Issuing its response to the announcement that William Hill could be closing 700 of its betting shops which the betting shop workers union, Community, has described as ‘devastating.’ As announced yesterday, William Hill confirmed that it is taking part in a consultation with its retail counterparts over the possibility that the bookmaker could be shutting a large portion of its shops, with …
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Operators who have only donated nominal amounts to GambleAware for research, education and treatment would have been better not bothering, according to William Hill Group CEO Philp Bowcock. Speaking at World GES in Barcelona, Bowcock touched on this week’s announcement from the UK’s biggest operators to increase the amount of money they provide to GambleAware by a factor of ten, …
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Industry figureheads and wider health and education stakeholders addressed the issue of whether ‘the gambling industry is giving players enough control?’ – at the latest meeting of the Parliamentary All Party Betting and Gaming Group –APBGG – (7 May 2019). The subject matter was discussed by Sarah Hanratty, Chief Executive Officer at the Senet Group; Damon De Ionno, Managing Director …
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Warwick Bartlett and Lorien Pilling from the Global Betting & Gaming Consultancy (GBGC) have been looking at the implications of the reduction in Cat B2 gaming machine maximum stake from £100 to £2. It doesn’t make pretty reading for retail bookmakers or the sector’s associated stakeholders. From 1 April 2019 the maximum stakes on FOBTs will be drastically reduced to …
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The UK government’s independent Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) has published its assessment of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) policy enforcement on ‘FOBTs wagering and social responsibility standards’. The RPC has reviewed whether DCMS inbound UK gambling FOBTs regulatory policy (to be enforced 1 April 2019), has effectively assessed social costs/benefits, industry impacts and further macro dynamics. …
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SBC America’s Chris Murphy wonders whether the gaming industry will get on track with the latest proposals around machine play and social responsibility. We can only hope that anyone from the Category B gaming machine sector was seated when they read through the Gambling Commission’s latest missive this week, calling for evidence on said machines. The implied message is that …
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November 2018 what a month! So let’s start with some good news – This year’s Responsible Gambling Week represented the biggest ever industry-wide campaign to promote responsible gambling. Involving every major operator in the UK and Ireland and supported by the two biggest gambling charities, it was rounded off with the encouraging news that, even before its official launch, 38,000 …
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The UK government has confirmed this afternoon that it will bring forward its planned FOBTs £2 machine wagering reduction from October to April 2019. UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has announced the government’s policy U-turn on the contentious issue of FOBTs wagering which has divided government departments. The 2018 Budget announcement on 29 October, saw the UK treasury criticised for failing to …
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Regulus Partners, the strategic consultancy focused on international gambling and related industries, takes a look at some key developments for the gambling industry in its ‘Winning Post’ column. UK: Politics – Crouch bows out with “alternative facts” Last week’s resignation of Tracey Crouch as UK minister for sport (and gambling) marked a new low in the recent history of Britain’s …
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The Guardian newspaper has this morning reported that the UK government is set to delay implementing its mandatory £2 cut on FOBTs stakes until October 2019. Since the Department for Digital, Media, Culture & Sport (DCMS) confirmation that FOBTs machine wagering would be drastically reduced from £100 to £2, the UK government has faced mounting criticism for delaying its directive. Cross-party consensus …
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