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The chief executive officer of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Michael Dugher, has explained that keeping gambling safe has been the top priority of the UK gambling industry. The statement was made by Mr Dugher at the start of the Safer Gambling Week. The Safer Gambling Week is an annual campaign that has been organised in the UK since 2017. It has been supported by the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (BACTA), the Bingo Association, as well as by the Betting and Gaming Council. This year, the Safer Gambling…

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has introduced some new measures through the Assembly. In her opinion, they will help the local authorities make gambling safer in Northern Ireland. Minister Hargey took part in the Safer Gambling Week, an initiative led by the gambling industry and aimed at raising people’s awareness of gambling, and more specifically, of safer gambling. Speaking at the official start of the initiative, Ms Hargey has shared that she was bringing a piece of legislation through the Assembly. As she explained, the proposed bill contains a number of…

Casino companies in the UK will face a change in their tax payments as of April 1st, 2022. This became clear after the autumn budget was delivered to the House of Commons by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Reportedly, gross gaming yield (GGY) bands are set to grow in line with inflation, which basically means that gambling companies in the UK will have to generate winnings in order to be able to make the increased gaming duty payments. Gaming duty in the UK has a progressive tax structure, in which companies become…

According to some new data published by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), about 25% of British adults aged 16 and older have gambled online over the past four weeks. A total of 4,005 individuals took part in the study of the country’s gambling regulatory body that took part. The study found that 25% of them had participated in some form of online gambling services in the previous four weeks during the course of the research from September 2020 to September 2021. That was an increase from some previous adult gambling…

According to new research, children and young people find gambling advertisements published on social media significantly more appealing than adults. A study, which was carried out by the University of Bristol, found that disguised esports gambling adverts and marketing materials were found quite fascinating by individuals under 25 years of age, as younger people associated them with positive emotions. More than 650 British children, young people and adults participated in the research that took place between May and July 2021. The researchers broke down the age groups as follows: 210…

A significant redesign of Irish brick-and-mortar bookmakers’ shopfronts could be forced as it is quite hard to define what actually constitutes gambling advertising. Ireland’s Department of Justice is set to closely monitor the branding used in bookmakers’ premises, as well as their potential marketing powers. The move comes as part of a long-expected crackdown on the gambling sector and the prevalence of gambling advertising in the country. Recently, no issues associated with bookies’ shopfronts had been raised, but James Browne, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, explained…

The UK gambling regulatory body has moved to the next phase of its project aimed at improving the quality of its adult gambling prevalence and participation statistics available to stakeholders. Now, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has confirmed that the new research schemes on the matter are set to be piloted between October 2021 and March 2022, so it had already moved onto the next phase of the headline project. Earlier in 2021, the country’s gambling watchdog launched a consultation on so-called “research methodologies” following some proposals to change the…

The Irish Government will see free bets banned in the country as part of landmark new gambling laws that were brought to the Cabinet on October 19th, while a new gambling watchdog is set to be established early in 2022. The new gambling regulatory body will also receive powers to suspend or revoke gambling operating licences. The watchdog will also be able to freeze accounts, as well as block incoming payments to gambling providers. As part of the new gambling legislation, a social impact fund is set to be created…

The city of Lower Hutt in the North Island is considering the introduction of a sinking lid policy on local poker machines, adopting a policy in line with its neighbouring cities in an effort to reduce gambling harm in the local community. According to a report commissioned ahead of the city’s gambling policy review, each machine’s take rose by 66% in the city in the period from 2015 to 2020. The Chairman of the Council’s Policy, Finance and Strategy Committee, Simon Edwards, explained that the local authorities have been considering…

A new gambling study has revealed that online gambling has seen a massive increase in Australia in the last decade. A 2-year study funded by Gambling Research Australia (GRA) showed that the number of local people who gamble online, no matter if it comes to casual bettors or gambling enthusiasts, has been subject to a twofold increase in the nine years between 2010 and 2019. GRA has been created as a national gambling research partnership between the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. It is currently chaired by the Government of…