Here you will find the latest UK News about Gambling. If you would like to comment on any of our gambling related news items or would like to pledge your support to Gambling Watch UK, please get in touch via the contact page.

Latest UK News

Inquest report criticises inadequate gambling regulation and treatment

21 Mar 2022

You may have seen media reports of the recently concluded inquest into the death of Jack, son of Liz and Charles Ritchie who started the impressive...

UK gambling reform: Is the Government serious?

08 Feb 2022

The UK Government will soon be announcing its plans for changes to gambling regulation. The following letter was sent recently to the Ministers most closely...

Landmark Public Health England report published today

30 Sep 2021

A landmark report from Public Health England (PHE) has been published today. This is ‘the first comprehensive review of the evidence on gambling harms and...

Government call for evidence - HAVE YOUR SAY

10 Mar 2021

There are only 21 days left until the Government's consultation on the 2005 Gambling Act closes. This is our best chance for some time to come to see real...

Control gambling: We can do it!

26 Jan 2021

There is no excuse now for not getting involved in controlling gambling, either personally or politically or both. There are now several groups, some of them...

Radical changes to British gambling needed say expert reports

08 Sep 2020

Expert Reports Call for Radical Changes to British Gambling Regulation Is Government Listening?   Summary   I analyse three recent high-level reports on...

Gambling industry fails to answer calls for controls during the virus crisis

14 Apr 2020

I was one of 12 academics and doctors who sent a letter to the Times last week calling for a suspension of gambling advertising during the crisis. Twenty...

Are betting companies taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis?

28 Mar 2020

Betting companies, like so many others, are facing uncertainty created by the coronavirus crisis. Will their profits decrease or, because people are confined...

New book on gambling is a must-read

24 Mar 2020

Rebecca Cassidy 2020 Vicious Games: Capitalism and Gambling. London: Pluto Press. No one knows better than Rebecca Cassidy the way in which betting has...

Gambling company sponsorship of football – What should be done?

09 Mar 2020

Following the announcement of a ban on the use of credit cards for gambling in the UK from April, the spotlight is now on the Government to see how quickly it...

Gambling Commission’s industry groups on safer gambling: a conflict of interests

07 Feb 2020

The Gambling Commission is setting up three industry-led working groups to help take forward its ‘drive to make gambling safer’ (see GC newsletter 27 January...

Betting companies admit that a huge percentage of ‘deposits’ come from a few customers

07 Feb 2020

The five big betting companies have admitted, for the first time, under questioning from members of the House of Lords Select Committee on gambling harm, that...

Gambling with credit cards banned from April

22 Jan 2020

After holding a consultation, the Gambling Commission has decided to ban gambling operators accepting payment with credit cards, starting on April 14th. At...

NHS England blames the gambling industry for gambling addiction and plans new gambling clinics

08 Jan 2020

‘The NHS is facing a rising tide of gambling related ill health’, says NHS England. Their data show the number of gambling related hospital admissions has...

Pub allows under 18s to use gambling machines and loses its permit

19 Dec 2019

For the first time a British pub has been stripped of its permit to have gambling machines on its premises (Gambling Commission 16 December 2019). Redbridge...

Parliamentary group lambasts online gambling

05 Dec 2019

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm (APPG-GRH) has produced an Interim Report into the Online Gambling Sector which does not mince...

Political parties pledge gambling reform

05 Dec 2019

All four main political parties going into the December 12th general election make specific mention of gambling in their manifestos. Congratulations to...

'The Gambling Establishment' is published - a must read

18 Sep 2019

An important new book will be out in a few days time: The Gambling Establishment: Challenging the Power of the Modern Gambling Industry and Its Allies, by Jim...

The tide is turning against the gambling industry

09 Aug 2019

Great BBC TV programme available online at bbc.co.uk/bbcthree from 4 July 2019. Comedian Lloyd Griffith fails to double his money during a week of gambling,...

Gambling with Lives launch shows the tide is turning

17 Nov 2018

Tuesday this week, 13th November 2018, was the launch of Gambling with Lives (GwL) at the Houses of Parliament. The event was extremely well attended by...

Gambling with Lives

16 Aug 2018

Gambling with Lives (GwL) is a new group started by the parents of a young man with a gambling addiction who committed suicide. They are naturally grief...

FOBT Stake Cut to £2 Maximum

17 May 2018

The Government has at last seen sense and done what we and so many others have been asking for. Today it has announced it is bringing the maximum stake per...

What do you think about online gambling marketing: Gambling Commission wants to know

13 Feb 2018

The Gambling Commission (GC) has announced that it is working with the Competition and Markets Authority to make sure that online gambling companies bring...

Gambling: a big public health problem neglected

15 Sep 2017

The Gambling Commission has just published a summary of British survey findings for 2015. The results are not new but this is the first time they have put...

Are we seeing a backlash against liberalised commercial gambling?

05 Jun 2017

I have seen a couple of signs just recently that the tide might be turning against the establishment assumption that a strong, innovating and widely...

Gambling problems are costing Government hundreds of millions

13 Jan 2017

An important report came out at the end of 2016. This was from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), an influential and progressive British...

What shall we say to the Government enquiry on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals?

07 Nov 2016

Good news! Well maybe, let’s wait and see what the actual outcome is. But we do welcome the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) putting out a...

Honest admissions by prominent gambling establishment figure

11 Aug 2016

Gambling Commission’s former Chair talks at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)   Following his five years as Chair of the Gambling Commission, Philip Graf was...

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