UK news

Two Leading Online Bingo Sites Ordered to Scrap Unfair Withdrawal Limits

Posted by martha on in Bingo, Blog, News / 0 Comment

The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has named Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play as the leading bingo sites in the country in restricting players from withdrawing their winnings. They have been accused of erecting hurdles in the form of policies with an aim of causing players to continue gambling.

The move by CMA to name and shame Progress Play and Jumpman Gaming followed the release of an investigative report that was published towards the end of August this year. For the past two years, CMA has been undertaking an investigation on bingo firms’ release of players’ winnings.

Online bingo players in the UK have for many years in the recent past complained about restrictions that bingo sites imposed on withdrawals. The players are left in a state where they cannot access their money despite having worn it because of the unfair practices by bingo sites. Their complaints were taken up by CMA where it sought to understand the issue through an in-depth investigation.

The investigation found that some of the bingo sites in the UK market operate dubious policies which are a violation of customer rights. The authority cited a case where bingo sites state in their terms and conditions that players’ balances will be seized if their accounts remain inactive for a given period of time. CMA viewed this detrimental policy as a way of compelling players to gamble more. CMA also found that in some of the cases, winnings are confiscated if bingo players do not show proof of their identity within a given period.

The report also found that bingo sites were restricting the amount that a player can withdrawal at a time. Worse still, other bingo sites were found to be using money laundering controls in a selective manner with a view of delaying withdraws from the winning accounts.

Commenting on the investigative report, George Lusty, senior director at CMA said that individuals who opt to bet in the online bingo sites should be allowed to walk away with their winnings anytime that they desire. Progress Play operates on a business to customer and business to business basis. Jumpman Gaming provides an underpinning of other sites through a business to business engagement. It also operates on a business to customer basis by offering slot sites and online bingo.

The UK Gambling Commission has taken up the issues mentioned in the report and emphasized on the need for operators to offer fair policies to players. It warned that bingo operators engaging in the dubious practices would face strict actions.

Commenting on the issue, Paul Hope, the executive director of UKGC said, “Gambling firms should not be placing unreasonable restrictions on when and how customers can take money out of their accounts.” He urged operators to align their policies with the findings in the CMA’s report.

After their naming and shaming, Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play agreed to scrap the restrictions they had been applying on customer withdrawals. Speaking on the issue, George Lusty confirmed that Progress Play had agreed to do away with its ID check response times and warned other bingo operators that action will be taken against them if they do not follow suit.

CMA and UKGC have been working together to intensify they oversight in the gambling sector. Their efforts have seen UKGC impose fines to operators for violations of betting laws by tenfold in the last financial year 2017/2018 compared to the previous years.

UKGC has warned that unless bingo sites observe standards, fines and penalties will “escalate relentlessly.”

 

Rank Group’s Mecca Bingo Drop by 22 percent in Revenue as the Industry Become Stricter

Posted by steve_k on in Bingo, Blog, News / 0 Comment

Rank Group, a leading gambling company in the United Kingdom, has reported a 41% decline in its profits for the financial year ended June 2018. The firm blamed stricter checks and a drop in bingo and casino customers for the drop. It has, however, vowed to put in place a turnaround plan that will see it increase its profits in the coming years.

The group registered a pre-tax drop of 41.4% to £46.7 million for the year that ended on 30th June 2018. At the same time, its revenue dropped by 2.3% to £691 million for the period.

While releasing the report, Rank Group described the previous financial year as a “challenging year.” The group blamed “a disappointing performance” that is registered in its Grosvenor Casinos business which experienced a 6.1% drop in revenues to £373 million in the accounting period.

According to the group, several factors caused the poor performance. First, it blamed the new guidelines that were published by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission in September last year. The “enhanced due diligence” requirements for the customers require that more stringent checks are done on punters. As a result, the number of casino goers has declined.

Business was also stalled by the adverse weather conditions that were experienced at the start of the year. Many casino and bingo lovers were forced to stay at home due to the weather and this in return led to a decrease in revenue for the group.

Its Mecca Bingo division registered a 7.9% decline in customer visits over the year. As a result, the division’s revenue dropped by 22.6% to £208.1 million. The operating profits for Mecca declined by 4.3%. However, Rank Group reported that the fall was smaller than expected and attributed the good performance to improved cost controls.

The group also blamed lower win margins for high rollers as a factor reducing traffic to its business. Alongside the poor operating environment, the firm made impairment charges of £26.9 million. The company termed the charges as “exceptional” and included the closure of a casino in Bradford and under performance of five other casinos.

Following the announcement, the group’s shares fell by 6.1% in the London stock exchange. Ed Monk, who is an associate director at Fidelity Personal Investing share dealing platform said that the company’s profit warning in early April coupled with the consistent rise in dividend has eased the situation.

However, the group’s digital business grew by 9% to £122.5 million. The results are indicative that punters were increasingly opting for online betting. Though there was growth in the digital platform, the company reported that there was a slowdown in the second half of the financial year. The slowdown was attributed to the new customer requirements.

John O’Reilly, an industry veteran, and the group’s chief executive said that the company is focusing on a turnaround plan after its decline in profits. “We are now moving quickly to identify key priorities which will begin to realize the significant potential that I have seen first-hand since joining the group in early May.”

He outlined the steps the group was taking by saying “We are taking steps to increase our focus on the customer, to accelerate growth in the digital business, to drive cost efficiencies across the business and to strengthen our organizational capabilities.”

