A look at recent and emerging gambling stories from around the globe

Each year I put together an article on the top five non-North American stories affecting the gambling industry and I have had readers ask for more frequent updates on these stories. Thus, I have decided to list the top emerging stories from all other continents including Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and South America. I also included a story on a country in the Caribbean which I realize isn’t a continent, but is of interest. I would have liked to include a story on Antarctica as well, but it appears that penguins are not big gamblers nor are the workers at the Vostok weather station. Mind you when the average daily temperature is minus 65 degrees, Russian workers have bigger concerns like not freezing to death than worrying about winning a bet on a soccer game between Dynamo Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg. For the this global gambling news update we’ll start in Asia and Australia and move our way west.

ASIA

The legality of gambling in India is left up to the states, but only the states of Goa and Sikkim have land-based casinos. Goa, Sikkim and Daman also allowed online gambling. However, a report that was released in the country last year indicated that online gambling was causing a great deal of financial hardship after 450 million people lost over $2.3 billion USD online and on apps since online gambling was legalized. This led to calls by legislators and anti-gambling groups to address the issue, especially given the high level of poverty in the country. Consequently, a bill called The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gambling was put forward by India’s legislature earlier this year asking for a ban on all online gambling, and in August of this year the Indian government passed the bill overwhelmingly.

eSports and social gambling games received a carve out and the government said it would be encouraging and promoting eSports and non-money social gambling. Under the law, anyone caught offering, promoting or financing online gambling could be jailed for up to three years. India’s Prime Minister justified the law saying that a third of the Indian population lost money with online gambling, leading to widespread addiction, financial stress and suicide. The government also said the industry was wrought with fraud, money laundering and financing of terrorism and a ban was the only solution.

While the ban has been heralded by the government and anti-gambling groups, gambling industry groups said that the law, which took effect as of October 1st, will lead to gamblers simply betting offshore and a better solution would have been for the country to regulate and tax the industry as is done in North America and Europe, and to demand problem gambling tools be offered by all gambling sites. Many cricket clubs are also upset with the ban. Several teams in the Indian Premiere League have advertising agreements with fantasy sports betting apps which are also included in the ban, and with this bill the teams now have to pivot to promote the product and find new revenue sources. Moreover, there has been an outcry of anger from gamblers who said this move is a violation of their civil rights.

Consequently, there have been several appeals launched that challenge the law and India’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear them all as a batch and will make a ruling in the near future.

Australia 

One of the leading online slots and table game operators, Light and Wonder (formerly Scientific Games), announced that it was going to delist from the NASDAQ and have a sole listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as of November 13th. When announcing the move Light and Wonder said that the ASX is a liquid market for online gambling and Australia has a deeper understanding of the gambling sector which is crucial for growth and profitability. It also provides the chance at a more focused approach to capital management. What the company didn’t say is that the NASDAQ, which was once seen as the premier stock exchange for tech companies, has not lived up to its hype, with Light and Wonder shares declining in value on that exchange, but increasing dramatically on the ASX after the company started listing there in 2023.

Light and Wonder has a market capitalization of $6.7 billion USD and in 2024 had revenue of $3.2 billion, a 10% increase over 2023, but investors on the NASDAQ did not see any real increase in their stock value, while investors on the ASX did. It is expected that once Light and Wonder moves solely to the ASX its market capitalization will exceed $8 billion and could approach $10 billion within a year or two. The company hired Goldman Sachs and Jarden Australia to analyze and implement the delisting from the NASDAQ and provide measures for the sole listing on the ASX.

Investors in the United States holding Light and Wonder stock on the NASDAQ will have  to go through a complicated procedure using CHESS Depository Interests (CDIs) via a broker to trade on the ASX or they can wait to the delisting and then try to trade them on the Over the Counter Market afterward, although most trading analysts say that is very risky.

According to some analysts, Light and Wonder is just the start and many other gambling companies currently trading on the NASDAQ or Dow Jones may start looking at other stock markets that are more friendly to gambling.

