Require Verified Opinions of every gaming merchant.

“Covered Activity” means any game, contest, sweepstakes, promotion, wager, event contract or prediction market, and any money transmission, stored value, rewards or investment feature, that Merchant offers to users or that the Program supports.

“Legal Opinion” means a reasoned legal opinion, issued by counsel engaged by Merchant, concluding that the Covered Activity is lawful in each jurisdiction in which Merchant offers it, and stating the facts on which that conclusion relies.

“Verified Opinion” means a Legal Opinion that has been reviewed for [Institution] under the Verified Opinion Standard, with each fact on which it relies tested against Merchant’s systems, code and public documents, and for which [Institution] has received the review record.

“Reviewing Counsel” means counsel engaged by [Institution], and not by Merchant, to perform that review.

Merchant shall not offer a Covered Activity through the Program in any jurisdiction until [Institution] has received a Verified Opinion covering that Covered Activity in that jurisdiction and Reviewing Counsel has approved it, with or without conditions.

Merchant shall give Reviewing Counsel, through the evidence tools [Institution] designates, read-only access to the source repository, database and public documents on which the Legal Opinion relies, and shall not alter any of them during the review except to cure a finding.

Merchant shall maintain the facts on which each Verified Opinion relies. Merchant shall notify [Institution] within [five (5)] business days of any change to the Covered Activity, its structure, its flow of funds or the jurisdictions in which it is offered that could affect any of those facts.

Merchant consents to continuous re-measurement of those facts by the designated evidence tools, and to a bring-down of each Verified Opinion at least every [twelve (12)] months and whenever a change in law or in the Covered Activity affects it.

Where re-measurement shows a fact no longer holds, [Institution] may open a cure window of [fourteen (14)] days. If the finding is not cured within that window, [Institution] may suspend processing of the affected Covered Activity in the affected jurisdictions until a revised Verified Opinion is approved.

Reviewing Counsel acts solely for [Institution]. Nothing in this Agreement makes Reviewing Counsel counsel to Merchant, and Merchant shall not seek to direct or influence Reviewing Counsel’s judgment.

[OPTIONAL] Merchant shall pay the fee for each review of its Legal Opinion. The fee is fixed and paid before the review is decided, does not depend on its outcome, and does not make Merchant Reviewing Counsel’s client. Findings are reported to [Institution].

[Institution] may retain the review record, its findings and decisions, and the evidence summary for the longer of [ten (10)] years and the period its record-keeping obligations require, and may produce them to its examiners and regulators.

This policy sets the conditions on which [Institution] relies on a merchant’s legal opinion to onboard and keep serving merchants whose products involve gaming, prediction markets, money transmission, securities or commodities. It forms part of [Institution]’s policies and procedures for restricted transactions (12 CFR 233.6) and its customer due diligence and third-party risk management programs.

Real-money and social casino games; sweepstakes and dual-currency games; promotional contests; skill games; daily fantasy and pick’em contests; sports and event wagering; event contracts and prediction markets; and money transmission, stored value, rewards, token and trading features offered by a merchant or its program manager.

No in-scope merchant is onboarded, and no in-scope product is enabled in a jurisdiction, until [Institution] holds a Verified Opinion for it: a reasoned legal opinion reviewed for [Institution] by independent reviewing counsel under the Verified Opinion Standard, with each fact the opinion relies on tested against the merchant’s systems.

A fact the opinion states but that cannot be measured is recorded as stated, not as verified, and does not by itself support enabling a jurisdiction.

Reviewing counsel is engaged by [Institution], acts only for [Institution], and has no engagement with the merchant on the subject of the opinion. Where this policy permits the merchant to fund the review, the fee is fixed and paid before the outcome, and [Institution] remains the only client (ABA Model Rule 1.8(f)).

The facts behind each Verified Opinion are re-measured continuously and brought down at least every [twelve (12)] months. A change in law or in the merchant’s product that affects an opinion triggers a re-review.

A fact that no longer holds opens a cure window of [fourteen (14)] days, notified to [BSA Officer / Merchant Risk]. An uncured finding is escalated to [Risk Committee], which may suspend the affected product in the affected jurisdictions or exit the relationship.

For each merchant, [Institution] keeps the examiner file: the opinion relied on (by hash), the review decisions and reviewing counsel’s independence attestation, the evidence summary, the monitoring and cure log, remedial actions, reliance grants and revocations, and the chain of custody. Records are kept at least [five (5)] years (31 CFR 1010.430) and longer under a legal hold.

Beneficial ownership identification and verification (31 CFR 1010.230) is performed under [Institution]’s own CIP/CDD program and is outside the review.

[Merchant Risk] owns onboarding under this policy. [BSA Officer] receives cure notices and escalations. [Risk Committee] decides exceptions and exits, and reviews this policy at least annually.

An exception to this policy requires the written approval of [Risk Committee], a stated expiry, and an entry in the examiner file.