Stricter ID checks proposed by UK Gambling Commission
UK’s Gambling Commission has proposed tougher ID checks to ensure that self-excluded gamblers cannot cheat the system to place bets. It follows the admission of the head of GamStop, a scheme designed to help problem gamblers, that she was deeply concerned following an investigation by BBC Radio 5 Live that found a gambler who had self-referred […]
UK’s Gambling Commission has proposed tougher ID checks to ensure that self-excluded gamblers cannot cheat the system to place bets.
It follows the admission of the head of GamStop, a scheme designed to help problem gamblers, that she was deeply concerned following an investigation by BBC Radio 5 Live that found a gambler who had self-referred could still place bets online by simply changing their user details.
A Gambling Commission spokesperson said they were already aware of the issues raised in the investigation.
The spokesperson added: “We will shortly announce the outcome of a consultation on ID verification and if our proposals are implemented later this year, gambling businesses will have to prevent customers gambling using incorrect details.”
“GamStop is also still in its testing phase and is working on improvements. All self-exclusion systems need to be as effective as possible to protect consumers and once we are satisfied with the scheme we’ll expect all operators to take part.”
More than 50,000 people have signed up to GamStop, a service that launched in April 2018, to allow addicts to ban themselves from online betting platforms.
But the investigation found that the system did not work very well and could easily be exploited. GamStop’s CEO, Fiona Palmer, admitted the service was not working well enough.
She said: “We are taking on board the feedback and we are looking to improve the scheme.”
Matt Zarb-Cousin, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said the findings of the investigation were not surprising.
“Hopefully, the system improves in light of this and it does need to be multilayered, with lots of self-exclusion forms working together,” he said.
He added: “Even if GamStop was completely accepted as self-exclusion it would only apply to British gambling sites and sites not licensed with the Gambling Commission would still be accessible. To be effective [self-exclusion] has to be layered … I am involved with Gamban and it has been evaluated as the most effective blocking software.”
Trevor Pearce reappointed to UKGC
Trevor Pearce has been reappointed to the UK Gambling Commission’s board of directors. Pearce’s second four-year term will commence on July 1, and runs until the end of June 2023. He was first appointed to the UK regulator’s board in July 2015. Pearce has a background in law enforcement, having spent 40 years working in […]
Trevor Pearce has been reappointed to the UK Gambling Commission’s board of directors.
Pearce’s second four-year term will commence on July 1, and runs until the end of June 2023. He was first appointed to the UK regulator’s board in July 2015.
Pearce has a background in law enforcement, having spent 40 years working in local policing and national agencies. He spent the majority of his career working in various specialist investigation and intelligence roles, also serving as director general of both the National Crime Squad and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
Aside from his work with the Gambling Commission, Pearce is currently chair of the UK Anti-Doping organisation, as well as a trustee of the learning disability charity Canterbury Oast Trust and human trafficking pressure group Stop the Trafik.
Pearce’s reappointment comes at a time when the Commission is seeking to enhance its approach to responsible gambling, with a new strategy due to roll out early this year.
The National Responsible Gambling Strategy will come into effect when the regulator’s current three-year strategy concludes in March. The new strategy includes 12 priority actions for the Commission, ranging from consulting a culture of evaluation to piloting intervention.
As part of this process, the regulator is inviting contributions towards the new strategy on five priority areas: research to inform action, prevention, treatment, evaluation and gambling businesses. This consultation period will run until February 15.
GamCare gets ready to dispatch progressive Safer Gambling Standard
GamCare, the leading provider of information, advice, and support for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling, will be using this year’s ICE London (5-7, February, ExCeL London, UK) as a platform to unveil its Safer Gambling Standard. The new kite mark sets out to recognise gambling operators who meet and go beyond the requirements […]
GamCare, the leading provider of information, advice, and support for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling, will be using this year’s ICE London (5-7, February, ExCeL London, UK) as a platform to unveil its Safer Gambling Standard. The new kite mark sets out to recognise gambling operators who meet and go beyond the requirements of gambling industry Codes of Practice and comprises a group of 12 sets of principles for social responsibility across online, land-based and B2C operations.
