Steve Hoare

UKGC draws on new lived experience to understand gambling’s interlocked harms 

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The UKGC is using merged insights from gambling experiences from GSGB respondents, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of the human cost of gambling harms

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published new insights uncovered by the new research methodology of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB).

The insights are provided on follow-up interviews conducted with GSGB participants to offer a deeper understanding of the adverse and lived consequences of gambling.

Initiated in 2023, the GSGB leads the Commission’s academic objective to uncover first-of-a-kind research and data as the largest survey on gambling trends and behaviours conducted by a regulatory authority, with 20,000 respondents.

Research was conducted by NatCen on a subset of 25 GSGB participants, who indicated that they had experienced severe or adverse consequences from their own gambling in the past 12 months.

The Commission seeks to understand the journeys of the individuals and their unique experiences to gambling harms and to uncover interconnections between different consequences whether positive or negative for the individual. Researchers underline the importance of subset insights to fill in potential gaps in the wider research of the GSGB methodology.

All 25 participants had gambled in the past 12-months and experienced a severe consequence of their own gambling. The UKGC notes that all participants had a PGSI score above three.

The study aimed to explore the lived experiences of individuals to understand the pathways to gambling harm, the external influences that shape it, and the interrelation of different types of consequences. Researchers emphasised the role of in-depth qualitative accounts in supplementing and enhancing the broader statistical findings of the GSGB.

Interlocking Harms
The Gambling Commission’s latest qualitative research paints a bleak but illuminating picture of lives unravelled by gambling. The stories of the 25 individuals interviewed — each of whom had experienced severe consequences in the past year — suggest that gambling-related harm rarely follows a straight line.

Rather, it emerges at the intersection of personal history, social context and economic stress, manifesting in overlapping and mutually reinforcing ways.

For some, gambling began early — shaped by the habits of family members or a culture of casual betting. Initial encounters were often benign, even pleasurable. Participants recalled the thrill of winning and the social intimacy of shared outings, such as bingo nights.

But these moments were, in most cases, precursors to decline. Financial problems were the most commonly reported entry point into harm.

“What began as minor belt-tightening often progressed to missed mortgage payments, debt spirals, and in several instances, homelessness. “I lost everything,” one woman in her 40s explained. “I lost my house, I lost my job, so I was homeless on the streets.”

The economic distress frequently bled into strained relationships. Secrecy, guilt and conflict proved corrosive. A man in his thirties described how arguments over unpaid bills precipitated a break-up:

“The arguments were really intense… we split.” For others, the burden weighed most heavily on the mind. Respondents reported anxiety, insomnia, suicidal ideation and disordered eating. “I just find it difficult to even eat because I’m thinking about what I’ve done,” one man confessed.

Stakeholders must accept that gambling harms do not occur in isolation. The research underscores how financial stress could trigger emotional turmoil, which in turn undermined relationships, thereby deepening isolation and worsening outcomes. In many cases, the feedback loops became self-reinforcing and difficult to escape.

A better platform for Future Research
The Commission makes clear recommendations, to prioritize early Interventions, before the harms become entrenched. Most participants reported financial or relational stress before other symptoms emerged, offering a window of opportunity for preventative action.

Awareness of support services, however, was uneven. Some had used self-exclusion tools or relied on friends and family, while others were unaware help existed at all. Public messaging and operator responsibility remain critical areas for improvement.

Tailored support is essential as lived journeys differ widely, influenced by employment, family life, mental health, and social environment. A one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to succeed. The report also stresses the need for further study. Transitions such as job loss, retirement or family change may heighten vulnerability to gambling harm and deserve closer scrutiny.

Quantitative tracking could help untangle the chronology of harm, but qualitative work—especially when conducted with the input of those with lived experience—will be indispensable for capturing the nuance. The Commission’s collaboration with its Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) helped ensure the current study was both ethically sound and grounded in reality.

The Commission believes that its research is constructive: gambling harm is not merely a function of individual irresponsibility, but a complex social and economic interplay. Understanding its consequences (negative and positive) requires attention to the interdependencies that shape people’s lives and the systems that fail them when the stakes become too high.

