In the latest episode of the Safe Bet Show, Martin Lycka is joined by Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), who returns to the show after four years to share invaluable insights into the ever-evolving world of gambling and gaming. Hurst discusses how the UK gambling industry has become “bigger, better,…
The controversial Health & Social Care Committee hearing on gambling-related harms that took place at the beginning of April has come in for further criticism, with the Gambling Commission questioning the veracity of evidence given by certain witnesses. Player Protection Hub can reveal that the Commission wrote to the Committee on April 14th – the…
GambleAware has distributed £2.2m through its Community Resilience Fund (CRF) since its launch in 2022, specifically targeting rising vulnerability linked to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
The fund marked the charity’s first open funding initiative available to organisations outside the traditional gambling harms sector, with a strong focus on underserved communities. It is now in its final phase of delivery.
Immense impact
The charity has released a new independent evaluation by Ipsos which highlights the fund’s reach, particularly in marginalised and ethnic minority communities disproportionately affected by gambling harm.
So far, almost 14,000 people have been supported through awareness campaigns and early intervention efforts, with the fund providing 12-month grants to 12 grassroots groups.
Many were first-time recipients, using funds to raise awareness and offer early intervention. After reporting strong results, GambleAware then extended support with £1.66m to 11 projects – showing high impact and long-term potential.
Anna Hargrave, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Commissioning and Strategy Officer for GambleAware, commented: “The effects of gambling harm can grip anyone, and having grassroots, community focused organisations that can reach individuals at risk, is vital.
“The Community Resilience Fund is here for that very reason, so that we can reach the people who need support most. We’re really pleased that funded projects have been able to reach thousands of people, especially those from underrepresented communities who might not otherwise seek support.”
Some of the aforementioned projects consisted of; Al Hurraya, Big Issue Foundation, Blackburn Foodbank, Coram’s Field, Epic Restart Foundation, Hull FC Rugby Community Sports and Education Foundation, Prison Radio Association, Reframe Coaching, Sharma Women’s Centre, Simon Community Scotland and Yellow Scarf.
Hargrave emphasised that it is “hugely important” that there is recognition of the sector’s growing shift from fragmented services to whole-system responses.
She added: “The protection against gambling harms requires joint ownership across public health, lived experience, communities, and systems.”
What has been done?
Looking at Blackburn Foodbank for example, GambleAware gave a grant of up to £100,000 as part of the initial £1.2m CRF allocation, which helped integrate gambling harm awareness into the organisation’s existing services.
Meanwhile, GambleAware also partnered with Yellow Scarf to expand blocking software to include Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian versions, making it accessible to vulnerable Eastern European migrants who often face language barriers.
Additionally, at the Prison Radio Association, the charity enabled the production and distribution of the podcast series Hold or Fold which delves into the impacts of problem gambling via personal stories.
Finally, at Al Hurraya, a Nottingham-based charity which focuses on assisting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities dealing with addiction and related issues, the funding enhanced services and provided support to individuals affected by gambling harms.
Manjit Bajwa, Al-Hurraya Operations Manager and CRF Project Manager, concluded: “We are deeply committed to raising awareness and reducing harm associated with gambling. We’ve been fortunate to work closely with our communities, offering both individual counselling and crucial family support.
“We greatly appreciate the chance to share best practices and learning with our esteemed partners, including EPIC Restart Foundation and Shama Women’s Centre in the East Midlands, as part of the CRF Project.”
GamCare has announced that it will no longer provide its Young People’s provision services later this year due to a lack of sustainable funding.
At the end of September, GamCare will stop providing education, prevention or outreach programmes aimed at reducing gambling harm experienced by children and young people, or its specific treatment and support offer for under-18s.
The gambling harm support provider has been offering these services for children and young people for more than half a decade.
“For over five years, GamCare has delivered harm prevention programmes which have reached over 250,000 children and young people, parents, and professionals across the UK,” stated GamCare.
