SBC News

UK Gambling has been notified that the government is set to imminently unveil its plans for the framework of the ‘Statutory Levy’ for research, education, and treatment (RET) of gambling harms.

As reported by The Guardian, the government is expected to ‘rubber stamp‘ the plans this week, detailing how the levy will operate and collect £100m from UK-licensed betting operators to fund RET organisations, projects, and initiatives.

“The levy, which multiple sources said could be announced by Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross as soon as Wednesday, is expected to take effect from next April,” The Guardian understands.

Replacing UK Gambling’s ‘voluntary scheme’, the RET Levy was announced as a key proposal in the Gambling Review’s White Paper published in April 2023. A subsequent consultation, launched in October 2023, aimed to ensure fair contributions from all licensed operators and to finalise the levy’s design.

The statutory RET Levy will impose a 1% fee on the gross gambling yield ..

LiveScore and former Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov are joining forces to encourage fans to take “Extra Added Time” for their mental health.

As part of this campaign, LiveScore will donate £250 to charity for every key Premier League moment delivered via its app after the 90th minute throughout November.

The “Extra Added Time” initiative aligns with the recent trend of increased added time across major football leagues. During the 2023/24 season, Premier League matches have seen an additional 38% of play, with the average match duration extending to 101 minutes and 42 seconds.

While fans anxiously await dramatic last-minute goals or even red cards beyond the 90th minute, LiveScore is transforming these pivotal moments into support for the mental well-being of the football community.

In addition to a total donation of £10,000 to a leading mental health charity, Bloomsbury Football—an organisation dedicated to transforming the lives of young people across London through foot..

Australia’s Labor government is expected to announce the delay of long-awaited federal reforms of gambling advertising.

News broke across Australian media networks this weekend that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would push back settling gambling advertising reforms to 2025. The delay was attributed to opposition from the media and sports, who depend heavily on revenue from gambling advertisements.

As it stands, the government has yet to present its definitive proposal on gambling advertising reforms to be implemented as federal law as Labor has insufficient time to finalise and pass the legislation in 2024.

Pledged in its 2022 General Election manifesto, the Labor government has faced severe criticism for failing to address gambling advertising reforms, regarded as the most critical recommendation of the Murphy Report, submitted in 2023.

The late Labor MP Peta Murphy, who led the federal inquiry into gambling reforms, stated in her final report: “Australia must act decisively to ..

DCMS has been urged to intervene and align online gambling advertising protections for Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK.

The demand was made by members of the All-Party Group of the Stormont Assembly on Gambling Harms Reduction, who wrote to DCMS Secretary of State Lisa Nandy to “bridge the gap on gambling advertising.”

Led by Chairman Philip McGuigan (Sinn Féin) and Deputy Robbie Butler (UUP), the All-Party Group considers Northern Ireland an outlier in gambling legislation within the UK.

Gambling in Northern Ireland is governed by the NI Betting, Gaming, Lotteries & Amusements Order of 1985, applied under a separate legal system.

The Order was amended in 2022 to allow gambling venues to operate on Sundays and to introduce new criminal liabilities. However, Stormont failed to approve any amendments related to the governance of online gambling.

MLAs believe that Northern Ireland is exposed by an outdated gambling framework, which provides no legislation for online gambling..

On the latest episode of Footprints in the Market, Adam Gaskell, Head of UK Marketing at Kindred Group, detailed the company’s ambition to derive zero per cent of revenue from harmful gambling.

Speaking to Sharon McFarlane, Managing Director of Digital Footprints, Gaskell explained how Kindred is promoting its mission through Unibet and 32Red’s sponsorship of various football teams, including Middlesbrough, Leeds United and Rangers.

He said: “By using the zero per cent mission, we’ve been able to open up the conversation on safer gambling with friends, fans and punters more easily.

“It’s on the front of shirts and in the front of people’s minds. We know fans are quite inquisitive about what it means and when we are able to explain to them what our initiative is, it’s a great conversation for us to have.

