Author: Daniel Williams

The Children’s Commissioner for England once again insisted on banning gambling-like loot boxes for underage individuals. For more than a year now, Anne Longfield has been calling for the Government to make sure it urgently suspends loot boxes available in video games, such as FIFA, for children. She further warned that the controversial video game features cannot be distinguished from gambling. As shared by the commissioner, research carried out by her office had shown that underage individuals on the special in-game items were often chasing losses in order to get…

Philip Davies MP, who had recently accepted a prominent job in the industry, has denied criticism that he did that right before a long-awaited review of the country’s gambling legislation is to be carried out by the committee he was part of. As Casino Guardian reported at the time, Mr Davies faced some criticism after some information emerged that he was hired by GVC Holdings, with the gambling company set to pay him £33,320 for just 84 hours of work. As the document confirming the appointment revealed, Mr Davies would…

The Monash University and the University of South Australia have unveiled the results of a new study, according to which the country’s Cashless Debit Card (CDC) scheme is having practically no impact on the problem behaviour of local residents. The scheme is aimed at imposing some limits on welfare users’ spending. As previously revealed, the Australian CDC has been rolled out as a trial form of conditional financial help that basically forbids welfare recipients from withdrawing cash from their welfare accounts and using the money to fuel their gambling habits…

After the Premier League has made its return, the sports betting activities in the UK have shown an increase. As the COVID-19 measures have also been relaxed recently, this also contributed to a jump in gambling in the country. These conclusions are based on data recently published by the UK Gambling Commission, covering the gambling activity during the months between March and September. In addition to the increased sports betting during the recent stressful months of the pandemic, there was also a jump in gamers spending money on loot boxes.…

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its latest data regarding the impact that the relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown measures had on the British customers’ gambling behaviour. The latest data unveiled by the country’s gambling regulatory body reflects the period from March to September 2020, and covers both retail and online gambling. In order to make the report, the UKGC had used consumer research and data provided by UK high-street Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs). The latest data for September regarding the gambling sector shows that UK’s online gambling market…

Two Members of Parliaments from the Conservative Party have agreed to take jobs in the UK gambling industry just prior to the pending Government review of the country’s gambling laws. As revealed by The Guardian, the jobs are worth tens of thousands of pounds. According to parliamentary disclosures, Philip Davies MP accepted a job with GVC Holdings that is to pay him £33,320, or £396 an hour, to consult the company on customer service and responsible gambling issues. The first instalment of the money was accepted by Mr Davies on…

The regulation of video games’ loot boxes and their categorisation as a form of gambling or not is among the issues that are set to be reviewed by the gambling authority in Ireland. Unfortunately, no definite schedule for the planned regulator to be established has been provided so far. Apart from that, there are no plans to immediately regulate so-called in-game purchases of loot boxes in Ireland, even though some European countries have already taken steps towards stricter regulation of the controversial issue. According to opponents of in-game items, millions…

Losses generated by UK gamblers could face a £100 limit a month as part of the local authorities’ attempt to make gambling operators more responsible when it comes to tackling problem gambling in the country. The proposal has been unveiled recently and is currently being reviewed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). It has come as part of the push for stricter regulation to be imposed on the sector in order to make sure that local residents, and especially the ones who find it hard to control their gambling, will…

A new submission made by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to a public consultation regarding gambling regulation in Northern Ireland revealed that up to 40,000 people in the country may be facing a gambling problem. For the time being, Northern Ireland is considered to have the highest occurrence of gambling addiction in the UK. According to reports, its incidence of problem gambling is four times bigger than the one measured in the rest of the UK, as well as three times bigger than the one registered in the Republic…

The UK Government is expected to speed up its review into sponsorship agreements between gambling operators and football clubs. The move is taken at a time when an increasing number of anti-gambling campaigners have been calling for the authorities to ban such sponsorships that, according to them, normalise gambling in football. Currently, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is carrying out an audit into the country’s gambling regulations, which is expected to have some serious negative consequences for the historic relationship between the gambling sector and professional football.…