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Peru hails first year progress of new online gambling regime 

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Damián Gabriel Martínez: SBC Noticias
Peru has reported successful implementation of its new online gambling framework, as authorities prioritise tax compliance and toughen enforcement against black market websites. Peru offers a model from which other South American nations can draw lessons to shape their own regulatory regimes.

Peru’s government believes that adoption of new gambling laws and standards is going smoothly following the implementation of federal reforms in 2024.

As of February 2024, Peru has enacted Law No. 31557, referred to as the Law Regulating Remote Gaming and Remote Sports Betting. Devised over a two-year period, the law aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework for online gambling and sports betting, supporting both the digital economy and public welfare programmes.

Oversight of Peru’s online gambling market has been assigned to MINCETUR, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, which is responsible for licensing and market supervision.

The newly established regulatory system has stimulated sustainable growth in the sector. MINCETUR has authorised 60 technology platforms and registered 280 domestic and international service providers.

The market is now supported by nine accredited international certification laboratories, which act as partners to the regulatory regime. Nationwide, the number of authorised venues has risen to 4,516, following the registration of 683 new sports betting establishments since December 2024.

Officials at MINCETUR see the current momentum as a strong endorsement of Peru’s modern regulatory structure, which has attracted investors bringing both job creation and innovative solutions.

Strict Tax Disciplines
Peru’s tax revenues have grown significantly under Law No. 31557. Operators’ monthly net income is subject to a 12% tax, calculated after platform maintenance costs. Additionally, Peruvian residents must pay a 1% consumption tax on every bet placed a mandate introduced by President Dina Boluarte. However the rate has been temporarily reduced to 0.3% until 1 July 2025 to ease the transition.

Peru is now recognised across Latin America as a leading authority in regulatory governance, becoming the third jurisdiction in the region to introduce a dedicated online gambling regime.

Neighbouring countries are using Peru’s structured and transparent approach as a blueprint for their own digital economy reforms.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Operators functioning without authorisation now face severe financial and criminal penalties. The maximum fine for operating without a licence is 990,000 soles (approximately £207,000), alongside potential prison sentences of up to four years.

MINCETUR also holds the authority to block access to unauthorised websites and to disrupt payment services linked to illegal operators.

Its enforcement division, the General Directorate of Casino Games and Slot Machines (DGJCMT), has removed 15% of illegal gambling websites while reducing the presence of unlicensed digital platforms by 40%.

Public Interest in a Safer Gambling Culture
The government has launched school-based awareness campaigns to educate the public about gambling addiction. Simultaneously, industry training programmes have been implemented to promote standards of responsible conduct among companies.

Collaborative initiatives with gaming associations reinforce Peru’s long-term commitment to protecting vulnerable individuals and building a safer gambling environment.

Peru’s continued development of digital economy policies uses the successful implementation of its gambling reform as a guiding model for emerging markets seeking to balance regulatory control with innovation and public benefit.

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Swedish regulator hits FDJ subsidiary Spooniker with AML penalty

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Spooniker, a subsidiary operator of the French gambling giant FDJ United’s Kindred Group, has been hit with a SEK 10m (£778k) penalty in Sweden.

In a statement posted on its website, the Swedish regulator, Spelinspektionen, explained that Spooniker – a former Kindred brand but now part of FDJ after the French company acquired Kindred – has been found lacking sufficient customer due diligence procedures.

As per the statement, Spooniker had failed to identify the exact source of funds being processed through its systems, leading to potential exploits from bad actors.

“They have not been able to determine whether the customers’ activities were legitimate or whether they posed a risk of money laundering or terrorist financing,” Spelinspektionen’s statement added.

Repeat offences
From a glance, the penalty fee might look extraordinarily high. However, this is because the Swedish regulator sees Spooniker – the operator of domains such as unibet.se and bingo.se – as a repeat offender.

Deficiencies were first identified by Spelinspektionen in 2022, after which a follow-up supervision review took place in 2024 to see how Spooniker has addressed the shortcomings.

Spooniker provided a detailed view into its risk classification system for customers, each one needing to register with an electronic identity verification (Bank-ID) under Sweden’s gambling framework.

And while the firm has asserted that its origin of funds verification is on par with standards during the regulator’s preliminary review, the penalty remains a fact. A leading factor was the review of a number of customers using Spooniker’s services.

