Latest news with #GamblingCommission
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Jersey Opera House's interim chair steps down
Jersey Opera House's interim chairperson has stepped down two months after taking on the venue said "growing pressure" from Cyril Whelan's other commitments meant he had decided to dedicate more time to those Whelan - who is a coroner, Employment and Discrimination Tribunal judge and the Gambling Commission chair - became interim chair of the St Helier venue in April after Dave Chalk stepped down from the Grade II listed building reopened after five years in May following a major £13m refurbishment scheme. A spokesperson for the venue said Mr Whelan was "born in the shadow" of the building and had been associated with the Opera House for 13 added Mr Whelan's efforts had helped secure £12.5m of public money for the renovation work."We thank him for his dedicated service to the Opera House - his efforts have contributed to the building celebrating its 125th birthday in grand style and have secured its future," the spokesperson Opera House said a "diverse artistic programme" was in place for the autumn season.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Richard Desmond scores victory in battle over National Lottery legal costs
Richard Desmond has secured a victory in his National Lottery legal battle after a High Court judge rejected a demand for him to stump up £15m to cover costs. The Gambling Commission last month attempted to force Mr Desmond to pay a bond to cover its legal costs should his claim against the regulator fail. The Commission demanded that the media mogul either paid the sum into the High Court's bank account or put up his property interests as collateral. But in a ruling on Monday, Mrs Justice Smith dismissed the claims. Legal costs will now be determined at a pre-trial review listed for next month. The judgment marks a victory for Mr Desmond in an increasingly bitter row with the Gambling Commission over the National Lottery. The 73-year-old is suing the regulator over its failure to award him the fourth National Lottery licence. The 10-year contract was instead handed to Allwyn, which is owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komarek. Mr Desmond claims the bidding process was unfair and is seeking £1.3bn in damages. Allwyn is an interested party in the dispute. The Gambling Commission's failed claim, known formally as a 'security for costs order', would have required Mr Desmond to provide financial security to cover its legal costs. These orders are sought when there are concerns the claimant may not be able to afford the legal bill. Lawyers for Allwyn have said Mr Desmond, the former owner of the Daily Express, Channel 5 and adult magazines, would face legal costs of at least £55m if he loses. The latest accounts for Mr Desmond's holding company Northern & Shell show it had cash of £20.8m in 2023. However, sources close to Northern & Shell have refuted claims it could not afford the costs and insisted it has more than £300m of 'realisable assets'. Should Mr Desmond's lawsuit be successful, the taxpayer will likely be forced to foot the bill. Ministers have previously said the dispute would either be settled with Treasury funds or from the money the National Lottery sets aside for good causes. The Commission offered £10m of taxpayers' money to settle the case late last year but Mr Desmond rejected the proposal and will pursue a showdown in the High Court this autumn. The mogul has also filed a separate £70m claim against the Gambling Commission, which argues that funds handed to previous National Lottery operator Camelot constitute a 'subsidy' and should be recovered from Allwyn, which took over Camelot. Tech troubles The legal tussles are piling pressure on the Gambling Commission amid broader concerns about Allwyn's performance overseeing the new licence. The company is still struggling to carry out a complex IT upgrade that was supposed to be in place when it took over the licence in February last year. It is now preparing to carry out the update during a 36-hour shutdown of National Lottery terminals later this summer. Allwyn has said the tech upgrade is crucial to its ambitious pledge to increase charitable donations from £17.9bn to £38bn over the course of the 10-year licence. Bosses have since watered down this promise, sparking concerns the company will fall short in its returns to good causes. The Gambling Commission has ramped up its scrutiny of Allwyn, prompting claims of 'micro-management' by the regulator as The Telegraph reported over the weekend. An Allwyn spokesman said: 'The clear evidence before the court was that the litigants are not able to pay legal costs should they lose. 'We would like to see a public and unequivocal confirmation that representations made by the litigants to the court confirming the readiness of the wider Northern & Shell group to pay those costs will be honoured and there can be no possibility that good causes are harmed by their failure to pay.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Gambling centres 'failing to protect' addicts on self-exclusion