Expanding on GamCare’s decision to conduct the official launch at the world’s largest gaming technology event, Development Director, Mike Kenward explained: “ICE London is the heart of the industry and THE place where the conversation around consumer protection and customer welfare should be happening. We will be announcing the full rollout of our new standard in the Consumer Protection Zone where operators should be heading in order to focus on protecting their customers and sustaining their business.”
“If operators don’t protect their customers then their customers will go somewhere they are protected,” continued Kenward. “There’s never been a better time for companies to focus on their processes and we’re hoping the industry will embrace the Safer Gambling Standard, not just because it’s the right thing to do from an ethical point of view but it’s also right from a business standpoint too.
“We will have already successfully trialed it with several operators before ICE London, but we want to do an official launch from the Consumer Protection Zone to talk people through the purpose of the standard, why they should get on board with it and what we ultimately believe it will mean to consumers. ICE London is without question the right place to launch this game-changing new standard and we’re looking forward to highlighting the operators who have already seen the positive effect when we present this in February.”
The wide-reaching new accreditation has been designed to review policy and procedures, digital interactions and corporate governance and culture with staff throughout the company, not just the customer facing team members. “For responsible gambling measures to be effective, it is essential that they are integrated into organisational culture and flow throughout the organisation. Our new standard focuses on the totality of an operation, from board members and directors down to the front line,” continued Kenward. The standard is a kite mark which incorporates the experience of our service users, the huge level of collected evidence and industry research across numerous fields as well as GamCare’s many years of experience working across the sector.”
“To support the new standard, we’re emphasising the significance of delivering comprehensive gambling related training to individuals and organisations. We’re looking forward to talking to operators about our training programmes and how any money we generate via the sale of training and the Safer Gambling Standard is used to support our charity and pay back into a cause which is hugely relevant to the industry.”
Affordable and Hassle-free High Available Infrastructure for the iGaming industry
How we helped more than 90 Startups and Large-Scale iGaming companies to reach 100% Infrastructure and Network Uptime without Commercial Software and zero Software/Licensing costs. NetShop ISP is an enterprise hosting provider providing High-end Infrastructure and IT services via 9+ Datacenters in Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom. NetShop’s philosophy is to primarily invest in its people with constant […]
How we helped more than 90 Startups and Large-Scale iGaming companies to reach 100% Infrastructure and Network Uptime without Commercial Software and zero Software/Licensing costs.
NetShop ISP is an enterprise hosting provider providing High-end Infrastructure and IT services via 9+ Datacenters in Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom.
NetShop’s philosophy is to primarily invest in its people with constant training and training labs on every trending and community-supported open-source project which will allow our DevOps teams to help in new products/technology developments internally, as well as support our Customers who opt-in for Managed Services and Hands-on Assistance.
As per our experience with hundreds of setups we implemented for Organizations in the iGaming, Fintech, Forex, Blockchain and the Tourism industries, it has shown that the majority choose the path of Commercial Products (Software and Hardware) due to the lack of time and human resources to dedicate on Research & Development for Open-source alternatives.
Although the terms of licensing are completely understandable to me as a professional, I cannot neglect the fact that many companies, especially startups, cannot afford the costs brought by the various Licenses.
The Case Study that follows demonstrates a few of the Technologies and DevOps Tools used for an iGaming Company that required a High Network Uptime with a Disaster Recovery Option as per their Business Continuity plan. The solution has been built as a Private Cloud Infrastructure, integrated with Open-source software to facilitate various key functions.
Internet
– We have provided 2 cross-connect feeds from redundant ISPs, with 99.93% Guaranteed Uptime on each feed.
Clustered Firewalls
– Our choice was to proceed with PFSense and its popular CARP feature which provides high-availability cluster on each feed.