The regulator wrote: “Spelinspektionen notes that all customers reviewed have made deposits totaling between approximately SEK 620,000 and SEK 830,000 during the review period.

“Apart from information on taxable income being collected on one occasion, no further measures are taken for these customers, despite the fact that they deposit between the entire taxable annual income and SEK 340,000 more than the taxable annual income.”

Signed off by Spelinspektionen’s Director General, Camilla Rosenberg, the report concluded: “The deficiencies are serious and repeated. The Swedish Gambling Authority considers that the penalty fee is proportionate to the seriousness of the violations.”

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Romanian national TV airs EGBA call for national self-exclusion

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The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has urged Romania to implement a self-exclusion registry, making the call right from within Parliament itself.

EGBA’s Secretary General Maarten Haijer attended an event organised by the Romanian Online Gambling Association (AOJND) and held at the Romanian Parliament building in Bucharest.

Speaking on national television, Haijer said that he’d like to see a national self-exclusion scheme adopted as “quickly as possible” in order to help those in need of it.

“We need to target a specific regulation that addresses prevention of harm in individuals rather than a very horizontal, one-size-fits-all regulation because this has proven to be not as successful as a more targeted one,” Haijer concluded.

At the event, Haijer was joined by representatives from the Danish gambling authority as well. Anders Dorph, Director of Spillemyndigheden, explained that Romania needs to change its view on the idea of gambling itself.

“We need to focus on educating the people of Romania, so that they know what gambling is about. It’s about entertainment, it’s not about winning money. It’s like a cinema. You have to pay for entertainment. I think that’s a very important message to get out,” Dorph added.

Responsible European Gambling
After the event, EGBA issued an official comment on its website regarding the matter with self-exclusion in Romania, reminding that this has already been implemented across 17 EU member states.

According to the trade body, when pondering a potential adoption of such a framework, Romanian policy makers should apply it to all licence holders – both land-based and online operators.

Another key point was that the self-exclusion scheme should be made accessible through a ‘GDPR-compliant government website’, and that additional commitments should be taken for it to be seamlessly integrated within gambling platforms.

Also drawing from European best practices, EGBA added that such a scheme should make it a requirement for operators to remove self-excluded players from marketing databases, and that it must ensure that minimum and maximum self-exclusion periods are offered to customers.

Taking care of its players is the natural step going forward for Romania given the growth of online gambling in recent years – with the world of iGaming resting comfortably in each customer’s pocket wherever they go.

The last market report from EGBA revealed that in 2024, the online gambling market in Europe was worth an estimated €13.5bn, a number only poised to grow.

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TSB Bank and Bank of Ireland join gambling harm prevention push

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Banks are becoming increasingly prominent stakeholders in problem gambling prevention in the UK and Ireland at a time of regulatory and political focus on betting in both countries.

The UK is in the process of adopting the recommendations of the Gambling Act review, which ran between December 2020 and April 2023 with a white paper published in the latter.

Throughout this process, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) encouraged the betting industry to learn from banks and the wider financial services sector in areas such as data sharing.

In Ireland, meanwhile, a new regulator is establishing itself as the chief overseer of the country’s large betting and gaming sector – the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).

As it prepares to take on full regulatory duties next year, the GRAI too is looking at how financial services tools can play a role in customer protection.

Another British bank plays its part
This week, TSB Bank became the latest major UK financial institution to throw its hat into the gambling player protection ring. The bank, the seventh largest in the UK by total assets, has started working with gambling harm prevention and education charity Ygam.

The partnership focuses on specialist educational resources in schools informed by Ygam’s research and experience and delivered by TSB Bank staff. The sessions will focus on practice guidance on money management and identifying potential risks when playing video games.

“Gaming now plays a central role in young people’s lives, offering significant benefits,” said Linda Scollins Smith, Director of Programmes at Ygam.

“However, it is always important to safeguard against the risks, and the increasing sophistication of game monetisation through microtransactions and in-game purchases underscores the need for education on this issue.”

TSB joins the player protection push after recently commissioning a Censuswide survey of 2,000 young gamers which found that gamers spend an average of £540 annually on in-game purchases and subscriptions.

This all forms part of a long-running conversation around the potential cross-over between video games and gambling, largely focused around in-game purchases and loot boxes, and whether these features can encourage gambling-type behaviour.

