Author: Daniel Williams

A new submission made by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to a public consultation regarding gambling regulation in Northern Ireland revealed that up to 40,000 people in the country may be facing a gambling problem. For the time being, Northern Ireland is considered to have the highest occurrence of gambling addiction in the UK. According to reports, its incidence of problem gambling is four times bigger than the one measured in the rest of the UK, as well as three times bigger than the one registered in the Republic…

The UK Government is expected to speed up its review into sponsorship agreements between gambling operators and football clubs. The move is taken at a time when an increasing number of anti-gambling campaigners have been calling for the authorities to ban such sponsorships that, according to them, normalise gambling in football. Currently, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is carrying out an audit into the country’s gambling regulations, which is expected to have some serious negative consequences for the historic relationship between the gambling sector and professional football.…

The Government of South Australia has named Vix Vizion as an official solution provider of facial recognition software for the local gambling register. Under the face recognition scheme, all licenced pubs, clubs and hotels that are allowed to run thirty and more gaming and gambling machines are required to implement Facial Recognition software in case one or more of the terminals are equipped with a banknote acceptor. The move has been unveiled as part of the Government’s efforts to create and maintain an official register of the customers who use…

All betting outlets on the territory of England are set to cease operation as of November 5th as part of the new national lockdown that Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced over the weekend. The move is expected to have a massive negative impact on the local betting and racing sectors. As it was revealed, racing, along with other elite sports will be able to continue their activities behind closed doors, while there was no such option for them at the time of the first nationwide lockdown in the spring of…

According to recent research, fewer than 3% of gambling addicts are getting treatment for their problem gambling behaviour. Some top experts have shared that the statistics released on October 29th by the National Gambling Treatment Service highlighted some of the biggest flaws in the British problem gambling treatment system and exposed the negative effects that the country’s relatively relaxed regulatory regime had. Yesterday, the National Gambling Treatment Service published its latest statistics, according to which 9,008 people received professional help for their gambling addiction in the year to the end…

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has investigated three online gambling companies for alleged failures in their social responsibility and money laundering protocols as part of the regulator’s efforts to raise compliance standards through stricter enforcement action. The three online gambling operators – Games Account Network (GAN) PLC, BGO Entertainment Limited and NetBet Enterprises Limited – all saw their licences reviewed by the watchdog after a number of violations, including lack of customer protection compliance and failure to prevent criminal spend and money laundering. As a result of the reviews, the…

The Commonwealth Bank has faced a monetary fine worth AU$150,000 because it was found guilty of increasing a gambling addict’s credit limit with the customer having previously informed it about his problem gambling. At the time, the gambler had also said he was unwilling to get such a credit limit increase because he could not efficiently control his gambling habits. The Federal Court found that, with these actions, the bank had violated the responsible lending provisions of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. Still, the court revealed that the breach…

A 41-year-old ex-financial planner, who allegedly misappropriated a total of AU$8.4 million from the investment accounts of 33 of his clients, has backed the gambling reform bill of Andrew Wilkie that is seeking to make companies take responsibility for stolen money. The entire amount has been lost, as Gavin Fineff gambled it away by placing some massive bets with some of the most popular Australian gambling operators. The beginning of the week saw Mr Fineff join the Independent Tasmanian Member of Parliament and long-time anti-gambling advocate Andrew Wilkie in a…

Underage gambling addicts in the UK are getting treatment at the first National Health Service (NHS) child gambling clinic after their spending rose to £100,000. Yesterday, the Sunday People revealed more information regarding the crisis with young people’s problem gambling across the UK. The aforementioned shocking debts are only part of the problem, with more of the youngsters getting hooked on online casinos and sports betting. Reportedly, no less than 55,000 children between the age of 11 and 16, most of whom are boys, are facing serious problem gambling behaviour.…

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched a public consultation on proposals for the introduction of stricter rules and guidance aimed at ensuring better protection for underage individuals and vulnerable people against harm associated with gambling advertising. The Authority has proposed to update its rules and guidance in order to minimise the chance of gambling and lotteries adverts to be found appealing by young people and vulnerable adults. Until now, in the UK Advertising Codes, there have been strict and very specific restrictions regarding lotteries and gambling ads that are designed…