Ireland has long been debating whether gambling is a bit too much in the country, with Senator Mark Wall, the Labor Party’s sports spokesperson, pointing to Belgium as a good example of what should happen in his country as well.

Block Gambling Ads Now, Says Irish Lawmaker

According to Wall, the time is right to go all gung-ho on gambling advertisements and effectively ban all of it. He has already worked on a piece of legislation to address what he has long seen as an issue. Wall believes that banning gambling advertisements would help protect problem gambling and accuses companies of “mass preying” on vulnerable individuals.

He hailed Belgium for recognizing the ill that came out of gambling advertisements and congratulated the country for acting unequivocally in its determination to tamp down the pernicious influence of gambling. Wall explained:

Government had an opportunity to be a real leader in this space by working with the Labor Party and introduce our legislation that would do the same here.

Senator Mark Wall, the Labor Party’s sports spokesperson

Wall argued that the proliferation of gambling advertisements in the country was too obvious to deny. He argued that gambling ads were ubiquitous from morning to evening, and they penetrated every medium – physical spaces, sports games, and digital.

“The gambling industry has worked hard to create a strong link in our minds between major sports events and betting,” he noted. Wall’s remarks echoed that of Belgian lawmakers. He insisted that gambling ads were feeding off gambling addicts in generating revenue and driving customers to use specific apps and brands.

Wall also insists that the industry is working very hard to entrench that sports and gambling go hand-in-hand, creating subtle correlations in people’s minds and possibly pushing vulnerable people to addiction. The politician was adamant that the current level of gambling proliferation called for stricter responses. He said that the same argument went about tobacco and insisted that time was ticking.

In 2021, the company said that it would seek to reduce its carbon footprint by 80% at the very least, following up on that ambitious target throughout the past years. Now, the company claims that it has well exceeded its original targets.

For a Greener and Sustainable Future of the Gambling Industry

According to Zitro, this was possible through investment in IT equipment as well as a focus on creating more efficient and eco-friendly offices. Zitro scored additional green points by making a shift towards renewable energy, with the Barcelona technology campus now fully powered by such energy sources.

Zitro has obtained an ISO 14064-1 certification, effectively setting a golden standard for the entire industry to follow and aspire to. A sustainable future would give the company more leeway in rolling out its content as well as focus on significantly scaling its product offer with a minimum environmental impact.

Commenting on this achievement, Johnny Viveiros, Zitro’s founder, said that the company was very proud of having achieved the certification and looked forward to further reducing Zitro’s impact on the environment. “We will continue to invest in sustainable practices to ensure that we meet our goals and lead by example in the industry,” Ortiz concluded.

Companies have been looking to actively reduce their impact on the environment. Apart from Zitro, Entain, Kindred Group, Caesars Entertainment, and a number of other prominent gambling industry stakeholders have vowed to slash their carbon footprint and encourage greener policies as part of their corporate structures.

The UK’s racing industry was of a similar mind, embarking on a plan of its own to achieve better environmental sustainability.

FIAU conducted an investigation that uncovered a serious need for an overhaul in Casino Malta’s internal procedures, especially ones concerning risk assessment, but other administrative shortcomings were also heavily outlined in the resulting report.

Multiple Breaches Established in FIAU Investigation

According to information from Malta Today, FIAU’s investigation found that the Eden Leisure Gaming-owned St Julian’s casino systematically failed in enhanced due diligence processes, especially with identifiable high-risk players. The report has it that this was evident in around 28% of the cases that FIAU reviewed during its investigation.

Another reason for the substantial €229,000 (approximately $242,500) fine was that Casino Malta breached several other laws, in addition to established regulations on risk assessments. This means that FIAU’s investigation and administrative fee will most likely be followed by multiple follow-up directives, which can also have consequences for the establishment.

FIAU’s investigation also uncovered that in around 20% of the profiles reviewed, the players were assigned a low or medium risk rating. This was despite their exhibiting behavior that can be a flag for high risk of money laundering, such as the size of the transactions, for example. 10% of the reviewed profiles didn’t have a permanent address, and 6% had given incorrect foreign addresses.

Another serious deficiency was that the casino often relied on self-reported information about its customers’ occupation details, with around 12% of the profiles providing only basic information. The same approach was extended to establishing the source of funds checks, without which a casino’s risk assessment practices can’t be adequate.

Examples of the Casino’s Risk Assessment Deficiencies

Multiple examples of the casino’s breaches were made public. A Turkish company chief executive was allowed to gamble more than €1 million (more than $1.06 million) all in cash from eight different banks and was assigned a low-risk status. Another player gambled more than €2 million ($2.12 million) and lost almost half of that and his SOF check consisted of establishing that his funds were coming from a reputable bank.

