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NCPG resurrects old helpline amid 1-800-GAMBLER change

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People looking to seek help for gambling problems in the U.S. would be forgiven for being a little confused as things stand, as two helpline services purport to be the national number.

After a dispute spilled over into the courts, the 1-800-GAMBLER number is now being solely run by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey (CCGNJ). That organization holds the rights to the name and mark and ran the helpline solo from 1983 until 2022, when it licensed it to the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) in a three-year agreement.

After a New Jersey court told the NCPG to cease using 1-800-GAMBLER following the expiration of that deal, the NCPG has resurrected the number it used to use for the purpose, 1-800-522-4700.

The section of the NCPG website that formerly displayed 1-800-GAMBLER resources and links now carries similar resources and information under the other number. Meanwhile, the CCGNJ’s website has the URL 800gambler.org and prominently displays 800-GAMBLER across i..

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Continent 8 debuts Threat Exchange platform to combat cyberattacks

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Continent 8 Technologies is leveraging its expertise to deliver a new product designed to provide protection from data breaches and other cybersecurity attacks.

The Florida-based online casino and sports betting solutions provider announced the launch of Threat Exchange, a platform created to combat cyberattacks. Threat Exchange is the gaming industry’s first dedicated cyber threat intelligence platform, allowing operators and other key stakeholders to identify and respond to cybersecurity incidents.

According to data provided by Continent 8, the online and retail casino industry has reported a more than 400% increase in cyber-related incidents since February 2025.

Threat Exchange identifies threats targeted directly at gaming entities as general cyber threat intelligence platforms miss roughly 70% of gaming-specific attack patterns.

“Threat Exchange is changing the game, providing unrivaled visibility into the behaviors and tactics of threat actors,” said Continent 8 Chief Securit..

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PrizePicks picks Mindway’s brain for AI problem gaming detection

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Fantasy sports operator and approved prediction market participant PrizePicks has partnered with Mindway AI to lean on the Danish company’s automatic detection and monitoring technology.

The Atlanta, GA-based company will integrate Mindway’s software directly into its platform in a partnership it said will greatly boost its ability to detect and respond to potential problem gaming behaviors.

Mindway AI offers fully automatic detection and monitoring of at-risk and problem gambling behavior, as well as providing operators and its other partners with intervention solutions to enhance player protection. PrizePicks will use Mindway’s GameScanner tool to proactively identify nuanced player patterns that may signal increasingly risky gaming, such as shifts towards more frequent play, increased session frequency or accelerated spending.

“Partnering with Mindway marks a meaningful evolution in how we support player protection,” said PrizePicks Senior Director of Responsible Gaming Phil Sher..

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New York lawmaker proposes banning sportsbooks from limiting sharps

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A New York Assemblymember wants to tackle the issue of sportsbooks limiting bettors in the state legislature.

Democrat Asm. Alex Bores filed A9125 on Sept. 26. The bill aims to prevent sports betting operators from limiting the size and frequency of deposits or bets made by authorized sports bettors, or from banning them based on their success rate.

The bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Racing and Wagering, would amend state law to stipulate that sportsbooks cannot limit or kick out users because said user obtains financial benefit from their wagering activity.

Exemptions would be made when it is deemed that betting activity constituted suspicious wagering activity or suggests that the bettor may have a gambling disorder, as defined in state law.

In addition, whenever an authorized sports bettor is limited or banned, the operator would have to provide written notice to the bettor within 24 hours to explain the reasoning behind and the nature and parameters of the li..

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Newsletter: Better Gambling Forum flies flag for collaboration

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Scientists, researchers, policymakers, regulators, charities and industry stakeholders came together in New York last week to discuss the next steps in the Better Gambling Forum’s efforts to create a global benchmark for player protection. No sleep til Brooklyn: The steering committee of the Better Gambling Forum is headed by Play’n Go Head of Government Affairs…

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iGaming Daily: Brazil’s overhaul – new player protection, Supreme Court rulings and match-fixing crackdown

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With Brazil’s new legal framework enforced this year, the country is poised to become one of the world’s largest gaming markets. Player protection has become a top priority, leading to a wave of new guidelines, regulations, and proposals that are reshaping the industry. In this episode of iGaming Daily, host Fernando Noodt is joined by…

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UKGC pledges improvement in black market intelligence

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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has shed more light on its latest black market report, acknowledging the challenges but remaining firm in its commitment to counteract illegal operators.

Tim Livesley, UKGC Head of Data Innovation Hub, highlighted that the UKGC’s methods for data collection have been noticeably improved thanks to a more tightly-knitted collaboration between the Commission’s data and enforcement teams.

The latest UKGC report, which examines practices by licensed operators that might be pushing consumers towards the black market, is largely relying on automation for intelligence gathering, Livesley added – with automation also now a core part from the business model of some of the biggest gambling companies in the world, as revealed during SBC Summit Lisbon.

Besides freeing up resources and increasing efficiency, the UKGC’s Head of Data Innovation added that automation has also allowed for the collection of data on a more frequent basis – not necessarily putting the Commission a step ahead of the black market but improving its efforts nevertheless.

The report itself has focused on black market activity over the last 15 months, identifying consumer migration facilitated through search engines and affiliate links. In its closing lines, the analysis concludes that there is ‘no observed evidence of a sustained black market growth’.

Lack of evidence isn’t evidence
However, Livesley also acknowledged that generating accurate estimates does pose significant challenges due to the illegal nature of the black market, which generally keeps it hidden and therefore very little can be said about it in a factual manner.

