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Several sports betting businesses threatened to pull out their operations from Australia’s Northern Territory if their taxes were raised, local broadcaster ABC uncovered. At least three betting companies said they would abandon the region in submissions to the Australian government the broadcaster accessed under the Freedom of Information Act. According to the local media, the operators made the threats during consultations for a review of the Racing and Betting Act, which regulates thoroughbred racing, on-track, and remote sports wagering in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory is largely dubbed the…

Northern Ireland has officially passed the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements bill. The law will have a tremendous impact on the gambling industry of Northern Ireland and will modify a few of the regulations introduced by the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements Order of 1985. The new bill marks the first steps towards a more regulated gambling sector, with Northern Ireland’s future plans including regulation of the online gambling industry. One of the biggest changes introduced with the passing of the law includes local bookmakers and bingo halls being allowed…

The video gaming industry in Australia has recently described some calls for the introduction of tougher rules for the sector as a temporary measure. In the middle of the week, the country’s Arts Minister Paul Fletcher officially revealed that the Government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison plans to implement further restrictions for screen content that depicts suicide, violence against women or tends to sexualise underage individuals. However, some representatives of the Australian video gaming industry do not seem very thrilled with the announced changes. Ron Curry from the Interactive Games…

While Australians are well known for their love for pokies, they are also notoriously bad at generating any gambling wins. The reason for Victorians ranking among the biggest pokie losers is the huge amount that is wagered on different gambling products. The latest reports of the Alliance for Gambling Reform revealed very concerning results. Just in March, the losses that Victorians have suffered in a single month reached $257.3 million. The worrying amounts that have been lost in March alone were the reason for calls for gambling reform. March Gambling…

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is taking legal actions against several operators over allegations of non-compliance with section 15 (2A) of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA). The civil penalty proceedings launched by the regulator are taken to the Federal Court, with these actions being a part of the ACMA’s extensive investigation into illegal online gambling operations. The ACMA has been taking different steps to regulate the gambling industry in Australia, with the regulator blocking 426 black market gambling websites ever since November 2019. Now, the regulator is…

The financial regulatory body in the UK has seized £2 million in total from the payment solutions provider QPay Europe as part of some measures linked to a multi-billion bank fraud that took place in the US. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has not provided detailed information on whether it considered QPay Europe a complicit party in the US-based bank fraud, which was estimated at about $150 million, but raised a red flag about a pattern as part of which the payment solutions operator quickly cleared transactions that resulted in…

A financial crime author has recently accused the UK of turning Gibraltar into the largest online casino on a global scale because of the increased interest of some gambling companies in the destination. In his book “Butler to the World”, the researcher and financial crime author Oliver Bullough suggested that Gibraltar had been turned into the “world’s biggest online casino” by the UK. Then, in an interview with Público, a Spanish news agency, Mr Bullough explained that British authorities started recognising gambling and betting activities as harmful because of their…

After racing dogs were found with doping, including several cases of dogs being drugged with cocaine, Scotland Against Greyhound Exploitation (SAGE) campaigners called for the complete ban on greyhound races in Scotland. The activists from SAGE issued their request for the ban on greyhound racing to the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee. The campaigners claim the reason behind the call for the complete ban of such events is the lack of proper regulation and no protection of the animals that suffer from injuries and doping. Greyhound Doping Tests…

The current holder of the operating licence for the UK National Lottery – Camelot – faced a legal setback earlier this week because a London judge decided not to side with the company’s request to fast-track legal proceedings against the country’s gambling regulator. On April 19th, a High Court of Justice of England and Wales judge said that rushing out the legal proceedings against the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) over the watchdog’s decision to grant the fourth National Lottery operating licence to Allwyn would not be the right thing to…

The proposal for a cashless gambling card was controversial enough to cause a division in the Perrottet government. However, the new gaming minister is to dump the compulsory pokies card with NSW favouring opt-in digital payments. The reform introducing cashless gaming cards was introduced in 2020 by Victor Dominello, NSW Customer Service and Digital Minister. The cashless payment method was supposed to have both recreational players and high-risk gamblers charge funds into their respective smart cards. The cashless pokies cards were just a part of a larger-scale plan to introduce…