White Papers
An assessment of AML risks linked to accepting crypto-payments in the gambling sector (A regulator’s guide)
This paper by Amanda Gore examines the implementation and impact of cryptocurrencies in the gambling sector. Cryptocurrency is still a new phenomenon where only a select few jurisdictions have sought to regulate these new payments. The volatility of the value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have also prevented a more widespread use of crypto payments across the sector but create space for new types of crypto-assets to be used including the use of stablecoins. Some of the issues associated with the implementation of cryptocurrency payments are not unique to the gambling sector but the wider crypto landscape and the use of crypto as a payment versus as an investment. This research has focused on the emerging trends of how crypto payments are currently used and the potential future iterations of development.
Esports: Women, Harassment, and Paving the Way for Equity
This paper by Becky Harris explores a brief history of esports and the role that women play in it. Today's esports audience reaches 532 million people worldwide with an estimated value of more than $300 billion. This is largely impacted by the fact that the vast majority (97 percent) of teens--both male and female--ages 13-17 play some form of video game. But are the experiences of men and women within the world of esports the same? This paper explores gender discrimination and harassment of women within esports and outlines recommendations for a path forward for esports gaming and integrity.
Online Casinos, Alternative Payment Mechanisms and the Associated Financial Crime Risks
Tribal Research
As states continue to legalize sports wagering, more tribes are seeking legal, fiscal, and regulatory clarity on whether and how to build out their business models and operational capacity to open sports books or offer mobile wagering. Many questions remain unresolved or are being answered on a case-by-case basis, with compact or regulatory uncertainty, resource inefficiency, or externalities like optimizing the terms of tribal-commercial partnerships placing a drag on tribal market entry.
Kathryn Rand & Steven Light, as the ICGR's Distinguished Senior Fellows in Tribal Gaming, have developed the ICGR White Paper Series on the Regulation of Tribal Sports Wagering with the goal to help identify and understand emerging and best practices in the law, regulation, and public policy of tribal gaming.
Specifically, the current series of White Papers addresses the question of how tribally owned and operated sports books are being regulated for key markets in states that have legalized sports wagering.
This is both timely and needed research, because as states have moved quickly to legalize sports wagering, a number of tribes also are entering these markets, but the legal, regulatory, and public policy architecture for doing so varies by state, and is not yet well documented or understood as a matter of best practice.