– The best solution for this setup was the use of dedicated / bare-metal servers with a local network of 10G for faster speed within our Private vLANS.
Load Balancing
We have utilized the very popular Haproxy which provides:
– A fully customized load balancing solution with the option of adding multiple nodes per service.
– A simple first row defense against DDoS attacks with protection against TCP Syn flood attacks and slowloris attacks.
– The possibility to create ACL (Access Control List) for each sub-domain or specific path – URL with diverting traffic to specific load-balancer group of servers.
– Haproxy will also handle SSL offloading which significantly helps in reducing traffic on the front-facing web servers.
It is important to note that this configuration is replicated from the PFSense master server in real-time to the secondary PFSense through Virtual Network Interface with just 1 ping timetout.
Webservers
– We have installed Ubuntu OS (https://www.ubuntu.com/) and proceeded to create an Nginx (https://www.nginx.com/) node with multiple nodes (load balancers) that will handle the web requests to the platform servers.
– The nginx configuration has been optimized accordingly, i.e. limiting the number of connections, closing slow connections and limiting the rate of requests to prevent Layer7/HTTP DDOS attacks.
– In order to take full advantage of what Node.js offers, we were able to share child processes over server cores thus creating a load balancing within the application level.
Database Servers
– We have once more used Ubuntu OS (https://www.ubuntu.com/) and from thereon we have installed MySQL (https://www.mysql.com/) to create an InnoDB Cluster for High Availability between our nodes.
– In order to achieve maximum high availability and ensure real-time replication, we have created a group with 1(One) R/W (Read&Write) and 2 R/0 (Read/Only) using the AdminAPI.
– With the Built-in failover, the AdminAPI automatically promotes the secondary server if the primary server fails.
Game Servers
– For our Database servers we used Ubuntu OS (https://www.ubuntu.com/) and proceeded to install Apache Tomcat (https://tomcat.apache.org/) to power our large-scale, mission-critical web applications (the Games).
– For each particular Game Application we configured a Tomcat cluster for Load Balancing and Load Distribution to serve each Game.
– We have utilized Catalina (Servlet Container), Coyote (Http Connector) and Jasper (JSP engine) to finally power up the Games.
Monitoring
In such a business critical application, we understand the need to have Monitoring on critical services and be able to take preventive actions against any future threats.
– We setup an “offsite” server with Ubuntu OS and configured the Nagios Monitoring System.
– Real time monitoring for our infrastructure (Network-Server-Application monitoring) and specific services, was fully handled by the Nagios System, enhanced with custom plugins developed by our Team.
It is important to highlight that the implementation of Open-source software and technologies, still requires a serious level of expertise, in-depth knowledge, and consistency on scheduling regular Maintenance tasks.
Should anyone requires to deploy a high availability infrastructure, we recommend the following:
1. Invest time in researching, studying and experimenting each system in your own lab/testing environment.
2. Provide time for adequate alpha and beta testing prior going on production
Alternatively, our highly experienced team at NetShop ISP can lift the burden off your shoulders by taking care the setup of such highly-available infrastructure, as well as the entire maintenance so you can entirely focus on your core business.
Feel free to speak with any of our Customer service representatives to find out how your Business can benefit and utilize a highly available infrastructure in any of our Datacenters (Cyprus, Malta, UK).
MGA implements First Phase of its Sandbox Framework
As announced earlier in 2018, the Malta Gaming Authority has launched the first of two phases of its Sandbox Framework for the acceptance of Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) and the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) within the Gaming Industry on 1 January 2019. During this phase, the Authority will be accepting applications for the […]
As announced earlier in 2018, the Malta Gaming Authority has launched the first of two phases of its Sandbox Framework for the acceptance of Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) and the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) within the Gaming Industry on 1 January 2019.
During this phase, the Authority will be accepting applications for the use of DLT assets, directly or through third party service providers, by its respective licensees. This phase is planned to last for a period of 10 (ten) months, subject to an extension if deemed fit by the MGA.
