Receiving a total of £13,209,805 in donations, the charity revealed that the two aforementioned UK operators accounted for 90.4 per cent of the total figure. The remaining 9.6 per cent came from an array of small to large operators. 

GambleAware explained that the donations have been directed towards supporting its core objectives, saying: “All funds donated to GambleAware go towards activity which is delivered against the charity’s commissioning objectives. 

“As part of our commitment to transparency and accountability, we recently published our commissioning intentions which set out our strategic commissioning approach for the National Gambling Treatment Service moving forward. 

“These commissioning intentions support the delivery of our Organisational Strategy and are based on a robust understanding of population needs and the outcomes we need to achieve, to ensure the most cost-effective and impactful use of our resources.”

Leading the way was Entain, with a prominent market share in the UK retail and online sectors, with its Ladbrokes Coral contributing £7m. 

Donations from bet365’s three operating entities – Hillside (UK Sports), Hillside (UK Gaming) and Hillside (Technology) – came in at £2.3m, £1.6m and £907,000, for a total of £4.9m.

Additional firms to have contributed notable sums of money to GambleAware, between April and December 2022, were BetVictor, totalling £106,313, and Betfred with £50,000.

LiveScore Betting and Gaming donated £37,761 and In Touch Games contributed £42,300.

Flutter Entertainment and 888’s William Hill, were absent from the Q3 list, but have made substantial contributions in the past, weighing in with £17.4m and £4.5m in the FY2021/22 report.

So far, GambleAware has noted that the total industry contribution has been rising since 2020, attributed by the group to the commitment by the Betting and Gaming Council’s largest members to increase their voluntary donations from 0.1 per cent to one per cent of total revenue.

However, with RET funding under the spotlight within the Gambling Act review debate, the charity has faced some hurdles – notably, the NHS made the decision to cut its funding for the organisation in early 2021.

As it stands, the largest firms donate the aforementioned one per cent to GambleAware, whilst smaller firms with revenue under £250,000 are asked to contribute £250 at a minimum.

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Reported by The Times, a former high-staking customer at the group, named Simon Rose, has begun a High Court action, accusing the Entain subsidiary of allegedly failing to stop his problem gambling. 

Rose stated in the publication that Ladbrokes allowed him to lose £231,000 over seven months on bets totalling an alleged £1.8m. 

Furthermore, the article detailed that Rose bet an average of £18,000 on the days he gambled, despite earning £3,000 and given a daily deposit limit of £20,000. 

Placing his bets in the UK and United Arab Emirates, Rose has accused Ladbrokes of allegedly “breaching its licence” by “failing to carry out effective” checks of his source of fund or monitoring his level of betting between 2015 and May 2016. 

Ladbrokes has denied violating any licence conditions, while Entain has stressed that the incidents in question occurred over two years prior to its acquisition of the Ladbrokes Coral group in 2017. 

Cited from The Times, a spokesperson for Ladbrokes stated that it was unable to comment on an active court case but expressed: “We would note that the claims in question took place two years before we acquired Ladbrokes.”

Rose also claimed that the brand in question “made no checks” regarding his money origins until he had “built up losses of more than £100,000. 

Following a discussion with representatives, Rose set a deposit limit of £1,000 a week on his account yet claimed he was allowed to increase it to £20,000 in April 2016. The following month, Rose said he permanently excluded himself from betting with the firm. 

As aforementioned, the accusation against the Entain subsidiary follows on from last month’s £17m penalty from the UKGC. However, the operator, in accepting the enforcement action, noted that the regulator “found no evidence whatsoever of criminal spend within Entain’s operations”. 

The UKGC confirmed that the gambling group’s online business paid £14m and its retail business account for the remaining £3m. Furthermore, a threat of licence revocation for “further serious breaches” was also issued. 

Responding to the UKGC action last month, Entain stated that it “accepts that certain legacy systems and processes” supporting its operation during 2019 and 2020 sell short of adhering to social responsibility and anti-money laundering safeguards.

