It has long been perfectly normal for gambling companies to sponsor football teams or even entire leagues. However, when one of the largest sports betting providers in the world cooperates with the most important international football competition at club level, it does make waves: This is underpinned by the global partnership between bet365 and the Champions League until 2027 announced at the end of August. The British bookie is not only the first ‘betting partner’ of the tournament, the collaboration also begins with a bumper promotion for its customers.
The Joint Gambling Authority of the federal states, GGL for short, was founded to ensure the protection of minors and players and to protect players from gambling addiction. But how well are potentially vulnerable players protected from problematic gambling behaviour in licensed online casinos?
A joint documentary by various public broadcasters (ÖRR), which was originally broadcast as part of the “ARD Story” series, recently provided interesting insights into the business of betting on German amateur soccer. According to the report, the coverage of this betting market is indeed immense, but many clubs and even the DFB were previously unaware of this. We report on the key function of data scouts and the reaction at club level.
Scratch cards are real gambling classics. At least many players of a certain age will remember that as children they were able to quickly scratch off a ticket with their parents or relatives (albeit dubiously today) when they handed in their weekly lottery ticket. To this day, the small, colourful tickets with their promising fields are a real hit for a quick game in between. To make them more attractive and contemporary and bring them into the digital here and now, Sachsenlotto has come up with a special feature called GlüXBooster.
A player has managed to win around 800 million US dollars in the popular multistate lottery Mega Millions. The player, who has so far remained anonymous, hit the legendary jackpot last Tuesday, September 10, 2024. But how does a jackpot worth several hundred million US dollars come about in the first place?
Football is still by far the most popular sport in Germany today. According to Statista, in 2023 there were more than 3.4 million people in Germany who play football themselves in their free time. In addition, there are millions of other sports fans who regularly watch the games at least on TV or in the stadium. The amateur leagues are also becoming increasingly popular. But is betting on amateur league matches even allowed?
Criminals are increasingly advertising fraudulent casino apps on social media. They promise users above-average bonuses, secure winnings or special games. But only the criminals can win with these dubious apps. But why is it even possible for criminals to advertise fraudulent casino apps on Facebook, Instagram and Co. advertise fraudulent casino apps?
The Dutch Gaming Authority has issued a warning to 13 gambling providers. According to the authority, the providers concerned pay out too slowly or make it disproportionately difficult for players to pay out. But do the warned online casinos now have to expect a fine and who is the contact person in Germany when it comes to slow payouts in online casinos?
The founder of a now-closed crypto exchange embezzled the equivalent of several million euros in gambling. At least that is the result of an investigation report by the Canadian Securities and Exchange Commission. But how was the crypto founder able to embezzle such a large amount of money from gambling over a long period of time?
In more and more countries around the world, advertising measures for gambling offers are being viewed increasingly critically. Now the debate is also boiling over in Australia: a number of former prime ministers and other public figures are pushing for a general ban on such promotions, which had actually already been agreed but was then watered down again.
The International is considered the most prestigious championship tournament for Dota 2 ever. The current edition has been running since 4 September, with millions once again at stake. However, due to the huge popularity of the game and the e-sports event in question, it is not only the competition that is being played for huge sums of money - a lot of money is also flowing into the sponsorship contracts. The fact that no in-game advertising is permitted this year is likely to hit the teams' partners all the harder: probably because many of them come from the gambling industry.
Brazil is undoubtedly one of the biggest football nations in the world, but it also repeatedly has massive problems with match-fixing and betting manipulation. There is currently a veritable wave of discussion on the subject, which is drawing wide circles and causing a particular stir in view of the imminent introduction of the national sports betting market. Is the problem really as serious as feared or is it being artificially hyped up?
Founded in 1994, the software company Microgaming surprisingly changed its name a few weeks ago. Since then, the long-established company based on the Isle of Man has been known as Apricot Investments. But why did those responsible decide to rename the software provider after 30 years?
Balatro is one of the video game sensations of 2024. After its launch in February, it took just four weeks for the game to break the one million sales mark. Celebrated by players and many experts in the industry, there has also been some controversy in recent months. In particular, the central use of poker elements has raised the question: Should Balatro possibly be categorised as a game of chance?
As poker games are strongly characterised by deception, psychological skill and tactics, they offer ideal conditions for crooks who want to gain unlawful advantages in order to increase their own chances of success to almost 100 percent. Time and again, high-tech is used to allow fraudsters to literally look into the cards of others. This is also the case in this case, in which the French police were able to catch two men who allegedly scammed tens of thousands of euros across Europe with the help of almost microscopic headphones and a special smartphone camera.
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