The Authority has also updated its Licensee Relationship Management System (LRMS) to allow:
– New operators to apply for approvals for the use of DLT assets as part of a New Licence Application;
– Existing licensees to apply for approvals for the use of DLT assets through the application type – New or Change in Payment Methods / Financial Management Information; and
– Existing licensees participating in the sandbox environment to report VFA player liabilities through the monthly Player Funds Report. Licensees will also need to report any failed return transactions, with respect to any invalid deposits.
– An approval to participate in the Sandbox Framework is conditional on the applicant holding the relevant licence issued by the MGA, without prejudice to any other regulatory requirements stemming from other applicable legislation, including but not limited to the VFA Act and regulations issued thereunder.
The Italian government has rung in the new year by introducing a series of tax increases for gambling operators, which come into force alongside its blanket ban on gambling advertising. The Italian government has rung in the new year by presenting a progression of assessment increments for betting administrators, which come into power close by […]
The Italian government has rung in the new year by introducing a series of tax increases for gambling operators, which come into force alongside its blanket ban on gambling advertising.
The Italian government has rung in the new year by presenting a progression of assessment increments for betting administrators, which come into power close by its sweeping restriction on betting advertising.
As of January 1, iGaming licensees are subject to a tax of 25% of gross gaming revenue on online casino and bingo, an increase of 5%, with online fixed-odds betting tax increased from 22% to 24% of GGR.
Land-based sports betting operators, meanwhile, will now pay a 20% GGR tax, up from the previous rate of 18%. Virtual sports are also subject to a new 22% gross revenue tax, having previously been taxed at 20% of GGR.
This is accompanied by increases on taxes paid on amusement with prizes (AWP) machines and video lottery terminals (VLTs). The AWP tax rate has risen by 1.35 percentage points to 18.85%, while VLTs will be taxed on 6.75% of revenue following a 1.25 percentage point rise.
Payout rates have also been amended for these land-based machines, with AWP payouts reduced to 68% of stakes, and 84% for VLTs.
The new tax rates were passed late last month as part of the country’s budget for 2019, alongside broad spending plans until 2021. This aims to reduce the country’s deficit to 2.04% of Italy’s Gross Domestic Product, down from its original target of 2.4%.
The European Commission, which had originally rejected the budget proposal put forward by the country’s coalition government, accepted the revised proposals. These were then approved by the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies in the final days of 2018.
The tax hikes are likely to significantly impact both operator and suppliers’ profits from the Italian market. Playtech has already noted that it is likely to see its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2019 decline by up to €25m as a result, though may take action to mitigate the tax increase.
The duty climb corresponds with the presentation of a sweeping restriction on betting advertising, the alleged Dignity Decree, which bans betting administrators from advancing their administrations through promoting and sponsorship assentions. While existing sponsorship arrangements will be permitted to run their course, administrators will be obstructed from reestablishing the associations.
Celebrating the New Year with a Massive 30% Discount Promo
We are kicking off the New Year 2019 with a Bang! Last month, we released the upgraded version of myNetShop Hosting platform, along with 7 Self-provisioning products (SPP): Flexi VPS, FlexiMail Pro, SSL Certificates, Domain Names, cPanel Web Hosting and Cloud Backup. We invite everyone, new & existing customers, to celebrate with us the New […]
We are kicking off the New Year 2019 with a Bang!
Last month, we released the upgraded version of myNetShop Hosting platform, along with 7 Self-provisioning products (SPP): Flexi VPS, FlexiMail Pro, SSL Certificates, Domain Names, cPanel Web Hosting and Cloud Backup.
We invite everyone, new & existing customers, to celebrate with us the New Year and experience the amazing features that SPP products have to offer. Order Today any hosting services/products tagged with the “SPP” logo and get 30% OFF your order.
No Long-term Commitments, No Hidden Fees, No Usage Limits.
