The Wildwood Curse

What is The Wildwood Curse?

iGB is proud once again to launch its Most Influential Women initiative, now in its ninth year. Since 2018, we have provided a platform for females in the gaming sector to honour their work and the progress they have made in advancing DEI.

Over the course of the campaign’s lifetime, various sectors and subsectors of the industry have been highlighted and the sheer diversity of talent has shone through, year after year. We have had the pleasure of delving into the careers and aspirations of our previous winners, and learned a lot about the make up of the sector along the way.

From recruitment to regulation, cybersecurity, tribal gaming, affiliates, gambling law, C-suite leaders and everything else in between, the campaign has shown that where roles, companies and backgrounds differ, many of the women we have honoured share a united drive to improve diversity within the sector.

About The Wildwood Curse

When Australia hosts its first-ever regular season NFL game, an estimated 10,000 US fans are expected to attend the matchup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground following an exhausting trip that features one of the world’s longest flight paths.

The historic showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers will take place at a venue located 7,971 miles from Levi’s Stadium, home of the last meeting between the NFC West rivals. Both teams are based in California, a fertile ground for prediction markets given a sports betting ban in a state with more than 39 million residents. But the Americans in attendance for Thursday night’s matchup (Friday in Melbourne) will not be able to live-trade from their seats.

That is because trading on prediction markets is illegal down under, according to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the nation’s regulator on financial services. Last month, in perhaps the ASIC’s strongest warnings yet against the asset class, the commission reiterated that prediction markets are not licensed as financial markets to operate in Australia. Through the guidance, the regulator urged consumers to exercise caution before partaking in certain investments on offshore platforms which have not obtained licensing nationwide.

How to play The Wildwood Curse

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a report setting out red-flag risk indicators across the gaming and gambling sector. The indicators cover money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. 

FATF released the report – Risks of Gaming and Gambling – on Wednesday. It updates the body’s 2009 analysis of the casino sector. In addition, it draws on questionnaire responses from 80 jurisdictions and written comments from a further 29, alongside industry consultation.

The report identifies land-based and online casinos and sports betting as carrying the highest money laundering exposure. By contrast, lotteries and scratchcards present lower risk.