Europe

Flutter Entertainment and EPIC Global Solutions have committed to the promotion of gambling awareness in Ireland by extending a programme with the FAI National League.

The programme will incorporate the 15 founding National League clubs by the end of 2026 after reaching over 2,000 League of Ireland players and FAI staff since January.

Ireland’s National League is the third tier in the football pyramid and commenced for the first time last month.

Over 70 EPIC-led workshops have been delivered in what the FAI has described as a “huge success story”.

League of Ireland officials are confident in the programme, claiming it is a useful way to help provide clear insights which will inform targeted support messaging and harm prevention strategies.

“The impact of this programme across the League of Ireland has been a huge success story,” said Interim FAI National Competitions Lead, Garret Higgins.

“So naturally, we’re incredibly grateful to see this extended to our new FAI National Lea..

Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Authority, has been urged to consider the concerns of licensed operators as it prepares to modernise the country’s safer-gambling and duty-of-care requirements.

In June, the authority opened a consultation on proposed responsible-gambling regulations spanning 12 chapters. Stakeholders were asked to submit feedback by 10 August 2026, ahead of Spelinspektionen finalising the framework and determining its implementation timetable.

The reforms would replace the existing LIFS 2018:2 regulations and general guidance with a more prescriptive set of binding requirements. They cover the identification of excessive gambling, personalised operator interventions, staff training, customer-support availability, automatic logout, safer-gambling tools, player limits, loss notifications, withdrawals and game design.

Under the proposals, operators would be required to monitor indicators such as overnight play, longer or more frequent sessions, rising deposits and s..

Switzerland’s Federal Gaming Board (ESBK) has expanded its blacklist of unauthorised online gambling websites to 3,567 domains, intensifying its enforcement against offshore operators targeting Swiss citizens.

Published on 25 August, the latest update follows a new sweep of websites deemed to be offering or promoting online casino games in Switzerland without federal approval.

Access to the listed domains has been blocked under Articles 86 onwards of the Federal Gambling Act and Articles 88 onwards of the Gambling Ordinance. The updated blacklist is formally announced through a general ruling published in the Swiss Federal Gazette.

Swiss internet service providers are required to implement DNS blocks preventing customers from accessing the identified websites. Players attempting to visit a blacklisted domain from within Switzerland should consequently be redirected to a page explaining that the service is unauthorised.

The ESBK stated: “Access to the gambling sites listed below in ..

Ukraine’s gambling regulator has launched a tender to develop the software needed to automate the banning of military personnel from accessing gambling platforms.

Ukraine first ordered a ban on service members accessing gambling establishments and participating in online gambling during martial law in April 2024.

However, the regulator is now expanding its efforts to halt the military from gambling as it embarks on the expansion of tech being utilised in the implementation.

PlayCity has now confirmed that a tender has been released for the development of a system that will automatically verify and restrict military members from gaining access to gambling.

The regulator said that the technology will use the Trembit system, Ukraine’s state platform for data exchange.

The system will first check the Register of Persons with Restricted Access to Gambling and then the State Register of Military Personnel to determine if a user is allowed to access a site.

Testing is now underway, and..

Bookmakers in Poland are facing a fresh wave of social responsibility assessments by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protections (UOKiK).

Announced by the government, the assessments will affect local market players STS, Fortuna, Superbet, Bukmachers, E-toto Bukmachers, LV Bet and Totalbets.

SBC News understands that these are routine checks, and not a response to signals raised about potential breaches of obligations.

What the UOKiK will focus on is investigating whether there are cases of what it calls ‘dark patterns’ – practices used to manipulate consumer behaviour through front-facing UX, certain messaging or player incentives.

The assessments will cover all corners of bookmaker activity from websites to mobile apps, including the terms and conditions when entering an agreement with a customer.

Any shortcomings will be flagged by UOKiK’s system, which incorporates artificial intelligence that is trained to detect relevant issues.

Another major aspect that will be put..

The protection of Generation Z and Alpha audiences from gambling-related harms and risks has been established as the cornerstone of a new research partnership in Slovakia.

The Slovak Gambling Regulatory Authority (URHH) has launched its new “Safer Digital Future” mandate, to develop a comprehensive strategy for protecting young people from gambling risks and disorders.

The initiative has been established through a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Digital Games at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication of the University of St Cyril and the research agency of Methodius in Trnava (FMK UCM).

Through the partnership, URHH and the university will gather evidence on the risks that emerging digital products and behaviours pose to younger audiences.

Research will focus particularly on the growing convergence between video gaming and gambling through features such as loot boxes, skin betting and randomised reward systems.

URHH warned that the traditional boundaries separati..