Author: Olivia Cole

Two gambling operators will have to pay regulatory settlements worth a total of £675,000 after an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) found them to have breached certain anti-money laundering and social responsibility rules. Jumpman Gaming Limited, which currently operates 243 online gambling platforms, will be hit by a £500,000 fine, while Progress Play Limited, which operates 201 online gambling sites, will have to pay £175,718 for some social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. The payment will be made to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. The regulatory…

John O’Neil, who is currently the executive chairman of Star Entertainment, should have taken part in the ongoing probe into the gambling company’s suitability to keep its Sydney casino licence but his appearance has been delayed. The spokesperson for the NSW Department of Enterprise Investment and Trade confirmed that the probe was delayed, as Mr O’Neil was supposed to appear at the inquiry on Monday but the hearing was broken off and adjourned until Tuesday, until later being postponed until May 23rd. They, however, refused to cite the reasons why…

Camelot Group’s legal action against the country’s gambling regulatory body continued its High Court action this week, with the incumbent National Lottery operator maintaining its position about its contract to run the NL. According to reports, a representative of the company informed the High Court that if the fourth 10-year operating permit for the National Lottery is actually awarded to the preferred candidate of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – Allwyn – Camelot Group would cease to exist. The concerns revealed by the current holder of the National Lottery’s operating…

The chair of the Risk, Compliance and Regulatory Performance committee within The Star Entertainment’s board of directors, Ben Heap, has rejected the claims that the board deliberately misled its shareholders in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) issued in 2021 after media reports that the gambling giant was allowing alleged organised crime and money laundering activities through its VIP services. Mr Heap, who appeared before NSW’s Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) as part of the regulator’s inquiry to determine whether the Australian gambling company is fit to…

Richard Sheppard, director at The Star Entertainment Group, has severely criticised the senior management of the gambling company for not escalating some information to the board. Becoming the director of the Australian gambling giant to be questioned as part of the ongoing inquiry into the company, he shared he was surprised that no one demonstrated disagreement over the miscommunication with National Australia Bank. As Casino Guardian reported earlier, on May 9th, Mr Sheppard became the first board director to give evidence in the ongoing review of The Star Entertainment’s suitability…

The Star Entertainment Group revealed its decision to suspend its VIP rebate programmes at a time when it is dealing with a lot of controversies due to the ongoing investigation into the company’s fitness to run its casino venue in Sydney. In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the Australian gambling giant noted that the company’s board had decided to suspend the available VIP rebate programmes for both the domestic and international customers in all its casinos with immediate effect. The VIP rebate schemes would be suspended until…

According to the former boss of the UK National Lottery, any legal action over the NL operating licence could cost a total of £1 billion from the money meant to be granted to good causes. Dame Dianne Thompson has addressed the country’s gambling regulatory body, asking it to delay the procedure of transferring the fourth 10-year operating permit for the National Lottery to its newly chosen partner, the Czech Republic’s gambling company Allwyn, in order to avoid the aforementioned financial losses. The warning of the former National Lottery boss comes…

The Camelot Group has been the operator of the UK National Lottery since it was first launched. However, the company has recently lost its operating licence as the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) surprisingly decided to ditch the current owner of the National Lottery’s operating permit and welcome another company on the lead. As Casino Guardian reported, in mid-March 2022, the country’s gambling regulatory body announced the Czech gambling group Allwyn as its preferred candidate for the licence for the next 10-year period. The news hit Camelot hard, as it was…

Online gambling company Skill on Net Ltd was sanctioned by the UK advertising regulatory body for using misleading marketing in the advertisements for PlayOJO, an online gaming site it owns. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation after receiving three separate complaints against PlayOJO filed seven months ago. They concerned a ‘hot or cold’ filtering feature offered by the brand that informed players which games on the website have consistently paid out recently and which have not. Marketing materials promoting the feature appeared in three separate television ads, a…

The second day of The Star inquiry was conducted on Tuesday, with the company’s former CEO, Matt Bekier, appearing before the NSW regulator. Bekier acknowledged that the casino failed to handle high-risk situations and follow regulations on several occasions. The words that Bekier used to describe The Star were “secretive and not transparent”. He noted that the reason for The Star not being forthright in their interactions with the NSW regulator was the lack of trust the executives of the two organisations had in each other. Bekier Admits to Approving…