| the Player Protection Hub newsletter, your biweekly roundup of news, features, interviews, conversation, and new research; plus a guide to upcoming digital and real life events related to player protection and ESG in the gambling industry UK actions inspire hope and despair While the Gambling Commission’s action that has resulted in Stake leaving the UK market will delight regulated operators concerned about crypto competition, the UK government’s appointment of the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID) to administer £30m of public funds will please almost nobody.  Stake announced its withdrawal from operating white-label websites after the Gambling Commission investigated claims that Stake’s branding was found on a social video from porn star Bonnie Blue imploring “barely legal” Nottingham Trent University to have sex with her.The Commission will be congratulated for coming down hard on such irresponsible advertising and also finally tackling a crypto-first operator using a UK white-label site for the purpose of gaining a sponsorship deal with a Premier League football club (in Stake’s case, Everton). After its action on Evolution Gaming’s presence on unlicensed operators, it will be seen as another sign of the Commission getting serious about the black market. The Commission says it will write to Everton as well as two other clubs with unlicensed sponsors warning of their dangers. Swings and Roundabouts: However, the industry will be horrified by the appointment of OHID as prevention commission for £30m of RET funds, which, according to the government, could include measures such as national public health campaigns. “They will see harm prevention and gambling prevention as the same thing,” Regulus Partners’ Dan Waugh told us today. OHID has a strong relationship with anti-gambling campaigners Gambling With Lives going back several years, which has resulted in people being deterred from using GambleAware’s National Gambling Helpline, among other things.OHID has also released research advocating for: – Annual tax increases on the industry above the rate of inflation – A universal advertising ban – A ban on the sale of beer and wine in casinos, and possibly on racecourses – Plain packaging for gambling products with no colours or logos or images.Lived experience concerns: Charity organisations such as Deal Me Out have expressed their concerns about OHID discriminating against organisations due to their funding models. This is an appointment that will please nobody except the prohibitionists at Gambling With Lives. |
Geoff Banks Online Reports 