SBC News

English football will adopt a new Code of Conduct on ‘Gambling Related Agreements’, safeguarded by the FA, EFL, Premier League and Women’s Super League.

The Code, which will apply to the football authorities and clubs in the professional game, will be implemented at the start of the 2024/2025 season. Leagues and clubs must abide by the following four general principles on gambling sponsorships to ensure protection, social responsibility, reinvestment, and integrity.

The principles of the Code were agreed upon by football leagues and authorities in response to the Gambling Review, in which the government instructed football to ensure gambling is promoted in a socially responsible manner.

As stated: “Following detailed cross-sport dialogue, the following Code has been drafted by the Premier League, The English Football League, the Women’s Super League (the ‘Competitions’), and the FA as part of that commitment, to be applied across all of professional football and those matches played..

Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority has established a Duty of Care Online department to enhance the supervision of online gambling operators’ with regards to up-keeping their customer safeguards and protections.

The establishment of a Duty of Care Department follows KSA investigation conducted last September into ten online gambling providers regarding their interpretation of duty of care rules. The investigation revealed significant differences between the operators and identified shortcomings on the rules of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA).

Since then, the authority has amended its Responsible Gaming policy, and the expansion of supervision of an online provider’s duty of care has followed suit with the creation of the new department.

The KSA stated that the duty of care expansion includes extensive file research on providers that stand out in the control data, as well as on the basis of signals received from players.

Additionally, the department will monit..

GambleAware has informed the media that the Charity Commission has closed its case against the organisation and its trustees with no complaint summoned.

In March, a case was filed by The Good Law Project against GambleAware, citing that the charity had failed in its regulatory duties as chief commissioner of gambling harm research, education, and treatment (RET) projects, services, and organisations in the UK.

The Good Law Project, a public policy non-profit, criticised GambleAware for spreading false information on gambling-related harms and suicides and questioned the effectiveness of treatment services commissioned by the charity.

GambleAware refuted all allegations, with CEO Zoe Osmond commenting: “The Charity Commission has written to GambleAware to confirm the case has been closed without criticism or findings against the organisation.

The regulator has stated unequivocally that they are ‘assured that the trustees have taken appropriate steps to both ensure its [GambleAware’s..

Romania will implement a new strategy to tackle and minimise addiction harms across its administrative regions.

On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis promulgated a decree co-authored by Romania’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice to launch eight ‘regional centres for the treatment of addictions’.

The project will see Romania adopt a new strategy to combat, minimise, and research addiction harms across its eight administrative regions.

The new strategy aims to address current ‘treatment inadequacies’ for drug, alcohol, and gambling addictions within Romania, particularly for those under 25.

Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, endorsed the project, citing that the current framework to combat addictions left Romanians exposed as treatment options were primarily offered by private clinics and NGOs.

Gorghiu stated: “I’m glad that the party I belong to, PNL, initiated this law because in Romania the state could not properly treat these big problems that are especially among the y..

In spite of previously stating it wasn’t on their agenda, Labour’s U-turn on digital ID could pave the way for a new era of onboarding and KYC in the UK.

During the King’s Speech on Wednesday, to the surprise of many it was revealed that the government was planning to introduce the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill, focusing on legislation for digital identification.

Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk: IDNow
Roger Redfearn-Tyrzyk, Vice President Global Gaming at IDnow told PaymentExpert that their introduction could “change the way users onboard to gambling operators in the UK”.

He continued: “In general, prospective players can be verified with the help of database checks (i.e. credit reference agency data), document checks and/or biometric checks to safeguard players and operators against suspicious or fraudulent activity. IDnow offers all these methods within its portfolio.

“In the UK gambling sector, player onboarding via database checks is still the most common verification method to..

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has notified online licensees of compliance expectations and duties concerning customer account withdrawals.

An update published by Commission CEO, Andrew Rhodes, references previous concerns about customers experiencing ‘delays when withdrawing funds’. As noted, late or delayed withdrawals are referenced as an action point of the Commission’s Business Plan and Budget 2023 to 2024.

Concerns about account withdrawals are highlighted due to the UKGC’s contact centre “continuing to receive around 2,000 complaints a year about delays to withdrawals.”

Compliance reviews have seen the Commission order operators to amend their terms and conditions, requiring ID verification prior to customer deposits, rather than “delaying identity verification until a customer seeks to withdraw funds.”

Withdrawal issues take on an industry-wide scope, impacting all online operators, yet the Commission maintains that overall complaints remain low in proportion to the tota..