SBC News

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced the newly appointed members of the ‘Industry Forum’ to provide greater insights and feedback from licensed operators.

The initiative was launched by UKGC Chairman Marcus Boyle in September 2023, to establish an Industry Forum providing feedback from licensed operators accommodating new regulatory and compliance demands across their platforms.

The Industry Forum is recognised as the UKGC’s fourth ‘special advisory’, in which the regulator is currently supported by the Lived Experience Panel, the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling, and the Digital Advisory Panel.

At the close of 2023, the Commission confirmed the appointment of Nick Rust (OBE), former Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), as the first chair of the Industry Forum.

The former Managing Director of Ladbrokes UK, Coral Group, and BSkyB Gaming, Rust will serve a three-year tenure as inaugural chair of the Industry Forum.

The Commission announced that Rus..

GamCare has stated that greater cross-sector cooperation is needed to intervene on financial harms and debt impacting the lives of victims of gambling harms.

The treatment and support charity has published the independent evaluation of its Gambling Related Financial Harm (GRFH) project, undertaken by Rocket Science. The project is referenced as the first evaluation gathering evidence of financial harms linked with problem gambling.

GamCare launched the project due to feedback gathered in 2022/2023, as “60% of callers to the National Gambling Helpline disclosed some level of gambling-related debt, while 76% of the callers reported financial difficulties”.

“These harms are, of course, not just limited to those who gamble, with 47% of other individuals affected, who contacted GamCare, also reporting financial difficulties.”

The project brings together insights from key sectors, including banking, debt, and money advice and gambling treatment, to raise awareness of the issue of the sca..

GambleAware has highlighted the real-life concerns of gambling addicts by launching its new public-impact campaign developed by Lucky Generals.

Branded as ‘clouds,’ the campaign sees GambleAware erect the Perspex-glassed message of “Gambling clouded everything I did”. The message is gradually obscured by smoke to convey the emotions of those who have experienced gambling addiction.

The visual campaign was launched this week at Birmingham city centre. It is a strategic move by GambleAware to alert Birmingham, which currently has 38,000 adults (55% higher than the UK average) experiencing “problem gambling” – the most severe level of gambling harm.

The campaign is the latest from GambleAware’s “Let’s open up about gambling” brand platform, which aims to reduce the stigma surrounding gambling harms.

As cited by Alexia Clifford, Chief Communications Officer at GambleAware, to Campaign UK: “Gambling can be addictive, and gambling harm can happen to anyone. That’s why our stigma campaign..

DCMS Under-Secretary Stuart Andrew has stated that the Gambling Review’s White Paper carries the “clearest mandate to strengthen protections against gambling-related harms.”

The statement was made at a Parliamentary Forum hosted by Gambling with Lives (GWL), the charity and industry reform organisation supporting families bereaved by gambling suicides.

Opening his address, Andrew thanked GWL co-founders Liz and Charles Ritchie for their dedication to raising awareness of the devastating consequences of gambling harms.

“I was pleased to be joined by Liz and Charles on the BBC sofas on the day of our announcement, where we had an important discussion on the need to further prevent gambling-related harm.”

“However, we have always been clear that there is no single reform which will work on its own, and gambling harm is not just about individuals. It has to be seen as an interaction between the person, the products, the providers, and the place where people gamble.”

Following the publ..

Casino and sportsbook operator and platform provider Soft2Bet has offered an update on its partnership with global training specialist iGaming Academy, citing the collaboration as an example of its commitment to staff training at every level.

Elisabeth Isaksson: Soft2Bet
Soft2Bet reported that the partnership has enabled it to train its teams at scale and strengthen its commitment to regulatory compliance and excellence.

The technology group noted that as an igaming operator and supplier that works across a multitude of jurisdictions, its scale, reach and size meant finding training solutions that answer multiple and varied needs was paramount.

The collaboration at first focused on compliance training for Soft2Bet’s operational teams, but quickly evolved into a company-wide approach. The ability of both Soft2Bet and iGaming Academy to quickly gauge the scale of the requirement has enabled the effective rollout of training to a vast international workforce.

Elisabeth Isaksson, Hea..

The Australian division of sportsbook operator bet365 has landed in hot water by attracting unwanted attention from the country’s financial regulator AUSTRAC.

According to the watchdog, the probe was launched based on reports of compliance shortcomings with Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).

The latest is part of AUSTRAC’s ‘extensive supervisory campaign’ launched last year to ensure that money laundering compliance standards are met across sportsbooks operating in the country.

In November, the regulatory body ordered bet365 together with another bookmaker, Sportsbet – part of Flutter Entertainment, to launch an internal auditing evaluation by appointing an external auditor.

It is understood that the bet365 probe comes as a result of this evaluation. However, as the investigation is ongoing, AUSTRAC revealed that no additional comments can be made at this time.

The only statement provided was that of AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thom..

Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), The Gambling Authority of Portugal has reported that online self-exclusion registrants reached 215,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The agency noted that while online gaming gross revenue improved year-over-year by over 16 per cent, land-based gaming revenue dropped by almost four per cent.

Publishing data for Q4, the SRIJ declared a 16.4 per cent increase in gross revenue when compared to the previous year, coming in at €227.4m (Q4 2022: €195.3m). Q4’s revenue was also a 5.6 per cent improvement on the previous quarter’s €215.3m.

From the 17 licensed games of chance operators and 13 licensed sportsbooks in Portugal, games of chance revenue stood at €154.5m, up 40.7 per cent YoY (Q4 2022: €109.8m), while sports betting revenue fell by 14.8 per cent to €72.8m (Q4 2022: €85.4m).

Per gaming type, slots had the biggest share of games of chance wagers placed during the quarter at 83 per cent, followed by French roulette at 6.9 per cent,..