Author: Olivia Cole

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, plans to force the UK bookmakers to raise no less than £100 million on an annual basis to fund gambling addiction initiatives. The Tory politician is promising to impose a minimum 1% compulsory tax on British bookmakers profits. It is intended that the levy would be used to pay for more research and treatment programs for problem gambling, as the authorities will continue their cooperation with charity organisations. Mr Hancock, who is likely to occupy the Prime Minister position…

The online sports betting and casino gambling operator Unibet, part of Kindred Group, is set to become the first betting brand in the UK to integrate the blocking software of Gamban into its self-exclusion process. This is the second time when Kindred Group partners with Gamban after they first joined forces in April 2018. Now the online gambling operator has extended the two companies’ relationship across its Unibet brand in order to bolster its responsible gambling policy and help players self-exclude themselves from the website for a longer period of…

Online betting operator Lottoland has started legal action against the Federal Government of Australia after a recent investigation found that the company has breached gambling legislation by offering services which it is not allowed to under the existing laws. The probe commissioned by the federal media watchdog was primarily focused on the jackpot betting product of Lottoland that determines winners by pulling numbers from financial markets at opening time, then arrange it into a longer number and then convert it into the winning numbers. At the time when the Australian…

Some of the largest gambling operators in the UK have faced accusations of failing the trust of problem gamblers after an undercover investigation of KentOnline showed some significant flaws in a self-exclusion scheme that should be designed to protect gambling addicts. A reported of the online media presented himself as a gambling addict and banned himself from all brick-and-mortar betting outlets in Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable in order to check on the actual effectiveness of the Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion Scheme (MOSES). Unfortunately, the results have shown that only a few…

According to media reports, a major gambling operator is providing financial inducements to players to place online bets with the company, despite the practice is currently banned on a federal level. The practice is not new to the sector. For years, Australian bookmakers have offered free bets and special bonuses to their punters to match their deposits and encourage them to continue gambling. This, however, has faced the criticism of some experts, according to whom such actions only encourage gambling addiction and has therefore been suspended under a code of…

Today, one of the leading online gaming entertainment and solutions providers on a global scale, 888 Holdings, revealed its trading update for the period from January 1st 2019 to May 18th 2019. The online gambling operator reported what it called an “encouraging” start of the year after its UK revenues rose by almost one-fifth. The Group saw a 6% surge on a like-for-like basis during the above-mentioned period or a 2% increase on a reported basis. According to the official announcement made by the company, this result has been supported…

Another major takeover deal could be underway on the UK gambling market. Today, the British casino and gaming operator Rank Group Plc revealed that it was in what it called “advanced discussions” over a possible acquisition of the online firm Stride Gaming Plc. The takeover offer values Stride Gaming at £114.5 million. Rank Group, which is currently owner and operator of Mecca Bingo, has lately been making investments in online gambling operations as part of its efforts to compensate for the poorer performance of its casinos and bingo halls. The…

A crackdown on premises which have are primarily operating as poker machine parlours instead of pubs is currently being promoted as part of the authorities’ campaign against the gambling culture in Tararua. However, the MidCentral District Health Board has shared suspicions that some of the poker machine venues in the district are violating a loophole in the existing requirements that gambling services are not the premises’ main source of income. Tararua has been reported as the district with the second highest ratio of pokies to people on the territory of…

Kenny Alexander, the Chief Executive Officer of the biggest gambling operator in the UK, has agreed to a massive reduction to his paycheck after facing some pressure from the group’s investors. The move comes only a week before the annual shareholder meeting of GVC Holdings, where the company’s investors are set to vote on its pay policy. Mr Alexander, who has been heading the gambling giant for 12 years now, will have his salary reduced by £150,000, from £950,000 to £800,000. According to an official statement released yesterday, the six-figure…

Yesterday, Paddy Power Betfair finalised its rebranding and started trading under its new name – Flutter Entertainment. The gambling operator’s move received approval from the parent company’s shareholders at its annual meeting which took place on May 15th. The new name of the operator goes back to the time when exchange betting was something new and a merger was carried out between Betfair and its market competitor Flutter. The parent company’s name change, however, would not affect the group’s brands, including Australia-based Sportsbet and FanDuel in the US, and will…