Casino News - A surge in iGaming fraud, China tightens controls and more

Cases of fraud in iGaming have increased by 64%

The company in the field of developing customer identification solutions Sumsub announced statistics for the last two years. The most common types of fraud:

• abuse of bonuses - 69.9%,
• money laundering - 9.9%,
• payment fraud - 5.9%,
• fraudulent chargebacks - 5.6%,
• sure bets - 2.3%,
• other - 6.4%.

According to the study, the leading geographies in terms of frequency of gambling fraud (as of the first quarter of 2024) are: Bangladesh - 8.5% of all players, Indonesia - 8%, South Korea - 6.6%, Pakistan - 6.1%, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 6%. The number of cases using deepfake photos on KYC increased 10 times from 2022 to 2023. In the first quarter of this year, the use of fake photos accounted for 73% of all recorded fraudulent activities.

Belgium raises minimum gambling age to 21 from June 1

Belgium has become the second European Union (EU) country after Greece to raise the minimum age for gambling to 21. Also, land-based operators will begin to maintain a register of players which can be viewed by police officers, as well as the local regulator. The Belgian Association of Gambling Operators (BAGO) opposed the new tightening measures, accusing the country's authorities of populism. “BAGO has repeatedly spoken out in favor of limiting gambling advertising, but more and more tightening measures are seriously hitting the legal market - politicians are simply ignoring the solutions we have proposed and choosing populist formulas that push the player towards the gray market,” BAGO Chairman Tom De Klerk said. In addition, from September, Belgian operators will be prohibited from conducting promotions, giving out free bets and bonuses.

Bookmaker DraftKings closes deal to acquire lottery app Jackpocket for $750 million

The American bookmaker DraftKings has completed the acquisition of the technology company Jackpocket, which developed the lottery application of the same name. Jackpocket is a mobile application for purchasing lottery tickets in 16 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Additionally, the company recently launched an online casino in New Jersey. The deal cost $750 million one of the leading US bookmakers, while DraftKings believes that this purchase will bring the company up to $340 million in additional revenue annually. “We look forward to continuing to enhance value for our customers and shareholders as we integrate Jackpocket into the DraftKings ecosystem,” Jason Robins CEO and co-founder of DraftKings said. DraftKings previously reported first-quarter revenue growth of 53%.

China tightens controls on citizens gambling abroad

Law enforcement officials from China and South Korea discussed steps to improve enforcement of the law which prohibits Chinese citizens from visiting and playing in foreign casinos. Innovation in methods to detect and combat cross-border gambling between two East Asian countries will be at the core. Let us remind you that the Chinese authorities are working actively to combat the leakage of finances from the country. The PRC leadership believes that the financial costs of the Chinese on gambling in other countries reach 145 billion US dollars of the potential state budget. The current meeting shows the Chinese government's seriousness in stopping cross-border gambling, having previously stepped up surveillance measures in the Philippines and Sri Lanka to bolster security efforts. In a post on WeChat, the Chinese Embassy stressed that it still considers gambling abroad to be illegal. The key point of the Chinese government's statement is that it cannot enforce consumer protections if citizens gamble at overseas casinos, even if they are completely legal premises in their respective jurisdictions.