The UK Gambling Commission has today published on its website the findings of its investigation into Playtech subsidiary company, Isle of Man-based PT Entertainment Services Limited (“PTES”) that, until the surrender of its operating licence during the course of that investigation, traded as winner.co.uk and titanbet.co.uk. Notwithstanding surrender of the licence, the Commission decided that […]

The Government has announced that betting shops and arcades (together with other “non-essential” retail outlets) are expected to be able to reopen from 15 June 2020 if the Government’s “five tests”  to ease the current coronavirus lockdown are met and the operators of such businesses follow the COVID-19 secure guidelines. The five tests are: Making […]

The Advertising Standards Authority has today published a report entitled “Children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads: 2019 update” in which one of its findings is that children’s exposure to TV advertisements for gambling products or services has fallen to similar levels as those seen in 2008. However, it also finds that children’s overall exposure to […]

Hospitality businesses having been told they could reopen as early as 4 July 2020 if they are able to do so safely (as previously reported by us here), UKHospitality has today (20 May 2020) launched its #FAIR4Hospitality campaign with the following announcement: UKH calls on Government to be #FAIR4Hospitality and support the sector’s roadmap to […]

Fears are often expressed by online gambling operators in reputable jurisdictions worldwide that the greater the gambling regulatory crackdown, the greater the risk that consumer will seek out the services of unlicensed online gambling operators. It is interesting therefore to read the following report published today (19 May 2020) on the UK Gambling Commission’s website: […]

GambleAware has published a Treatment Needs and Gap Analysis report that sets out the findings of research commissioned to examine gambling treatment and support services in Great Britain. Principal aspects of the report are: One in two problem gamblers (PGSI score of 8+) in Great Britain have not accessed any treatment or support, while 17% […]

The UK Gambling Commission has issued a reminder to all of its licensed operators entitled “Reminder to all licensed operators: impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and heightened money laundering and terrorist financing risks” This reminder should not be ignored because otherwise a breach of Licence condition 12.1.1 is likely to arise. That licence condition (set […]

The Betting and Gaming Council has today (15 May 2020) announced the launch of the independent gambling education initiative to which reference was made in its November 2019 five safe gambling commitments, as previously reported by us here. The first of those commitments was to “prevent underage gambling and protect young people”, in relation to which […]

The Gambling Commission has today published additional formal customer interaction guidance for remote operators during the COVID-19 outbreak, including the need for affordability checks, prevention of reverse withdrawals and restrictions on bonus offers. The Commission states that: “Online operators will be expected to make changes to act on this guidance as soon as possible”, adding that […]

The UK Government has today (11 May 2020) published its COVID-19 recovery strategy entitled “Our Plan to Rebuild” that you can download below. Of most relevance to the hospitality, leisure and gambling sectors are the following passages from that part of the recovery strategy dealing with “Step 3”, that is not due to commence before 4 […]