Africa 

In the years before the world wide web was widely available, bettors in the UK and other parts of Europe had to pay a 10% tax to the government on every bet as a privilege of being able to bet. That was seen as outrageous, so when the Internet became a viable way to bet, many European countries began to move offshore to tax havens like Antigua, Malta, Costa Rica and Gibraltar where the gambling companies didn’t have to charge bettors the tax at the source. This eventually changed how governments taxed gambling and instead of charging a tax to bettors at the source of the bet, governments charged at tax to the businesses on gross gambling revenue. And for some countries like the U.S., they get tax from gamblers who are required to record gambling income on their income tax return.

While still a contentious issue, the gambling world was shocked last week when Kenya announced it was going to charge a 5% tax on all withdrawals by bettors from e-Wallets. Prior to that there was a 20% tax on gambling winnings. The 5% tax on withdrawals is seen by most as grossly unfair, since it charges a tax on the withdrawals even if a player didn’t win. So, for example, if someone deposits the equivalent of $1,000 to an eWallet, loses $200 and decides to withdraw the remaining $800 to their bank account, the government will still take a $40 tax even though the bettor lost $200! The Kenyan Revenue Authority, which is enforcing the new law that is a part of the Finance Act of 2025, insists the new levy is only being done to simplify the process of collecting revenue and enforcing the collection of tax from gamblers plus it will double the tax revenue to the country from just $35 million to almost $74 million. The Kenyan Parliamentary Budget Office, however, has opposed the rule saying that it is grossly unfair, since it’s a blanket tax that will force even losers to pay tax, and that will drive bettors offshore and will stymie the fast growing Kenyan gambling market that has spurred on tech startups and ingenuity.

"The lack of clarity and perceived unfairness could not only push players away from regulated platforms but also undermine the very revenue goals the government hopes to achieve,"  a spokesperson for the Budget Office said.

The question also arises whether eWallets like PayPal, Neteller or Skrill would be willing to agree to collect the tax or whether they would just withdraw their services from Kenya, especially since those wallets are used for many other purposes besides gambling. The main eWallets solely for gambling in Kenya are M-Pesa and SportPesa which deposit funds directly to the gambling sites, so it will be easy for the government to enforce the rule for those companies, which are completely based in Kenya.

he act was signed into law on June 25th of this year and took effect on July 1st, but it seems that the change was only recognized in the last few weeks by bettors who likely had money in ewallets and were looking to withdraw (possibly due to the end of a major sports season). Consequently, gambling sites been hearing many cries of foul. There is some concern that other jurisdictions may be looking at Kenya to see if it’s a viable method to collect money but it’s hard to see even the most gambling unfriendly governments imposing a tax on people for something that may not even be a gambling win.

Europe

One of the most interesting stories of the last 15 years was the SNAFU in Germany. The following are the CliffsNotes version of the situation.

-- In 2012 the National government tried to legalize online gambling by offering online sports betting licenses to 20 operators as part of a National Online gambling bill. All casino gambling was to be illegal.
-- The licenses were given mostly to local operators which led to companies outside of Germany and Austria to appeal to the EU courts saying the rule violated EU law.
-- In 2014 The National government increased the licenses to 40 after the EU courts ruled their original plan was illegal but the courts said this still wasn’t sufficient.
-- The state of Schleswig-Holstein opted out of the national plan and told companies across Europe they could operate with a Schleswig-Holstein license and offer both sports betting and casinos. The national government tried to stop it but was unsuccessful as courts said SH had the right to run their own gambling industry.
-- In 2015 a new government was voted into office in Schleswig-Holstein and said they would follow the national plan but they were voted out again in 2019 and the new government said they would no longer agree to the national plan.
-- In the meantime, German courts along with the EU told the national government the gambling plan was illegal so the national government abandoned their decade long plan in favor of a new Interstate Treaty on Gambling Act which took effect in 2021. Under the plan there were unlimited licenses for operators who could offer sports, casino and poker as long as they paid a hefty license fee and agreed to a long list of regulations including not targeting problem gamblers. There was also an advertising ban on ads during games. More importantly it allowed the 16 German states to formulate their own rules on iGaming.
-- In the years following Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein all introduced rules that gave the state power over running table games and just this year the state of Baden-Wurttemberg introduced legislation that allows the state run monopoly to offer table games while other companies are shut out. Non-government sites can offer sports, slots and poker but table games like blackjack are restricted to the state monopoly site. The state government is implementing a tax on gross winnings beginning at 15% and could be as high as 25% depending on the amount of revenue generated.

