Jo Blitz

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a report setting out red-flag risk indicators across the gaming and gambling sector. The indicators cover money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. 

FATF released the report – Risks of Gaming and Gambling – on Wednesday. It updates the body’s 2009 analysis of the casino sector. In addition, it draws on questionnaire responses from 80 jurisdictions and written comments from a further 29, alongside industry consultation.

The report identifies land-based and online casinos and sports betting as carrying the highest money laundering exposure. By contrast, lotteries and scratchcards present lower risk. 

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Spectrum’s report was subsequently commissioned by Evolution to refute Black Cube’s accusations. In its latest release on Wednesday, Playtech said Evolution had “publicly characterised the Spectrum Report as exonerating it”.

But Playtech has claimed that the Spectrum report, which is now publicly available, was unable “to confirm or refute” some of Black Cube’s claims, “as Evolution failed to provide Spectrum with significant information it had requested”.

Evolution declined to provide a comment on the update.

About Jo Blitz

Andreas Braun, owner of four arcades in Wiesbaden, filed an objection and constitutional complaint against the tax rate in April last year according to local reporting. He argued that the tax rise had provided a ‘strangling’ effect to business and that it consumed operator profits.

According to a high court ruling from over a decade ago, the tax rise cannot be allowed to rise to the point of ‘consuming livelihoods’. 

“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said.