A.J. Koehn - Player Protection Hub

Liverpool City Council puts weight behind calls to end gambling advertising

A.J. KoehnJuly 14, 2026014 views

Liverpool City Council has joined the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA), becoming the latest local authority to back calls for tighter restrictions on gambling advertising as part of its wider strategy to reduce gambling-related harm.

The move follows the launch of the council’s Reducing Gambling Harms Action Plan earlier this year, which sets out measures to improve early intervention, increase access to support services and reduce residents’ exposure to gambling marketing.

According to the council, around one in six young adults in Liverpool experience gambling-related harm, with men and people facing financial disadvantage considered most at risk.

It said gambling-related problems can contribute to debt, poor mental health, relationship breakdown, homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system.

The council said joining CEGA would strengthen its efforts to address what it described as the normalisation of gambling through widespread advertising across television, s..

FRA reaction: Gambling Commission slammed by figures in and out of the industry

A.J. KoehnJuly 10, 2026022 views

Industry stakeholders from all angles have come out this week to condemn the Gambling Commission’s announcement that it is ready to impose Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) on gambling operators in the UK.

Journalists were told by the Commission in a meeting on Tuesday morning that it was ready to take a “carefully thought-out staged application” of FRAs.

The first phase of the FRA programme will apply to the “largest operators” focused on the assessment of high spend customers with a check set of £5,000 net deposits accumulated over a 24-hour period.

But many across the UK, from punters to operators and law firms to horse racing enthusiasts, have slammed the Commission’s decision to go ahead with this.

A judicial review of FRA implementation?

Sophie Kemp, Partner and Head of Public Law at London-based law firm Kingsley Napley, told SBC News that she believes that “there may be strong grounds for bringing a judicial review challenge” about the approach.

“Many in the industry vie..

Greece opens tender for cybersecurity partner for gambling market

A.J. KoehnJuly 9, 2026016 views

The Hellenic Gambling Supervision and Control Commission (EEEP) has launched a tender which will aim to appoint a ”specialist legal and technical partner” to strengthen player monitoring on Greece’s online gambling market.

The directive forms part of the government’s broader strategy to enhance oversight of the online gambling sector by improving player identification, anti-money laundering (AML) safeguards and cybersecurity commands.

The tender seeks to find a partner that will help redesign and strengthen the framework that oversees the secure identification of players using Electronic Player Accounts (EPAs).

A new technical framework is required to enhance Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to ensure licensed operators maintain robust protections against fraud, financial crime and underage gambling.

According to the tender documents, the EEEP is seeking assistance with “the design and improvement of the framework for the secure identification of gambling players”, combined wi..

Landmark EGBA player safety initiative comes to fruition

A.J. KoehnJuly 9, 2026013 views

It’s been a long time coming for the introduction of an EU-wide international player protection standard, and thanks to collaborative efforts spearheaded by the European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA), the publication of a full set of guidelines is now set in stone.

Earlier in the week, the final version of the European Standard on markers of harm in gambling (EN 18144) was released by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN).

Although voluntary, the document is being treated by EGBA and its members as a necessary baseline for gambling operators across Europe to build their player protection frameworks around.

The guidelines identify a total of nine core markers revolving around player behaviour that gambling providers can use to inform their safer play policies and intervene when a risk pattern is detected.

According to the document, tracking should prioritise shifts in stake volume and frequency, speed/intensity of play, deposit frequency and size, withdrawals, pl..

ECA calls for cross-border police action as EU black market approaches €100bn

A.J. KoehnJuly 9, 2026012 views

The European Casino Association (ECA) has become the latest organisation to call for stronger cross-border enforcement against illegal online gambling after revealing that the black market targeting EU consumers reached an estimated €91.6bn (£78.3bn) in 2025.

The figure is up around 14% year-on-year and was presented for the first time during a high-level roundtable in the European Parliament.

It replaces the previous 2024 estimate of €80bn that had originally been used in the meeting’s title and means illegal operators deprived EU member states of an estimated €22.9bn in tax revenue during 2025.

Hosted by Member of European Parliament Lukas Mandl, the roundtable brought together representatives from many industry stakeholders including:

The European Commission

The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)

Eurojust

The Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol (JSPG)

National gambling regulators

ECA: over 6,000 black market operators active

The ECA report estimates that mor..

