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Majority of gamblers hit with affordability checks have handed over info, but wider betting population unwilling
- Most bettors asked to undergo financial checks agree
- Higher spending players more willing than lower spenders
- Most who’ve not yet faced affordability checks say they will refuse
The majority of bettors who have been asked for proof they can afford to gamble have provided it, but there are big questions over how things will play out if checks become mandatory or more common, the results of a new study by sports betting community OLBG show.
A survey of bettors carried out online by YouGov for OLBG found that the majority of those who had been asked by gambling operators to provide documents such as payslips, bank statements or other documents had complied with the request.
The survey, which polled 1,007 bettors, found that 21.8% of bettors had already been asked for documents by at least one bookmaker. Of these, 74.3% had provided them, but 17.9% had refused and started playing with a different licensed operator instead. Of the remainder, 4.1% refused and moved to an unlicensed operator, while 3.7% stopped betting entirely.
The willingness to provide documentation was less widespread among those who had not yet been asked to do so, however.
Of the 78.2% of punters who had not yet faced affordability checks, 37.3% said they would refuse and simply stop betting, 35.0% said they would move to a different licensed operator and 4.1% said they’d go to an unlicensed company. Only 23.5% indicated they would be willing to provide the documents.
“Most bettors who have been asked to provide documents have done so. More importantly, very few of those who were asked stopped gambling or went to the black market, the latter being the worst unintended consequence of measures aimed at making gambling more responsible,” said Richard Moffat, CEO at OLBG.
“However, there is a stark difference between those who have been asked and those who haven’t in terms of willingness.”
As the below table shows, overall 65% of bettors reported not being willing to comply with affordability checks. Those betting lower monthly amounts were the least open to handing over financial documents, with more than three in four (75.4%) of those betting less than £5 a month and 72% of those betting £6-15 a month unwilling to undergo affordability checks.
“Few people who are spending at this level are likely to think it is proportionate for a bookie to ask for proof they can afford it and it’s quite surprising how many lower spending players report already having been asked. From the rumours about what level mandatory checks might come in, it seems unlikely checks will be forced on players at levels under £100 per month,” said Moffat.
Players spending less than £100 per month
| Have you been asked by a gambling company to provide payslips, bank statements or similar documents as part of an affordability or proof of funds check? | All bettors | Less than £5 | £6-15 | £16-25 | £26-50 | £51-100 |
| Unweighted base | 1,007 | 235 | 224 | 147 | 154 | 93 |
| Yes, I have and I provided the required documents | 16.16% | 6.00% | 10.08% | 20.86% | 16.55% | 14.27% |
| No, I have not but I would provide the documents if asked | 18.45% | 18.20% | 18.06% | 23.14% | 20.31% | 21.62% |
| Yes, I have, but I didn’t provide the documents and bet with a different licensed company instead | 3.92% | 0.40% | 1.77% | 4.22% | 4.53% | 6.57% |
| Yes, I have but I didn’t provide the documents and bet with a different unlicensed company instead | 0.90% | 0.00% | 0.47% | 0.71% | 1.29% | 1.08% |
| Yes, I have but I didn’t provide the documents and stopped betting | 0.79% | 0.00% | 0.43% | 0.70% | 1.94% | 1.10% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t provide the documents and would bet with a different licensed company instead | 27.40% | 20.40% | 31.52% | 24.80% | 35.25% | 38.36% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t provide the documents and would bet with an unlicensed company instead | 3.20% | 1.30% | 3.57% | 4.17% | 3.27% | 1.11% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t bet | 29.18% | 53.60% | 34.10% | 21.40% | 16.86% | 15.88% |
| Total willing to provide documents | 34.61% | 24.20% | 28.14% | 44.00% | 36.86% | 35.89% |
| Total unwilling to provide documents | 65.39% | 75.70% | 71.86% | 56.00% | 63.14% | 64.10% |
Players spending more than £100 per month
| Have you been asked by a gambling company to provide payslips, bank statements or similar documents as part of an affordability or proof of funds check? | All bettors | £101-200 | £201-300 | £301-500 | £501-1000 |
| Unweighted Base | 1,007 | 57 | 16 | 16 | 20 |
| Yes, I have and I provided the required documents | 16.16% | 30.04% | 31.87% | 50.63% | 40.65% |
| No, I have not but I would provide the documents if asked | 18.45% | 19.41% | 12.94% | 0.00% | 4.79% |
| Yes, I have, but I didn’t provide the documents and bet with a different licensed company instead | 3.92% | 12.40% | 6.73% | 0.00% | 15.35% |
| Yes, I have but I didn’t provide the documents and bet with a different unlicensed company instead | 0.90% | 1.77% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Yes, I have but I didn’t provide the documents and stopped betting | 0.79% | 1.70% | 0.00% | 6.45% | 0.00% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t provide the documents and would bet with a different licensed company instead | 27.40% | 24.19% | 36.36% | 30.49% | 28.90% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t provide the documents and would bet with an unlicensed company instead | 3.20% | 5.19% | 12.10% | 6.45% | 5.12% |
| No, I have not and if asked I wouldn’t bet | 29.18% | 5.31% | 0.00% | 5.98% | 5.20% |
| Total willing to provide documents | 34.61% | 49.45% | 44.81% | 50.63% | 45.44% |
| Total unwilling to provide documents | 65.39% | 50.56% | 55.19% | 49.37% | 54.57% |
* Players spending more than £1,000 per month were excluded as numbers were too small to be statistically significant.