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Totalling around £34.7m, excluding regulatory settlements, the voluntary donations from the gambling industry, Betfair also contributed £6m, Ladbrokes Coral offering £4.765m, William Hill donated £4,578,812 and Entain providing £4m.

Received between April 2, 2021 to March 31, 2022, GambleAware currently asks all those who profit from gambling in Britain to donate a minimum of 0.1 per cent of their annual gross gambling yield direct to the charity each year. 

“These donations fund essential services for the prevention of gambling harms, helping build a coalition of expertise to tackle and prevent gambling harms across Great Britain,” said Zoë Osmund, GambleAware CEO.

“We welcome the commitment from the ‘Big Four’ operators to increase their donations over the coming years, however, there remains an inconsistent approach to funding across the wider gambling industry, which leads to uncertainty and instability.

“That’s why we are calling on the government to introduce a mandatory levy on the gambling industry as a condition of licence.”

In the latest update, other significant contributors included Stars Interactive (£680,000), Tombola (£663,599) and Hillside (UK Sports) with £2.69m, in addition to the £601,000 from its UK Gaming subsidiary.

Within the gaming sector, Playtech was one of the noticeable contributors with £101,768.46, followed by Platinum Gaming with £92,000. Others included; Broadway Gaming (£72,796), InTouch Games (£56,400), Greentube (£55,000), Red Tiger (£51,000), Videoslots (£50,000), Zecure Gaming (£50,000), White Hat Gaming (£47,230), 32Red (£28,000) and Gamesys (£22,989.47).

Osmund continued: “The gambling industry should take the necessary and responsible steps by matching its success to the scale of gambling harms risk, especially at a time of rising financial and economic hardship across the country. 

“This would commit much more funding to treatment, prevention, and research per year – and could be delivered in a matter of months.”

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Joined from Push Gaming, where she held the role of chief commercial officer, Longmuir will utilise over 15 years of industry experience, working for companies such as Sky Betting & Gaming, Betfair, Ladbrokes Coral and Gaming Realms, to aid AvatarUX in accelerating its product strategy.

“I truly love the dynamic and fast-paced nature of the igaming industry and AvatarUX is a perfect representation of what makes it so great,” explained Nicola Longmuir, CEO of AvatarUX.

“Its quality product offering and innovative PopWins mechanic coupled with a very talented team was something I wanted to be a part of, so I’m excited about this opportunity.

“I look forward to building on AvatarUX’s exceptional reputation and success and to continue to disrupt the industry further.”

The company is set to further strengthen its team in 2022 as it hopes to “substantially boost” its product portfolio as well as its distribution across numerous global markets.

Marcus Honney, managing director at AvatarUX, added: “We are thrilled to have Nicola join us at AvatarUX to drive our product growth and strategy to the next level, which we are more than ready for.

“Nicola has extensive knowledge of the gaming industry and has played a crucial part in the achievements of the companies she has worked for in the past and will be an extremely valuable addition to our senior team. We would like to wish her a very warm welcome to AvatarUX.”

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79

The Kansspelautoriteit has provided a further update regarding the pending legalisation of online gambling, after revealing that 79 parties have submitted an interest in obtaining a relevant licence.

The Dutch gaming authority started taking registrations from interested parties earlier this month, with organisations having until Friday 21 June to indicate that they are potentially interested in securing a permit through the Ksa website.

Currently setting up the licensing process in the context of the remote gambling act, the moves being undertaken by the regulator follows the Netherlands Senate passing the law in February of this year.

Set to make online gambling legal under a number of strict conditions, the Ministry of Justice and Security is currently elaborating the law, which when complete will allow the Ksa to draw up definitive permit conditions.

6 

Bacta has unveiled its new campaign, which sees the trade association for the UK’s amusement and gaming machine industry set out to re-energise Britain’s seaside towns via six strategic priorities.