Schemes to stop problem gamblers using slot machines offering the hope of quick cash are often not being properly enforced, a BBC investigation has one out of 14 Adult Gaming Centres (AGC) in Portsmouth visited by an undercover reporter who had registered with a self-exclusion scheme declined him have said "loopholes" and a lack of staff training mean people signed up to the schemes are being allowed to build up further Gambling Commission has launched its own investigation, describing the BBC findings as "very concerning". There are nearly 1,500 adult-only gaming centres in Britain, with some open for 24 hours every machines see players spending up to £2 a spin, which lasts just two and a half seconds. Games like Luck of the Irish and Rainbow Riches are fast and noisy with payouts of up to £ critics say they are targeting the poorest people in the UK, encouraging problem gambling, and leaving the most vulnerable in danger of losing try to get control of their gambling addictions, people can apply to join a self-exclusion scheme at an AGC venue where you complete an application form and have your photo are then shared with other AGCs within a 1km radius - or can be extended further afield by calling a the person tries to enter any of these premises within the zone, they should then be asked to are two exclusion schemes - one called SmartEXCLUSION and another run by the AGC trade body, the British Amusement Catering Trades Association (Bacta). As part of a File on 4 investigation, BBC undercover reporter Greg Clark obtained a Bacta exclusion and extended it to a 40km radius of Portsmouth, a city with one of the highest numbers of AGCs in the entered premises in London Road, aiming to play on slot machines for a minimum of 20 minutes, and ensuring he was in full view of the visited three venues in one morning - none turned him away.A fourth, Game Nation, checked his ID and discovered he had self-excluded. He was asked to to the Gambling Commission, details of anyone who has tried to breach their self-exclusion should immediately be shared with other nearby venues - putting them on high when the reporter went to another AGC on London Road, he was welcomed BBC has since learned that two of the premises visited in Portsmouth were not signed up to a self-exclusion scheme at all. If a venue is not part of a scheme, it is in breach of its license. The BBC understands that both of those venues two are now working with a self-exclusion average, each high-stakes machine in the UK pulls in about £32,000 each year - almost as much as the average Matt Gaskell, a consultant psychologist and head of the NHS Northern Gambling Service, said: "The data is there, it's very clear."So it is targeting the most vulnerable people in our communities who could least withstand the harm as it ensues and perhaps might look to the hope of winning on gambling because of their personal circumstances in socially stressed communities." For those struggling with long-term gambling addictions, including Tracy Page, 51, from Droitwich in Worcestershire, the self-exclusion schemes "don't work".She started gambling at bingo with friends and family, but when she went through a tough time in her personal life, her gambling became more frequent and came to a head when she began visiting AGCs."I didn't feel like an addict. I just thought that was just my thing," she said. "And then you start to realise 'I'm not just going once a week, I'm going two, three, four times a week'. "Then you're getting to the point where you can't pay your bills."It fails, there are too many gaps, too many loopholes and I don't believe staff have got the knowledge or the training to be able to say you need to step away." Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for gambling reform, said a lack of enforcement meant AGC companies "don't really care".He said local authorities and the Gambling Commission should have greater powers to intervene if abuses were happening."Most of all we do need to see inspections of those properties," he said."They're not onerous, for just checking that what they're actually doing is what they're meant to do, and they're not doing stuff which is marginally illegal."Tim Miller, executive director of industry regulator the Gambling Commission, said: "I'm really concerned at what you found on the face of it. "It points to self-exclusion schemes not being implemented properly at that local level. "Where we see evidence that gambling companies are not meeting their regulatory expectations will take really robust action against them.'You should be monitoring what's going on in your premises. So if you spot someone that matches one of those photos, you should step in."Not just stopping them from gambling, but providing them with referral to appropriate support as well. "The onus is absolutely on the gambling company and the people within it to spot that individual."He added that local authorities that licenced premises in their areas were funded through the licence fees to inspect gambling businesses to ensure they were compliant. The Department of Culture Media and Sport said: "Adult gaming centres and bingo venues make valuable contributions to the local economy of towns and cities across the country, but it is vitally important that the sector protects vulnerable people."Where operators fail to uphold effective self exclusion schemes, regulatory action will be taken by the Gambling Commission. "We continue to work with the land-based gambling sector to mitigate the risks of harmful gambling and will be seeking further assurances from the adult gaming sector to ensure high standards of regulatory compliance." File on 4 Investigates Adult Gaming Centres will be on Radio 4 at 20:00 BST on you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, BBC Actionline has help and advice on addiction and gambling. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Adult gaming centres failing to help problem gamblers self-exclude