“It’s something that we’re very proud of and we feel like it’s a great initiative and it’s something for us to really champion and go out there and use as part of our sponsorship.

..

Recent enforcement activities underscore growing concerns about Brazil’s vulnerability to unlicensed gambling, with market irregularities posing a risk to the integrity of the Bets regime ahead of its imminent launch.

Anatel, the National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil, has been ordered to ramp up blocking enforcements against unlicensed gambling websites.

On Tuesday, the Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA), the regulatory authority of Brazil’s forthcoming Bets market, issued a new order for over 1,800 domains to be blocked by Anatel.

Since October 1, the SPA has filed three separate orders with Anatel, requesting the agency to block the IPs of over 5,200 unlicensed websites.

The SPA continues its strict campaign against unlicensed websites as Brazil prepares for the launch of its federal framework to regulate fixed-odds betting and online gaming, scheduled for January 2025.

The application phase for Bets licenses concluded on September 30, during which the SPA had previ..

The Chamber of Deputies of Argentina will debate a federal measure on Wednesday, 27 November, to ban all gambling advertising and sponsorships.

The debate has been fast-tracked after “five opposition blocs in Congress” united to support a proposal that prohibits “any form of advertising or sponsorship promoting gaming and betting companies”.

Civic Committees, responsible for creating a federal framework to reduce gambling-related harm and address pathological behaviours, back the measure.

Thee committees of Addiction Prevention, Social Action, Communications, Criminal Legislation, and Families and Youth, are working together to finalise policies for a new federal bill on gambling protections. The bill aims to establish a federal law to overrides existing state regulations on gambling.

The strengthening of underage protections is the central focus of the Civic Committees’ working project on federal gambling regulations.

This summer, Jorge Macri, Chief Governor of Buenos Aires, bann..

Dr Michael Auer, Managing Director at OpenBet’s Neccton
While significant strides have been made, Dr Michael Auer, Managing Director at OpenBet’s Neccton, suggests there is a need for a uniform and proactive approach to player protection.

A call for standardisation

The UK is largely viewed as a leader in responsible gaming best practices, but there is still no uniform approach among operators. When identifying problematic patterns of play, methods can vary significantly depending on the size and preferences of individual companies, leaving room for players to slip through the gaps.

Some operators will opt to use third-party responsible gaming tools, while others choose to police themselves and apply their own algorithms. Standardisation would be beneficial in ensuring scoring systems and thresholds are at a universal level, to avoid discrepancies in how risk is identified.

Spain is an example of how specific laws around player protection are effective. A risk score, based on the ..

The Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) has revealed a worrying statistic that further shows why the recent under-21 gambling ban adopted by Belgium was a well-timed step.

After Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives backed a decree endorsed by Minister Stefaan Van Hecke to overhaul the Belgian Gambling Act 1999, the country’s gambling authority – Kansspelcommissie, introduced new player protection measures by raising the minimum gambling age to 21.

The updated texts also significantly limited the ability of licensed operators to advertise to consumers, which BAGO cautioned that if the government subsequently looked to pursue a total ban on advertising, it could lead to consumer confusion about the legal options on the market.

However, the age limit on play seems to be completely in line with the trade body’s long-term vision for the sector. A new study commissioned by BAGO has revealed that over half of men aged between 18 and 21 had participated in illegal gambling pri..

A group of acting students from Walsall saw themselves on the silver screen as part of a project to raise awareness of gambling harms among young people.

GamCare and Ygam ran a competition for the younger generation to submit ideas for an awareness-raising film – which it has said will be freely available to schools and professionals.

The winning film, called The Gamble of Youth, was first shown last week at a private screening at a Birmingham cinema. It demonstrated the risks and potential harms of gambling in a way which also encouraged young people to speak out about their issues and seek help from professionals.

Nicole Barklam, Events Manager at GamCare, stated: “It’s inspiring to see young people take such an active interest in the harms that gambling can cause, and to be able to raise further awareness of the support options available, should anyone need it.

“We’re so pleased to see the level of effort that Thespian Arts have gone to in order to bring this important productio..