Dragons Lock

About Dragons Lock

Starting on Monday, the initiative brings together stakeholders in Africa, including regulators and industry associations. The Africa Safer Gambling Week will be held annually.

The initiative is based around a core objective of ensuring the growth of the gambling sector in Africa runs alongside “effective consumer protection, responsible gambling practices and greater public awareness”.

Under the campaign banner #PlaySafeAfrica, each day of this week will focus on a specific aspect of safer gambling. These include responsible gambling, personal limits and the prevention of underage gambling.

What is Dragons Lock?

In cases of identity fraud, operators were advised to close accounts upon establishing fraud and to reserve balances when bank account ownership cannot be confirmed.

Regarding account takeovers, the guide emphasised technical mitigations such as two-factor authentication for withdrawals and changes to banking details.

For poker collusion and bot use, recommended contractual provisions allow operators to redistribute illegitimate winnings to affected players. The guide noted that courts have validated such actions when supported by robust data.

About Dragons Lock

Atucha warns that regulations are often perceived as operator-friendly at the start before governments begin looking to squeeze licensed sectors, likening the process to “boiling a frog”. He has observed similar scenarios in other LatAm markets, with tax increases occurring in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico in the last couple of years.

Rossi believes the ISC in Peru is an example of a government implementing new taxes without truly understanding how the industry works, and the potential impacts on channelisation to licensed offerings.

“Peru has been quite successful in channelling customers into the regulated framework,” Rossi comments. “The risk is that this channelisation can decrease in favour of the black market. We know the black market won’t have any consumption tax.