with more than half of all gamblers now viewing the activity as causing more harm than good.
Another major trend is that the number of people experiencing gambling-related harm is also going up in the state, indicating that new measures could be necessary to check the spread of the problem.
The voice of the industry
In the latest round-up of the Voice of the industry category, Casino Guru News has had the opportunity to present readers with more relevant insights from some of the industry’s most relevant decision-makers.
Ivan Kurochkin, Partner and Head of Consulting Department and Eastern Europe at 4H Agency, has spoken about how the Netherlands, despite some setbacks in regulation, has established a new enforcement standard.
"Of course, the KSA has always paid close attention to operators, but after the recent actions against affiliates, it is clear that the regulator is becoming even stricter and more focused on any violations– regardless of who commits them," Kurochkin explained in his Opinion piece for Casino Guru News.
Moving on, Casino Guru News had the opportunity to catch up with David Natroshvili, Founder and CEO of Spribe, a company that has completely revolutionized the crash game genre and has proven that crash games are not a "failed product."
With their sights on 100 million active players by 2028, the interview with Natroshvili is well worth watching in its entirety!
Not least, Casino Guru News spoke with Stars Partners’ CEO Mares S., who revealed much of the company’s inner workings and how it builds strong retention funnels.
