Latest news with #selfexclusion
BBC News
4 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
4 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.'
ABC News
16-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
PointsBet fined $500,000 after spamming customers with gambling ads
An online gambling provider has been fined $500,000 after a communications watchdog investigation found the company sent more than 800 messages that breached Australia's spam laws. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) also found that PointsBet Australia breached laws related to BetStop — the National Self-Exclusion Register (NSER) — which allows people to exclude themselves from online gambling. BetStop was launched by the Albanese government in August 2023 to deliver a system that would protect gamblers who wanted to quit. The regulator found PointsBet sent 508 marketing messages between August and September 2023 to people on the self-exclusion register. Between September and November 2023, the online gambling provider sent 705 emails that contained a direct link to its betting products without including an unsubscribe function. The online gambling provider also sent 90 commercial texts without sender contact information. ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin said it was concerning that PointsBet customers who took steps to exclude themselves from online gambling were receiving gambling material. "Wagering providers must also appropriately identify where messages promote or advertise their services and ensure that those messages comply with the rules, including the obligation to promote the NSER." The watchdog found no customers who had registered to be excluded from online gambling had placed bets with the company during the period investigated. A spokesperson for PointsBet said the investigation was launched after it self-reported a system failure in 2023 with the implementation of the BetStop system. "While the company does not necessarily agree with the basis of all the findings, nor the quantum of the penalty, PointsBet put forward, and the ACMA accepted, the enforceable undertakings pursuant to which the company will review and strengthen its compliance processes," a spokesperson said. "In terms of the spam findings, the emails 'containing a direct link to its betting products' were transactional, responsible gambling communications which included the PointsBet logo that unintentionally had an embedded link to our website. They were not intended to be commercial in nature. "In relation [to] BetStop, the ACMA found that none of the impacted customers were able to login or place a bet while registered on BetStop. Throughout the investigation, PointsBet was transparent and cooperative with ACMA." Monash University's Charles Livingstone, who is a gambling researcher, said the online wagering industry in Australia makes almost $9 billion annually, so a $500,000 penalty was a "drop in the bucket". Dr Livingstone added that those who had self excluded had taken steps to cancel their account, and create distance from gambling. Once you register for BetStop, licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers will not be able to: "It's really dangerous. It could lead them straight back into a dangerous habit that they have themselves decided they no longer want to participate in, and it shows gross irresponsibility." Australians lose more than $25 billion a year on legal forms of gambling, representing the largest per capita losses in the world, according to official government research. Dr Livingstone was critical of the federal government's "delayed response" to key recommendations from the You Win Some, You Lose More report stemming from a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling. Those recommendations included banning all advertising for online gambling and establishing a national regulator for online gambling. "The number one would be establishing a national regulator with effective power to stop these practices," Dr Livingstone said. "Financial penalties are so much water off a duck's back for many of these wagering operators, and they can absorb very significant financial penalties because they're making what we call an addiction surplus. "If we had a national regulator, we could enforce universal standards, and we would find much more compliance." The calls for a national regulator for gambling has been echoed by gambling reform advocate Tim Costello. "It's absolutely time for the prime minister and the Albanese government to respond to the [You Win Some, You Lose More] report they've had now nearly three years."
ABC News
10-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
AFL gambling opt-out feature called 'tokenistic' after website users report seeing odds
A self-exclusion gambling toggle on the AFL website does not stop users from seeing match odds, with one user calling the feature "tokenistic". The AFL has a partnership with Australia's largest online gambling operator Sportsbet. Various gambling odds and videos can be seen on the league's website and app. In the settings of the AFL website, a user can click a button to hide betting odds. Next to this button, the text reads: "By hiding betting odds, you won't see match or premiership odds across this site during your visit." Another button says "I am 18 or over", and when toggled off, also says it hides the betting odds. But Adam Keily, the founder of social media account Track My Brown, which tracks Sportsbet betting odds, said the feature did not hide videos promoting gambling. The ABC confirmed this was the case, finding the toggle did not hide Sportsbet's "match preview" videos posted on the fixture in the days before the game. When navigating to these videos via other points of the website, they played regardless of whether the toggle was on or not. But the toggle did remove the Sportsbet odds posted directly on the weekly fixture. The feature works the same if the user signs into an AFL account. Mr Keily said this control was "tokenistic". In a statement, an AFL spokesperson said its website was "age-gated" and gave visitors to the site and app the ability to "turn off betting odds with one simple click". "The sponsored match previews are in the process of being included in the suite of products not shown via age-gating and/or opt out on the app and website. This will be completed shortly." The Sportsbet videos posted on the fixture are hosted by former players Nathan Brown and Kane Cornes. They involve the promotion of bets in a format which could be interpreted as a match analysis. Sportsbet decided to take similar ads down from the live AFL broadcast at the start of this year after "listening to stakeholder and community sentiment on TV gambling advertising". These ads have since appeared during other TV shows and on the AFL's online platforms — and appear even if the user of the website chooses to not see them. Mr Keily also said the default view on the AFL website was seeing the gambling promotions and that the toggle was voluntary. "There's young people and vulnerable people that are browsing the AFL website that don't want to see the odds," he said. "They have to make the conscious decision to turn them off, to self-exclude. "I think that's asking too much of a 12-year-old kid to go and make that conscious decision." Charles Livingstone, a gambling researcher and associate professor in Monash University's school of public health and preventive medicine, said the toggle was also hard to find. "If you were just screening the the site to find tips for the weekend … you wouldn't even look for it. There's no pointer to it." While Dr Livingstone said age-gating content was "not effective", he said a better version would require the user to declare and prove their age when opening the website. "The government has recently introduced legislation which purports to be able to block underage people from getting onto social media sites," Dr Livingstone said. "So whatever the solution is for that, then a similar solution needs to be applied to anything that has this sort of promotional material for gambling." But there is currently no regulatory requirement for sports websites, like the AFL website, to restrict gambling content. A senate inquiry into online gambling from 2022 called for sweeping reforms, finding online gambling and the advertising of it had a potential to cause "psychological, health, relationship, legal and financial harm". But none of the 31 recommendations have been implemented yet. Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland told the ABC before the election there were plans to establish a national regulator if the government was re-elected. Jennifer Lacy-Nichols, a University of Melbourne researcher who looks into corporates, politics and health, said providing an option to self-exclude from content could be the AFL's reaction to looming gambling regulation. "I see voluntary regulation from companies when there's a threat of regulation on the horizon, or possibly a need to protect the reputations," she said. She said actions like this could work to reduce pressure on governments to introduce reform. "For age-gating, some people look and say: 'they're doing something really good, we don't need to have the same level of energy and pressure'," she said. "It dilutes the urgency of the problem." Dr Livingstone said this example proved government regulation needed to be enforced for online gambling promotions. "We've got a social experiment in real time where young people have never been exposed to so much gambling promotional material, especially associated with sport," he said. "We do not know what the long-term consequences will be, but at the present time, the signs are not great."
