Latest figures show gambling blockchain apps continue to rise rapidly in popularity, Italy passes a bill to ban any form of gambling advertising and German online gambling operator MyBet fails in bid to avoid insolvency.

Gambling blockchain apps more popular than ever in latest findings

The popularity of blockchain gambling is even stronger than the phenomenon that is CryptoKitties, according to the latest figures of Fomo3D.

Over a recent 24-hour period, gambling apps were shown to be five times more popular than a lucrative cat-based game that famously slowed down the Ethereum Network and accounted for 11% of traffic on the network. Having launched last month, Fomo3D is believed to have 10,000 daily users, even more than the 8,600 tracked on Pokerstars by traffic tracker PokerScout.com.

And that’s not all. Gambling is second only to cryptocurrency exchanges in the most distributed apps in terms of money received, in a study carried out by blockchain app tracking website DappRadar.

Token sales for gambling-related enterprises have also continued to increase, as seen by Dragon Coin and another ICO, which collectively raised almost $1 billion. As indicated by Autonomous Research, a total of 21 gambling projects have attracted $300 million via ICOs.

Italy becomes first European country to ban gambling advertising

Italian parliament has passed a bill banning all gambling advertising after a narrow 155-125 vote found in favour of the change.

Any form of advertising that is now seen to promote gambling on Italian TV, radio or internet will no longer be permitted. It is the first European country to pass such a bill.

The decision comes after Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Populist 5 Star movement, Luigi Di Maio had submitted his “Dignity Degree” in June. The state-funded lottery was not included within the vote. The ban begins on 1 January 2019, although any company that has a current contract that isn’t set to expire until after that date will be given an extension until June 30.

Sponsorships within sports have also been stopped. Italian football clubs are among the most to be worried by this development as 12 of its 20 Serie A teams had some form of sponsorship with a gambling company in the previous season. The first set of fixtures for the 2018/19 season begin tomorrow.

The league body representing the country’s top 20 teams had declared its “extreme worry” and that a vital reduction in revenue “would bring competitive disadvantages to Italian clubs” when the plans had been announced in June. The European Gaming & Betting Association has calculated that the gambling industry contributes an annual €120 million to Italian sport.

Mybet announces insolvency after investor talks end

German Online gambling operator Mybet will today submit an application for insolvency after being unable to find a resolution with potential investors.

The Berlin-based Mybet released a statement explaining that the talks, which had begun in July, had ended due to “conditions set by the investors which could not be fulfilled”. It also mentioned further complications after the Frankfurt Tax Office had rejected an application filed by the group’s Malta-based company, Personal Exchange International, to suspend enforcement regarding outstanding sports betting taxes worth €4m. Founded in 1998, the application will cover all of Mybet’s online sports betting and casino company’s B2C online business.

The most recent Mybet financial report came last November, when the company indicated that its revenue over the first nine months of 2017 had fallen 28.2% to €24.9 million. The sports betting segment had fallen 17% year-on-year to €17.8 million while casino revenue fell by more than half to €5.4 million.

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