Promo Terms: The “GET30OFF” Offer is valid for new purchases only and is applicable to products/services that are tagged with the “SPP” logo. Discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Your discount will be applied in your shopping cart. After the initial order purchase, the discounted products will renew at the then-current renewal rate until cancelled. NetShop Internet Services Ltd reserves the right to deny use of this offer and/or cancel products/services purchased using this offer if the offer is abused or used fraudulently, as determined by NetShop ISP in its sole discretion.
Third Satellite Casino Opens at Larnaca International Airport
This Friday 21st of December the satellite casino in Larnaca is expected to operate, at the international airport. There will be only slot machines in the arrivals and departures room. Craiq Ballantyne, the Executive Director of City of Dreams, Mediterranean & Cyprus Casino said: “Larnaca serves our overall strategy as Melco to attract high-level tourists […]
This Friday 21st of December the satellite casino in Larnaca is expected to operate, at the international airport. There will be only slot machines in the arrivals and departures room.
Craiq Ballantyne, the Executive Director of City of Dreams, Mediterranean & Cyprus Casino said:
“Larnaca serves our overall strategy as Melco to attract high-level tourists with our presence at the airport.”
Dimitris Krystalli, Melco’s Game Machine Manager stated:
“It will have 28 slot machine games and 22 slot machine gaming machines. They will be just slot machines.”
The Temporary Casino in Limassol is visited daily by 1,700 people.
Krystallis also added: “84% are Cypriots and 16% are foreigners, we employ 700 people, about 600 people in the Limassol casinos and about 100 here, most of them Cypriots, and we have to bring staff from Greece because they speak Greek and have experience.”
Melco Opens Second Casino in Cyprus
Melco Resorts Entertainment’s European adventure with Cyprus continues as City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos has opened their second satellite casino in Nicosia the countries capital. Called C2 the satellite casino measures 970m2 and highlights 5 gaming tables and 50 slot machines. Property President of City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos, Craig Ballantyne, […]
Melco Resorts Entertainment’s European adventure with Cyprus continues as City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos has opened their second satellite casino in Nicosia the countries capital.
Called C2 the satellite casino measures 970m2 and highlights 5 gaming tables and 50 slot machines.
Property President of City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos, Craig Ballantyne, said he was pleased to see the new addition to the C2 portfolio.
“C2 will significantly contribute to the efforts of the Cypriot government to combat illegal gaming.”
He said “100 people have been employed at the location in Nicosia, bringing the total number of Melco staff in Cyprus to over 700 individuals, the vast majority being Cypriot citizens.”
Compliance-as-a-Service (CaaS) by Infocredit Group and NetShop ISP
Infocredit Group has entered into a new partnership agreement with NetShop Internet Services Ltd (NetShop ISP) to offer a Compliance Turnkey Solution through a bespoke, dedicated and managed hosting infrastructure at NetShop ISP’s Datacenters in Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom. Companies and Organizations that opt-in for the Turnkey Solution benefit from an all-in-one, hassle-free […]
Infocredit Group has entered into a new partnership agreement with NetShop Internet Services Ltd (NetShop ISP) to offer a Compliance Turnkey Solution through a bespoke, dedicated and managed hosting infrastructure at NetShop ISP’s Datacenters in Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom.
Companies and Organizations that opt-in for the Turnkey Solution benefit from an all-in-one, hassle-free and affordable product that they can start using instantly after the Data License Purchase.
Whilst the Solution is available for Companies and Organizations of any size/scale and industry, the newly introduced Compliance-as-a-Service is ideal to Startups or established companies with limited budget and in-house IT staff as it requires zero hardware investment or any IT expertise.
The services offered through this Partnership include the following:
Fully managed Dedicated Server Hosting
Data License
Data Integration
Remote IT Support 24/7
Software Training (On Demand)
The companies will be present at the Malta’s iGaming Summit, SiGMA, taking place between the 28th – 30th of November 2018 at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’Qali.
You can meet representatives of both companies at NetShop’s Stand #ST163 to find out how your business can benefit of this AML Turnkey Solution. To ensure a meeting slot and avoid queuing, those interested can Book a Meeting from here.
