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Yesterday, the Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies, confirmed that the UK Government intends to boost the age limit for playing the National Lottery due to growing concerns over the constantly increasing number of children who get hooked on gambling. Currently, the minimum legal age which is necessary for a person to gamble is 18 years but the National Lottery has been an exception, with a minimum age of 16 required. As explained by Ms Davies in an interview with The House magazine, the new measures are to…

Today, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is launching a consultation regarding the use of credit cards in online gambling. The consultation is to also be set on the gaming machines as part of the watchdog’s latest attempt to improve regulation of the sector. A third issue, regarding the possible provision of free gambling blocking software to customers of online gambling sites. The consultation has come after the commission’s enforcement of strict age verification checks and free-to-play-games’ limits earlier in February. It is to be open for a period of three…

New reports have revealed that about one-fifth of the overall National Lottery contribution to good causes in 2018 was received by London – an amount which is nearly ten times larger than the amount received by Birmingham. According to recently revealed data, an overall amount of £277.9 million was given as a contribution to good causes by the National Lottery. The UK capital got a massive £56.5-million portion of this amount, unlike other regions, which were granted far less from the money. The East part of England, for example, received…

In 2018, Queensland citizens lost a massive amount of AU$6 million a day, which means their losses are worth the staggering AU$4,572 every minute, to poker machines situated in local hotels and clubs. The state hit a record high, with its total losses being estimated to AU$2.4 billion in 2018, with the data going back to 2004. According to Tim Costello, the director of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, losses kept rising due to the fact that poker machines, also known as pokies, were getting more and more addictive. Mr…

PayPal is facing accusations of providing problem gamblers with the chance to spend up to £150,000 on a daily basis – a practice which has raised some concerns whether the international online payment system is used by gambling addicts as a way to easily avoid bank limits. Both gambling experts and legislators in the UK have urged the company to be more responsible in order to prevent such people from generating massive losses on gambling which could end up with them going bankrupt. In addition, the UK Department for Digital,…

From now on, Tauranga will only see the number of poker machines decline. Yesterday, Tauranga City Council issued a decision to adopt a so-called “sinking lid” policy, under which no new gambling machines or venues are to be approved. The policy is set to be brought into action on March 14th. The local authorities made a decision to deploy the policy in a way that would guarantee a gradual decline of gambling options in the city in order to minimise the negative impact these venues and machines could have on…

New statistics have shown that more than nine in every ten people who have been treated for their problem gambling behaviour by Health Service Executive Ireland (HSE) in the past four years were men. In addition, data showed that it is mostly young men who have been suffering from gambling addiction, with the average age of such individuals who have also sought professional treatment in recent years being 35 years. Only recently, some data regarding the number of people who received professional help with gambling being pointed as the main…

A reduction of the gambling-related harm rates in Port Lincoln could be brought by the changes to the gambling legislation of South Australia. The changes are expected to also speed up the voluntary self-exclusion process. Under the previous provisions of gambling laws, a voluntary self-exclusion could take up to ten days to be processed, and months to be reviewed in order for a decision whether or not the barring to remain in place. That system, however, faced a lot of criticism, as it took an unnecessarily long time for a…

Stricter rules are being imposed on gambling advertising, especially for online gambling ads. From April 1st, gambling operators in the UK will have to make sure that they do not target any individuals under the legal age of 18, as a ban has been imposed on the use of young celebrities and sports stars in advertising materials has been imposed. As revealed by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), the new requirements have been specially designed to protect children from irresponsible gambling advertising practices. Gambling operators which operate on the…

The number of Irish people who deal with problem gambling is increasing every day, but unfortunately, the exact number remains unknown for the time being. As Casino Guardian previously reported, the fact that there is not enough official data on the matter is not of much of a help. In 2017, experts from H2 Gambling Capital reported that Ireland has third highest gambling losses on a global scale per capita, with local residents spending the shocking amount of €2.2 billion, which is about €470 per capita, on an annual basis.…