China’s largest search engine Baidu has removed advertising for bitcoin and all other forms of digital currency from its online service. Domestic media reported on Friday that Baidu “has stopped all virtual coin related keyword advertising (paid search), including bitcoin.” The fact that the country’s most popular search engine froze cryptocurrency ads was also confirmed […]

China’s largest search engine Baidu has removed advertising for bitcoin and all other forms of digital currency from its online service.

Domestic media reported on Friday that Baidu “has stopped all virtual coin related keyword advertising (paid search), including bitcoin.” The fact that the country’s most popular search engine froze cryptocurrency ads was also confirmed to Bloomberg News by local bitcoin exchanges OKCoin and Huobi.

According to Bloomberg, Zennon Kapron, managing director of Shanghai-based consulting firm Kapronasia said this decision “could be a precursor to China being ready to push for a more nationalized approach to virtual currencies.”

So far the status of digital currencies in China was vague. However, based on the government plans to have a set of laws that will consider cryptocurrencies as properties it seems that the country is keeping up with the digital currency related changes.

Baidu has been operating under the spotlight since the end of July when it was reported that gambling websites used China’s largest search engine to illegally promote themselves.

The Philippines will issue new online gambling licenses for companies that target overseas customers. The new government, under President Rodrigo Duterte has confirmed it will not renew licences of electronic bingo operators and gaming technology provider Philweb Corp which operates around 300 e-games outlets in the country. However, it is expected to offset the loss […]

The Philippines will issue new online gambling licenses for companies that target overseas customers.

The new government, under President Rodrigo Duterte has confirmed it will not renew licences of electronic bingo operators and gaming technology provider Philweb Corp which operates around 300 e-games outlets in the country. However, it is expected to offset the loss in annual revenues by encouraging more casino and betting operators to set up online services the target gamblers in other countries.

According to Reuters, Andrea Domingo, Head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), said the fees collected from the new licences could help offset the loss of about 10 billion pesos ($215 million) in annual revenues following the government’s decision not to renew the licenses of operating e-bingo and e-games outlets.

She revealed to reporters that the permits will be offered on a first-come-first-serve basis and reviewed after six months. The cost of the permit is still unknown.

“We’re readying the application forms. It’s no longer the Filipinos who are betting but foreigners,” Domingo told reporters after a budget hearing at the House of Representatives. “We don’t know yet how saleable it is. There might be no takers, or there could be many applicants.”

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is discussing approving a “small but significant number of firms” using the blockchain technology within the fintech industry in the United Kingdom. UK’s financial watchdog is monitoring projects as part of organization’s “Project Innovate” program. According to the Financial Times, FCA confirmed there is a number of groups in the […]

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is discussing approving a “small but significant number of firms” using the blockchain technology within the fintech industry in the United Kingdom. UK’s financial watchdog is monitoring projects as part of organization’s “Project Innovate” program.

According to the Financial Times, FCA confirmed there is a number of groups in the preapproval stage that are developing blockchain-based consumer-facing products.

Blockchain, which supports popular digital currency bitcoin, is attractive because of a more open and flexible way of operating compared with traditional banking. Further, it offers the potential of more cost-effective and faster execution of the transactions. However, it alerts some regulators for being vulnerable to fraud or potentially influencing financial stability.

Chris Woolard, the FCA’s director of strategy and competition said in an interview with the Financial Times: “We do think [blockchain] has got some potentially interesting applications and we are talking to firms thinking about how to apply that to financial services and how it could benefit consumers or indeed make the business of compliance easier.- There may be areas where we might want to encourage it a bit.”

California lawmakers will not be voting on online poker bill, AB 2863, in the State’s Assembly on Monday 22nd August. The bill was thought to be the best chance of legalised online gambling in California and was called the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act. Assemblyman Adam Gray, who was the one to introduce the bill, […]

California lawmakers will not be voting on online poker bill, AB 2863, in the State’s Assembly on Monday 22nd August.

The bill was thought to be the best chance of legalised online gambling in California and was called the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act. Assemblyman Adam Gray, who was the one to introduce the bill, is not planning to present it for a vote now.

The coalition of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, three largest card clubs of California (Commerce Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino and Bicycle Casino) and Amaya Inc., that is the owner of PokerStars issued a letter urging to vote ‘no’ and oppose the amended bill that would prevent PokerStars from entering the online gambling industry in the state of California for 5 years.

If the bill passed, PokerStars would be banned from the market until 2022. The tribes supporting PokerStars prefer the penalty payment (previously $20 million fee was suggested), however at the moment there seems to be no clear agreement that means no online gambling in California yet.

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced it will allow licensed online-gambling companies to begin accepting virtual currencies as a payment medium as of October 31, 2106. Virtual currencies, by definition, include Bitcoin and other digital offerings. The change in conditions was added via an update to the UKGC’s Licence Conditions and Codes of […]

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced it will allow licensed online-gambling companies to begin accepting virtual currencies as a payment medium as of October 31, 2106. Virtual currencies, by definition, include Bitcoin and other digital offerings.

The change in conditions was added via an update to the UKGC’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice. It explains that operators must implement policies and procedures concerning the usage of cash and cash equivalents to avoid money laundering. The anonymity, which is one of the main features of virtual currencies, means that additional steps are likely to be taken to ensure strict KYC controls.

The actual wording from the report states:“Licensees, as part of their internal controls and financial accounting systems, must implement appropriate policies and procedures concerning the usage of cash and cash equivalents (eg bankers drafts, cheques and debit cards and digital currencies) by customers, designed to minimize the risk of crimes such as money laundering, to avoid the giving of illicit credit to customers and to provide assurance that gambling activities are being conducted in a manner which promotes the licensing objectives.”