WHO is WHO
Infocredit Group has been a leading provider of commercial and credit information for over 46 years and offers high-quality flexible solutions, ranging from Credit Risk Management to Regulatory Compliance, Debt Recovery & Call Centre Services, Training, Corporate Governance and Consulting. Infocredit Group is the exclusive reseller of LexisNexis Risk Solutions in Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Romania.
NetShop ISP reveals the “Power In Your Hand” during SiGMA 2018 in Malta
The leading Datacenter Services Provider has announced its presence at SiGMA 2018 (28-30 Nov) where it will reveal the brand-new myNetShop v5 hosting platform to more than 12,000 attendees. The myNetShop platform has been introduced in 2008 as a tool for Clients to place Orders, pay for Invoices online and to communicate with the Company […]
The leading Datacenter Services Provider has announced its presence at SiGMA 2018 (28-30 Nov) where it will reveal the brand-new myNetShop v5 hosting platform to more than 12,000 attendees.
The myNetShop platform has been introduced in 2008 as a tool for Clients to place Orders, pay for Invoices online and to communicate with the Company via an integrated ticketing system. The rapid technology developments along with NetShop’s mission for providing a seamless hosting service experience, have resulted in the production launch of myNetShop v5.
Along with the launch of myNetShop v5, the company is introducing a new range of Services which are tagged as “SPP” and take advantage of various integrations that are available in the new hosting platform. The “SPP” integrations have helped reduce an order’s provisioning time to a minimum, and have eliminated all human-assisted administration tasks.
“We give our customers the right tools to go from A to Z, without bureaucratic and time-consuming procedures. We, on the other hand, are here 24/7 to make sure that all components of our infrastructure are operating flawlessly”, said George Sarris, CTO of the company.
The myNetShop v5 platform has been developed to meet customer demand and therefore new Security & Privacy tools are being introduced. The Clients can now manage a list of authorized contacts within their account and assign permissions to each of them. Moreover, as a preventive measure to Unauthorized access attempts, Clients can easily set IP Whitelisting Access Rules.
If you are planning to attend SiGMA 2018 in Malta on the 28th – 30th of November, pass by NetShop’s Stand #ST163 to learn more about the “SPP” products and for a demonstration of the brand-new myNetShop v5 platform. You can also Book a Meeting so that a guaranteed time slot is arranged for you.
Established in 2004, NetShop Internet Services is today among the leading hosting providers in Europe with Datacenters in Cyprus, Malta and the UK, all approved by the local Gaming and Gambling Regulatory authorities (NBA,MGA and UKGC).
Malta Blockchain Summit ready to open its doors
Malta is about to host the grand crypto industry event, the Malta Blockchain Summit is scheduled for November 1-2 and is expected to welcome over 4,000 delegates, 1,000 investors, 100 speakers, and 300 sponsors. The Malta Blockchain Summit is taking place at the InterContinental and is poised to become another grand industry event riding the […]
Malta is about to host the grand crypto industry event, the Malta Blockchain Summit is scheduled for November 1-2 and is expected to welcome over 4,000 delegates, 1,000 investors, 100 speakers, and 300 sponsors.
The Malta Blockchain Summit is taking place at the InterContinental and is poised to become another grand industry event riding the Maltese crypto wave and boosting it at the same time. It will feature many exclusive events, including four major conferences, a hackathon, an extensive expo floor, an ICO Pitch area, and a Blockchain Awards ceremony.
Malta has earned the name of “Blockchain Island” for its massive contribution to blockchain regulation and legislation, emerging as the first country in the world to offer clear guidelines and rules for industry players.
This open-minded attitude has prompted two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance and OKEx – to relocate to Malta, cementing the country’s status as a global blockchain and cryptocurrency hub. Moreover, each exchange has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malta Stock Exchange for the launch of a security trading platform. These moves underscore Malta’s success in promoting technology innovations and leading the development of the blockchain industry.
Find more details about Malta Blockchain Summit here.
