Europe

UKGC calls for continued industry cooperation to strengthen Gambling Survey

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The UK Gambling Commission has called for the gambling industry’s continued cooperation to strengthen the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

Ben Haden, the UKGC’s Director of Research and Statistics, sent out the request in a blog post following the publication of the first quarter of participation figures for year two of the GSGB last week.

The latest GSGB figures, covering a nationally representative sample of 5,191 adults aged 18 and over who were interviewed between January 2024 and April 2024, stated that overall gambling participation was 48% in the past four weeks.

Delving deeper into this overall participation figure, the online gambling rate was 38%, falling to 16% when removing lottery draws, while the in-person gambling rate was 29%, dropping to 18% when excluding lottery draws.

GSGB feedback

While the development of the GSGB is still in its early stages, the UKGC’s Research and Statistics Director thanked gambling sector stakeholders for voicing their opinions on the s..

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KSA reduces record Videoslots sanction following appeal

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The KSA has reduced the sanction given to Videoslots according to a report by Dutch media outlet, Casino Nieuws.

It’s a decision that came off the back of an appeal by the group, which led to the record penalty being reduced from €9.9m penalty to €975,000.

Off the back of the sanction initially being announced in 2023, Videoslots took aim at the KSA accusing the regulator of “abusing the mystery shopping regime”.

In offering detail on what led to this point, the operator noted that in preparation for a KSA application in April 2022, the regulator’s logo was “mistakenly visible for a short period of time”. It is noted that it was “quickly removed”.

However, Videoslots added that the KSA tried to sign-up as a Dutch customer after becoming aware of this, but failed due to the systems put in place. It is also suggested that the regulator accessed the site as a German customer, before making a deposit and sole wager of 20 cents.

Ulle Skottling, Deputy CEO at Videoslots, stated at the t..

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BGC warns of 1.5m Brits active on black market websites

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The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has warned the government that unregulated black market gambling poses greater risks than perceived by British consumers.

The trade and standards body for UK gambling sounds its caution, following a new study published by microeconomics consultancy Frontier Economics. – titled: “The size and economic costs of black market gambling in Great Britain“

The study commissioned by the BGC is detailed as “the first major study on the black market since the publication of the previous Government’s White Paper on gambling reforms”.

UK gambling is recognised as a highly regulated sector, servicing 14 million adults (excluding the National Lottery) who gamble per month and generating £10.9bn in annual gross gambling yield (GGY).

Licensing duties see consumers protected by safer gambling rules, compliance monitoring, customer care interventions, responsible gambling tools, controls, and financial probity—overseen by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

Andre..

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Ireland told to impose child protections in Gambling Regulation Bill

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The Government of Ireland has been warned to recognise children’s exposure to gambling marketing in media and sports when finalising the regulatory terms of the Gambling Regulation Bill of Ireland (GRB).

The warning comes from BMC Public Health, a research agency conducting a “qualitative study exploring children’s exposure to and understanding of gambling marketing, risks, and harms in Ireland.”

Research was commissioned due to increased concerns about the “normalisation of gambling in sports” and reports from Irish public health agencies of a “significant increase in underage gambling.”

In its abstract, the report notes that Ireland currently has insufficient evidence on how gambling advertising is consumed and interpreted by children: “To build this evidence base and provide granular broad-level data, this study explored the sport consumption habits and views of Irish children (aged 14–17 years) on their exposure, awareness, and perceptions of the relationship between sport and g..

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Campaign for Fairer Gambling research slammed as ‘silly, insane and vaguely Marxist’

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Anti-gambling activist Derek Webb and his Campaign For Fairer Gambling has released a fourth research paper with ​​National Economic Research Associates (Nera) assessing the economic impact of online gambling. The paper has come in for criticism for its unconventional economic analysis, which concludes that the public’s expenditure on online gambling takes away revenue from “more…

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Netherlands renews gambling addiction e-learning module for healthcare professionals

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Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gaming authority, has announced that GGZ Ecademy is organising a problem gambling webinar as part of the renewed free e-learning module ‘Gambling Problems’ launch.

GGZ Ecademy’s webinar is being funded by the Addiction Prevention Fund (VPF) and is in collaboration with Verslavingskunde Nederland (Addiction Studies Netherlands), the Trimbos Institute and the addiction agency Jellinek.

When the Dutch market opened up for online gambling, a digital training offer was developed by Jellinek at the request of the Ministry of Justice and Security.

The training was designed to inform professionals – such as doctors, POH GGZ, psychologists and debt counsellors – about addiction problems in online gambling so they could identify gambling addiction better and earlier.

The training has since been further developed with the e-learning module Gambling Problems updated to include case studies on young adults and gambling, making gambling a topic of discussion in ge..

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EGBA: Finland’s online gambling legislation needs fine-tuning

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The European Gaming and Betting Association’s Secretary General Maarten Haijer has said Finland’s online gambling legislation proposal is “heading in the right direction” but it needs “some fine-tuning”.

Finland’s Ministry of Interior revealed a legislative project in October last year that will introduce a licensing system for gambling in the country, moving away from the monopoly system.

The licence system will cover online casino and online sports betting, while also taking away the monopoly status of state-owned operator Veikkaus in the market.

At the time, the EGBA showed their support for the changes. However, while reaffirming the association’s backing in their latest announcement, Haijer also highlighted some areas of the proposal that need adjustments.

Specifically, the Secretary General spotlighted the proposed marketing restrictions and the proposed blanket ban on bonuses within the legislation.

“While Finland’s proposal is heading in the right direction, some areas req..

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Exploring the links between neurodiversity and harmful gambling

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A group of experts concluded that there is a pressing need to conduct joint screening at all points of interaction around harmful gambling and neurodiversity, during a webinar hosted by the Gambling Lived Experience Network (GLEN). International studies have found that in groups of individuals screening positive for gambling disorder, a quarter or more also…

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