 

Crackdown on Advertising and Consumer Law Breaches

Posted by martha on in Bingo, Blog, News / 0 Comment

In 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in conjunction with the Gambling Commission commissioned a sector-wide survey to assess how the online gambling firms were treating customers.

Gambling CommissionBetween October 2016 and September 2017, Britons gambled a whopping £13.9 billion. The gambling industry employs around 100,000 people. In addition, the United Kingdom has 8,532 betting shops, 152 casinos, 649 bingo halls, and 183,928 gambling machines.

Moreover, during the just-concluded FIFA World Cup, the British households were bombarded with around 90 minutes of betting advertisements. This prompted claims that children were being unfairly subjected to messages that seemed to encourage them to venture into betting.

The government of the United Kingdom has been on the receiving end in light of these developments. It faced criticisms for allegedly taking too long to place curbs on the

£100-per-spin fixed-odds betting termini. These jointly earned £1.8 billion a year for the bookies.

In response to this, the government has responded by putting in stringent measures. These, it avers, shall restrict the amount of time the adverts run on screens. This shall subsequently, according to the government, reduce the amounts of money that are spent on gambling. It came up with these stringent measures following an open consultation with the various stakeholders in the field of gambling.

To actualize this aim, the government has passed legislation to make it easier for gamblers to withdraw their money in case of a breach of the consumer laws or advertising rules. This directive shall come into effect on October 31.

According to the said rule, the government shall also fine any betting firm that violates the stated codes of conduct heavily. These include running adverts that target small children, glorify gambling, and deliberately misleading consumers. The same case shall extend to third-party advertisers like marketing agencies besides sending unsolicited text messages and e-mails to consumers.

Apart from the heavy fines, the gambling commission also imposes an eight-week ultimatum for the operators to settle any disputes that may arise from customers. This is to reduce the tensions, apprehensions, and anxieties that consumers normally confront under such circumstances. These changes in the law, the commission hopes, will hasten and expedite the solution of breaches to the existing laws.

The founder of Justice for Punters, Brian Chappell had this to say, ‘It is positive to realize that the Gambling Commission has ultimately acknowledged that gambling companies require tighter regulations.’

‘Only time will tell of the new rules shall be adhered to the letter. It waits to be seen if the consumers shall enjoy their rights and receive fair treatments. This declaration is incomprehensive but is nonetheless a welcome move.’

In response to these, some gambling firms have already announced their way forward. PT Entertainment, William Hill, and Ladbrokes have already announced their commitment to changing the manner in which they offer the bonus to customers that play online. BGO Entertainment Limited also followed suit a month later.

 

 

 

UK Parents Express Concerns over World Cup Gambling Adverts

Posted by steve_k on in Bingo, Blog, News / 1 Comment

During the recent FIFA World Cup, numerous television viewers across the UK complained of too many adverts that centered on gambling. Independent studies have as a matter of fact deduced that a combined 90 minutes of betting-related adverts were beamed to the UK screens throughout the four-week tournament.

This did not go well with most parents and caregivers in the nation. In light of this, well over 115 complaints were lodged to the UK advertising watchdog by viewers across the nation at that time. Most of the complaints were about the frequency of the adverts, the exposure of the same to small children, and the pressure tactics that were employed to push through the betting agenda.

Most parents expressed concerns that these adverts tend to make gambling appear a normal or acceptable way of life. They also decried the enticing and pressure language that the betting firms used to push their message. These, they claimed, included such terms as ‘Bet Now,’ and ‘bet in play, now!’ among others.

Under the prevailing terms of references, no gambling adverts are to be screen before the watershed moments of 9 PM onwards. The same case applies to programs or channels that are exclusively dedicated to children entertainment. Moreover, such firms are prohibited from using tactics and languages that are designed to coerce people to gamble. These rules do not, however, prohibit firms from promoting live odds when matches are in progress.

There was also a general consensus among the viewers that these adverts ate some of the time that was allocated to the FIFA matches. They subsequently asked the UK’s advertising watchdog, Advertising Standards Authority, to step in and rein on the menace.

After the formal receipt of these complains, the UK’s advertising watchdog decided to embark on independent investigations. At the moment, the watchdog agency is evaluating those complaints to ascertain whether they indeed meet the threshold that is necessary for a formal investigation.

The watchdog is also set to determine whether those tactics that were used by the various betting firms violated the stipulated UK advertising codes. Of particular interest to the watchdog agency will be whether the tactics went against the new rules that were established in February to combat problem gambling.

It will be interesting to note the subsequent course of action that the watchdog shall take. This is because FIFA matches do not fall under the jurisdiction of the watchdog. Because of this, watchdog agency lacks the mandate to penalize or enforce such rules on the program.

The watchdog shall most likely follow in the footsteps of other watchdogs world over. They might tighten the noose on gambling adverts and the revenues that are derived from advertising. This is to hinder the popularity and the adoption of gambling as a whole.

Italy, for instance, has taken the lead in doing so. The nation’s Minister for Labour and Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio, has already proposed to ban all forms of gambling advertisements. The only exceptions to this rule, he stated, will be the companies that already have advertising contracts.

Australia has also banned any form of advertising during the day, even for live sports. This shall greatly reduce the number of persons who will most likely view the adverts, keep small children off such adverts, and contribute towards combating problem gambling.

The jury is out. It waits to be seen the kinds of recommendations that the watchdog shall propose. It also waits to be seen the reactions and responses that the various stakeholders shall put forth. This is also interesting considering the liberalized nature of much of the UK’s business sectors.