FIAU said that this was not sufficient for establishing the source of funds and only served as information about the flow of funds. This is a drastically insufficient approach to the risk assessment process, and there were multiple other instances where the casino’s risk assessment and due diligence came up short of what is legally required.

A former politically exposed person (PEP) was allocated a low-risk rating, which is incorrect. The PEP registered in 2015 and after the casino identified that he was allegedly involved in tax evasion and bribery in 2019, he was still allowed to gamble with large amounts of cash. FIAU added that the casino also failed to submit a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) for the case.

Another STR-related failing was with a business owner who owed €500,000 in unpaid taxes – a fact the casino was aware of – and was still assigned the low-risk rating by the casino in 2019. Such a large sum owed in back taxes can be indicative of possible tax evasion – another well-known fact. However, because of the casino’s insufficient customer risk assessment (CRA), an STR was not submitted.

Colorado-based gaming and hospitality operator Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. revealed this week the new name of the former Sands Regency in Reno, Nevada, rebranding it to J Resort.

Raising the Bar

Almost six years after Jacobs Entertainment had acquired Sand Regency Casino Hotel and some additional land on Fourth Street in a deal worth around $10 million, Jacobs Entertainment commenced the next stage of the property development starting with its rebranding.

Jeff Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Jacobs Entertainment, was pleased to announce J Resort as the company’s flagship property and Nevada’s first art and entertainment-themed resort during the unveiling of the resort’s new name on Tuesday.

“J Resort is raising the bar for all northern Nevada resort properties,” Jacobs said, outlining that paintings and sculptures worth over $100 million will feature throughout the property, in addition to the sculptures along Reno’s Neon Line.

Jacobs Entertainment acquired a one or two-star resort, spent five years on land assemblage, design and construction, and is now ready to invest $300 million in two phases to transform the property into a tourist destination.

Jonathan Boulware, vice president of Nevada operations at Jacobs Entertainment also spoke at the unveiling of the property’s new name, adamant that “people aren’t going to believe this was once the Sands.”

Referring to criticism that by purchasing the land the company has kicked people out of their homes and reduced the amount of affordable housing, Boulware explained that those living in the motels “had the most horrific living conditions,” and their relocation into apartments “warms” his heart, making him and everyone at the company feel good about their contribution to the community.

Two Phases of Remodeling

Having opened the property with half of the casino’s floor and more than 500 remodeled hotel rooms immediately, Jacobs Entertainment will remodel another 500 rooms in the next three months, and bring new amenities, including a steakhouse, a three-meal restaurant, and a new front desk in what is touted as the first phase.

The first phase is planned to complete in June and will also see a completely remodeled casino to include over 600 new gaming positions, the addition of more than 1,000 parking spaces, additional artwork, as well as food and beverage outlets.

The second phase will include an extension of the gaming floor to include another 400 positions and the addition of a 6,500-seat Mountain View outdoor amphitheater, an outdoor pool, a 3,500-seat showroom, a 400-seat dinner theater, over 100,000 square feet of conference space, additional parking spaces, and over 1,200 remodeled hotel rooms.

Jacobs was pleased to see that the company has “doubled down on Reno,” confident that J Resort and The Glow Plaza Festival Grounds would contribute to further growing and evolving the Reno/Spark and Lake Tahoe region.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced its Integrity Unit has established a data-sharing agreement with the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) as part of its efforts to protect the integrity of the sport.

Monitoring Suspicious Betting Activity

The strategic partnership with the MGA will focus on monitoring suspicious betting activity on badminton matches and events administered by the sports body and will serve as a further display of the governing body’s commitment to maintaining a clean and fair competition in the sport.

“This partnership helps the BWF Integrity Unit protect the integrity of the sport with MGA helping to facilitate the sharing of data between betting operators and the BWF Integrity Unit,” said BWF secretary general, Thomas Lund, hailing the partnership “as being a deterrent to potential corruptors of the sport.”

As part of its anti-match manipulation operations, BWF gathers information about players, matches and competitions, analyzes the data in detail and uses intelligence in cases where analysis suggests possible match manipulation. For the MGA, signing data-sharing agreements with sports governing bodies is central to ensuring the proper function of the gambling regulator.

Antonio Zerafa, head of financial crime compliance at the MGA, commented on the strategic partnership, pleased to see the BWF join the long list of sports governing bodies “whom the Authority assists on a practical level,” and looking forward to working with their Integrity Unit on potential issues.

Fighting Doping and Match Manipulation

Based within the BWF office in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, the BWF Integrity Unit focuses on keeping badminton free from doping and match manipulation, managing the anti-doping and anti-match manipulation programs on a day-to-day basis, while raising awareness with the badminton community by providing information, education and implementing various deterrence initiatives.

