News

In an announcement published on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) website, SkyCity disclosed the decision of the Australian Court of Appeal regarding the company’s casino duty dispute with the Treasurer of South Australia. The dispute in question concerned each party’s interpretation of a 1999 casino duty agreement, as the Treasurer of South Australia has argued that loyalty points clients earn and utilise during gameplay should be included in the SkyCity Adelaide casino’s gaming revenue and thus affect the casino duty SkyCity is mandated to pay, while SkyCity has argued otherwise.…

Member of Parliament Scott Benton has lost his appeal against a proposed 35-day suspension. The said suspension is related to accusations of him being willing to partake in illicit lobbying on behalf of the gambling industry. The Blackpool South MP was caught in the act by undercover journalists at The Times last spring who pretended to be gambling investors and arranged a meeting with Mr Benton. Although Mr Benton declined an “expert adviser” position offered by the supposed investors, he did make a series of offers during the meeting. Namely,…

Dr Jamie Ferrill, Discipline Lead of Financial Crime Studies and Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, spoke with The Guardian’s Henry Belot on the potential impact an ongoing investigation into money laundering by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) will have on Australia’s gambling industry. As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the said inquiry was launched in November 2022, and it concerns major operators like bet365 and Sportsbet. Should the findings of this probe reveal that anti-money laundering (AML) laws have indeed been breached, the watchdog would not…

The New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) has launched its second investigation into The Star Sydney, and as was the case with the first inquiry in 2022, Adam Bell SC will be in charge of the investigation. In light of the inquiry, the Star Group announced on Monday that the trading of The Star Entertainment Group Limited shares has been put into a temporary halt. As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the first investigation resulted in the issuing of the Bell Report, which outlined a number of breaches by…

In an interview with ABC Net, Luke Mead, founder of Zero Gamble App, Regional Coordinator at Being Mentors, and part of this year’s ABC Trailblazers Programme, spoke about how gambling and gambling ads affect young Australians. Exposed for the first time to gambling as early as Year 11, Luke watched his classmates wager on sports via their mobile phones while attending classes. They all used various means to access the sportsbooks – some resorting to fake identification, and others logging in through relatives’ accounts. The young man shared that watching…

GambleAware, the United Kingdom’s eminent independent charity, committed to gambling harm treatment, education, prevention, and intervention, has introduced a new Regulatory Settlement Funded Research Programme. It aims to fund a research project introducing a new framework for gambling-associated harm in the country. As GambleAware’s introduction to the programme states, the organization aims to commission the establishment of a new framework appropriate for a “holistic assessment of gambling harms and changes in harms over time”. It needs to perform adequately in a diverse selection of communities and environments. The project should…

GamCare, the UK’s leading provider of support for gambling-related issues, was excited to disclose the appointment of Mark Weiss as the organisation’s new Deputy CEO. He will assume his new position in the field of responsible gambling against the backdrop of a dynamically changing industry. As GamCare noted in its press release, the charity will benefit from his decade-long expertise in health policy and communications. Apart from serving as the new Deputy CEO, Mark Weiss will preserve his position as Director of Communications and External Affairs, a role he has…

Sunbury United Sporting Club, based in Langama Park, Sunbury, Victoria, announced it would cut down on its Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) license capacity. Although somewhat uncommon, this move aligns perfectly with the continuing attempts of the Hume City Council to abate gambling harm in the community. From the current total of 50 EGMs, the sporting club will reduce them to 40 via an application to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC). The media release by Hume City Council has identified the club’s decision to do so as “a…

A recent study, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), evidenced the pressing demand for stricter regulations about influencer-promoted gambling advertisements. As the study suggests, children, specifically preteens, can be misled into thinking that gambling is something “cool” when they see it being advertised by people they admire. Researchers from three Australian universities – Deakin University, the University of Wollongong, and Curtin University, joined forces to study the attitude of minors to gambling. According to the researchers, more rigorous restrictions are necessary to minimize the potential harm of gambling over…

The Leadership Team of the independent charity GamCare is planning to review the structure of its Safer Gambling Standard. The said standard outlines a series of factors that are taken into consideration when determining whether a gambling business is sufficient in protecting clients from gambling harm. Should the Board’s plan be implemented, it will result in the Safer Gambling Standard being structured in a way that will allow it to operate “outside of GamCare.” According to the announcement, the said decision was made in the last month of 2023. In…