“Due to a lack of sustainable funding, GamCare has made the difficult decision to close its Young People’s provision at the end of September 2025.”
Statutory levy
Back in April, the UK Government implemented the new statutory levy on the gambling industry, which replaced the previous system of voluntary industry contributions.
Through the levy, up to £100m per year is expected to be raised, which will be collected and administered by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) under the strategic direction of the UK Government.
To generate funding for the levy, operators will be charged a percentage of their gross gambling yield from the previous year. These percentages are 1.1% for online operators, 0.5% for casinos and bookmakers and 0.2% for bingo operators.
Splitting up the levy funding, 20% will go to the Research Commissioner, UK Research and Innovation, to research to establish a bespoke Research Programme on Gambling, as well as the UKGC, to direct further research in line with licensing objectives.
The Prevention Commissioner, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), will receive 30% of the levy funding. OHID will develop a comprehensive approach to prevention and early intervention.
Meanwhile, 50% of the levy funding will go to the Treatment Commissioner, NHS England and relevant bodies in Scotland and Wales, who will commission treatment and support services in collaboration with the third sector.
Support still available for young people
GamCare added that while specialist services for young people will come to a halt later this year, its Youth Advisory Board will continue to operate to make sure that young people’s voices continue to inform its work, adding that it “remains committed to reducing gambling harm and none of our other services are affected by this change”.
“Children, young people and their families can still seek support by contacting the National Gambling Helpline on Freephone 0808 8020 133 or via live chat, available 24/7, and we will signpost them to the appropriate support for their circumstances,” noted GamCare.
“GamCare’s core focus will continue to be the provision of high-quality, accessible support to the thousands of people who come through our services each year, both those who are struggling with gambling directly as well as those who are affected by someone else’s gambling.”
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has issued a £170,000 fine to Taichi Tech Limited, which trades as Fafabet, for regulatory failures, including the use of unfair terms and conditions.
Taichi Tech, which has been licensed by the Commission since February 2021, will also be subject to a third-party audit to check that it is complying with anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
The UKGC investigation once again raises the issue of fair, clear and transparent terms and conditions by operators following the High Court case involving Paddy Power earlier this year.
T&Cs lacked transparency
According to the investigation, the UKGC discovered that Taichi Tech contained the following statement within their bonus terms for new casino promotions:
“Fafabet have the right at their own discretion to close accounts or forfeit winnings.”
The Commission concluded from its investigation that Taichi Tech breached the fair and open licensing condition by “including a discretionary term allowing the operator to close customer accounts or forfeit winnings without clear justification”, adding that these kinds of terms “lack transparency and may lead to unfair outcomes for consumers”.
The UKGC noted that the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) that operators must abide by refer to the general consumer protection legislation of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA).
The LCCP states that licensees must ensure their terms and practices are “fair, clear, and do not breach consumer protection law” and so “must therefore have regard to the CRA as part of their overall compliance obligations under the LCCP”.
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement and Intelligence at the Gambling Commission, said: “We expect all operators — regardless of their size or customer base — to comply with consumer protection legislation and ensure their terms and conditions meet regulatory standards.
“Licensed operators must ensure their terms are clear, fair, and transparent, so customers fully understand what to expect.”
AML and social responsibility failures
The UKGC noted that its investigation also discovered AML and social responsibility breaches, including failures to “effectively manage risk and implement adequate consumer protection measures”.
These failures included some customers gambling large sums in a short period despite the operator holding limited customer information, individuals exhibiting potential markers of harm (such as high-velocity spending over short periods) being given “insufficient customer interaction from the operator”.
In addition, the Commission noted that the operator didn’t further follow-up or intervene with customers they had sent safer gambling emails to but who didn’t respond and their concerning behaviour continued.
In response, the UKGC stated that Fafabet “acknowledged that it previously fell short of the standards expected” and has since “taken steps to address these shortcomings”.
Fafabet is required to commission an independent third-party audit to assure ongoing compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements as part of the regulatory outcome.