Titled ‘Sliding with the Seaside,’ the initiative is setting out to breathe new life in coastal communities throughout Britain, which it stresses have “faced increasingly challenging economic conditions” in recent years.

Emphasising the vital role tourism plays on the regions, Batca believes government policies must allow for tourism to thrive, preserve traditional seaside landscapes and provide investment and infrastructures for local businesses to encourage more visitors.

The association is urging the government to prioritise the renewal of seaside towns via “desperately needed” attention, emphasising six key areas of prioritising the regeneration of seaside towns, introducing land-based development programmes, investment in transport and connectivity and addressing car park charges.

Furthermore, Batca states a reduction in tax burdens for amusements should be relaxed to preserve historical and traditional landscapes, and has called approval to be given to the Tourism Sector Deal, that was presented to government in November 2018.

385

Vici Properties and Century Casinos have entered into a combined $385m deal to purchase three properties from casino entertainment firm Eldorado Resorts.

The definitive agreement relates to the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Lady Luck Casino Caruthersville in Caruthersville, Missouri and Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in New Cumberland, West Virginia.

The deal is to see Vici acquire the land and real estate assets of the properties for approximately $278m, with Century acquiring the operating assets for approximately $107m.

Simultaneous with the closing of this transaction, Vici will enter into a triple-net master lease agreement with Century related to the assets with an initial annual rent of $25m for 15 years, and containing four 5-year renewal options.

100

As reported in a letter sent to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as seen by the BBC, a number of the industry’s largest stakeholders are said to have voluntarily pledged an additional £100m in levy contributions in the latest move to combat problem gambling.

Reported by the BBC, key figures from William Hill, Ladbrokes Coral, Paddy Power Betfair, Skybet and Bet365 have all allegedly committed to raise the voluntary levy on gambling profits from 0.1 per cent up to one per cent over the next five years.

The move is expected to raise upwards of £100m which will be distributed towards gambling charities and problem gambling initiatives across the UK.

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9

Crown Resorts has issued a lengthy notice on behalf of its board of directors slamming media allegations, as the organisation takes out full length newspaper advertisements in its home country.

Fresh off the back of a Nine Network campaign that alleged links to drug traffickers through junket operators, as well as the fast tracking of visas for Chinese gamblers, the board of the Australian firm has issued a letter titled “setting the record straight in the face of a deceitful campaign against Crown”.

Christian Porter, attorney-general of Australia, referred the allegations to the country’s integrity watchdog this week, with the organisation divulging concern “for our staff, shareholders and other stakeholders, as much of this unbalanced and sensationalised reporting is based on unsubstantiated allegations, exaggerations, unsupported connections and outright falsehoods”.

Eleven signatories signed off the correspondence, amongst which are John Alexander Crown executive chairman, former finance department head Jane Halton, Helen Coonan, former communications minister and Geoff Dixon, the ex-chief executive of Qantas Airways.

5.9

The Gambling Commission has found ‘systemic failings’ at the Ladbrokes Coral Group, leading to the imposition of a penalty package consisting of a £5.9m payment and a series of improvement measures that must be implemented by new owner GVC.

The regulator has also revealed that more sanctions may be coming down the line as further investigations into the actions of personal management licence holders continue.

An investigation by the Gambling Commission found that between November 2014 and October 2017 Ladbrokes and Coral failed to put in place effective safeguards to prevent consumers suffering gambling harm and against money laundering, with this failing continuing after their merger as the Ladbrokes Coral Group.

55

Caesars Entertainment has lauded a “decade of positive impact” after the firm released its tenth annual corporate social responsibility report titled ‘People Planet Play’.

Hailing “many achievements in corporate social responsibility,” including a 30-year commitment to responsible gaming and employee volunteer time equivalent to in excess of $55m, the new report covers six key areas where the firm believes progress has been made throughout 2018/19.

These look into leadership in responsible business, diversity, equality and inclusion, workplace excellence, protecting the planet, inspired exceptional guest experience and company governance.