Perhaps even more daunting is the dynamic nature of the illegal market, with Livesley adding that unlicensed operators are continuously moving away from the UK only for others to take up their space.

Having these two statements in mind, the UKGC’s claim of lack of evidence for a substantial growth should be viewed with a level of scepticism, as gathering accurate data appears to be a challenging endeavor – if not completely impossible.

Vulnerability is profitable
Until a reliable solution is found to meaningfully push back against the black market, every player in the UK will remain at risk from illegal operators profiting off of vulnerability.

A report published by gambling harm charity Deal Me Out earlier this year revealed that £10m was deposited into the black market in the months prior to the publication.

Of that amount, a total of £3.6m was given away by individuals suffering from problem gambling, £1.9m from general consumers, and £5.1m was staked by content creators sponsored by unlicensed operators – further unveiling the size of the marketing machine behind the black market.

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UKGC fines Betfred operator £240,000 for inappropriate slot features

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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has issued a £240,000 penalty to the operator of Betfred.com for having online slot features which breached its Remote Technical Standards (RTS).

The Commission found that Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, which runs betfred.com and oddsking.com (no longer operational), operated a selection of slot titles that failed to meet RTS requirements, including “hosting games which failed to display the consumer’s net position and games which celebrated losses as wins”.

RTS requires all gaming sessions to clearly show a customer’s net position, and a gambling system must not celebrate returns that are less than or equal to the total stake gambled.

Concerns about the celebratory effects’ fairness when a customer was in an overall losing position were raised by the UKGC, which stated that it may “negatively impact a player’s ability to interpret their gameplay accurately and make informed choices”.

Action was immediately taken by Petfre (Gibraltar), according to the report, which decommissioned the affected titles.

“Features that impair a consumer’s ability to make informed decisions are not appropriate and pose a clear risk,” commented John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement.

“While we acknowledge the operator acted swiftly to remove the affected games, this enforcement action should serve as a clear signal to the wider industry to review and strengthen their compliance practices — and to ensure that gameplay is fair and consumers are not exposed to unnecessary risk.”

Petfre (Gibraltar) has previously faced regulatory action from the UKGC, as the operator was fined £2.87m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures in 2022.

iGaming Expert has reached out to Betfred for comment on the UKGC fine.

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Spain provides plan of deposit limits of Central Monitoring System

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DGOJ, the Directorate General of Gambling in Spain, has revealed further plans for player protections and centralised monitoring controls to be applied to the digital environments of Spanish online gambling licences.

The update coincides with the Directorate renewing its certification under the National Security Scheme (ENS), Spain’s central information system for public services and government agencies.

The regulator needs this renewal in order to test a principal project of the 2023 Royal Decree on Gambling Environments. This project is the deployment of a ‘Centralised Monitoring System’ tracking player activity across Spanish online gambling.

Since 2022, Spanish licences have been instructed to self-manage deposit limits independently at a limit of €600 a day. The centralised system will allow DGOJ to verify each customer deposit transacted with individual licences.

According to the draft proposals, the default limits are set at €600 per day, €1,500 per week, and €3,000 per month. SBC Noticias reports that “new monitoring will require verification of each deposit to ensure the player maintains a margin within the established limits”.

The system is yet to be tested, but DGOJ is confident it will provide “individual mechanisms” for customers to reduce limits. Licensees must remind customers of their right to limit deposits and time on platforms on each log-in.

The application of universal deposit limits forms part of the DGOJ’s technical commitment to ensure Spanish gambling consumers are protected by the centralised monitoring system.

Attached to the new monitoring system will be the launch of a new Federal Self-Exclusion Scheme for problem gamblers. This new protection is designed for problem gambling interventions and to provide direct treatment support across Spain’s 17 autonomous communities.

The DGOJ maintains its ambitions to launch an AI algorithm to trace 60 live variable indicators of problem gambling risks. The algorithm is viewed as the headline project of the Royal Decree of gambling environments, to deliver as AI will track real-time patterns linked to problem gambling behaviour and enable operators to intervene early.

In an update provided to delegates of the Gaming in Spain Conference in June, the DGOJ noted that it had begun the project based on XGBoost machine learning algorithms.

However, this September, the Directorate launched a public consultation for feedback from IT, gaming and tech stakeholders on inputs, data and intelligence needed to engineer the algorithm.

The DGOJ believes that this project, which is backed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Spain, will make it the first European regulator to apply AI to customer interventions around gambling harm.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Spain maintains that the Royal Decree of Gambling Environments provides the mandate for Spain to have the toughest surveillance of gambling licences in Europe.

As it stands, the DGOJ has yet to deliver on any technical project sought by the Royal Decree.

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MA regulators take steps to require books to notify limited bettors

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The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) continues to be the most proactive regulator when it comes to learning more about the practive of sportsbooks limiting bettors.

The group held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss its findings after asking for operators to provide data related to how often bettors were being limited.

MGC data analysis concluded very few bettors being limited

The data largely corroborated testimony the operators provided to the MGC a year ago, which is that limiting is something that happens to a fraction of a percent of bettors.

The data did indicate that those bettors who consistently won were more likely to have their betting limits lowered and were less likely to be included in a sportsbook’s VIP program.

Averaging the data from the seven online sportsbooks in the state, the MGC determined that 0.64% of bettors in Massachusetts were limited. The majority of those bettors (57.6%) were limited to between 1-24% of the default maximum bet on a app. However, 12..

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