Partnership underscores Starcasino’s pledge to protect sports and customers from betting-related corruption

Starcasino has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) as part of the operator’s recent launch of its sportsbook in the Netherlands via the Altenar sportsbook, which is also a member of IBIA. The operator is also established in Belgium and Spain and joins over 80 companies and 140 sports betting brands that feed into IBIA’s world leading betting integrity network, which monitors over $300bn in sports bets each year. Starcasino’s membership maintains IBIA’s position as the foremost sports betting integrity monitor in the Netherlands, with the association representing around 90% of the licensed sportsbooks currently in operation in the country.

Kylian Olierook, Director of Starcasino Netherlands, said: “Starcasino.nl has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) as part of our ongoing effort to support fair and honest sports betting. Together with our sportsbook partner Altenar, we want to help protect sports from manipulation and ensure a safe experience for our players. By working with IBIA, we take an active role in monitoring and reporting suspicious betting activity.”

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “We are delighted to welcome Starcasino to our association. Their addition strengthens our global monitoring network and reinforces our shared commitment to safeguarding the integrity of sports and regulated betting markets. Membership of IBIA highlights Starcasino’s dedication to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency in the regulated sports betting industry. We look forward to working closely with Starcasino to protect the integrity of its products and markets.”

IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and was established by operators, for operators, to protect regulated sports betting markets from match-fixing. IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets. Through the IBIA global monitoring network it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts; this data is only available to IBIA and its members.

New Zealand Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden has introduced the Online Casino Gambling Bill to the House of Representatives.

“The Online Casino Gambling Bill will introduce a regulatory system for online gambling in New Zealand, which will prioritise harm minimisation, consumer protection, and tax collection,” said Ms van Velden.

Cabinet has previously agreed to introduce new legislation to regulate the online casino gambling market, which is currently unregulated in New Zealand. Key features of the Bill include:

• Up to 15 licences for online casino gambling operators will be auctioned.

• Companies applying for a licence will need to provide detailed information to the regulator, including on their business plans for New Zealand.

• Licensed operators will be allowed to advertise, with restrictions.

• Unlicensed operators will be prohibited and fines up to $5 million may be applicable for breaking the law.

“The Bill will proceed to select committee later this year and New Zealanders will have the ability to have their say through the select committee process.”

The introduction of the Bill meets action 21 on the Coalition Government’s Quarter Two Action Plan.

On June 26, the court at Frederiksberg ruled in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority to have 178 websites blocked that offered illegal gambling to Danes. That is the highest number of blocks made since 2012.

The Danish Gambling Authority monitors websites that offer gambling to Danes without a licence. The blocking of the sites is done through the court, which assesses whether they should be blocked, and now the court in Frederiksberg has ruled in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority and have ordered the Danish internet service providers to block 178 gambling sites.

In total, the Danish Gambling Authority has had 616 illegal gambling sites blocked since 2012.

Record number of blocks

178 blocked websites are the highest number so far for a single blocking case since 2012. Previously, the Danish Gambling Authority conducted only one case a year in court to have the sites closed, but since 2024 the cases have been brought before the court twice annually.

“It is of course frustrating that illegal gambling sites continue to appear targeting Danes,” said Anders Dorph, Director of the Danish Gambling Authority.

“But I am very pleased that we have tools to find the sites and that we manage to get them blocked. In 2023, we took the initiative to have the sites blocked twice a year instead of once. This means that we can more quickly shut down access to sites that do not have a Danish licence and where consumers do not have the same protection as those gambling operators who have a licence from the Danish Gambling Authority.”