Operator T&Cs highlighted again
Fafabet’s fine from the UKGC is another reminder that operators must make sure that their terms and conditions are fair, clear and transparent.
Back in March, Paddy Power lost a High Court case and was ordered to pay customer Corrinne Pearl Durber compensation of £1m in relation to a disputed pay-out of a “Monster Jackpot.”
Durber was denied a jackpot of £1.097m that she won on the slot game Wild Hatter with the operator, who opted instead to only initially pay her £20,000 due to what they claimed to be a “software error” which caused an incorrect display.
The court ruled in favour of Durber, stating that the rules advertised to customers should take precedence over the company’s terms and conditions, noting that Paddy Power’s “terms were not clearly signposted”.
The court added that Clause B1 – which stated that, in the event of a discrepancy between the screen display and the server records, the server records would be definitive – was “buried in 44 pages of dense text” and was an unfair contract term that granted absolute power to the defendant to override errors while excluding the customer’s right to challenge them.
Sandro Kirchner has been named the new Chairman of the German gaming regulator – the Administrative Board at the Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL).
Kirchner, the current State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior for Sport and Integration, will immediately take over from Reiner Moser, Head of Office in the Ministry of the Interior for Digitalisation and Municipalities for Baden-Württemberg.
The news comes as the GGL celebrates four-years since its formation following the adoption of the Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty in 2021. His appointment also comes at a time when tackling illegal gambling stands out as a key priority for the GGL.
Moser, now GGL’s Head of Department, said: “The online gambling market has developed rapidly in recent years. The GGL has met the resulting challenges with great commitment and can already demonstrate remarkable results both in combating illegal gambling and in regulating and supervising the legal market.
“The exchange between the states and the GGL is always trusting and results-oriented. I would like to sincerely thank the Board of Directors and all GGL employees for this constructive cooperation over the past year.”
During his tenure, Moser promoted digital transformation, leveraging his background in the Ministry of the Interior to support tech-based regulatory tools. He also prioritised player protection and youth gambling.
He has also steered the GGL’s regulatory activities during a tricky adjustment period for Germany’s gambling sector, with operators and the government clashing at times over issues like taxation, advertising, and online casino restrictions.
Each year on 1 July, the Chairmanship of the Board of Directors is transferred to the next member state in alphabetical order, giving Kirchner a year to oversee Germany’s +€14bn gambling market.
Taking the fight against illegal gambling further
Kirchner assumes his leadership as the GGL advances its ambitious agenda, with a focus on enhancing international cooperation to fight illegal gambling as mentioned above.
For example, building on Google’s 2024 ban of unlicensed gambling ads, the GGL is expanding its digital ad monitoring network this year. It has also been advocating for a new legal provision to enable IP-blocking of gambling ads, not just illegal sites.
Kirchner also described the consistent prosecution of illegal offerings and player protection as his highest priorities. He added: “The work of the GGL must continue to be significantly geared towards ensuring that the business model of illegal gambling is not profitable in Germany.
“With regard to his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors, he added: “I look forward to continuing the successful work of everyone involved over the past four years. We will certainly continue to face many challenges. However, I believe the GGL is well positioned to achieve this.”
This week, the GGL also published its 2024 Third Annual Activity Report, which demonstrated concrete data on the size and structure of Germany’s online betting market.
In detail, legal operators recorded total stakes of €8.2bn in 2024, marking a modest rise from €7.9bn the previous year.
Meta is facing renewed scrutiny over the advertising policies of its social media platforms, as digital rights campaigners accuse Facebook and Instagram of placing disproportionate restrictions on adverts highlighting gambling-related harms.
The criticism stems from a new report by UK-based digital rights advocacy group, Open Rights Group (ORG), titled “Profiling by Proxy: How Meta’s Data-Driven Ads Fuel Discrimination.”
As reported by iGaming Expert, Meta’s platforms treat public health messaging as political content, triggering heightened transparency rules, while gambling advertisers often bypass comparable oversight.
