Gambling News Digest - Week 38

In preparation for the launch of its legal betting market on 1 January 2025, the Brazilian government has announced a ban on all unauthorized gambling operators. The services of all betting companies who have not requested authorization to operate in the region will be suspended from October 1, until they get a permit from the Prizes and Betting Secretariat (SPA).

The Ministry of Finance has set up a team to work on prohibiting unauthorized platforms from receiving and taking payments. As the country enforces its regulations, international operators are expected to find the landscape more challenging.

Brazilian football star Neymar has found himself under investigation concerning his connection to Blaze, a betting company. This scrutiny comes as Brazil's online gambling sector continues to boom, with Brazilians reportedly spending over $1 billion monthly on online betting and gaming.

The former PSG star had appeared in a Blaze advertisement, which portrayed him earning large sums of money on the platform. As the country tightens its policies ahead of its legal betting market launch in 2025, high-profile betting connections like Neymar’s will likely face more scrutiny.

Stake has rolled out its dedicated poker platform in an exciting development for crypto gamblers. The top Bitcoin casino announced that this launch followed a beta testing stage of its real money poker product.

Poker fans can enjoy different poker games, including Texas Hold’em and Omaha. There will also be modes like rapid ring games, rapid tournaments, rebuy, run it twice, and shootout.

Popular iGaming platform provider Softswiss has expanded its offerings with the integration of a horse racing module in its sportsbook.

This new feature, which is first made available in South Africa, will allow players at SoftSwiss sportsbooks to place fixed-odds wagers on multiple markets. This addition demonstrates SoftSwiss’ commitment to continued growth and delivering more betting options to gamblers.

Starting from September 22, video games with gambling mini-games will now be rated 18+ in Australia. This is coming right after the Queensland treasury published data on how the country’s online gambling turnover across all channels soared to US$164.3bn in 2022-2023.

This suggests that Australia is tightening its grip on the gambling industry and authorities are focusing on reducing gambling-related risks, despite the rising revenue.

In addition to its already massive slots collection, Playngo releases Divine Divas, a game that mixes Greek mythology with fairytale magic.

This new release comes with captivating features like Tri-Symbols Wilds and free spins to help players unlock the heavenly riches of Olympus. Designed to celebrate the wisdom and strength of Greek goddesses, Divine Divas is poised to be another fan favorite.

With new releases like Divine Divas bringing more excitement, 2024 keeps getting better for online casino players. These new games add more options to the already strong list of most popular casino games in 2024. Here are some top slot games of the year:

• Gonzo’s Quest Megaways (Red Tiger Gaming & NetEnt)
• Dead or Alive 2 (NetEnt)
• Sweet Bonanza (Pragmatic Play)
• The Dog House (Pragmatic Play)
• Zeus vs Hades: Gods of War (Pragmatic Play)
• Book of Dead (Play’n GO)
• 3 Hot Chillies (3 Oaks Gaming)
• Gates of Olympus (Pragmatic Play)
• Coin Volcano (3 Oaks Gaming)
• Sugar Rush (Pragmatic Play)
• Le Bandit (Hacksaw Gaming)

When it comes to live casinos, these games are leading the way:

• Monopoly Live (Evolution Gaming)
• Crazy Time (Evolution Gaming)
• Lightning Roulette (Evolution Gaming)
• Speed Blackjack (Evolution Gaming)