A.J. Koehn

Allwyn UK has confirmed to SBC News that it is working closely with the Gambling Commission on responsible gaming and player monitoring amid calls for National Lottery draws to be included under Gamstop.

A British coroner has written to the Commission to suggest that National Lottery draw games should form part of the Gamstop national gambling self-exclusion scheme, reports The Times.

Online sports betting and casino operators are required to join the scheme as part of their licence conditions, but while National Lottery instant win games fall within the scope of the Gamstop regime, there is an exemption for draw games.

Emma Whitting, Senior Coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton, made the recommendation in a prevention of future deaths report sent to the Gambling Commission concerning the death of Steve Goff, a father-of-two who tragically took his own life after a long-running battle with gambling addiction.

The coroner noted that one of the last things Goff did before taking his o..

Rank Group has agreed to a £5m regulatory settlement with the UK’s Gambling Commission after an investigation revealed anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.

The LSE-listed business, which owns the Grosvenor Casino, Mecca Bingo and Enracha brands, revealed in its full-year results in August that it had already set aside this exact amount of money in anticipation of a settlement, and therefore it will have no impact on group profits and has not caused a drop in Rank Group shares.

It continues a recent clampdown on AML failings by the Commission. Bet St George and BresBet recently had their licences suspended and later ceased trading due to the same missteps, Ken Howells has also had its licence suspended, while QuinnBet was ordered to pay £609,104.

All of these cases have followed the Commission placing the UK’s gambling software sector at a ‘medium risk’ of money laundering and terrorist financing in early August.

Sue Young, Executive Director of Operatio..

UK gambling harm charity Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (Ygam) has deemed the inaugural meeting of its Prevention Delivery Network a success.

The event brought together organisations commissioned through the Gambling Harms Prevention and Resilience Fund by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) under the UK’s new statutory levy, the funding of which was awarded earlier in April.

As a reminder, the UK transitioned from a voluntary model of industry contributions to a statutory levy imposed on gambling operators to ensure that funding for gambling harm prevention remains consistent and continuous.

The collection rates vary between 0.1% to 1.1% of Gross Gaming Yield (GGY) depending on the sector, with operators offering online play sitting at a 1% levy, land-based operators at 0.4%, and bingos and AGCs at 0.1%.

Collections, due 1 October each year, are allocated at 20% for research, 30% for prevention, and 50% for treatment of problem gambling.

Ygam’s Pre..

The UK Gambling Commission will go forward with the implementation of a revised compliance framework for land-based gaming machines.

Changes are based on a consultation paper launched last year that collected a total of 1,065 responses. The topics covered included the Gaming Machine Technical Standards (GMTS), the Gaming Machine Testing Strategy, and the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).

Today’s response to the consultation confirms that the Commission will go through with a number of changes, although with some modifications applied as a result of the amassed reactions.

Most importantly, existing gaming machines will be excluded from the new standards given the concerns raised with the Commission about the high costs of the technical changes that businesses would’ve otherwise had to incur.

New responsible game design

Starting 30 June 2027, new category B gaming machines will have to incorporate a number of responsible gaming design features to remain compliant with..