Club’s shirt sponsor criticised for offering $10 free bet to anyone who wagers large amount in a week
Everton FC has told its sponsor Stake.com to stop using its imagery in an international promotion offering a $10 free bet to anyone who wagers $5,000 in the space of a week.
Football fans and campaign groups had criticised the marketing scheme and questioned Everton’s apparent involvement.
Continue reading...Man became a top 10 player at the Star Gold Coast after being banned from Melbourne and Sydney casinos
Star Entertainment allowed a patron barred from casinos in two states and allegedly linked to the Italian mafia to continue gambling in its Queensland venues for years, an inquiry has heard.
The man became one of the top 10 players at the Star Gold Coast after he was banned from the Crown Melbourne in 2014, and New South Wales police barred him from attending The Star, Sydney, seven months later.
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Continue reading...Judge says Star must also pay $35,000 interest, ruling casino’s failure to initially pay out win was ‘misconceived and breached the contract’ of wager
A $285,000 jackpot won by a disabled man with the assistance of a previously banned gambler at Star casino in Sydney must be paid out in full, a court has ruled.
David Joe on Friday was awarded almost $320,000 including interest in the district court, which found the casino illegally refused to hand over a jackpot won in October 2019.
Continue reading...James Chessell sends email to staff after both he and the Nine chairman were the subject of an email attack by James Packer
The Sydney Morning Herald and the Age’s publisher,James Chessell, has told staff at the Nine newspapers that he was not contacted by the Nine chairman, Peter Costello, in relation to the group’s award-winning coverage of money laundering at Crown casino.
“I never heard a word from Peter Costello about Crown Unmasked before, during or after publication/broadcast,” Chessell said in an email to staff on Monday morning, after both he and the Nine chairman were the subject of an email attack by billionaire James Packer.
Continue reading...ClubsNSW alleges in a federal court document that sending information to journalists was intended to breach confidentiality
The New South Wales’ club lobby is using emails between whistleblower Troy Stolz and journalists at five major media outlets to argue he waged a campaign to “tarnish” its reputation with confidential information about its alleged failures to comply with laws designed to prevent money laundering and terror financing, according to court documents.
ClubsNSW is suing Stolz, a former employee, over his handling of internal documents, including a series of documents he sent to journalists.
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Continue reading...As an economic crisis looms in the UK, legislation shelved and deadlines missed on energy, online safety and gambling laws
Mining along the west coast of Cumbria goes back to at least the 1600s, and this summer the local community awaited a crucial government decision on whether a new deep coalmine operation would be given the go-ahead.
While proponents of the £165m deep coalmine near Whitehaven say it would create jobs and help power the UK’s steel industry, environmental campaigners say it would undermine the government’s commitment to meeting climate targets.
Continue reading...Club lobby said refusal to delete YouTube video would make ‘matters worse’ for former employee Troy Stolz
New South Wales’ powerful club lobby sent a legal letter telling YouTuber Friendlyjordies to immediately remove an interview with whistleblower and cancer sufferer Troy Stolz, warning of the potential for “imprisonment and fines” and saying any refusal to delete the video would only make “matters worse for Mr Stolz”.
Earlier this month, Friendlyjordies published a video featuring an interview between the channel’s producer Kristo Langker and Stolz, who blew the whistle in 2020 on what he alleged was the widespread failure of the clubs sector to comply with laws designed to stop money laundering through the state’s pokies.
Continue reading...Delay follows advice to PM that proposals cannot be published until new Conservative leader in place
Proposals to reform gambling laws have been postponed for a fourth time, after advisers to Boris Johnson concluded it could not be published until a new leader of the Conservative party is elected to replace him as prime minister.
Amid a tussle between different Tory party factions over the content of the plans, multiple Whitehall sources told the Guardian that a white paper had been added this week to the government’s “grid” of announcements and was scheduled to be published on Tuesday.
Continue reading...NSW Crime Commission issues paper also asks whether poker machine credit limits should be lowered
The New South Wales Crime Commission has suggested some of the state’s gambling laws have increased the risk of money laundering through poker machines, while raising the prospect of “significantly” reducing their credit limits in clubs.
This comes as anti-gambling advocates dismissed an “utterly cynical” proposal from lobby group Clubs NSW for a new “code of practice” that would allow family members of gambling addicts to request they be banned from venues.
Continue reading...More than 30 closed for a week – with extension thought likely – and dozens of city zones locked down in gambling hub
Macau has shut all its casinos for the first time in more than two years as authorities struggle to contain the worst coronavirus outbreak yet in the world’s biggest gambling hub.