Flaws in a scheme meant to help gamblers bar themselves from 24-hour slot machine shops have been described by the industry regulator as 'very concerning', following revelations in a BBC documentary. The Guardian has previously revealed how gambling operators are exploiting favourable planning and licensing laws to flood UK high streets with 'adult gaming centres' (AGCs), which are disproportionately concentrated in the poorest areas. The shops must offer self-exclusion schemes to customers who fear they have a problem with slot machines, which are consistently linked with higher rates of addiction than products such as sports betting. But a documentary by BBC File on 4 Investigates, due to be broadcast on Tuesday evening, found that in one UK city 13 out of 14 venues failed to implement the scheme properly. An undercover reporter for the programme signed up to exclude himself from all AGCs within a 40km radius of Game Nation, a slot machine venue in Portsmouth. He was prevented from entering the Game Nation branch soon after, indicating that the company's self-exclusion scheme worked. That attempt to breach the self-exclusion should have triggered a warning to all staff in 'neighbouring' venues, including those owned by other companies, according to Gambling Commission guidance. But despite the initial self-exclusion – followed by the subsequent attempt to breach it – the reporter was able to walk into 13 other venues and use the slot machines, including a branch of Merkur Slots just 100 metres away. Staff at the branch of Merkur, the UK's second-largest AGC operator after the Austrian-owned Admiral, offered to help him play the machines and bring him snacks. Merkur, owned by the German gaming company Gauselmann, was fined almost £100,000 this year after the Guardian revealed that staff allegedly exploited a terminally ill cancer patient, who has since died. A spokesperson for the Gambling Commission said: 'We take protecting consumers extremely seriously.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The regulator said the findings of the documentary were 'very concerning and we will be taking urgent steps to investigate what has happened'. It added: 'Alongside our work, local authorities licence premises in their local areas and are funded, through the licence fee they charge, to inspect gambling business in their area to ensure those businesses are compliant.' Merkur said: 'As a business we work within the confines of the industry self-exclusion scheme and always follow best endeavours to support customers who have voluntarily or otherwise decided to enter into the industries [sic] self-exclusion schemes.'
Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Times
Campaigner says watchdog lets gambling groups act ‘with impunity'
The daughter of a gambling addict who lost thousands of pounds while battling cancer says the regulator is letting betting companies 'behave with impunity'. The number of inspections carried out by the Gambling Commission has fallen by 98 per cent in ten years. Last year it carried out 19 compliance assessments compared with 1,149 in 2015-16, according to data obtained under freedom of information laws. The regulator said it was using 'a more targeted model of assessing licensees' and making 'greater use of technology'. It also claimed too many councils were failing to use licence fees from gambling premises to fund inspections, as required by the rules. Most assessments last year were as a result of 'improvement notices' handed to gambling companies when serious failings had already been identified. This contrasts with the situation ten years ago when hundreds of full and targeted assessments were carried out. Will Prochaska, a campaigner for gambling reform, claimed he had observed rule-breaking on gambling premises that could be picked up if regulators made in-person visits. 'I've visited multiple adult gaming centres in the past year and the rules are consistently being bent or broken,' he said. 'If the Gambling Commission bothered to check, they would find the same things.' Among alleged breaches he claims to have observed were bingo premises that offer 'just addictive machine gambling' and gaming stores with 'stacks of unplayable iPads left at the back of shops to get round machine ratio rules' designed to protect customers. Jackie Olden, whose late mother became addicted to slot machines and lost thousands while undergoing cancer treatment, said: 'It takes a lifetime for an inspection to happen. Meanwhile, the operators can behave with impunity.' The Gambling Commission said: 'Since 2014-15 we have reviewed and improved the way we conduct compliance assessments. We now make greater use of technology and have adapted to new practices and a significant shift in the sector towards online gambling.' A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council, the standards body for the regulated UK industry, said more than 30 per cent of betting shops had closed since 2019 as a result of 'regulatory, tax and economic pressures'.