Kate Osiadacz, Head of Responsible Business, TSB, said: “Gaming is often one of young people’s first interactions with spending or managing their money digitally; so we’re pleased to be working with Ygam to reach young people with targeted advice.

“Our Money Confident schools programme greatly benefits from Ygam’s insight – and we’re keen to help empower the next generation to make informed decisions for their financial lives ahead.”

Another Irish ‘big four’ bank joins too
TSB Bank is not the first UK bank to get involved in gambling harm prevention, and probably won’t be the last. Monzo, the country’s fastest growing challenger bank, has offered a gambling payments block tool for some time and continually reports year-on-year increases in engagement with it.

Spanish bank Santander, the 11th largest in the UK by assets, has some of its own programmes. This firm demonstrated these in a workshop with Gamcare last year, one of Britain’s biggest gambling charities, such as solutions for revising spend levels, push notifications, and signposting to support services.

“At Santander, we believe that the bank, although not responsible, does have a part to play in gambling harm prevention,” said Graeme Cunning, Vulnerable Customers Strategy Manager at Santander.

Over in Ireland, the new Irish gambling regulator has also been welcoming banks introducing payment blocks for gambling. Anne-Marie Caufield, the GRAI’s CEO, publicly praised Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and EBS for doing so back in January.

The Bank of Ireland, one of the ‘big four’ of Irish banking alongside the aforementioned AIB, has become the latest to do so. The block can be applied across all betting, gaming and lottery sites licensed in the Republic of Ireland.

The bank cited some of its card spending data from Q1 2025 showing that 90% of gambling transactions took place online, with 99% funded by debit cards. It also found that the local areas which saw the sharpest increases in gambling activity during the quarter were Wicklow, Kilkenny, Limerick and Laois, particularly around popular sports events like Cheltenham and the Six Nations.

Áine McCleary, Chief Customer Officer at the Bank of Ireland, said: “Problem gambling can have a devastating effect not just on the person involved, but also on families, friends and loved ones. For those with a gambling addiction it can often seem like help is out of reach.

“This initiative we are launching is designed to help customers take positive steps to improve control over their finances. It also furthers Bank of Ireland’s ambition to improve the financial wellbeing of our customers and communities, especially those going through difficult times.”

The bank has also published an explanatory video via its LinkedIn page featuring testimonials about the benefits of gambling block products. This post was subsequently shared by the GRAI.

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GambleAware offers glimpse into NGSN success story

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The National Gambling Support Network (NGSN) has helped more than 110,000 people since it first launched in April 2023.

This was announced in a new report by GambleAware, an independent gambling harm charity that commissions the NGSN. Other key metrics include an average waiting time of two days for a first assessment appointment.

Another highlight is an increase in self-referrals of more than 50% in the second year since NGSN’s launch. This signaled that more individuals are accessing support directly from their local provider, evidencing the positive impact of a region-first approach.

This is something that many problem gambling treatment stakeholders have been vocally calling for since the Gambling Act review White Paper. The Health and Social Care Committee, for example, heard from public health professionals last month, all of whom argued a region-first approach is needed for gambling harm treatment.

Returning to GambleAware’s stats, the 110,000 figure is based on the number of individuals that have accessed services like the National Gambling Helpline, primary care, and additional residential aid.

Such services are usually categorised into three tiers of support, including assessment, brief interventions, extended brief interventions, treatment sessions, reviews and aftercare.

Since 2023, brief interventions in particular – a practice where short conversations are held to reduce risk of harm – have increased significantly by 93%, from 11,000 to 21,000 people in year two.

This has constituted a success for such short-term strategies, which are targeting gambling harm prevention through quick and early intervention.

Anna Hargrave, Deputy Chief Executive at GambleAware, commented: “The second year of the National Gambling Support Network presented an opportunity to take the learnings from year one and focus on how we can best support those affected by gambling harms.

“We’ve seen an increase in the number of people being supported and importantly, an increase in brief interventions and self-referrals, which means we can support people earlier and reduce the potential for further harm.

“The expertise within the Network is unrivalled and providers play a key role in helping people across the country, whether that be at the start of their journey, or supporting them at the end.

“We look forward to working with the future commissioners and the NGSN with the integration of the network into the future system to ensure providers can continue offering their crucial services.”

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