Gambling harms education charity Deal Me Out has published a paper that tracks the black market experiences of young people, problem gamblers and other gamblers. The charity spoke to 1,254 children aged between 11 and 16-years-old, 100 problem gamblers who have used the black market, 100 other gamblers who use the black market, 10 content…
Companies based in Curaçao and skin betting firms are responsible for the bulk of unlicensed gaming activity in Sweden, according to the country’s gambling regulator.
The Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA), has published a report outlining the extent of black market activity targeting Sweden. The report is in part based on a survey conducted last year.
According to the SGA, Sweden’s channelling rate – the number of people betting via legal, licenced gaming firms – stands at 86%, though the regulator estimates that only a small number of Swedes actually bet with unlicensed sites.
“It is a relatively small group of players, probably fewer than five percent of the total number of players, who demand games that do not have a Swedish gaming license,” an SGA statement read.
Sweden’s tough adjustment
Sweden re-regulated its betting sector in 2019, ending a long-existing monopoly held by Svenska Spel. This state-owned company continues to trade in the market, going up a..
Casino.nl has published its second annual “Duty of Care Report”, providing an independent view of the mandatory and voluntary protections offered by legal online gambling operators licensed in the Netherlands.
The study monitored 25 licensed operators for six months (October-to-March 2025) with the aim to provide an “objective evaluation of responsible gambling practices in the Dutch market”.
As the Netherlands leading casino player community, Casino.nl views a legal which sector shows “large variations in protective measures despite widespread basic compliance.”
Rules on duty-of-care and compliance standards are set by the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) the underlining regulatory framework which launched the Netherlands online gambling marketplace in 2021. As stands, KOA sets the framework for online gambling in the Netherlands through requirements for addiction prevention and responsible behaviour promotion alongside risk intervention.
Research observed the 37 legal requirements toget..
A proposal in Illinois to add compulsive gambling to the list of recognized substance use disorders is making headway.
SB 0118, sponsored by four Democrat lawmakers, was first introduced in January and passed the Senate by a unanimous 55-0 vote in recent days. It has been engrossed in the House of Representatives and is awaiting a reading in that chamber’s Rules Committee.
The bill would amend the state Substance Use Disorder Act to add a gambling disorder, which it defines as “persistent and recurrent problematic gambling behavior leading to clinically significant impairment or distress.”
The Department of Human Services would be responsible for a state-wide strategy that would include creating and administering prevention and treatment programs for disordered gamblers. One of the department’s duties would be to create grants that would draw funds from, among other things, revenue dedicated to the department under the provisions of the Video Gaming Act and the Illinois Gambling Ac..
Gamban has begun a collaboration with the Professional Footballers’ Association of Northern Ireland (PFA NI) to help footballers who suffer from betting-related harms.
To do so, Gamban – a software tool designed to block access to gambling websites and apps across multiple devices – will provide PFA NI members with access to its technology free of charge.
Melissa Etherington, Partnerships Executive at Gamban, highlighted that gambling addiction is a growing issue in football, which impacts mental health, finances, and a player’s performance on the pitch.
She explained: “It also has the potential to impact sports integrity. We are delighted to partner with PFA NI to raise awareness of Gamban among those most at risk from harms related to online gambling.”
In offering the service, the organisations aim to help protect professional players from the risks of gambling addiction and give them the tools they need to take control of their well-being.
On and off the pitch
Gamban was foun..
Gamban has begun a collaboration with the Professional Footballers’ Association of Northern Ireland (PFA NI) to help footballers who suffer from betting-related harms.
To do so, Gamban – a software tool designed to block access to gambling websites and apps across multiple devices – will provide PFA NI members with access to its technology free of charge.
Melissa Etherington, Partnerships Executive at Gamban, highlighted that gambling addiction is a growing issue in football, which impacts mental health, finances, and a player’s performance on the pitch.
She explained: “It also has the potential to impact sports integrity. We are delighted to partner with PFA NI to raise awareness of Gamban among those most at risk from harms related to online gambling.”
In offering the service, the organisations aim to help protect professional players from the risks of gambling addiction and give them the tools they need to take control of their well-being.
On and off the pitch
Gamban was foun..
A rethink of prevention strategies is essential to stop the general public from engaging with black market operators, encroaching on the UK’s regulated gambling market.
The warning comes from gambling harms awareness and prevention campaigners – Deal Me Out (DMO), who have published the Evaluation Report on Black Market Gamblingand its UK presence.
Significantly, the report seeks to provide the perspective of those who have engaged with unlicensed operators, offering audiences a deeper understanding of vulnerabilities and the reasons individuals turn to black market gambling.
The report states: “Over the last five years, we have become increasingly concerned about the surprising prevalence of illegal gambling in the United Kingdom, particularly among children and vulnerable people. Since our inception, we have witnessed regulation that was intended to prevent harm at a population level, but which may in fact be worsening harm for those most at risk.”
“Deal Me Out has been heartened..
With great power comes great responsibility, and this Hollywood-born principle fully applies to operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).
Participating in one of the most developed and high value gambling markets in the world requires tremendous commitment to safeguarding the highest player safety principles. This includes staying ahead of the risk trends that face the industry.
As a regulator, the UKGC holds the responsibility to inform shareholders of any developments in the crime world and issue guidance on how to avoid them, optimising the regulatory landscape accordingly with licence conditions and codes of practice.
In the wake of some recent enforcement actions against operators for breaching AML and social responsilibty licensing conditions, the UKGC has updated its profiles on the risks betting firms come up against.
FX services
First on the list the UKGC advised licensed remote and non-remote casinos with money service business (MSB) facilities to practi..
Ricardo Assis: SBC Noticias Brazil
The Central Bank of Brazil has monitored R$30 Billion per month since Bets activation. However its leadership warns ministers that Pix payment system cannot be ssed as a consumer control…
The highest-ranking officials of Brazil’s Central Bank have become the latest figureheads to provide testimony to the Commission of Inquiry on Online Gambling (CPI of Bets).
Gabriel Galípolo, President of the Central Bank, was joined by Executive Secretary Rogério Lucca to face questions from CPI Chair Senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS) and other senators and ministers in attendance.
Taking place on Tuesday, the hearing of the Central Bank executives was deemed critical by the Commission in determining measures to “limit consumers from excessive debt” – the principal remit which sanctioned the CPI of Bets.
The hearing opened with Galípolo and Lucca providing an analysis of the market expansion of the Bets regime following its activation on 1 January 2024.
Luc..
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands, has intensified its supervision of illegal gambling activities, in which it has undertaken new initiatives to block the promotion of unlicensed operators.
Issuing back-to-back updates, KSA informed that it had prohibited 20 apps from being downloaded on mobile stores and social media platforms.
KSA had to take action since the apps were advertising prohibited websites to customers. It was a critical situation because the apps were available for download by children, which ‘made the situation even more alarming’.
The KSA noted that “underhand techniques” were used by the apps, including use of false logos of licensed operators and the misuse of the Holland Casino logo. In most cases, the apps were presented as just other games, such as plinko, but when downloaded, would direct the user to the unlicensed gaming sites.
Since the last three months, the KSA has been in close contact with the app stores to have these ap..