KSA Chairman: Dutch gambling needs better financial guardianship

A.J. KoehnJuly 9, 2026020 views

Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), believes that reforms to Dutch gambling laws must provide a better financial guardianship of the consumer and vulnerable players.

Throughout 2026, the Kamer will continue to review proposals that seek to reorganise the Dutch online gambling market, which is currently regulated under the framework of the 2021 Remote Gambling Act (KOA).

Groothuizen is aware of the challenge of balancing gambling laws and protections with consumer rights.

His latest intervention underlines a central question for Dutch lawmakers: how far should the state go in protecting players from financial harm without removing individual choice?

The question has become more urgent as Claudia van Bruggen, State Secretary for Legal Protection, presses ahead with a major package of gambling reforms. The legislative overhaul, first enacted in 2026, seeks to introduce what the government has described as stronger guaranteed protections for consumers, particular..

Brazil authorities draws a line on social gambling features

A.J. KoehnJuly 7, 2026016 views

The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) of Brazil will move to impose restrictions on the use of social interaction features and engagement mechanisms by licensed online gambling platforms.

The inbound restrictions were confirmed to operators licensed under Brazil’s Bets regime via an SPA notice, issued in its capacity as the governing authority for gambling under the Ministry of Finance.

The decision follows a query submitted by Kaizen Gaming, which sought to clarify whether its flagship brand Betano could apply “social interaction” features to engage with registered customers.

The submission detailed that Betano sought to activate features of an “integrated social environment” within its online platform, available exclusively to registered users.

Betano sought to allow customers to share betting slips, reference favourite casino and slot games, and display customer wins under user profiles.

However, the SPA rejected the proposal, concluding that such functions are incompatib..

Only two of 291 gambling domains achieve ‘trusted rating’ in latest scam study

A.J. KoehnJuly 7, 2026017 views

More than one in four gambling websites are considered high or critical risk, according to new analysis from ScamInfo.ai, with the sector unsurprisingly emerging as one of the most dangerous categories across the internet.

The cybersecurity platform analysed 7,185 websites spanning more than 40 online sectors and found that gambling and betting accounted for 34.7% of all critical-risk websites identified in the study.

Of the 591 gambling domains analysed, 6.9% received a critical risk rating and a further 19.5% were classified as high risk, while only two websites (0.3%) achieved a trusted rating.

The findings show gambling websites significantly underperform the wider internet in terms of online safety indicators.

Across ScamInfo.ai’s full dataset, around 70% of websites received a low-risk rating, but within gambling, fewer than half (46.7%) met that threshold.

The gambling category also recorded an average risk score of 35.8 out of 100 – almost double the overall average of 1..

New Spanish betting deposit limits approved as gov’t keeps up pace of changes

A.J. KoehnJune 25, 2026023 views

Spanish betting companies and customers are going to be subject to a new deposit limits system after a Royal Decree was approved by the government this week.

The news comes amid wider political oversight of the Spanish betting sector, with the government having once again turned against bonusing in 2025 while also enforcing new ID check requirements in spring this year.

Announced by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), the Spanish betting and gambling regulator, the new system is designed to ensure greater safeguards for customers betting with multiple operators.

The DGOJ estimates that 31% of Spanish online gamblers do so with multiple companies.

The new system will set deposit limits of:

€700 (£603) per day

€1,750 per week

€3,300 over a four week period

The limits will be set by default for every customer in Spain’s regulated online betting market.

However, customers can voluntarily modify or remove the deposit limits depending on their personal pre..

Predictions, finance and a brewing storm of problem gambling

A.J. KoehnJune 24, 2026026 views

The global rise of prediction markets globally could throw a spanner in the works of gambling harm prevention and treatment programmes in countries like the UK, writes SBC News’ Editor, Ted Orme-Claye.

Driven by a combination of industry responsibility, regulatory pressure and public demand, betting companies in the UK have placed a much heavier onus on player protection, education and responsibility in recent years.

Prediction markets, however, are a relatively new phenomenon which bridge the gap between betting and financial trading – though some would argue that they are betting exchanges with a different skin.

It has also been documented that people working in financial services, particularly trading environments, may be more at risk of suffering from problem gambling and gambling-related harm than those working in other industries.

Yesterday, FT Adviser revealed that financial services and investment company Hargreaves Lansdown is asking potential investors about whether or no..