Furthermore, Caesars also address “ten years of cumulative progress” in more detail, with 2,214,685 volunteer hours recorded, equalling more than a thousand full-time workers for a year, and over $743m donated in charitable contributions.

42

GVC Holdings is to donate its football sponsorship assets across England and Scotland to GambleAware, in support of the independent charity’s ‘Bet Regret’ campaign.

In total 42 clubs are to see the removal of sponsorship assets relating to the gaming and betting group, with the news coming ahead of the Scottish Professional Football League and English Football League campaigns that get underway this weekend.

The SPFL will see the Ladbrokes logo removed across all clubs represented, including interview backdrops as well as static and LED boards, will the Bet Regret campaign logo set to be evident instead.

The move is an attempt to encourage football fans to moderate their betting behaviour, with a statement stressing it’s striving to “avoid the sinking feeling bettors often get when they make an impulsive bet, particularly when bored, chasing losses or drunk”.

A number of English clubs who have GVC companies as commercial partners are to also replace gambling promotion with Bet Regret messaging, including Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.

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Making its full portfolio of slots available, and strengthening its relationship with GVC in the process, it builds upon a busy period for the casino content developer which has entered a number of partnerships in recent weeks.

GVC customers have already had access to Pragmatic Play’s suite of titles through the bwin, PartyCasino and PartyPoker brands.

Yossi Barzely, chief business development officer at Pragmatic Play, commented: “We are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Ladbrokes Coral, one of the world’s most respected and recognisable gaming brands.

“We have worked hard to establish our portfolio as one of the most engaging collections of products in the industry, and this deal is a major step in the right direction.”

Lauded as a “landmark agreement,” the deal will give Ladbrokes Coral customers access to video slots including John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure, Da Vinci’s Treasure and Wolf Gold.

Adam Goodall, commercial manager at Ladbrokes Coral, added: “We are always looking for opportunities to grow our online casino offering with top quality content, and Pragmatic Play’s games will be a valuable addition and enable us to keep delivering the best content to our players.

“We look forward to capitalising on the opportunities this new partnership holds.”

Earlier this month GVC upgraded profit guidance for 2019 for the second time, after making “very good progress in the first half of the year”.

Seeing trends ahead of original expectations during the first three months post the implementation of the £2 FOBT stake restriction, GVC also reports that Roar Digital, its joint venture with MGM Resorts International in the US, is on course for full online launch in New Jersey ahead of the NFL season.

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The regulator has also revealed that more sanctions may be coming down the line as further investigations into the actions of personal management licence holders continue.

An investigation by the Gambling Commission found that between November 2014 and October 2017 Ladbrokes and Coral failed to put in place effective safeguards to prevent consumers suffering gambling harm and against money laundering, with this failing continuing after their merger as the Ladbrokes Coral Group.

As a result the following occurred:

• Ladbrokes did not carry out any social responsibility interactions with a customer who lost £98,000 over two-and-a-half years, had 460 attempted deposits into their account declined, and even asked the operator to stop sending promotions.
• Despite one customer spending £1.5m over two-years 10 months, Coral did not ask the customer to evidence their source of funds and could not provide evidence of any social responsibility interactions being carried out. During their time with the operator, the customer displayed signs of problem gambling including logging into their account an average of 10 times a day for a month and losing £64,000 in one month alone.
• Ladbrokes could not provide any evidence of carrying out social responsibility interactions with a customer who deposited over £140,000 in the first four months of their account being open.
• Ladbrokes, having identified concerns with a customer, then allowed further significant gambling without taking additional steps to verify the source of funds or consider if the customer could afford to spend and lose that amount of money.

Richard Watson, Commission Executive Director, said: “Decision makers at gambling businesses need to invest in the welfare of their customers and the integrity of money being gambled with.

“These were systemic failings at a large operator which resulted in consumers being harmed and stolen money flowing though the business and this is unacceptable.”

