Tag Archives: regulation

David Clifton: We are entering the “Time of the Nanny State”

SBC News David Clifton: We are entering the “Time of the Nanny State”

David Clifton, director at licensing and gambling consultancy Clifton Davies, discusses an issue he recently debated at a seminar in Westminster – that the  government is not consistent when it regulates gambling and that it is also needlessly overbearing. Let me start with a statement of the obvious: the fundamental objective behind the regulation or prohibition of any human activity …

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Ministerial statement: Betting shops and gambling

SBC News Ministerial statement: Betting shops and gambling

Minister for gambling Helen Grant MP has made this statement to Parliament: “The 2005 Gambling Act was introduced by the then Government with the aim of liberalising the gambling market in Great Britain. Nearly seven years on from the Act’s implementation, the gambling industry has developed in innovative ways, with new products now marketed and made available on a greater …

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LBO staff take 1m signatures to Downing Street

SBC News LBO staff take 1m signatures to Downing Street

Betting shop staff are to present a petition signed by 1m people to Downing Street today in a bid to get the government to push back its current relentless changes to the regulation of bookmakers. Campaigns against FOBTs, so called ‘clustering’ of shops and the accusations that the industry is targeting poor areas has left the government feeling vulnerable to …

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Cameron to order review of FOBTs

UK newspaper The Guardian yesterday broke the news that Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered a review of the UK Gambling Code of Conduct. Reports suggest that the Prime Minister is keen to issue wagering restrictions and add further amendments to the Code. In a supposed leaked letter to the newspaper, the PM asks that the voluntary code introduced in …

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States’ poker focus too blinkered

SBC News States' poker focus too blinkered

SBC affiliate correspondent Marc Pedersen reports from the iGaming North America show at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. I’ve only been out at the iGaming North America conference for one day, but already I’m getting a good feel for how the market is setting itself with regards to the opening up on online gaming. While there is lots of media …

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Clive Hawkswood: Industry can’t do effective self-exclusion alone

SBC News Clive Hawkswood: Industry can't do effective self-exclusion alone

SBC News caught up with Remote Gambling Association Chief Executive Clive Hawkswood to ask him a few questions about his organisation’s new ground-breaking agreement with GamCare and Gordon Moody Association for protecting vulnerable people using self-exclusion. SBC: What has been the biggest challenge in setting up a self-exclusion system for remote operators? Clive Hawkswood: For individual remote operators, self-exclusion works …

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Money laundering changes disappoint RGA

SBC News Money laundering changes disappoint RGA

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has expressed disappointment at the new amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for a new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), which has singled out online gambling as an area for high regulation. The amendments adopted by the European Parliament today would require online gambling operators to conduct due diligence as of the establishment of the business …

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UK Gambling Commission wants to use online payment blocking

SBC News UK Gambling Commission wants to use online payment blocking

As the UK gears up for regulation and legislation of its igaming industry, major players in the digital payment and processing sector have voluntarily agreed to block future transactions to non UK- complying igaming regulations. Credit cards and online payment processors such as Visa, Switch, Mastercard and PayPal Ebay, are set to block payment attempts to igaming operators not licensed …

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Industry video explains new machine measures

SBC News Industry video explains new machine measures

The Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) has published a video in which bookmakers explain the new measures that have been introduced onto betting shop gaming machines, more commonly known as FOBTs. In a statement, the ABB commented: “Even though problem gambling levels are at record low in England, we do acknowledge that some of our customers will have problems with …

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Will new ARJEL boss stick or twist?

SBC News Will new ARJEL boss stick or twist?

Graham Wood, director of the iGaming Consultancy, looks at the task facing ARJEL’s new President. French punters may be hopeful that a change at the top of the country’s gaming authority ARJEL could mean a change of direction, but it is likely that they will be disappointed. Jean-François Vilotte, the outgoing President is likely to have left because he failed …

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