René Jansen, outgoing Chairman of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority, has stood up for the tighter scrutiny of the Dutch online gambling market.

Jansen, who last week announced his inbound retirement as Chairman of KSA in January 2024, backed tougher regulatory demands on duty-of-care, record keeping and the monitoring of advertising campaigns.

Writing a blog titled: “Gambling addiction: prevention is better than cure”, Jansen recognised that the developments of Dutch online gambling marketplace have gained significant media coverage.

Of concern to the public is ‘the size and growth of the market and the number of players on the one hand, and the behaviour of providers in that growing market on the other’, he explained.

From a regulatory standpoint, it is a challenge to accurately estimate the number of new and existing players due to the previous prevalence of illegal gambling prior to the launch of the KOA marketplace on 1 October 2021.

As such, KSA g..

The Secretary of State has confirmed the appointment of seven Commissioners to oversee the governance and regulatory oversight of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

As announced by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), the Gambling Commission welcomes the appointments of Charles Counsell, Helen Dodds, Sheree Howard, and Claudia Mortimore as new Commissioners, who will serve a five-year term.

The board of the UKGC will be further strengthened by the appointment of Lloydette Bai-Marrow, Helen Philips, and David Rossington as Commissioners for terms of four years.

Charles Counsell (OBE) is a policy expert on public finances, who previously served as the Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator from 2019 to 2023.

DCMS noted: “Throughout his career, including previous roles as CEO of the Money Advice Service, he has concentrated on implementing large change programmes and strengthening stakeholder relationships.”

Acclaimed international lawyer, Helen Dodds, currently se..

GamCare is making progress in its employment and HR policies, the charity’s Director of People and Organisational Development, Debby Morrell believes, particularly with regards to closing the pay gap.

The organisation, which provides treatment and support services for problem gambling, has set itself a goal of achieving a zero pay gap across both gender and ethnicity, as well as keeping up momentum with post-COVID working practices.

According to its Ethnicity and Pay Report for 2022, the charity’s mean figure on gender pay remains ‘roughly the same’ as in 2021, having fallen from 13.34% to 11.61%, largely as a result of having a higher number of women working at the group particularly in lower-paid roles.

Meanwhile, GamCare’s mean ethnicity pay gap for 2022 also remains broadly the same as the year prior, with a marginal difference between 2.82% against 2.92% in 2021.

“As we continue to grow, we are working to close the gap and work on next steps to maintain a more inclusive view g..

Spelpaus, Swedish gambling’s centralised self-exclusion system has hit the milestone of registering 100,000 users at risk of gambling harms.

Operated by Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Inspectorate, Spelpaus was launched on 1 January 2019 as the primary player protection service of Sweden’s relaunched online gambling marketplace.

By law, Swedish online gambling operators are required to connect their databases with the Spelpaus register, to ensure that self-excluded customers have no access to websites and cannot be marketed to.

In 2022, Spelinspektionen was granted funds to launch the revamped Spelpaus 2.0 self-exclusion system, as part of the government’s review of Swedish gambling’s consumer protections and safeguards.

Launched at the close of 2022, Spelpaus 2.0, featured enhanced self-exclusion functionalities, improved ID verification services and a new website design with clear guidance on self-exclusion and family referrals.

Furthermore, 2023 saw the Inspectorate lau..