Global Sports Betting Roundup: New UK Gambling Rules, African Market Expanding

Dave Bonderoff

Last Updated: April 8, 2022 9:39 AM EDT • 4 min 16 sec read. Twitter link Google News Link

This past week has seen the sports world abuzz with nonstop headlines regarding the array of sporting betting events on the calendar, as well as action behind the scenes with the industry itself. The dust is yet to settle on the FIFA World Cup Draw that took place last Friday, the Masters is underway, and Major League Baseball's Opening Weekend is finally upon us.

On the industry side, there were plenty of headline-grabbing stories from around the world. Canada's largest province officially launched their mobile sports betting platform, England announced measures to strengthen their platform's overall safety, Spain has followed suit, the exploding African market made more news, and match-fixing stayed on the minds of regulators everywhere.

Let’s take a peek at a few of the dominant stories, starting with the World Cup madness, followed by some intriguing industry news headlines.

World Cup Headlines Only Ramping Up

Last Friday officially kicked off FIFA World Cup festivities. Headlines about the draw have dominated sports conversations around the globe since, despite the tournament not kicking off until November 21. There are still 3 teams to be decided for the tournament, but the Groups have been set:

https://twitter.com/FIFAWorldCup/status/1509943669629018120

As far as the odds for the tournament, they have remained status quo since last Friday. The usual suspects are currently listed as favorites to win it all. Here are the current odds from BetMGM:

https://twitter.com/BetMGM/status/1509948130556620815

Canada's Largest Province Goes Live

Things have been moving at lightning speed in Canada's largest province since the announcement of legalized single-game betting in August. April 4 was a huge day in Canada’s attempt to capitalize on what has been a gold rush in the U.S. market with Ontario launching an extensive mobile sports betting platform.

bet365, BetMGM, theScore, Coolbet, BetRivers, Caesars, FanDuel and PointsBet all went live April 4, and a slew of partnership deals between competing sportsbooks and the sporting entities based in Ontario started happening.

The NHL announced North American partnership deals with FanDuel and BetMGM. Read more here:

The Toronto Blue Jays signed on with theScore. Read more here.Check out the latest comprehensive and most trusted Ontario Sportsbook Reviews by SBR here.

UK The Stage For Gambling Provider/Advertising Battles

UK gambling regulators made news this week with some tweaking of gambling rules for their industry... and so did a group of the country's football teams.

The Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) took steps this past week to limit the impact of gambling on younger citizens. Advertising, and just how gambling providers promote their product is the aim of the new set of rules drawn up by the Committee.

Specifically, the new rules will ban or limit the use of high-profile sports stars and social media influencers to target younger audiences. Under the rules, operators will no longer be allowed to promote their products/services using “top-flight footballers and footballers with a considerable following among under-18 audiences on social media”.

According to the wording of the new rules, all advertising that would “be likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture.,” will be banned. Read more here.

Gambling advertising was a target of another group in England trying to ban how sportsbooks promote themselves. Advertising in sports has been a hot-button issue in the country among sports teams for years.

The English Football League (EFL) is on the front line of trying to minimize the effect of advertising on their sports, even penning a letter to lawmakers stating their case this past week. The letter included a passage that said: "A ban on gambling logos on shirts would be a significant acceptance of the harm caused, but we would encourage you to include all gambling advertising in stadiums and competition sponsorship so every young fan can go to any football match – home and away – free of inducements to gamble.” Read more here.

If both entities get their way, sportsbook advertising in the UK will take on a very different look in the not-too-distant future.

Similar Situation in Spain

Stats Perform, a top-flight global sports technology firm has been tabbed to help out with the fallout from recent unflattering match-fixing issues in Spain. Spain has been the scene of more than its share of high-profile match-fixing issues in tennis and football and now will get the help of Stats Perform in the form of training of national police agents on how to identify and combat such cheating scandals. Read more here.

African Market Continues to Expand

Senegal will be welcoming online sportsbook platform and technology provider, Honoré Gaming, thanks to a partnership deal with Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) otherwise known as the French horse racing authority. PMU expands a global reach that has seen it grow roots in other African countries, specifically French speaking ones. Read more here:

888 Holding announced expansion into four African nations last week and 10bet has announced their intention to expand into the growing African market last week as well. Read more here.

Africa has been identified by sports betting providers as an exciting opportunity to expand into huge sports betting markets. Look for more such expansion news of sportsbooks into Africa in the near future.

Marathonbet Pulls Out of the UK

International betting firm Marathonbet, which has been active in the UK since 2015 and was founded in Russia in 1997 will stop taking bets in the UK April 14. The company cited "ongoing events in Europe" as reason for suspending its operations in the UK.

An email to users said: "As the Marathonbet brand is operated globally, recent and ongoing events in Europe have had a significant impact for us. We regret to inform you that we have taken the decision to temporarily suspend services offered on the Marathonbet.co.uk website."

Marathon bet, for now at least, will continue to operate under its licenses in Italy, Spain, and Denmark. Read more here.

Another Obligatory Match-Fixing Story

Sportradar, a leading global sports technology company announced this week what they call an "Integrity Exchange" - a network that will allow sports betting providers the ability to report and ultimately have a say in any match-fixing that they see happening.

Sportradar Integrity Exchange was launched this week and will immediately give sportsbooks a stake in the fight to combat the high-profile issue of match-fixing. Read more here.

The Global Bettor Best Award

"The Making a Lit Out of A Little Award" - This one comes from William Hill sportsbook which reported a £1 (US$1.31) bet that turned into £28,000 (US$36,654). It was reportedly a 16-leg parlay from games around Europe. That’s making a lot out of a little!Read more here.

Make sure to keep an eye on our Live Odds page throughout the week to get the best lines possible and connect with others in the SBR community on our popular sports betting foru m.

Written By:
Dave Bonderoff

Dave Bonderoff and betting go hand-in-hand. Both are characterized by "odds". Dave fancies himself as one of the most dedicated sports and pop-culture junkies around, to the chagrin of his family and friends. Following sports for 50 years and writing about it for 20, Dave hasn't found a sport yet that can't contribute to 2-3 straight hours of couch time. That search remains ongoing. As a good old Canadian boy, hockey is in Dave’s heart, as is curling sadly. But evolution is a real thing and that’s why football, baseball, and just about every sport on the planet has become a passion. Dave isn’t afraid to kill some time obsessing over politics or the far-too-frequent awards shows the consume the airwaves.