“Meta requires more transparency about adverts that highlight the harms of gambling than about adverts that promote gambling,” the report states.
The classification of harm-focused ads as political content subjects campaigners to stricter compliance standards, such as identity verification and public disclosure via Meta’s Ad Library.
Meanwhile, commercial gambling ads—including those promoting “social casino” games—are subject to less scrutiny unless they fall into restricted product categories.
ORG’s findings raise red flags around user privacy, especially for vulnerable groups. Through tools like the Meta Pixel, platforms collect extensive behavioural data to construct detailed user profiles, allowing advertisers to micro-target users based on inferred traits. These profiles can reveal addictive behaviors, financial hardship, or mental health vulnerabilities—data points that campaigners argue should never be used to deliver targeted gambling ads.
The timing of the report is significant. In early 2025, the UK High Court ruled in favour of a former problem gambler who accused Sky Bet of unlawfully targeting him using cookies and third-party data. The case reignited calls for tighter ad regulations, particularly as digital platforms become more influential in shaping consumer behaviour.
Responding to these concerns, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) enacted new marketing standards in May 2025. Operators are now required to offer users clear opt-in choices for the types of gambling promotions they receive and through which channels.
As regulators tighten oversight on gambling operators, pressure is mounting for Big Tech to fall in line and take accountability of the matter.
Gambling harm charity Ygam reached a record number of young people for the year between January 2024 and March 2025.
The organisation’s 10-year anniversary activity report highlighted that it reached approximately 1.3 million children and young people across the UK within that year alone – the highest number since its inception in 2014.
Ygam also reported that it simultaneously managed to provide gambling harm prevention and treatment education to around 10,000 delegates.
In order to ensure its long-term sustainability and inform its future prevention strategy, the charity had also commissioned data-driven evaluation of four of its flagship programmes as part of the report.
Results have shown that Ygam continues to be a trusted partner for problem harm prevention among youth-centric institutions, fostering partnerships with schools, universities, and community groups, among others.
Some of the high profile brands that the charity is working with include The Scouts, NSPCC, The Children’s Society, TSB Bank, Place2Be, and Barnardo’s.
Ygam finds success in education engagement
Continuing with the highlights from the report, Ygam saw 50% of teachers and youth workers implementing the charity’s educational materials in their classrooms within 12 months of completing their training.
Between January 2024 and March 2025, Ygam representatives managed to visit a total of 50 universities across the UK, with around 115,000 university students increasing their knowledge of problem gambling harm.
This is a timely development given last year’s Ygam and GAMSTOP study where it was revealed that 28% of UK students were at risk of problem gambling.
On the digital front, Ygam reached a total of 4.1 million social media impressions between January 2024 and March 2025, which constituted a 322% increase from 2023.
The success of the charity was commemorated by Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross, who said: “I welcome this report, which highlights Ygam’s vital role in educating more than one million young people on how to lead safer digital lives.
“One of my key priorities as gambling minister is to strengthen protections around those most vulnerable to harmful gambling and I look forward to collaborating with Ygam in future as we continue to build a safer online space for young people.”
Ygam and all other gambling charities like it are now operating in a revamped UK market thanks to a new research, education, and treatment (RET) statutory levy mandated by Twycross.
All UK-based gambling businesses will be subjected to mandatory RET contributions, with the first payment scheduled for 1 October. The exact amount will be calculated based on a percentage of a company’s GGR or its equivalent, with 1.1% of GGR for all online operators and 0.1% for pool betting licences.
A total of 50% of the collected funds will be syphoned into NHS England and its Scottish and Welsh counterparts, 30% will go to funding problem gambling prevention strategies, while 20% of the RET levy will be given to gambling harm research.
Online gambling stakeholders in Germany remain split over the data insights of the Fourth Interstate market and its actual exposure to black market threats.
Nearly three years since Germany’s Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty (GlüStV 2021) came into force, the federal online gambling regime remains troubled by divisions on data, activity and trends.
