As of 1 January 2025, Dutch gambling licences will be governed by a new ‘General Policy of Fines’, as mandated by Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands.

As stated by the KSA: “The New General Policy of Fines aims to ensure penalties are appropriate and serve as punitive and preventive measures. It seeks to deter violations and promote compliance with gambling regulations.”

The KSA has broadened the scope of fines to cover specific violations determined by the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) and the Netherlands Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft).

The new fine policy will be applied across five categories, with basic fines ranging from €500 in Category 1 to €2,000,000 in Category 5.

Category 5 fines will be exclusively applied to Wwft violations. For non-Wwft violations falling under Category 4, the KSA may also impose a turnover-related fine amounting to 3% of the offender’s gross turnover to enhance the impact of the fine on the..

NHS England has warned of a significant increase in patient care demands for the treatment of gambling addiction, an problem fuelled by gambling adverts promoted over the festive period.

Concerns about the capacity to meet patient demands were raised by Dr Matt Gaskell, Head of the NHS Northern Gambling Service, and Claire Murdoch, the National Director for NHS Mental Health Services.

As noted, gambling addiction referrals “have risen by 130%, with almost 2,000 people referred between April and September 2023 compared to just over 800 in the same period in 2022.”

Expanding dedicated services for the treatment of gambling harms, the NHS has doubled the number of problem gambling clinics in England, totalling 15, offering support from trained psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists, and peer support teams.

Specialist clinics are now located in Sheffield, London, Milton Keynes, Thurrock, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Preston, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, an..

There is not a lot of research surrounding links between neurodiversity and problem gambling, but there is little doubt among those with lived experience of gambling harm that neurodiverse people are uniquely vulnerable to gambling addiction, writes Steve Hoare, Player Protection Hub Editor.

“Regardless of whether there is research on this or not, there is definitely a correlation between neurodivergence and gambling addiction,” highlighted Chris Gilham, a trustee at Gambling Harm UK, to an audience of experts in neurodiversity at a webinar organised by the Gambling Lived Experience Network (GLEN).

Gilham lived with a crippling gambling addiction from the age of 30 to 36-years-old. The gambling compounded a dependency on alcohol that sent him to rock bottom before he sought help.

As someone who was never interested in gambling or exposed to it before he was 30, Gilham was baffled as to why he suddenly developed a gambling problem.

It took him three years of recovery, hard work an..

The Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a €400k fine to Optdeck Service Ltd, otherwise known as Unibet.

According to the regulator, the betting brand had allowed the signing up of players who were listed on the Netherlands’ national self-exclusion registry CRUKS.

The scheme works in the same way as other similar projects throughout Europe, where once a player has been registered in the system, licensed gambling providers have a regulatory obligation to refuse them any type of gambling service, whether it’s physical or online.

An alert was raised with the KSA back in mid-2023 that Unibet had failed to carry out the necessary checks during the 2022 World Cup, which was confirmed after the regulator’s subsequent investigation. As per official information, Optdeck had not appealed the fine.

CRUKS is a core component of the Dutch gambling market. To ensure that this remains the case, the KSA has previously launched a number of marketing campaigns targeting ..

Ahead of the festive holidays, GamCare has warned people with gambling issues to be extra careful not to endanger themselves further.

A YouGov survey, commissioned by the gambling charity and focusing on more than 4,000 UK adults suffering from problem gambling, has shown that three-fifths (59%) of those prone to gambling harms say they are more likely to gamble at Christmas than the rest of year – a 37% increase from 2023.

Additional insights from the survey highlight that 53% of people gambling at harmful levels have spent money – otherwise needed for food, presents, or other seasonal expenses – on gambling.

Again, 53% of surveyed respondents report an increase in stress or anxiety levels due to gambling, while 56% say that gambling has made them more isolated.

GamCare has put its own advisers on standby to help anyone who might need support during the holidays, and its National Gambling Helpline remains open for people with gambling issues or those close to them who might be s..