German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann proposed removing gambling offences from the Criminal Code as part of a criminal-law reform, according to the report. The proposal would leave illegal gambling punishable only as an administrative offence; police and the gaming-machine industry warned that illegal activity was increasing.
The proposal would change the legal consequences for illegal gambling in Germany.
The day’s most important stories, free. One email a day.
Brazilian federal deputy Jorge Goetten introduced Bill 5.587/2026, which would let bettors seek reimbursement for net losses on unauthorised fixed-odds platforms, as reported by Congress in Focus. The proposal would keep primary liability with the betting company but could extend it to financial institutions that failed to prevent the transactions; it awaits referral to committees in the Chamber of Deputies.
Chilean Senate President Paulina Núñez submitted a substitute amendment to the bill regulating online gambling platforms. It proposes prison terms of up to 15 years in aggravated cases, fines of up to 10,000 UTM and criminal liability for companies, as well as court-ordered blocking of sites and apps used for illegal betting.
Macau Prosecutor General Tong Hio Fong proposed reviewing the law on unlicensed currency exchange for gambling, citing difficulties proving that suspects near casinos operate a business. The Public Prosecutions Office recorded 493 such cases in the 2025/2026 judicial year, up 20.2% year on year; Tong proposed objective criteria for determining whether an activity constitutes a business.
Zacatecas Governor David Monreal Ávila is promoting changes to Mexico’s Federal Law on Games and Draws to address illegal slot machines, reportedly announcing the initiative at a regional security meeting in Manzanillo. The proposal would define illegal machine use as a crime, set clearer sanctions and expand authorities’ powers, including financial monitoring of related networks.
Antonio Giuliani, ADM's director of online gambling and betting, suggested payment blocking to tackle illegal gambling in Italy at the SBC Summit in Lisbon. He said implementing the approach would require a legislative amendment. Giuliani also said ADM had no plans to regulate B2B providers.
Payment blocking could be a route to limiting illegal gambling in Italy, Antonio Giuliani, director of the online gambling and betting office at the Agenzia delle Dogane e Monopoli (ADM), said at the SBC Summit in Lisbon. According to Giuliani, implementing the approach would require an amendment to the rules.