Author: Daniel Williams

British Airways has faced much criticism for popularising gambling after it rolled out a TV commercial, which depicted a couple easily winning money on slot machines. As reported by The Guardian, it was the content of the advert which provoked anger from a number of anti-gambling campaigners and Members of Parliament. Complaints have also been filed to the country’s advertising regulatory body. The television commercial, for British Airways Holidays, featured a couple returning to their room through something that pretty much resembled a hotel casino after they went to the…

Keith Gillespie, a former Manchester United star and problem gambler, backed the Celtic striker Leight Griffiths who made a public confession about his mental health issues and urged him to accept help. According to Gillespie, who has faced a very similar situation himself, making an admission about the problem is the first step to recovery. The former Manchester United winger battled a severe depression at the time he was a professional football player and spent about £7 million on wagers. The 43-year-old Gillespie said that he could see a resemblance…

At the end of last week, two popular YouTubers have faced harsh criticism after allegations that they have been promoting a gambling website to their children audience. As information emerged, two vloggers who are popular with British teenagers – Sheffield-based Morgan “Morgz” Hudson and the American Jake Paul – have encouraged their underage watchers to check out a “mystery box” website which offers its visitors the chance to try winning various items when they make a payment. Currently, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is making an assessment of the MysteryBrand…

Some of the largest UK banks are set to become part of the movement aimed at tackling problem gambling in 2019. Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander will block the use of their debit cards with local bookmakers by making changes to their existing banking applications. The banks have explained that the crackdown will provide their customers with better control over their expenses by allowing them to plan their spending. The decision of the aforementioned high street banks followed the measures taken by Barclays after the latter became the…

A 40-year-old female has been sentenced to five years in jail after stealing over £400,000 from her employers in a period of seven years in order to fuel her problem gambling. According to information provided by prosecutors, Kathleen Weir, a Southampton-based accountant, spent a total amount of £1.2 million to bet on sports online during a seven-year span, from 2009 to 2016. Previously, Ms Weir confessed two cases of defrauding the city’s Elliotts builders merchants. The Southampton Crown Court heard that the defendant, also known as Kathleen Griffin, began to…

The finance director Steven Girling who misappropriated a total amount of about £1 million from his employer to pay for his online gambling habit, as well as a luxury lifestyle, has received a four-year jail sentence. As reported by Casino Guardian at the beginning of December, the 36-year-old Steven Girling in fact admitted stealing the money from Premier Education Group in the period from 2014 to 2017 and was jailed by a judge at Norwich Crown Court. As the man himself revealed at the court hearing, he spent approximately £50,000…

The trend of English football teams inking sponsorship agreements with local and international gambling operators is still ongoing. For the time being, nine out of the twenty clubs in the English Premier League, as well as 17 out of the twenty-four football clubs in the Championship, have a betting company for a main shirt sponsor – something they have been widely criticised for lately. Sponsorship agreements between professional football clubs and gambling operators have become a massive business which spends more than £260 million on an annual basis on securing…

The upcoming year is set to bring significant changes to the current gambling laws in Ireland as the government is in the process of updating the regulatory framework that has been described as terribly outdated. A new, draft legislation is expected to be published in the coming months but could this long-awaited reform be finally enacted in 2019? The new legal framework would regulate the multi-billion gambling and betting industries in Ireland, home to some of the largest betting companies in the world. The Irish Government is now trying to…

It must have been an unpleasant surprise for a local Salford casino to find out that around £60,000 has been stolen from the gambling establishment on Christmas Day. In a brazen burglary, an unidentified number of individuals have gained access to the casino by smashing the wall at the back of the building. The thieves have taken gambling chips worth approximately £60,000 from Genting Casino in Salford, a relatively small casino on Cromwell Road, the Manchester Evening News reported on Wednesday. Nothing else has been stolen from the establishment, the…

The last few years have been a long and turbulent period for the UK gambling industry, as far as fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) are concerned. The saga has had its ups and downs, with some unexpected turns, fierce verbal battles between FOBT proponents and opponents, and even a ministerial resignation filed in the process. In November 2018, the UK Government finally announced a U-turn over the previously revealed delay to the FOBT crackdown, saying that the long-expected change in the machine’s maximum stakes would be brought forward as initially expected,…