As part of this settlement the Ladbrokes Coral Group’s new owners GVC will pay £4.8m in lieu of a financial penalty and will divest £1.1m gained from customers as a result of its failings. GVC will also review the top 50 customers for the years 2015-2017 to consider whether any further failings can be identified, and if so they will divest themselves of profit accordingly.

GVC has committed to making a number of improvements to the business. This includes:

• Overhauling its responsible gaming and customer interaction processes including increases in resources, staff retraining and hiring a dedicated player protection expert outbound call team.
• Implementing its “Changing for the Bettor” strategy comprising of research and educational projects, funding treatment for problem gambling, creating cultural change within the business and promoting responsible attitudes within the industry.
• Engaging a UK firm of solicitors to review any new high or higher-risk customers as may be identified by the Commission or by GVC. Any recommendations arising out of these reviews will be fed back into improvements that could be made to current processes and dealing with divestment.
• The firm will undertake a review and dip-sample of an internal review completed by Ladbrokes Coral from July – October 2017 applying its new processes to all active customer accounts to evaluate whether it was robust and fit for purpose.
• The firm will dip-sample an internal review to be undertaken by GVC in 2019 of a group of customers, to evaluate the robustness of this process.
• The firm will manage and oversee a review of the current Ladbrokes Coral process and provide an independent analysis of the Licensees’ procedures to ensure they meet or exceed its regulatory obligations.
• The firm will review the top 50 customers by gross gambling yield for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 to consider whether any of the failings identified in this report are evidenced and if so, to divest the GGY accordingly.

Commenting on the penalty package Kenneth Alexander, GVC CEO, said: “Soon after the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral following meetings and ongoing enquiries by the Gambling Commission, it became clear to GVC that there had been historic compliance failures within certain areas of the operations.

“Working closely with the Gambling Commission and an independent firm of solicitors, GVC facilitated a thorough, prompt and far-reaching investigation, which has led to today’s settlement.

“These historical failings were unacceptable and since the acquisition, I have overseen a systematic review of the enlarged Group’s player protection procedures and the individuals responsible for these problems have exited the business. I am confident that, we now have in place a robust and industry leading approach to player protection.”

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Issuing its latest trading update, the firm saw a sharp 19 per cent second quarter drop take its performance for the first half of the year in the UK retail market to a ten per cent negative.

However strong online growth has been reported, as GVC continues to adapt to the new UK environment, with its gaming and sports segment boosting online NGR to increases of 16 per cent and 17 per cent in Q2 and H1, despite the latter competing against a tough period that included the Fifa World Cup.

Stressing that the organisation was able to secure material market share gains across all major territories, double-digit growth in all major regions included the UK (+19 per cent), Germany (+24 per cent), Australia (+38 per cent), Italy (+19 per cent) and Brazil (+38 per cent).

Kenneth Alexander, GVC CEO, explained: “Trading in Q2 remained very strong with the online division delivering continued material market share gains across all major territories.

“This out performance is driven by the sustainable competitive advantages of our proprietary technology platform, leading product, cutting edge marketing and leading brands, all delivered with an unrivalled understanding of the markets in which we operate. 

“The transition to a post £2 stakes-cut environment in UK retail is progressing very well, and we believe the Ladbrokes Coral estate is best-placed to take market share.”

Furthermore, GVC also commented that its Roar Digital joint venture alongside MGM Resorts International should be up and running for full launch across key states in time for September’s National Football League return.

Alexander commented: “In the US, Roar Digital, our JV with MGM Resorts, is on-track for its full online launch ahead of the NFL season in September. In the first half of the year the group was granted licences in Mississippi and Nevada, and Roar Digital received a transactional waiver to conduct business in New Jersey.”

Adding “The group expects an announcement in August from Hesse, the state leading the regulatory process for online sports-betting in Germany, detailing the requirements that will govern the new sports-betting licences.

