SBC News

The Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has emphasised the government’s commitment to ensuring that players can continue to enjoy gambling as a pastime ‘without the harms’.

Lisa Nandy – who has held the role since July 2024 – makes these comments following proposals by two Labour-backing think tanks pitching the doubling of gambling tax, leading to warnings from the industry and analysts of the detrimental economic consequences.

Addressing Parliament, at a time where trepidation within gambling elevates, Nandy urged the house not to believe everything that they read in the papers, emphasising a desire to “strike the right balance” when it comes to regulation.

She added: “We’re aware of the value of this industry and the importance of it, not just to the UK economy, but to the joy that it brings to many, many people, and the employment prospects that it offers to people in every nation and region of the United Kingdom.

“We are also very aware ..

Finland’s national lottery operator, Veikkaus, has partnered with Optimove to leverage the firm’s CRM marketing solution.

The deal with ​​Optimove – the only CRM marketing olution approved as an official European Lotteries Association Associate Member – aims to ‘elevate player experiences, loyalty and lifetime value’.

Saara Pekkonen, VP of Marketing at Veikkaus, commented: “This partnership with Optimove marks a significant step forward in driving our growth and responsible gaming initiatives. Optimove’s track record and industry experience are unparalleled in CRM marketing.

“Optimove’s proven ability to deliver personalised, data-driven player engagement at scale will be central to our continued drive to elevate our marketing strategy and execution. Optimove’s AI-powered capabilities enable us to offer players more relevant and engaging experiences, increasing satisfaction, loyalty, and maximising player lifetime value.”

In more detail, predictive models will support responsibl..

The Senate of Brazil has authorised a Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate the financial impacts of the upcoming Bets regime, which will regulate fixed-odds betting and online gambling in the country.

Senator Soraya Thronicke, representing Mato Grosso do Sul, initiated the request for the inquiry and gained the support of 30 senators to launch the “CPI of Bets.”

According to SBCNoticias, Thronicke called for the CPI to assess how gambling affects the finances of Brazilian families.

This request follows alarming findings from the Central Bank, revealing that recipients of Bolsa Família, Brazil’s financial aid program for low-income families, spent BRL 3 billion (€500 million) on gambling, as tracked by the PIX payment system.

Concerns about the financial risks of the Bets framework have prompted the government to carefully oversee the launch of federal fixed-odds betting and online gambling.

In a meeting with senior ministers, President Inácio Lula da Silva warned that he wou..

AGCOM, the Media and Communications Authority of Italy, has sanctioned a ‘technical measure’ to impose “mandatory age verification to ensure the adulthood of Italian audiences”.

On Friday, the agency alerted Italian media of its new technical framework to impose mandatory measures for verifying the age of audiences engaging with adult content.

The new measures sought by AGCOM will require Italian media to enforce an age-verification check before users can view content related to gambling, pornography, and adult-specific social media categories.

AGCOM had previously proposed the technical measure of age verification controls as part of the thirteen measures introduced by the Caivano Decree – Italy’s online safety and protection bill.

As AGCOM proposed to the government: “The measure enforces stronger age verification mechanisms to protect minors from content harmful to their physical, mental, or moral development, requiring stricter safeguards across information society services.”

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UK Gambling has been warned that the Labour government is reviewing proposals to increase tax revenues by up to £3bn.

As reported by The Guardian, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has received two proposals to increase gambling taxes, considered as a measure to plug the UK’s £22bn public finance deficit.

A proposal endorsed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) calls for the Treasury to double taxes on gambling’s “higher-risk segments,” such as online casinos, slots, and sports betting, to raise £2.9bn next year and up to £3.4bn by 2030.

The IPPR underscores its recommendation to introduce a “polluter pays principle” as higher taxes will incentives UK gambling to promote lower risk games to consumers.

A separate proposal from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) urges Reeves to double taxes on all online gambling activities from 21% to 42%, raising £1bn annually.

The Guardian noted that a tax increase on gambling is “definitely on the map,” according to a sourc..

Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority, responded to the findings of the Autumn Report and Market Scan of the Dutch gambling market for 2024.

The reports revealed that despite concerns from licensed operators, the Dutch gambling market continues to grow. Gross gaming income (GGR) increased from €3.3bn to €4bn in 2023.

As the governing body, KSA closely monitors market changes resulting from new amendments and protections imposed on the Remote Gambling Act (KOA), which has regulated online gambling in the Netherlands since October 2021.

Groothuizen made it clear: “The Netherlands has a regulated gambling market to ensure that anyone who wants to gamble can do so safely, whether it’s at a lottery, the arcade around the corner, or behind the computer.”

The reports highlighted several positive trends. Dutch land-based gambling has rebounded to pre-COVID levels. Additionally, the KOA market has exceeded expectations, with 95% of play..

The Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), European Casino Association (ECA) and the American Gaming Association (AGA) have come together to address key issues facing the global gaming industry.

The partners will mainly be focused on illegal gambling, responsible gaming, innovation and security.

BGC CEO, Grainne Hurst, commented: “This partnership marks a new chapter in our shared vision to build a world-class, trusted and sustainable betting and gaming industry.

“BGC members are rightly proud of their reputation as global leaders, and they know the power of collaboration.

“Working together with the AGA and ECA, I am confident our shared knowledge and expertise will be vital to bolstering safer gambling standards while tackling the threat of the growing and unsafe unregulated gambling black market in the UK.”

In detail, the Momentum of Understanding (MOU) will create a platform for undertaking joint research projects, bringing each organisation’s staff and members together to share exp..

DCMS has revised its economic estimates, measuring the economic contribution and productivity of the UK Gambling sector.

Economic estimates and datasets have been updated for DCMS’s key sectors for the reporting period of 2011 to 2021, tracking a decade of business activity.

DCMS is responsible for reporting on the economic contribution and productivity of the following sectors: Civil Society, Creative Industries, Cultural sector, Digital sector, Gambling, Sport, Telecoms, and Tourism.

The economic contribution of industries under DCMS guidance is reported using key measures such as Gross Value Added (GVA) output, employment, earnings, and productivity.

Audiences are cautioned about technical limitations in gathering and interpreting data on DCMS sectors, as individual sectors such as Civil Society and Tourism maintain separate measures to gauge their economic output.

The Gross Value Added (GVA) for all DCMS sectors (excluding Civil Society and Tourism) in 2020 was estimated at £1..

The launch of Brazil’s forthcoming betting market must be safeguarded by a federal policy on gambling addiction to eliminate social harms, such as public debt.

This demand was issued by President Inácio Lula da Silva during ongoing meetings with senior ministers regarding the vulnerabilities of the betting regime, alongside discussions on a federal framework to regulate fixed-odds betting and online gambling in Brazil.

Last week, Lula held meetings with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Fernando Haddad (Finance), Wellington Dias (Social Development and Assistance for Families), Nísia Trindade (Health), André Fufuca (Sports), and Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice).

The President expressed direct concerns over gambling addiction and the social harm caused by citizens accruing debt through gambling activities, which he identified as liabilities that must be addressed by the betting regime.

Lula’s concerns about public debt have been heightened by the rec..

Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Inspectorate, has revised the methodology for calculating the channelisation rate of Sweden’s online gambling marketplace.

Deemed the key measure of the regulatory balance in Sweden’s online gambling market, the channelisation rate represents the percentage of wagering volume accounted for by licensed operators.

Sanctioned as a regulatory assignment in 2023, the Inspectorate was commissioned by the government to redevelop the “calculation metrics for the channelisation of the Swedish gaming market.”

The assignment was to be reported on for the 2024 budget as part of a broader initiative to ensure that government authorities can monitor gambling trends and risks to national consumers.

As reported: “The Inspectorate believes that four different indicators together can give a picture of the degree of channelisation, and based on these indicators, the degree of channelisation for 2023 is calculated at 86%.”

The new channelisation rate was calculated..