The strategic agreement with the MGA is the second major development for the sports governing body’s Integrity Unit following an agreement with Stats Perform earlier in the month focused on monitoring live betting activities.

BWF’s Integrity Unit and Stats Perform announced a new partnership under which the data provider agreed to deliver its integrity services to the sport governing body, bringing its advanced technology to expand its capabilities to invest in suspicious betting events and identify corruption and help protect the integrity of the sport.

Provider of gaming content and software solutions to the online gaming industry, CT Interactive, announced its Italian footprint has expanded after launches with two other brands of Slot Plus.

Strengthening Ties with Slot Plus

The existing agreement with the Italian operator Slot Plus saw CT Interactive going live with two additional brands in the online gaming market in the country – chescommessa.it and hcasino.it – further expanding its presence in Italy.

Commenting on the announcement, Milena Tsankarska, head of Business Development of EMEA at CT Interactive, highlighted the company’s objective to offer its clients “products that will guarantee the best possible experience with the highest-quality gaming content.”

“We are very proud of the way our portfolio is accepted in the Italian market and that operators we have worked with in the past continue to reach for us and our new products,” she added, pleased to see that CT Interactive’s games are slowing but surely winning the hearts of Italian online casino players.

The launch of CT Interactive’s content with Slot Plus’ two other iGaming brands is further strengthening the ties between the games provider and the operator, following the last year’s content launch with Slot Plus’ main brand, Signor-Bet.it.

“Product excellence has always been our top priority; this is the reason why we are very selective when it comes to partners, we collaborate with,” commented the director of Slot Plus, Antonio Distante, outlining that “the award-winning games of CT Interactive managed to impress us with their striking designs, amazing sounds, and dynamics.

Their products have huge success with our clients, and this is why we continue to work with them.

Antonio Distante, director of Slot Plus

Italy, Europe and Beyond

The launch with Slot Plus’ two other brands is the latest expansion of CT Interactive’s presence in the Italian iGaming market, following the content deal with MondoGaming in December. CT Interactive agreed to deliver 20 of its games and help the Italian operator boost its product offering.

Also in December, the Bulgarian-based content provider teamed with TimelessTech to expand its presence into new global markets, utilizing TimelessTech’s access to these markets due to the platform’s Curacao license.

There was another key development for CT Interactive in Italy, a market where it acquired its provider license in 2021, a month earlier when the casino content supplier received certification for 10 jackpot games.

In 2023, CT Interactive was particularly active, signing content agreements with European and global partners, including Belgian operator PepperMill Casino, Lithuanian iGaming operator 7bet.lt, and content aggregator QTech Games to expand its product reach into Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Sports data and tech company Genius Sports has, through its Second Spectrum subsidiary, extended its partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Under the multi-year deal expansion, Second Spectrum will be named as the official NBA league pass augmentation provider. The deal will also see the brand as the association’s official basketball analytics provider.

As agreed by the entities involved, Second Spectrum will work with the NBA on researching and developing a next-gen tech platform called Dragon. The latter solution will track “mesh” data, helping the NBA synthesize million of on-court basketball data points.

Second Spectrum Will Bolster NBA Data

The official announcement reads that the NBA will use Second Spectrum’s augmentation tech to develop automated and enhanced graphics based on optical on-court basketball data. The data will power alternate telecasts appearing on NBA League Pass. As a result, the telecasts will be able to include reliable team and player statistical insights incorporated right into the stream.

By leveraging these enhanced data, the NBA will be able to greatly improve viewers’ experience. Fervent sports fans and bettors who desire detailed analytics will be able to further immerse themselves in the game.

In addition, Genius Sports announced that all official NBA tracking data will continue to be integrated into its top-notch basketball insight and analytics engine. In return, the sports data specialist will continue to provide its services to all 30 NBA teams. All franchises currently rely on Second Spectrum’s cutting-edge machine learning to better understand the game and make important decisions.

CEO Locke Is Happy to Continue Supporting the League

Mark Locke, the chief executive officer of Genius Sports, commented on the extended agreement between Second Spectrum and the NBA. He lauded the association as one of the most technologically advanced leagues in global sports. Because of that, its teams, fans, broadcasters and media partners are always seeking best-in-class innovations. And Genius Sports is will continue to supply exactly that.

Locke added that he is happy to continue working with the NBA and is glad that the league trusts in the potential of the upcoming Dragon platform.

We’re thrilled to expand our long-term partnership with the NBA. We are proud that the NBA shares our vision that Dragon can solve the technology challenges of the future.

Mark Locke, CEO, Genius Sports

Genius Sports was recently selected as the official F2P partner of XFL. A few days ago, the sports specialist expanded its team with the appointment of new independent directors.