Industry roundup: week ending 13 November 2026

Regulatory activity has come from several directions this week. Brussels has published a draft regulation reaching into paid random-reward mechanics and influencer promotion, Chile's Senate has moved against a licensed private online betting market, and Colombia has reopened the question of VAT on online deposits. In Great Britain, a privately funded policy commission has launched without the regulator's knowledge. Our summary of what matters most to operators and suppliers follows, with reporting from iGaming Business.

EU draft Digital Fairness Act targets reward mechanics and influencers

The European Commission has proposed a Digital Fairness Act that would replace the 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices Directive with directly applicable EU-wide rules. Article 15 covers paid variable reward systems, meaning virtual items with random rewards or variable odds bought with money or paid virtual currency, naming loot boxes, wheels of fortune and collectible card packs. Traders would have to disclose available items and the probability of each before purchase, offer accessible tools to switch these systems off, and withhold them from minors where a product targets children or the trader knows with reasonable certainty that minors use it. Advertising restrictions would extend to influencers promoting gambling, with recital 55 naming betting, lotteries and speculative instruments among products potentially harmful to children. This is a proposal only: Parliament and the Council must negotiate and adopt it, and the rules would apply 12 months after entry into force. What this means for operators: anyone using paid random-reward features or influencer marketing in the EU should begin mapping disclosure, opt-out and age-assurance duties now, since retrofitting them later costs considerably more. Original report.

Chilean Senate committee votes against a private online market

Chile's Senate Economy Committee approved two amendments by three votes to one with one abstention, each blocking a regulated private online betting market but setting different penalties. The Ibáñez and Saavedra text replaces the bill entirely, prohibiting the operation, offering or advertising of online betting platforms and treating any platform accepting bets from Chile as operating there regardless of where its servers or domain sit. Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, Lotería de Concepción, authorised racetracks and land-based casinos would be exempt. Profit-driven offenders could face 541 days to five years in prison and fines of 200 to 1,000 UTM, with internet providers, app stores and payment companies required to block access, downloads and transactions. The Núñez and Gatica text also rules out private licensing, letting courts block illegal sites permanently and restrict their payments and advertising, with penalties reaching 15 years and fines up to 10,000 UTM in serious cases. The vote reverses the direction set on 26 October, when President José Antonio Kast's government proposed five-year licences, 19% VAT on the margin between stakes and prizes, and a further 3% levy. Committee chair Gastón Saavedra said the texts will be merged at the next session, after which the Senate Finance Committee takes up the bill. What this means for operators: anyone preparing a Chilean application should pause investment and plan for a blocking regime, while watching the Finance Committee stage where fiscal arguments for licensing may resurface. Original report.

Colombia reopens 19% VAT on online gambling deposits

Colombia's Economic Rescue Bill, Bill 477/2026C, would apply 19% VAT to online gambling deposits by removing the VAT exclusion for online-only games. The taxable base is the deposit divided by 1.19, covering cash, bank transfers and cryptoassets, and the obligation would fall on operators based abroad where players are tax residents or domiciled in Colombia. The bill would also double monthly taxable bases for land-based gambling and raise the occasional gains tax on lottery, raffle and betting prizes from 20% to 30%. Submitted by Finance Minister Miguel Gómez Martínez on 29 October and flagged as urgent, it saw technical working groups begin on 10 November, with joint committee debate expected in the final week of November against a government deadline of 16 December. Fecoljuegos, whose members include Betsson Group, Codere, Wplay and Betano, is preparing an alternative proposal. The measure follows three earlier attempts: an emergency decree that expired at the end of 2025, Decree 1474, struck down by the Constitutional Court in April, and a 16% consumption tax on online GGR running until 31 December pending a court ruling. What this means for operators: Colombian licensees should model a deposit-based VAT alongside the consumption tax already in force, as taxing deposits rather than revenue changes bonus economics and acquisition maths sharply. Original report.

Privately funded policy commission launches in Great Britain

The Gambling Policy Commission began work on 9 November, saying it will examine gambling policy in Great Britain. It sits outside the statutory framework, and the Gambling Commission has confirmed it was not told the group was being formed, that the body is not statutory and that it has no role in regulating gambling in Great Britain. It is chaired by Professor Jagjit Chadha, a Cambridge economist and former Bank of England adviser, with James Reade of the University of Reading as chief economist and an eight-member panel. Seed funding came from Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. Dan Waugh of Regulus Partners said, “The whole thing is pretty bizarre,” questioning its funding and links to other reform groups, while Helen Walton of G Gaming and Gibraltar gambling commissioner Andrew Lyman both raised the absence of industry representation and the body's accountability. The Betting and Gaming Council has asked for the 2023 white paper reforms to be given time to take effect. What this means for operators: the body has no legal authority, but its output will shape the public argument ahead of any further legislation, so British licensees should track its publications and keep their own evidence current. Original report.

Regulators look to payments and platforms to squeeze the black market

Speaking at SiGMA, Anders Dorph of Denmark's Spillemyndigheden said the long-cited 93% channelisation figure no longer holds: H2 Gambling Capital puts the licensed share at 78% once crypto casinos and affiliate traffic are counted, and the regulator's own web-traffic measure gives 82%. A recent survey found 6% to 7% of Danish players use illegal sites, and around one in ten does not know whether a site is licensed. The regulator met Meta in May and has held talks with Google, but considers ad-by-ad removal too slow given the scale of exposure on large platforms. Dorph argued that blocking even a tenth of illegal operators' revenue would create a real risk of their not being paid. In the Netherlands, licensed operators' trade body VNLOK has taken Meta to court under the Digital Services Act. Bulgaria is moving towards payment blocking with its central bank, Latvia's State Revenue Service blocks around 4,500 web pages against daily new domains, and EGBA's Pierre Tournier wants the EU to act against EU-licensed companies that enable illegal operators. What this means for operators: payment and platform intervention is becoming the main enforcement lever in Europe, so licensed businesses should expect closer scrutiny of their own payment partners and affiliate chains. Original report.

ScatterKings secures MGA critical gaming supply licence

Slot studio ScatterKings, which launched in 2025, has been granted a critical gaming supply licence by the Malta Gaming Authority, allowing it to supply games to online casino operators in Europe and other regulated markets. Its distribution partners include Hub88, and the approval follows an agreement with Stake concluded about a month earlier. Chief commercial officer Steve Cross said the licence gives the studio a stronger foundation to grow alongside its partners. What this means for operators: a Maltese B2B licence is what most tier-one operators now require before integration, so suppliers weighing the cost of certification should note how quickly it changes the commercial conversation. Original report.

All of the above is summarised from reporting by iGaming Business. If any of these developments affect your licensing position or your plans for a new market, get in touch and we will talk through what it means for your application or your existing permissions.