The Joint Gambling Authority of the German States (GGL), which assumed full oversight in 2022, has released its Third Annual Activity Report for 2024, and the results reveal as much about persistent structural tensions as about progress.
For the first time, the GGL has published concrete figures on both the volume and character of Germany’s online betting market. Legal gambling operators generated €8.2bn in total stakes in 2024, a modest increase from €7.9bn the previous year.
But the more controversial figure was its estimate that unlicensed operators account for roughly “25% of the total market for online gambling” including sports betting, virtual slot machines, and poker.
Mattias Dahms- DSWV
The data represent an improvement in transparency, and was cautiously welcomed by the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV), which has long lobbied for more accountability and disclosure.
“This is clear, official confirmation that the black market has long been a serious structural problem and not a marginal phenomenon,” said Mathias Dahms, Chairman of the DSWV.
Disputed ratios
The DSWV was quick to question the figures themselves. According to studies it commissioned including the influential Schnabl study — the actual black market share may exceed 50%, far above the GGL’s 25% estimate. This divergence reflects not just a disagreement over numbers, but over the nature of Germany’s regulatory strategy.
The trade body argues that the official data obscures the scale and speed of illegal growth, particularly in sports betting. One statistic stands out: the number of illegal German-language sports betting websites increased from 281 to 382 in a single year — a jump of 36%.
In contrast, only 34 licensed websites were listed on the GGL’s official whitelist. “The ratio of legal to illegal sites is around 1 to 11,” said Dahms. “Illegal providers benefit from the fact that they can offer a much wider range of bets—especially in the area of live betting, which is immensely popular. This is precisely why many users switch to these sites.”
These concerns are grounded in the reality of Germany’s highly restringing regulatory model. The DSWV claims that overbearing iGaming regulations, including strict caps on advertising, heavy limitations on live betting and bet types, and low deposit limits have simply made the legal market uncompetitive and structurally less appealing. “The legal market is safer today than ever before,” Dahms adds, “but if it becomes less attractive, users will migrate to illegal offers.”
GGL plays enforcer not lawmaker….
The GGL, for its part, is pressing ahead with its enforcement mandate. Since its operational launch in January 2023, the regulator has rolled out geo-blocking measures under the EU’s Digital Services Act, stepped up payment-blocking enforcement, and launched prohibition proceedings against illegal operators and their advertisers.
The authority also successfully lobbied Google to restrict gambling ads in Germany to licensed providers only, curbing one of the most visible channels for unregulated competition.
However, the GGL’s legal footing is far from stable. As of December 2024, the authority was embroiled in 189 lawsuits — many of them brought by operators contesting licensing decisions, technical restrictions, and advertising bans. These lawsuits absorb considerable resources and reflect broader discontent among industry stakeholders about the rigidity of the current system.
While the GGL is limited by statute to enforcement, it has acknowledged the need for reform. Its 2024 report indicates that recommendations on advertising policy will be shaped by ongoing academic research led by the Public Health faculty of the University of Bremen. The research will inform future proposals balancing player protection with market accessibility. This is the GGL’s preferred route: science-guided, cautious, and consistent with its public health mandate.
Political fault lines
But reform cannot come solely from regulators. In Germany’s federalised legal system, gambling laws operate across overlapping state and national jurisdictions. Any substantive overhaul of the legal framework—including changes to bet offerings, deposit limits or sponsorship guidelines—would need to pass through the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament.
This structural reality has led to deepening political debate. Most prominently, controversy has erupted around betting on amateur sports, particularly in football. While some states and operators support permitting such bets under tight supervision, others argue this could invite manipulation and undermine integrity. These debates feed into broader questions over which level of government—federal or state—should define the rules of the game.
Interstate on a diverging path
In 2026, Germany is expected to table a federal law on gambling advertising and sponsorship, which will almost certainly become the next battleground. Stakeholders are already jostling for influence, as the legislation could recalibrate how GlüStV 2021 is interpreted, enforced, and evolved.