The city’s 30-plus casinos, along with other non-essential businesses, will shut for one week from Monday and people have been ordered to stay at home. Police would monitor flows of people outside, the government said, and stringent punishments would be imposed for those who disobeyed.
Continue reading...Probe ordered into Star’s suitability to hold licence amid construction of Queen’s Wharf development
One of Australia’s leading gambling researchers says the business case for Brisbane’s $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf development could possibly collapse if Star Entertainment were to be stripped of its casino licence.
The state’s attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, has ordered a probe into the casino operator’s suitability to hold a licence in Queensland after a New South Wales inquiry heard allegations Star had potentially acted criminally.
Continue reading...Money should have gone to 463 low-income households but man received it all and commenced online casino spree
A Japanese man who was mistakenly sent ¥46.3m (£287,000/US$358,000) in Covid-19 relief funds has admitted he gambled away the entire amount in the space of a fortnight.
The 24-year-old, who has not been named, was sent the sum in April as part of a local government programme to help residents who were struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Justice department says Wynn lobbied the Trump administration for China to protect his business interests in Macau
The US Department of Justice on Tuesday sued Steve Wynn, the billionaire former casino mogul and senior Republican fund raiser, to compel him to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent of China.
The department said Wynn, 80, had contacted then-US president Donald Trump and members of his Republican administration in 2017 to convey China’s request to cancel the visa of or otherwise remove a Chinese businessperson who had sought political asylum in the United States.
Continue reading...Documents show gambling firms warned Treasury officials against tightening up industry laws
Some of Britain’s betting giants are revealed to have quietly lobbied Treasury officials against a proposed industry crackdown, claiming it will cost millions of pounds in lost tax receipts.
Executives representing Bet365, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes met officials from the Treasury and Revenue and Customs, warning a radical overhaul of the industry could drive gamblers to the black market. The meeting was with tax officials rather than ministers and was therefore not required to be automatically disclosed.
Continue reading...Guardian understands advertising regulator is likely uphold complaint against firm’s claims about ‘hot or cold’ games
Online casinos face a crackdown on exploiting gamblers’ superstitions, after the advertising regulator launched an investigation into one firm’s claims about certain games being “hot or cold”.
The Guardian understands the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is likely to uphold a complaint lodged seven months ago against PlayOJO, which advertised a feature last year that offered gamblers a “unique chance to see the games on winning streaks”.
Continue reading...Concerns raised over development costs for ‘integrated resort’, as well as crime and gambling addiction
The focus of Japan’s quest to open its first casino is a human-made island in Osaka that, if the city’s government gets its way, will end decades of wrangling over the country’s fraught relationship with poker tables and slot machines.
On a recent weekday morning there was little to suggest that Yumeshima – “Dream Island” – could, by the end of the decade, be the site of an unprecedented experiment with gambling in the world’s third biggest economy.
Continue reading...Allowing two more balls means overall odds of winning something increase but odds of first division win go from one in 45.3m to one in 62.8m
Australians’ chances of winning the Oz Lotto jackpot are set to become slimmer after changes to the game by the Victorian government.
The state government has amended the Public Lottery Licence to introduce two extra balls for Oz Lotto, which currently has participants select seven choices from 45 numbers, with two supplementary numbers drawn.
Continue reading...Group says Gambling Commission got it ‘badly wrong’ when deciding to hand operation of draw to Allwyn
The national lottery operator Camelot is launching a high court challenge to the Gambling Commission’s decision to hand over the operation of the draw to a rival after 28 years, accusing the regulator of getting the decision “badly wrong”.
In a statement, Camelot’s chief executive, Nigel Railton, said: “We are launching a legal challenge today in our capacity as an applicant for the fourth [national lottery] licence because we firmly believe that the Gambling Commission has got this decision badly wrong.”
Continue reading...Inquiry hears building approval submission for a private gaming room failed to mention a window allowing junket operator to receive cash from players
A senior casino manager has admitted “knowingly misleading” the New South Wales gaming regulator about how gambling junkets operated inside a private high-roller wagering room at The Star Sydney.
Graeme Stevens, group compliance manager at Star Entertainment Group, resumed evidence on Friday at a royal commission-style inquiry into whether the gaming giant’s Sydney casino should keep its licence.
Continue reading...Gambling Commission names rival Allwyn as its preferred applicant to take over licence
Camelot is to lose its licence to run the UK national lottery after 28 years as the Gambling Commission named rival Allwyn as its preferred applicant to take over.
Allwyn, which is owned by the Czech group Sazka, Europe’s largest lottery operator, is expected to take over from Camelot in 2024.
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