SBC News

On Friday, 3 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine signed into law new gambling amendments to improve the “state’s regulation of gambling and lotteries.”

Grabbing international news headlines, Zelenskyy approved the Rada’s decision to “dissolve KRAIL,” the Gambling and Lotteries Authority of Ukraine, and establish a new regulator, scheduled to take effect by April.

Zelenskyy’s signature ends the problematic tenure of KRAIL as the gambling authority of Ukraine, as allegations of corruption and bribery had hounded the agency prior to Russia’s invasion in the winter of 2022.

The dire circumstances of war saw Ukraine’s gambling licences come under the scrutiny of the intelligence agency of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), which imposed sanctions on multiple incumbents, placing strict restrictions and limitations on gambling transactions.

Such consequences required the Rada to amend the Gambling Law of 2020 to revise conditions for a disrupted industry engag..

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands, has issued a €1m fine to the Curaçao-licensed online gambling group Alimaniere Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, which operates as Alimaniere Ltd.

The €1m fine relates to Dutch players gambling on the unlicensed website time2spin.com, which is recognised as a subsidiary of Alimaniere Ltd.

Despite the website being IP-blocked, a KSA investigation revealed that “the provider had created another website, timetospin1.com. Dutch players could use the account they had previously created on the other website.”

The KSA has taken action to block both websites. The €1m penalty was imposed due to the combined unlicensed activities of both websites operated by Alimaniere Ltd.

The statement highlighted that the KSA had evidence “that there were various factors which resulted in a higher fine than the basic fine of €600,000 being imposed.”

Last week, the KSA sanctioned a new ‘General Policy of Fines’ for its governance..

GambleAware Chief Executive Zoë Osmond has been named in the New Year Honours List of appointments made by King Charles III.

The Honours List for 2025 has awarded Osmond an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for exemplary services in tackling and treating problem gambling harms and addiction.

Publishing a statement, Osmond thanked all organisations and stakeholders supporting GambleAware in combating gambling harms across local communities:

“I am deeply humbled and honoured to receive this OBE. This is recognition of the tireless efforts of the whole team at GambleAware, our partners, and the wider lived experience community who have shared their personal stories and insights with the hope of reducing gambling-related harm across Great Britain.”

Osmond has served as CEO of GambleAware since 2021, overseeing the charity’s transformation and the expansion of a new national strategy to reduce gambling harms.

As CEO, Osmond has overseen GambleAware’s development of the National Gamblin..

The Senate of Brazil has received its first update from rapporteurs who will evaluate the economic and integrity threats posed by Brazil’s new federal regime for online gambling.

Commonly referred to as ‘Bets’, on 1 January, Brazil launched its federal online gambling marketplace. The Ministry of Finance has granted licence authorisations to 70 businesses, with 14 licences approved to operate brands from 1 January, while others await regulatory approval.

Accompanying developments saw relevant authorities receive the first update from rapporteurs leading Commission of Inquiry (CPI) investigations aimed at reviewing the laws, standards, and protections of the Bets regime.

Led by Senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS), the ‘CPI of Bets’ will commence its assessment of the economic risks associated with online gambling starting on 30 April. Partnered with Senator Dr Hiran Goncalves (PP-RR), Thronicke is tasked with spearheading a critical investigation into the vulnerabilities of online ..

As of 1 January 2025, Dutch gambling licences will be governed by a new ‘General Policy of Fines’, as mandated by Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands.

As stated by the KSA: “The New General Policy of Fines aims to ensure penalties are appropriate and serve as punitive and preventive measures. It seeks to deter violations and promote compliance with gambling regulations.”

The KSA has broadened the scope of fines to cover specific violations determined by the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) and the Netherlands Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft).

The new fine policy will be applied across five categories, with basic fines ranging from €500 in Category 1 to €2,000,000 in Category 5.

Category 5 fines will be exclusively applied to Wwft violations. For non-Wwft violations falling under Category 4, the KSA may also impose a turnover-related fine amounting to 3% of the offender’s gross turnover to enhance the impact of the fine on the..

NHS England has warned of a significant increase in patient care demands for the treatment of gambling addiction, an problem fuelled by gambling adverts promoted over the festive period.

Concerns about the capacity to meet patient demands were raised by Dr Matt Gaskell, Head of the NHS Northern Gambling Service, and Claire Murdoch, the National Director for NHS Mental Health Services.

As noted, gambling addiction referrals “have risen by 130%, with almost 2,000 people referred between April and September 2023 compared to just over 800 in the same period in 2022.”

Expanding dedicated services for the treatment of gambling harms, the NHS has doubled the number of problem gambling clinics in England, totalling 15, offering support from trained psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists, and peer support teams.

Specialist clinics are now located in Sheffield, London, Milton Keynes, Thurrock, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Preston, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, an..

There is not a lot of research surrounding links between neurodiversity and problem gambling, but there is little doubt among those with lived experience of gambling harm that neurodiverse people are uniquely vulnerable to gambling addiction, writes Steve Hoare, Player Protection Hub Editor.

“Regardless of whether there is research on this or not, there is definitely a correlation between neurodivergence and gambling addiction,” highlighted Chris Gilham, a trustee at Gambling Harm UK, to an audience of experts in neurodiversity at a webinar organised by the Gambling Lived Experience Network (GLEN).

Gilham lived with a crippling gambling addiction from the age of 30 to 36-years-old. The gambling compounded a dependency on alcohol that sent him to rock bottom before he sought help.

As someone who was never interested in gambling or exposed to it before he was 30, Gilham was baffled as to why he suddenly developed a gambling problem.

It took him three years of recovery, hard work an..

The Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a €400k fine to Optdeck Service Ltd, otherwise known as Unibet.

According to the regulator, the betting brand had allowed the signing up of players who were listed on the Netherlands’ national self-exclusion registry CRUKS.

The scheme works in the same way as other similar projects throughout Europe, where once a player has been registered in the system, licensed gambling providers have a regulatory obligation to refuse them any type of gambling service, whether it’s physical or online.

An alert was raised with the KSA back in mid-2023 that Unibet had failed to carry out the necessary checks during the 2022 World Cup, which was confirmed after the regulator’s subsequent investigation. As per official information, Optdeck had not appealed the fine.

CRUKS is a core component of the Dutch gambling market. To ensure that this remains the case, the KSA has previously launched a number of marketing campaigns targeting ..