UK

The UK Gambling Commission has added to its Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) with the appointments of Dr Virve Marionneau and Dr Spencer Murch.

Marionneau is a sociologist and Director of the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control and Governance at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Meanwhile, Murch is a cognitive psychologist and AGRI Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary, Canada.

Anna van der Gaag, Chair of ABSG, commented: “We are very fortunate to have Virve and Spencer as our newest members. They are highly respected academics, both with a strong record of achievement in the field of gambling studies, and together they will expand the national and international research expertise we offer to the commission.

“Gambling is a global business and the regulatory challenges faced in different jurisdictions have much in common. I am delighted to be welcoming them and have no doubt they will bring valuable new insights to an ever-expanding range of topics which ..

GamCare is offering additional confidential, supportive and non-judgmental spaces for people affected by gambling-related harms with the introduction of night chatrooms.

Available every Tuesday between 1am and 2am, the gambling support charity has stated that the night chatrooms will provide more accessible support at night in a moderated, safe and friendly environment to individuals affected by gambling-related harm.

GamCare noted that the night chatrooms will offer individuals, affected by their own gambling or supporting someone else, an opportunity to “connect with others who truly understand what you’re going through” to receive and share support, advice and information.

The night chatrooms will be moderated by an experienced GamCare advisor to ensure a respectful and empathetic environment, guiding conversations and providing resources.

GamCare added that the night chatrooms will provide meaningful conversations about personal experiences, coping strategies and available reso..

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned multiple advertisements from social casino apps for misleading players and implying they could win real-world money or tangible prizes.

Each of the adverts appeared as paid-for TikTok ads for the following five companies:

Dataverse Co. Limited t/a Gamehaus

Huuuge Global Limited t/a Billionaire Casino

Mobee Co Ltd t/a Ignite Classic Slots

SpinX Games Ltd

Zeroo Gravity Games LLC t/a Cash Tornado.

The ASA noted that each company’s advert implied that their games were gambling products where real-world money or tangible prizes could be won and withdrawn and therefore were misleading.

Slot gameplay imagery within the adverts was spotlighted by the ASA, such as a casino slot machine and graphics being visible within Huuuge Global’s Billionaire Casino adverts, a roulette-style wheel and slot machine in SpinX Games’ adverts, as well as gameplay footage similar to that of casino-based slot games in Dataverse Co Gamehaus’ adverts.

Verbiage..

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..