Author: Daniel Williams

Broadcasters have faced calls to ban all gambling adverts during the European Championship as part of the efforts to provide better protection to consumers who are considered at risk of being affected by gambling-related harm. An open letter has been sent to broadcasters, including Sky Sports, ITV, Talksport and BT Sport by a group of 60 problem gamblers, Members of Parliament and clinicians, who claim there is strong evidence that gambling adverts affect the chance for people betting. Five Members of Parliament signed the letter, which is sent after reports…

Western Australia’s recently-appointed Royal Commission into the operations of Crown Resorts’ casino in Perth has heard that members of the local gambling regulator are not experienced enough in casino regulation. The probe into Crown Perth has already started and is currently aimed at examining whether the gambling legislation framework of the state is fit for its purpose. The probe is also checking whether the Australian gambling giant is fit to keep its casino licence for the Crown Perth casino. The inquiry in Western Australia has started after a probe into…

A proposed measure seeking to suspend Australian people from using their credit cards for online gambling transactions has faced opposition by some companies that generate profit from gamblers going into debt. The gambling peak body of Australia has revealed it was against a proposed piece of legislation under which local gambling operators would be prevented from accepting credit card payments for online betting transactions. The bill was unveiled by Stirling Griff, a Centre Alliance Senator. It follows a similar measure being adopted in the UK, under which the acceptance, facilitation…

Discussions on banning gambling sponsorships are a part of the ongoing review of the 2005 Gambling Act. Forest Green Rovers is the first professional English football club to join this campaign and advocate for the end of promotional deals that advertise gambling in football. Forest Green Rovers, which has never agreed on a gambling sponsorship, has teamed with the Gambling with Lives charity in the Big Step campaign, striving to ban sponsorships and other promotions of gambling activities in professional football. Gambling with Lives is a charity organisation that was…

The coronavirus pandemic outbreaks had most of the public activities ceased all over the world, including in Australia, as the authorities implemented rules about social distancing measures, curfews and lockdowns. The aforementioned measures affected all spheres of the economy, including the gambling industry, especially the brick-and-mortar gambling services. After the social distancing and lockdown measures were imposed, it became impossible for Australian people to visit casinos. The Covid-19 pandemic brought some bigger changes in the sector, highlighting some new trends associated with online gambling and customer behaviour. Casino gamblers in…

Some of the most rigorous checks in the betting sector of the UK are about to be avoided as government officials are planning to do a general review of the gambling laws instead of stringent affordability checks. According to people involved in the Gambling Act review process, the UK Gambling Commission will not be able to require bettors to provide payslips before they are eligible to bet online. As reported by The Telegraph, any findings from the review of the 2005 Gambling Act will be considered by the House of…

The gambling industry in Australia has experienced some financial hurdles in 2020 following the coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, overseas gambling operators have managed to generate billions of dollars last year, taking advantage of the considerable increase in online gambling participation rates. Unfortunately for them, they are now facing the possibility of becoming the subject of sports betting advertising ban in the country. For some time now, anti-gambling campaigners have been warning about an increase in online gambling saying that was a reason good enough for a ban on…

According to the latest data, there was an increase in the contributions made by the biggest UK gambling operators to charity organisations and causes but they have still been far from enough. Gambling companies that are currently involved in multi-million football shirt sponsorship agreements have faced criticism for making extremely small contributions to the biggest industry-funded problem gambling charity, GambleAware. In mid-April, GambleAware, which gets its funding from online casino and sports betting operators, published its annual list of donors, providing some details on the contributions being made individually by…

Neither the Labor nor the Liberal Party is ready to back the proposed slow-down of poker machines’ spin rates or reducing their maximum bets as part of measures aimed at minimising gambling-related harm when the piece of legislation seeking gambling reform is presented to the country’s Parliament later in 2021. The two major Australian parties have predicted improving harm minimisation as part of the above-mentioned reforms with an increase in the Community Support Levy. Half of the levy is provided for gambling research, gambling support services and community education, while…

One of the largest banks in Australia, Westpac, has launched a new tech solution that hinders compulsive gamblers from making payments to online betting sites. The feature enables Westpac customers who cannot control their gambling spending to block financial transactions to gambling-related websites. The Aussie bank introduced the new feature in an attempt to help curb the spread of compulsive gambling over the internet. Westpac has integrated the new functionality both within its mobile app and its desktop banking platform. The feature prevents customers from initiating payments to online gambling…