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Members flagged the growing issue of illegal gambling sites’ advertising appearing across social media, an issue the sector in Netherlands has sought to tackle directly through legal action against Meta.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Van Bruggen said: “Meta, especially as one of the parties, but also Google, is really open to this conversation.”
She said the government would receive a report every six months on illegal gambling advertising across these platforms. She insisted the issue should also be dealt with at an EU level, through the Digital Services Act.
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Years later, former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin convened a sports betting hearing in December 2024, the first federal hearing held on the subject in six years. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, opened the hearing with an anecdote from March Madness the prior season. Despite recording a double-double in a win over Michigan State, former North Carolina center Armando Bacot received more than 100 threats on social media, Durbin told the committee. Bacot, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, drew the ire of bettors for missing the “over” on his rebound total.
The subject of athlete harassment has become a popular topic at one of the nation’s largest conferences for state gambling legislators. In July, a panel at the National Council of Legislators From Gaming States spent a considerable portion of the session on distilling the root causes of the incidents. The panel featured Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, among other college sports leaders.
On the sidelines of the NCLGS conference, a state representative informed iGB of a spate of menacing threats directed at a football kicker from his state. The kicker, according to the legislator, endured a barrage of threats after missing a field goal in a Football Championship Subdivision game, a lower-tier division in college football.
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Data Protection Commissioner Maria Christofidou said her office had reevaluated a 2022 legal opinion and now recognised a potential legal basis for more granular access to banking information.
Various MPs voiced concerns about the risk of privacy violations in accessing this data, and the potential social stigma around the information being shared.
Christofidou also floated the idea of issuing GMI recipients with a special card for in-person verification at gambling venues, but several MPs warned this could stigmatise welfare recipients.