News

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) published its latest report on gambling participation and perceptions for 2017, unveiling the latest trends among local gambling customers. The newly-published report brings more light on customer participation rates, attitudes towards gambling services, online gambling behaviour, problem gambling behaviour and customer awareness of gambling management tools. The Programme Director of the UK gambling regulatory body, Ben Haden, commented on the recently reported results, saying that the new 3-year strategy of the UKGC set out the Commission’s role in improving the understanding of the impact that…

According to recent reports, the number of problem gamblers in the UK is constantly rising. Controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) have been blamed as the main reason for that, with some regions in the country being considerably more affected than others. According to recent research conducted by the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (BACTA), Glasgow is the UK city with the largest number of FOBTS gambling addicts. The Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), however, does not believe that FOBTs should be held responsible for the spreading problem gambling among local…

After officially proposing the implementation of a ¥2,000 casino entrance fee, the Japanese Government has started to consider a possible increase of of this admission fee. As Casino Guardian has previously reported, the so-called Integrated Resorts Casinos are considered some of the major attractions that could boost the number of visitors of the country, amid emerging concerns of spreading problem gambling. The new move of the Government comes after the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – Komeito – disagreed with the originally planned amount of the…

The Irish sportsman Alan Kerins has welcomed the ban that the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is to impose on betting sponsorship, but still warned that further measures have to be taken in terms of gambling-related harm and problem gambling. Kerins stated his support for the decision of the GAA and said that the ban is a large step forward not only as long as it comes to player protection, but also for the entire GAA community. A couple of days ago, at its annual congress, the GAA voted to ban…

The former manager of England’s national football team, Sven-Goran Eriksson, said that he was unaware that his players were involved in the gambling schemes described by Kieron Dyer. Less than a fortnight ago, the ex midfielder revealed that some of the top football players in the English national football team were facing major problem gambling issues. According to Dyer’s autobiography, gambling has always been a serious problem among English footballers but it was “completely out of control” at the time of Euro 2004 in Portugal. The former midfielder claims that…

The Irish Republican Party, Fianna Fáil, has blamed the Government for delaying the new gambling legislation of the country on purpose. According to the Irish Republicans, the Government has prepared its own gambling legislation, which was based on the Fine Gael bill that has long been delayed. Yesterday, three members of Fianna Fáil – Jack Chambers, Jim O’Callaghan and Anne Rabbitte – claimed that the local Government has failed gambling addicts, as it has not done much for the progress of the 2013 Gambling Control Bill. According to the Irish…

Yesterday, the Government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented the lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party, which is currently the country’s ruling party, with a plan to set an increased casino entrance fee to local residents. The major topics which were discussed at the Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers’ meeting also included rules on levy payments that have proposed to be imposed on casino operators to the country. Prime Minister Abe’s Government is also focused on setting the number of places where casinos would be allowed to be constructed. Under…

Yesterday, the considered amendment in the Dunedin City Council policy regarding a slow but progressive reduction in the amount of gambling sites across the city finally saw a hearing on the matter take place. At the time of the hearing, pleas to focus on community harm and warnings of funding cuts for community sports emerged. As previously reported by Casino Guardian, some changes have been proposed to the council in terms of its gambling and TAB venue policy. In case that a change is eventually added to the Dunedin City…

US-based banking group Morgan Stanley commented on the current situation with the Japanese Integrated Resorts Casinos (IRCs), saying that foreign gaming operators could avoid making too large investments in future IRCs provided the fact that the Japanese Government is considering further restrictions on the resorts. As Casino Guardian reported earlier, the Government has been planning to introduce further restrictions to IRCs in the country’s Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill. As it was already revealed, no final decision has been made, but still, Morgan Stanley cited Bloomberg as saying that the Government’s…

The Japanese Government has been planning to make gambling companies that file applications for integrated resorts casino operating licenses pay for the background checks’ expenses. The above-mentioned background checks are set to be carried out by a casino management commission. The latter is expected to be created within the Cabinet Office, with the National Police Agency and other competent authorities’ officials to become part of the structure. As reported by The Yomiuri Shimbun, implementing such a high-barrier measure would help the Government to sort out businesses which are not enough…