“The strong trading performance of the group means that any potential costs in 2019 associated with the new sports licences are expected to be fully mitigated. The board therefore remains confident of delivering EBITDA and operating profit in-line with expectations for the full year.”

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The Arizona-based firm, which has also become the latest to align itself with the upcoming CasinoBeats Summit as a premium sponsor, is very much going against the grain by seeking to expand beyond its US base, as numerous entities chase the American gold rush.

Troy Zurawski, DWG’s founder and CEO, who will be flying in from its Scottsdale headquarters to participate as a speaker, commented on the firm’s current approach: “We are new to the online real money gaming market and are currently waiting for our GBGC licence to launch our slots into this space for the first time.

“DWG has a long and successful background in land-based and social gaming, and we’re now looking to use that expertise to help RMG operators in the UK and elsewhere in the world.

Adding on it’s ongoing aspirations: “We’ve produced successful land-based titles for the likes of IGT, Novomatic, Aristocrat and Konami since we started in 2005. But we also operate four social casinos that are highly popular. 

“Our content has already been validated by millions of users as a result. As we produce a lot of content – over 100 titles last year – we are in a position to offer exclusive content to operators of all sizes, including many that might not get that opportunity from other suppliers because of their size. 

“As we produce a lot of content … we are in a position to offer exclusive content”

“We’re also looking forward to introducing our marketing tools to RMG, such as our wheel spin bonus, piggy bank and prize drop mini games. These tools deliver customisable and flexible promotions and incentives that reward play across all games on the casino – not just ours. They’re not limited to the one vertical either, being available across casino, bingo, sportsbook, etc. 

“There is always an element of uncertainty when entering a new business vertical, but we are eager to see how DWG’s slots and promotional tools are received in the RMG market.”

At the Summit, which is to bring together 1,000 delegates, 75 speakers and 30 exhibitors at Olympia London between September 17-20, Zurawski’s participation is to be on a panel entitled: ‘Player focused game design – Leading slots developers share insights into the ways studios use data to inform product design’. 

Emphasising the relevance due to DWG’s new approach Zurawski stated: “As a result of our operations in land-based and social gaming, we have an abundance of data and insight that we constantly analyse and refine so that it can be utilised to inform the development of our future products. 

“We also use our data to ensure that we turn only our most successful titles into RMG games. And we can share with our partners what games perform best in each of a number of key territories around the world, meaning our offering is tailored and focused for each operator’s requirements. This bespoke validation of the games in strongly related channels is a massive benefit that operators don’t get from most other suppliers.”

“We have an abundance of data and insight that we constantly analyse and refine”

Summit delegates will gain access to Betting on Sports, which takes place at Olympia at the same time, alongside the PaymentExpert Forum and the Digital Marketing Forum, delivered in conjunction with AffiliateINSIDER.

Representatives from some of the industry’s largest operators will also be present, including Betsson, Hard Rock, Caesars, Videoslots, Jackpotjoy, Ladbrokes Coral, LeoVegas, Lottoland, Mansion, Olympic, Paf, Pinnacle, Rank, and William Hill, with leading suppliers represented too. 

Detailing the decision to align with September’s event it was stated: “The CasinoBeats Summit brings together key industry stakeholders and will be host to a series of informative panels focused on all the hottest industry topics, so it makes sense for us to be involved. As a sponsor, we’re hoping we can introduce ourselves to a whole new audience and bring a little bit of Las Vegas to operators’ casinos.”

Before Zurawski closed by addressing what DWG will bring to the show, and what the company is most looking forward to: “We are looking forward to meeting up with as many delegates as possible, to introduce DWG to them, and explain how our products can help operators stand out in a crowded marketplace. 

“We are also excited about attending and participating in the panels to find out more about what challenges the industry is currently facing – as well as what opportunities there are for a fresh take on areas that are currently pertinent to the industry such as regulation, innovation, responsible gambling and player marketing.”

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