About this app
How to play Pirate Queen
This summer, the Commission reached settlements of £900,000 with Betfred over safer gambling failures, £4.75 million with Evolution over weaknesses in its AML risk assessment and supply-chain oversight, and £122,835 with Stakelogic after games were found to be running faster than permitted.
Taken together, the cases provide further ammunition for the anti-gambling lobby at a time when it is already facing political pressure, tax increases and demands for tighter restrictions. Each apparently avoidable failure makes it harder for the industry to argue that existing regulation is sufficient.
Yet Dan Waugh, partner at Regulus Partners, pushes back against the idea that enforcement notices reveal a fundamentally non-compliant sector.
About Pirate Queen
A qualitative study published on Wednesday by the Gambling Commission revealed that gambling consumers believe the availability of information does not equate to truly informed decisions.
Many participants emphasised the need for clearer, timely and personalised information throughout every stage of their betting experience. This would include the presence of unobtrusive and empathetic staff at land-based venues.
The study highlighted significant gaps between operator disclosures and genuine player comprehension.
What is Pirate Queen?
The decision is not yet legally binding, with a further opportunity to appeal the denial of ‘leave to appeal’ open to the applicants. This will be reviewed by the Federal Administrative Court of Leipzig.
In his original complaint, Braun also cited a study that found that nearly half of respondents were thinking of using illegal gambling services due to legal restrictions.
In recent weeks, German authorities conducted a crackdown on an alleged illegal online gambling operation suspected of facilitating wagers totalling approximately €5.86 billion over a 30-month period.