Author: Daniel Williams

According to a member of the district health board, Tairāwhiti gambling addicts and communities are facing a turbulent period of uncertainty because of lacking free support services. Meredith Akuhata-Brown, a board member of Hauora Tairāwhiti, has shared that the risk of people suffering gambling-related harm without the necessary support along with the problems the entire community was facing, highlighted the need for a free support service to be re-established for problem gamblers. There has not been a government-funded service aimed at helping gambling addicts in the region since September 2018…

The share price of British gambling operators has declined in value following the revelations of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) that it would consider reducing the maximum stake allowed on online casino games to £2, in line with the one imposed on land-based fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). As Casino Guardian already reported, Neil McArthur, CEO of the UKGC, has revealed to an all-party parliamentary group of Members of Parliament, investigating the possible harm inflicted by betting. The consideration process is to take up to six months. A spokesman for the…

Yesterday, a committee of British Members of Parliament heard that the regulator of the UK gambling industry is to take into consideration possible restrictions on the stake limits for online games. The chief executive officer of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), Neil McArthur, revealed that he would make sure that the watchdog would consider the maximum limits allowed to be placed as bets online. A decision is expected to be made within the following six months. In November 2019, some Members of Parliament called for a maximum stake of £2…

Gambling and technology industries experts are meeting on February 11th and 12th in an attempt to make progress on creating a sole industry-wide solution that would help British regulators to reduce gambling-related harm, especially in cases when customers own multiple online gambling accounts. The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is hosting a Birmingham-based event where the attendees are discussing the challenges related to the task of achieving the so-called “single customer view”. The event is being attended by more than 100 market experts. The most-recently created regulator, the Betting and Gaming…

Australia-based Centre for Responsible Technology has urged the regulatory authorities to extend the classification of computer games in order to capture their design architecture expose underage individuals to gambling-based content and gambling-related harm. The suggestion was submitted to the Department of Communications review into the classification system, with the Centre of Responsible Technology saying that the expansion of what they called “addiction by design” in many games means that underage individuals being intentionally targetted by gambling operators to become addicted to gambling at a later stage. For the time being,…

A reputable economic advisor has described a report commissioned by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health as “seriously flawed” and has warned that the conclusions of the report should not be trusted. The report in questions, called “Measuring the Burden of Gambling Harm in New Zealand” was made especially for the country’s Ministry of Health. It was worth NZ$319,000 at the time when prepared. Unfortunately, the respected economics advisor now claims that there are over 10 research flaws in the controversial report. According to the findings in the report, so-called low-risk…

A parliamentary committee has heard that British bookmakers are considering to voluntarily suspend football shirt sponsorships and aggressive advertising away from the pitch. If the measure is truly rolled out, it would come as an expansion of the whistle-to-whistle ban on TV gambling advertising that was introduced in 2019. A few days ago, the Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry that operates as part of the House of Lords had a meeting to take evidence for some representatives of the local gambling market. Top…

A Belfast Councillor has called for stricter action regarding Northern Ireland’s gambling legislation explaining they are not good enough to serve their purpose. According to John Kyle, the authorities need to do more in order to protect vulnerable members of society such as people who find it hard to control their gambling habits. At the time when Belfast City Council took into consideration the issue at the beginning of the week, Mr Kyle once again directed the spotlight towards the fact how challenging problem gambling is for Northern Ireland and…

The Australian Greens in the state of Victoria have called for the Premier of the state, Daniel Andrews, and his Government to suspend donations made by the gambling sector and property development sector to political groups as a measure to restore the democratic process’ integrity. Earlier this morning, the donations from the 2018/19 financial year, including the ones for the elections in the state, were officially disclosed. According to reports, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA), which is currently considered an official representative of the majority of gambling establishments in the…

The head coach of Hamilton Academical F.C., Brian Rice, has faced a ban from football for ten matches following a confession that he had breached the gambling rules of the Scottish FA. However, the actual ban will be imposed immediately for only five of them, while the other five are set to be suspended for good behaviour until the summer of 2021. Brian Rice faced accusations of violating the Scottish FA rules in each season between July 14th, 2015 and October 15th, 2019. The ruling was announced at an SFA…