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This week, the Gambling Division of the Gibraltar Government announced it had completed its 12-month thematic review of the anti-money laundering risk assessment controls and processes of the licensed online gambling companies that offer their services to local customers. The review has been focused on making sure that operators have adopted robust and adequate anti-money laundering measures that would help them identify and tackle any possible challenges in customer onboarding and ongoing contact in line with Gibraltar’s legislation. The Government’s Gambling Division further shared that the review engaged and analysed…

Earlier this week, Ireland has brought its new interim Gaming and Lotteries act into effect ahead of the massive regulatory reform of the local gambling sector. The Gambling and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2019 came into effect on December 1st and is focused on making the promotion of land-based gambling services more up to date. The new piece of legislation is amending Ireland’s Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956-2013. It is set to focus on streamlining the application process for gambling and lottery licences and the process for gaming and lottery services…

Gambling companies’ lobbyists had previously warned that the reduction of the maximum betting stakes of the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2 would lead to serious financial difficulties and the loss of about 21,000 jobs across the sector. According to reports, British punters lost £700 million less on the controversial betting machines in the year following the country’s Government imposed stricter measures on the FOBTs. The predictions for more than 20,000 job losses in the gambling industry in case local lawmakers proceeded with the stricter regulatory policy, however,…

Experts have revealed that some money laundering during the five months of coronavirus restrictions ended up with a massive AU$305-million increase in the profits generated by so-called pokies in Australia. According to the latest figures provided by the Liquor and Gaming regulatory body in the state of New South Wales (NSW), poker machine profits rose by more than 10% in comparison to the ones generated over the same period a year earlier, although in 2020 there were many restrictions imposed on local clubs and pubs, including a lockdown. In the…

Most states in Australia have turned a blind eye on the regulation of so-called casino junket operators, although the tours for affluent high-roller customers have been constituting a prime risk for terrorism financing and money laundering operations. The gambling watchdog in Queensland is the only state authority that has an active licensing procedure for the junkets, while the states of Victoria and Western Australia stopped the approval process over 10 years ago. The controversial operators that facilitated tours for wealthy gamblers from Mainland China to Australia for various gambling events.…

The gambling and sports betting industry in the UK will once again try to return to normal, with England being set to exit the national lockdown on December 2nd, as revealed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on November 23rd. The latest lockdown, which was imposed as of November 5th and included temporary shutdowns of casino and betting shop venues, will now be lifted in so-called Tier 2 regions. As the Government announced, what regions will see businesses resume operations and what operations will be allowed will only depend on the…

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has welcomed the gambling sector’s efforts to protect underage individuals by tackling advertising. The latest monitoring sweep published by the UK advertising watchdog confirmed a considerable decline in underage individuals’ exposure to gambling adverts in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Previously, the ASA has revealed that the UK gambling industry was one of the worst offenders when it came to adverts that were found particularly appealing by children. The second monitoring sweep of the ASA covered the period from July to the…

At the time when the first lockdown in the UK was imposed, the gambling operators in the country had a hard time adapting to the changes and sticking to them. After they have faced some criticism on their habit to take advantage on vulnerable people, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) revealed in late April that the members of the trade body decided to voluntarily remove their adverts from television and radio channels for a period of six weeks. At the time, the group representing gambling giants described the move…

The Children’s Commissioner for England once again insisted on banning gambling-like loot boxes for underage individuals. For more than a year now, Anne Longfield has been calling for the Government to make sure it urgently suspends loot boxes available in video games, such as FIFA, for children. She further warned that the controversial video game features cannot be distinguished from gambling. As shared by the commissioner, research carried out by her office had shown that underage individuals on the special in-game items were often chasing losses in order to get…

Philip Davies MP, who had recently accepted a prominent job in the industry, has denied criticism that he did that right before a long-awaited review of the country’s gambling legislation is to be carried out by the committee he was part of. As Casino Guardian reported at the time, Mr Davies faced some criticism after some information emerged that he was hired by GVC Holdings, with the gambling company set to pay him £33,320 for just 84 hours of work. As the document confirming the appointment revealed, Mr Davies would…