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UK Lottery and Scratch Card Age Limit to Increase

Published 28.02.2019  Author: J.D  Category: News

A tradition adopted by many across the UK is to go out and buy a Lottery ticket or Scratch card on your 16th birthday - unfortunately this could be taken away from the next generation.

The UK Sports Minister, Mims Davies, is considering raising the age limit on these forms of gambling to be on par with other gambling age restrictions across the UK. The consideration of this change started after a study found that as many as 450,000 children between the ages of 11 and 16 were gambling, with scratch cards being a large percentage.

In an interview with The House magazine, Davies said: “We need to be very clear that gambling starts at 18 … It’s not to stop people from having fun, but it’s also to protect those most vulnerable people. That’s where the government needs to step in…”

The National Lottery license is not up for renewal until the year 2023 and it’s unlikely that such a change will occur until the term expires. This joins the long list of changes coming to the UK gambling industry, following changes to online casino age verification and restricting the use of credit cards for gambling.

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Swedish Gambling Regulator Issues Warning to License Holders

Published 27.02.2019  Author: J.D  Category: News

The newly regulated gambling market in Sweden has had a rough start, with yet another warning being issued to all who hold its license – this time for casino bonuses. Regulations state that operators can only offer one bonus, which is typically issued as a first time deposit bonus to attract new players.

However in the last few days we saw the regulator issue a warning advising operators that they need to strictly follow this regulation. After finding that some of the operators, who remained nameless, were found to be offering players multiple bonuses. This infringement was raised by the public, which greatly increased the concerns of the Swedish gambling industry being untrustworthy.

It’s said that operators are unable to plead ignorance on the matter as there was a “definition in the law that states that all discounts or similar financial incentives linked to games are to be seen as a bonus. It is also clear that a licensee can only offer bonuses the first time a player plays at the licensee’s [site].”

The law defines discount offers, cashback promotions and all other financial incentives as casino bonuses and cannot be offered to player after their initial sign up. Operations Chief Patrik Gustavsson goes on to reminds license holders that any violation can result in fines and the possibility of revocation for serious offenses.

The regulated Swedish gambling market is just two months old, but this is already the second warning that has been issued to their license holders with the first being around the self-exclusion rules. As mentioned, the Swedish gambling market is fairly untrusted by the public and for the regulator to regain some trust from the public or the industry may never recover.

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UKGC Discuss Credit Card Bans & Software to Block Gambling

Published 24.02.2019  Author: J.D  Category: News

The UK Gambling Commission revealed that they have launched a consultation on the use of credit cards in online betting and gambling across the internet and they are encouraging feedback from the public and key industry members to collect views on the subject.

The commission also brought up the idea of free to the public Gambling Blocking Software, once again asking for feedback from the public before beginning the process. This is a small segment on the side of the three month long discussion following the most recent promises to enforce strict age verification checks and limiting the free-to-play gambling games.

The UKGC notice states that they are “seeking meaningful input to help determine if restrictions, potentially including an outright ban, are necessary to limit risks to consumers…”

There are also some changes coming to UK land based casinos, from April onward – the maximum stakes on Category B2 gaming machines (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals) will be dramatically reduced from £100 to £2 to further match the limitations for Category B1 & B3 machines.

Paul Hope, Executive Director of UKGC said: “We are exploring measures that could help reduce the risk of harm to consumers who use their credit cards to gamble online, and to those who play on all Category B machines. We want consumers, gambling firms and other interested parties to have their say and provide evidence that will help us make gambling safer.”

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Washington, D.C. Sports Betting to Come Sooner Than Expected

Published 21.02.2019  Author: J.D  Category: News

In the January just passed, we saw progress being made in various American states moving towards legalising Sports Betting. Washington D.C. was the top seed on the list and was set to be making the big change in the coming weeks. However at what seemed to be the last minute arose a technical foul which was set to push back the date of the legalisation.

The start of this week saw an announcement to inform the public that the technical issues have been addressed and that D.C. is ready to take on Sports Betting after a few minor changes are made.

On Tuesday the 19th of February, the D.C Council passed the legislation where their time on the subject has passed, the responsibility is now on Intralot’s Court – as the districts exclusive mobile gambling provider.

Washington, D.C. is expected to launch Sports Betting before the next NFL season, they are waiting on receiving approval from the city mayor, Muriel Bowser and Congress to finalise the last moves before the state takes the lead and legalises sports gambling before the neighboring states.

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