Many analysts in the North America have pointed to Germany and all these different state run policies as a possible way that the U.S. and Canada can have a national gambling law that all states and provinces must abide by, but still have local control of how casino games are handled - whether it’s in an open market or run by state monopolies. It also shows that with cooperation, a country can agree to something that is in the best interests of every state and the country as well.

South America 

Many countries are concerned about people gambling who can ill afford to lose money. Brazil has seen a big uptick in this issue since online gambling was legalized in January of 2025. Consequently, two bills have been put forward in the country which are making analysts and lawyers take note. The first is a bill introduced in the Senate that proposes raising the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21 while limiting the monthly betting per player to the equivalent of one minimum wage or approximately $200 USD. The bill also looks to ban gambling sponsorships. Needless to say, gambling proponents and gambling sites have said the proposed regulations are overly restrictive and intrusive since there are many gamblers in Brazil that could easily afford to wager far more than $200 without it being financially overbearing.

Brazil also has introduced legislation that aims to stop bettors on social assistance from gambling. Brazilian law requires users to register for assistance with an individual tax ID number and also have a separate bank account for online gambling. Under the new law the government will require all licensed sports betting operators to check a centralized system whenever a new user registers or makes a deposit to ensure they aren’t on a welfare list.

According to the government 19.2 million families or 50 million people were on a family allowance or continuous cash benefits, and this is a way to ensure that people are using money for the essentials of life like food and housing and not for gambling.

While the new law has not had much pushback there are many gambling proponents saying the Brazilian government is making a restrictive rule for very few people who gamble and that the government would be far better off following other countries that have measures in place that truly stop those who can’t afford to gamble.

Caribbean 

The last story of interest in the last few weeks comes from Curacao.

The country, which hosts many large gambling sites including Pinnacle Sports and Stake.com, came under a lot of fire in September when the entire supervisory board of the Curacao Gaming Authority (CGA) quit en masse. In 2024 the Ministry of Finance led by Javier Silvania approved a new gambling law called the Landsverordening op de Kansspelen (LOK) which was supposed to make gambling in the country more transparent and stop issues related to money laundering and corruption.

In particular, the use of cryptocurrency as payments was believed to have allowed criminals to use gambling sites to launder money and Silvania said without any big changes the country faced being blacklisted by other locales who would deem their regulatory system as inadequate. Silvania also said the current system had inadequate oversight and was ripe for the potential exploitation of licensing by criminal organizations. He said that gambling companies had already started leaving Curacao over the years as a result of regulatory rules, but they still had 200 gambling licenses in the country and 1,000 pending applications so something needed to be done to make Curacao once again a country deemed reputable and viable. The gambling regulator for Curacao was the Gaming Control Board until July of 2025 when it was turned over to the CGA, which had a mandate to modernize and tighten supervision of its gambling market.

Under the rules the CGA was still to report to Silvania, but it appears Prime Minister Gilmer Pisas has taken control of the CGA and wants the Gaming Authority to report directly to him instead. Supervisors said this is a clear violation of the  requirement that the entity be separate from the leader of the country and decided to quit rather than report to him directly. It’s uncertain why the Prime Minister wants the Authority to report to him, although he indicated concerns about Silvania’s ethics. Others disagree and say he is the problem and simply wants to keep control of the Gaming Authority so that they wouldn’t go too far with regulations. This makes some ask what exactly Pisas is getting from the gambling industry personally.

It seems the supervisors don’t trust the Prime Minister and are loyal to Silvania so they decided to quit as a group, which has left the gambling regulator with no supervisory oversight whatsoever. And companies that were prepared to return to Curacao are having second thoughts since the country is seen as a place of chaos at the moment. In addition, many of the pending licensees are prepared to withdraw the applications until a clear regulatory framework is in place and all the players and their motives are known.

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