The UK Gambling Commission is the first significant gambling commission to grant approval for virtual currency. Others around the world are expected to follow the same fashion in the near future.

Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has ordered banking and payment processors to purge unauthorized online gambling operators from their client lists. According to Russian news agency, the Izvestia, Roskomnadzor sent letters to Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, as well as payment processors including Skrill and Yandex instructing them to remove gambling operators from their customer-base in compliance […]

Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has ordered banking and payment processors to purge unauthorized online gambling operators from their client lists.

According to Russian news agency, the Izvestia, Roskomnadzor sent letters to Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, as well as payment processors including Skrill and Yandex instructing them to remove gambling operators from their customer-base in compliance with Russian gambling laws.

Russia is in the process of legalizing and regulating sports betting. A few weeks ago payment processors Skrill and Qiwi found their websites included in Roskomnadzor’s blacklist due to processing illegal payments and having links on their sites to illegal operators. The two companies were granted a 24-hour grace period to remove links to unauthorised Russian gambling sites and to cease processing payments for those sites, the demands with which they complied.

Russia’s gambling law says that the only legal payment provider to process payments for Russian online gambling operators is TSUPIS. Since its launch in February 2016, it has been the country’s first payment processor for interactive betting.

Last week, both Roskomnadzor and the state prosecutor were asked for a legal opinion of mobile telecom firms’ involvement in unauthorized gambling financial transactions by the deputy chairman of the state Duma’s committee on constitutional legislation. Further, the proposal has been made by Roskomnadzor to amend Russian gambling law in order to target online gambling affiliates and any other sites that informed Russian citizens how to deposit funds with unauthorized gambling sites.

Since September 2015, Roskomnadzor has been ordering domestic internet service providers to block online gambling sites, including everything from unregulated Russian sportsbooks to well-known Western brands.

Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic has partnered with London-based startup LexisNexis Risk Solutions to bring bank-grade risk management to Bitcoin. Two companies teamed up not only to avoid nefarious uses of the digital currency but also to make virtual currency more attractive to those who might want to use it for legitimate transactions. LexisNexis Risk Solutions […]

Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic has partnered with London-based startup LexisNexis Risk Solutions to bring bank-grade risk management to Bitcoin.

Two companies teamed up not only to avoid nefarious uses of the digital currency but also to make virtual currency more attractive to those who might want to use it for legitimate transactions.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions helps banks to comply with AML regulation, using a database of 2.7 million global entities that could be involved in illicit transactions, such as those on global sanctions watchlists. It has shared its database with Elliptic, which constantly monitors bitcoin transactions. As a result clients will be alerted in case of the money movement from bitcoin addresses that have been identified as risky.

Thomas Brown, of LexisNexis Risk Solutions told Reuters: “This is a step toward making it (bitcoin) more mainstream and more acceptable.”

Bitcoin, as we all now, relies on complex algorithms that allow to anonymously and quickly move money without a need for a central authority to process transactions.
That has made it attractive to users who want to avoid capital or government controls. However, virtual currency has also attracted criminals making it popular on the dark side of the Internet.

Brown said: “Today, if you see bitcoins transacting, you almost assume they’re from someone who wants to be off the grid, or they’re proceeds from illicit transactions.”

Kevin Beardsley, Elliptic’s head of business development, was hopeful that this partnership will unlock a whole wave of companies being able to enter financial services with bitcoin.
“The single biggest thing keeping mainstream financial services out of the (bitcoin) ecosystem is the inability to do bank-grade anti-money laundering controls.”

He is the man that effectively sets the agenda for the gaming industry in Malta. He heads the entity entrusted with proposing and enforcing legislation. And – on his word alone – Malta’s future as an online gaming centre of excellence could be set in stone … or not.

He is the man that effectively sets the agenda for the gaming industry in Malta. He heads the entity entrusted with proposing and enforcing legislation. And – on his word alone – Malta’s future as an online gaming centre of excellence could be set in stone … or not.
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A world leading sports betting solutions provider SBTech announced Monday that it has secured a full Class 4 Remote Gaming Licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). The licence is a latest addition to SBTech’s growing portfolio of European permits.

A world leading sports betting solutions provider SBTech announced Monday that it has secured a full Class 4 Remote Gaming Licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
The licence is a latest addition to SBTech’s growing portfolio of European permits.
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With just a few days left until the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and London-based firm, Genius Sports, announced a partnership in order to monitor any possible manipulation of the competitions related to sports betting and to protect the integrity of Olympic events which will start on August 5.

With just a few days left until the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and London-based firm, Genius Sports, announced a partnership in order to monitor any possible manipulation of the competitions related to sports betting and to protect the integrity of Olympic events which will start on August 5.

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The Republic of Cyprus is proceeding with plans to expand access to a regulated online sports betting market. The president of the Cyprus National Betting Authority (NBA), Ioanna Fiakkou, announced on Thursday that the NBA would begin accepting online betting applications on October 3.

The Republic of Cyprus is proceeding with plans to expand access to a regulated online sports betting market.
The president of the Cyprus National Betting Authority (NBA), Ioanna Fiakkou, announced on Thursday that the NBA would begin accepting online betting applications on October 3.
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Russian authorities are now targeting payment providers as part of their war with unregulated online gambling. Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor put two payment processors Qiwi and Skrill on the list of banned web sites.

Russian authorities are now targeting payment providers as part of their war with unregulated online gambling.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor put two payment processors Qiwi and Skrill on the list of banned web sites.
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