In a press release on Friday, the Netherlands Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) revealed that it arrested a 26-year-old male on April 29 on suspicion of money laundering, embezzlement, and fraud.

The authorities searched the Dutch national’s residence, seizing assets worth more than €11.4m ($12m), such as a luxury car, real estate, and cryptocurrency. It said that further arrests could be in the cards.

Raising suspicions

The FIOD started looking into ZKasino on April 25 after receiving complaints from people who invested in the blockchain casino project. Investigators worked closely with cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance and Investigations team to freeze funds.

The FIOD intends to return the money to the victims if they cooperate with the investigation. A Telegram group named “ZKasino Legal Task Force” was set up by people impacted by the scam; the FIOD posted in the channel when the arrest was made.

Investors began to question the legitimacy of ZKasino shortly after the network went live on April 20. More than 10,000 investors had invested 10,515 ETH ($33m) on the promise of earning rewards for their locked-up funds.

The platform’s owners swapped the ETH with its $ZKAS tokens, which they put into the Lido staking protocol. The website also no longer showed a statement saying investors would be guaranteed to receive their returns in ETH. Numerous cryptocurrency exchanges quickly moved to cancel their plans to list the $ZKAS token over these suspicious actions.

Parliament restricted gambling advertising on Tuesday. The texts were adopted unanimously at second reading with 198 votes in favour.

Advertising of gambling is prohibited in radio and television programmes, except for the broadcasting of the draws of the Bulgarian Sports Totalizator and their announcement, in printed works and electronic media, including websites, on state-owned and municipal property and on sites licensed under this law.

It is allowed to advertise gambling on outdoor constructed billboard-type facilities located no less than 300 meters from educational institutions – schools, universities, kindergartens, community centers, playgrounds, etc.

Advertising of gambling is allowed on equipment, sports facilities, sports halls, stadiums and swimming pools, materials or products of sports federations, clubs, associations, and organizations, except on sports equipment, materials or products intended for use by minors.

Gambling with slot machines and in a gaming, casino will only be allowed in settlements with more than 10,000 inhabitants, giving operators a three-year period to bring their operations in line with the adopted changes.

The Municipality of Salerno, through a union ordinance, has established that for public gaming halls and betting halls (including bowling and bingo halls) with gaming as their exclusive or main activity, and in which access to minors is prohibited, the following timetable must be observed: from 10am to 2am.

For businesses - equipped with slot machines - with exclusive or prevalent activities other than gaming (bars, tobacconists, etc.), and in which access to minors is not prohibited, the machines may remain switched on during the following hours: from 9 am to 12.30 pm, and from 14.30 pm to 23 pm.

The ordinance does not apply to businesses that have installed exclusively gaming machines without cash prizes and in any case to machines without cash prizes installed outdoors inside public establishments.

The UK government has published its response to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons observing sessions and consultations related to the Gambling Review. 

Chaired by Dame Caroline Dinenage (MP), in December, the Committee published its ‘second report of sessions 2023-to-2024’ related to implementing changes and proposals outlined by the Gambling Review’s White Paper.

The remit saw the Committee underline the 17 overarching policy proposals of the White Paper to include “new protections for online gambling consumers; the creation of a statutory gambling levy to raise money for problem gambling research, prevention and treatment; the relaxation of certain restrictions of land-based gambling premises, as well as new powers for local authorities which licence them; and the creation of a non-statutory gambling ombudsman to adjudicate disputes between gambling companies and the customers relating to social responsibility failings.” 

Further proposals include strengthening the Gambling Commission with new powers to tackle unlicensed online gambling, and a review of how the Commission’s fees are set and applied.

Observing the White Paper’s proceedings, the Committee detailed recommendations that “the government must set out a detailed timetable for the delivery of the White Paper’s proposals, including when relevant primary legislation will be introduced to Parliament.” 

However, the government expressed its commitment to proceeding with the consultations on the White Paper swiftly and has highlighted the ongoing work to implement the proposed measures.  

Work to date includes the three public consultations on key proposals from the White Paper related to new land-based gambling measures ,the design of the Statutory Levy for safer gambling, and new stake limits for online slots. 

A representative of the Gibraltar Gaming Division specializing in sporting integrity issues has attended a high-level workshop jointly organized by the International Olympic Committee and UEFA at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was a seminar to optimize prevention regarding fraudulent sports betting and match-fixing.

The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) hosted a UEFA seminar on match-fixing at the Rock, which was also attended by representatives from the Gaming Division. Andrew Lyman, Gibraltar's Gambling Commissioner, highlighted: “Work on integrity in sport and engaging with parties interested in match-fixing is an important part of our work that often goes unnoticed.”

In the 22/23 season, the Gibraltar Gaming Division received 42 betting integrity reports from betting operators and 13 requests for assistance from the Olympic Movement Unit on Prevention of Manipulation of Sports Competitions. In addition, according to the Gibraltarian authorities, he participated in many communications to national and international sports governing bodies (including FIFA and UEFA), as well as in engagement with law enforcement.