In the meantime, both sides claim to be guided by player protection. But their definitions differ. The GGL sees protection as enforcement of uniform, restrictive measures; the DSWV sees it as offering a safe but attractive legal alternative to the black market.
There is, at least, a shared belief in data. “With this figure, the GGL is creating more transparency for the market and the public,” said Dahms. “Fact-based debates… are only possible if we have access to reliable official figures—we expressly welcome this step.”
But clarity has not yet delivered consensus. The GGL remains a strong administrative presence, but its inability to initiate legislative change leaves it vulnerable to political drift. The DSWV, meanwhile, continues to warn that inaction on reform will strengthen the very market that regulation was designed to suppress.
Whether the next phase of German gambling policy results in modernisation, fragmentation, or mere inertia will depend less on enforcement—and more on whether the country’s legislators are willing to match regulation to market reality.
FDJ United’s Unibet brand has received two warnings from the Dutch gambling regulator for failures linked to advertising and autoplay.
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gaming authority, issued the warnings to Optdeck, which provides games of chance under the Unibet brand in the Netherlands, for violations related to a cycling team sponsorship and a BonusBuy function in one of their titles.
In response, a Unibet spokesperson told iGaming Expert that the brand took the KSA’s warning “very seriously and took immediate action” to correct the errors, including adjusting branding and compensating affected players.
Sponsorship bus
As part of its sponsorship of the Unibet Tietema Rockets cycling team, the Unibet logo was shown on a coach, which was used to transport the team in the Netherlands and for additional purposes. The Dutch authority has stated that this violates the non-targeted advertising ban.
Speaking with Optdeck, the KSA said that the operator was “not aware that the bus was also used for other transport and that monitoring various sponsorship agreements can be complex”, adding that the team has been asked to stop using the bus immediately and modified stickers will be provided without the Unibet brand logo.
“The KSA has indicated that it is always the provider’s responsibility to guarantee that sponsorship agreements comply with the laws and regulations,” noted the regulator.
“In addition, the coach in this form will no longer be allowed on the road as of 1 July 2025, because that is also when the ban on sports sponsorship comes into effect.”
KSA Chair, Michael Groothuizen, has previously stated that current loopholes in sponsorship must be addressed by the forthcoming overhaul of the Remote Gambling Act undertaken by state secretary Teun Struycken.
A Unibet spokesperson told iGaming Expert: “Unibet takes the signals from the Dutch Gambling Authority very seriously and took immediate action upon notification. The broader use of the touring coach by the sponsored team was halted at our request.
“Ahead of the new regulations per July 1, all team vehicles in the Netherlands will be fitted with adjusted branding without the Unibet logo.”
BonusBuy not allowed
The second warning issued by the Dutch regulator to Unibet was due to a BonusBuy feature that was part of one of their titles. BonusBuy is a form of autoplay, which allows players to automatically continue playing with purchased bonuses without having to start a new game.
The KSA stated that this is prohibited as it encourages players to excessively gamble. In its conversation with Optdeck, the regulator stated that the BonusBuy feature was activated incorrectly by the supplier due to a third-party error.
The function was live for two hours, with players who suffered losses during that period being compensated, while measures have also been taken to make sure the same mistake isn’t repeated in the future.
“The identified autoplay functionality was unintentionally briefly available due to an error by an external supplier following the game’s launch,” noted a Unibet spokesperson to iGaming Expert.
“During our internal checks prior to launch, this functionality was still disabled. Affected players have been compensated, and we have implemented additional measures with the supplier to prevent such errors in the future.”
The Dutch regulator said in its release: “The KSA emphasised in the conversation that the provider itself is responsible for correctly following laws and regulations, even if there is a collaboration with third parties.
“Because both violations were stopped immediately as soon as they were noticed, the KSA will leave it at a warning for now. If Optdeck makes another mistake in the future, the KSA can impose stricter sanctions.”