Author: Daniel Williams

The Australian Banking Association (ABA) finally unveiled the results of its consultation on the public opinions about the use of credit cards for gambling purposes and the role of financial institutions in addressing gambling-related harm. The findings were published in a report entitled Every Customer Counts and were based on the written submissions of forty gambling operators, governmental agencies, and problem gambling counsellors. Also considered were the results of a web-based survey that involved 813 locals who were asked about their opinions on the use of credit cards for betting…

The UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matthew Hancock, warned that non-essential businesses, sports betting shops included, may be forced to remain closed until a vaccine for Covid-19 becomes widely available to the public. Recent changes to the coronavirus measures during the holiday period will cause betting shops to cease operations across a significant part of the country. Bookmakers located in the London area, as well as those in England’s south-east and east parts, will have to close their doors to customers again. This applies to areas…

The Betting and Gaming Council issued a warning about the increasing risks of online black market operators in the UK. This followed a concerning discovery, showing that British bettors resorted to the services of unlicensed operators about 27 million times in a single year. The results of a report carried out by PWC showed that more than 200,000 UK punters reported using the services of unlicensed operators in the 12 months between 2018 and 2019. The amount they have spent betting at black market websites was nearly £1.4 billion. According…

A report reflecting a massive increase in problem gambling in Australia’s Northern Territory has been made public following a change in the local Government’s previous refusals to publish it. Menzies School of Health Research was entitled to conduct the Gambling Prevalence and Wellbeing Survey after receiving $695,000 from the Community Benefit Fund in late 2018. A total of 5,000 adult NT residents participated in the survey by answering to more than 100 questions, with the final report saying the proportion of adults facing problem gambling behaviour increased by 50% from…

The Manningham Council in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne has purchased the local Returned and Services League (RSL) club in order to make sure controversial poker machines do not infiltrate the place. A campaign aimed at encouraging a further 30 municipalities to do the same was also launched by the Council. Ron Twinning, president of Templestowe RSL, secretly lobbied for the club to be bought by the Manningham Council to prevent the venue from becoming home to pokies or sold off to developers. He came up with the idea after…

Ex-England Under-21 and Watford footballer Marvin Sordell has warned that young football players are getting hooked on gambling and clubs must invest more efforts into protecting them. Sordell, who retired from professional football at the age of 28, now claims that the next generation of football players is being let down by their clubs. The former striker, who has 321 appearances and scored 68 goals in his career, believes that gambling has become one of the major problems that currently affect player well-being. At the time he was officially announced…

According to new research, the number of Australian residents who have participated in gambling declined by over 2.6 million indiiduals during the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison to a year ago. The new data provided by the Australian National University showed that the forced shutdown of clubs and pubs at the beginning of 2020 significantly minimised access to gambling services and the overall rate decline from the almost 66% from the gambling participation rates before the pandemic to approximately 53%. At the time when venues resumed operations, the gambling participation rates…

A Scottish Member of Parliament has urged parents to boycott video games that contain so-called loot boxes. The vice-chairman of the Westminster’s committee on gambling-related harm, Ronnie Cowan, has warned that in-game items that could be purchased for real money could trigger problem gambling in underage individuals. Currently, loot boxes and special in-game items are featured by some of the most popular PlayStation and Xbox games offered on a global scale, including Fortnite, Fifa and Overwatch. They provide players with the chance to unlock new special items for their characters…

Australian casinos have been warned by the anti-money laundering authority AUSTRAC about a series of transnational criminal activities that have been taking advantage of junket gambling. Thanks to the agreements between casino operators and tour agencies, junket gambling has become a very popular activity in Australia. AUSTRAC is urging casinos to take firm measures to prevent any risk of money laundering that may occur as a result of junket gambling. The authority warned that junkets are often targeting high-risk individuals from foreign countries as their potential patrons. In a 2017…

Earlier this week, it was announced that the UK government will have an early review of the Horserace Betting Levy. The news was well-received by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) as the racing industry was working on a recovery plan to overcome the huge losses that came as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time the levy was reformed was in 2017 when it extended to offshore bookmakers that offer bets on British racing. Although the next review was scheduled for 2024, the government announced that it will…