Author: Daniel Williams

Despite the tougher restrictions on gambling, introduced earlier this year by the government and by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), the number of people seeking treatment for gambling addiction has increased in the past year. New statistics from the National Health Service revealed that there were 379 hospital admissions related to gambling problems in 2018-19. These figures suggest that, on average, the number of gambling-related hospital admissions in the past year was more than one a day. The unexpected increase in admissions of people diagnosed with “pathological” gambling addiction…

December turned out to be a dynamic month for the Australian gambling sector. Considering the rapid growth of international gambling operations in recent years, analysts believe that the trend would continue in the near future, and Australia would not be left unaffected. Unfortunately, the gambling participation rates of Australian citizens, who have been reported as the biggest gambling spenders on a global scale, has raised the risks of an increase in problem gambling rates, as well. On the other hand, the lack of diligent regulation enforcement in the country has…

A man was arrested at Crown Casino last week and charged with 88 counts of fraud after investigators found he had scammed a single victim, borrowing more than AU$2.5 million for a non-existent business opportunity. Nearly all of the money was lost in countless gambling sessions at the casino. The 38-year-old man from Dianella, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, allegedly duped a man who he knew from a religious congregation. The accused, who remains anonymous, was arrested after the Financial Crimes Squad started an official investigation into his unexplained…

This week, the advertising regulatory authority in the UK revealed that fewer gambling adverts tend to reach British children on television. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published its latest report regarding the exposure of children to age-restricted TV adverts that is built on the watchdog’s previous research that covered the nine-year period from 2008 to 2017. According to the findings of the research, British children were exposed to an average of 3.2 gambling ads on the TV on a weekly basis in 2018. The rate is approximately equivalent to the…

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has issued a warning that video games’ betting-style features, including so-called loot boxes, should be classified as gambling and, respectively, be available for individuals over 18 years of age only. In a report that the charity organisation has recently published, the RSPH has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to stick to the Conservatives’ commitment regarding gambling regulation in the country and review it as soon as possible. The RSPH highlighted video games and sport as major areas of concern and warned that products…

The Department for Communities (DfC) of Northern Ireland announced the launch of a public consultation on the possible change to “outdated” gambling laws of the region. As revealed by the DfC, the Department is trying to explore the efficiency of the existing legislation but it is also seeking to identify what changes should be included in the new gambling legislation. That is exactly why local taxpayers and representatives of the gambling sector have been invited to give their opinions on the changes that should become part of Northern Ireland’s gambling…

Rob Howley, former Wales’ back coach, has faced an 18-month ban from rugby for placing bets on matches, including his team’s games. The suspension is backdated to September 16th, 2019, when he withdrew from the club’s World Cup campaign. Howley was found to have placed a total of 363 bets on rugby union, featuring 1,163 matches in the period from November 14th, 2015 to September 7th, 2019. According to evidence, the 49-year-old back coach used his e-mail account and his Welsh Rugby Union phone to place the wagers. As previously…

A study on gambling marketing exposure conducted in the United Kingdom revealed that the matchday programmes of local football clubs are laden with betting ads and branding. More concerning is the fact some of these advertisements target pages aimed at minors. The results of the study are more than disconcerting. It was established that the exposure to gambling-related advertising content is four times more prominent than that for alcoholic beverages. As many as 44 matchday programmes for the EFL Championship and the Premier League were analysed to establish they included…

A Christian advocacy group in the UK urged the country’s Government to initiate urgent reform of the country’s gambling laws, only a week after a recent survey has found that more than 50% of British adults gambled in 2018. The group, called Christian Action Research & Education (CARE) urged the authorities to be more proactive in protecting local people from gambling-related harm after a new survey found that about 53% of British adults gambled in 2018. The activities they participated in included various forms of gambling, including buying a lottery…

Problem gamblers in Tairāwhiti still do not have an in-person support system that is funded by the Government because the district health board is facing some difficulties to attract suitable staff members to do so. On August 1st, 2019, Hauora Tairāwhiti was granted a two-year contract to deliver services aimed at helping gambling addicts in the district by the Ministry of Health. The move came after almost a year in which the district did not have a local problem gambling service, following Te Ara Tika Trust’s decision to voluntarily cease…