However, while willingness to undergo affordability checks does seem to increase among players who spend more on a monthly basis, even among those spending £100-plus per month, less than half were open to affordability checks.
One big difference between players at lower spend levels and those spending more than £100 was the likelihood of players stopping gambling if asked to undergo checks. While 53.6% of those betting less than £5 said they wouldn’t gamble if faced with affordability checks, just 5.31% said the same in the £101-200 per month category.
Higher spending players were more likely to have moved to a different licensed company rather than provide documents, but across all spending amounts a significant proportion of players reported plans to do so if asked to provide documents.
“Many players reported either having already moved to a different licensed operator or being willing to do so over affordability checks. Therefore, there is now a big question mark over what might happen if affordability checks become mandatory and all licensed operators have to impose them at certain levels,” said Moffat.
The survey also found that younger players were more willing to submit to financial checks. About one-third (33.34%) of those aged 18-24 said they had been asked for and provided documents, while 22.86% said they hadn’t been asked but would do so. In the 55-plus age group, the percentage of players reporting the same fell to 6.40% and 15.37%, respectively.
More details on this breakdown can be found in the full survey report, along with various other findings on the UK’s gambling habits.
Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.
Latest News
This month The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise honoured 186 of its total 1200 team members for reaching significant employment milestones including 15, 10 and 5 years of service for the enterprise. The event at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Flagstaff, Ariz. showcased the impact and journey of each hard-working team member, with a special highlight for 29 employees who have served for 15 years.
Bruce Smith Enterprise and The Cordish Companies have been selected by the City of Petersburg, Virginia to codevelop a $1.4 billion Live! Gaming & Entertainment District, anchored by Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia. The Petersburg City Council unanimously approved Bruce Smith Enterprise and The Cordish Companies as the City’s preferred development partner on the transformative mixed-use project. The proposed project will generate billions of dollars in economic benefits and spinoff development, create thousands of new jobs and benefits to the local community and become a major new tourist destination for the City and the Central Virginia region.
CT Interactive’s LATAM team, led by Diego Verano Ponce and Ana Ruth Farías, attended SIGMA Brazil from April 23 to 25, 2024. The company’s decision to participate in the event underscores its commitment to expanding its presence and strengthening relationships within the region. The presence of Diego Verano and Ana Ruth Farías at SIGMA Brazil provided an excellent opportunity for CT Interactive to engage with industry stakeholders, discuss emerging trends and explore potential partnerships in the LATAM market.
The Colorado Division of Gambling has launched a new illegal gambling awareness campaign. The “Play Legit. Gamble Only Where Legal.” campaign aims to educate the public about the risks associated with illegal gambling and the importance of supporting regulated gaming venues. The campaign emphasises legal gambling options, including casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, as well as online sports betting and off-track betting.
Lottery.com Inc. announced the restart of its sweepstakes operations in conjunction with the WinTogether Trust, a registered 501(c)3 charitable organisation. The proceeds from the sweepstakes will benefit Street Child United. The sweepstakes had a soft launch on April 3, 2024, and is available at http://donateto.win, the successor to Lottery.com’s WinTogether.org platform.
Partnerships
Hard Rock International, Seminole Gaming and Royal Caribbean Group brands, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, unveiled a global partnership that will benefit both vacationers and team members of the brands. Travellers around the world can take advantage of accommodations, meals, discounts and more at Hard Rock and Seminole casinos, hotels and cafes, and on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises vacations based on the milestone announcement made by two of South Florida’s largest private employers.
SCCG Management has signed a contract with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), the B.C. Crown corporation which conducts and manages commercial gambling in the province, including lotteries, casinos and online gaming. This partnership aims to undertake a comprehensive assessment and strategic enhancement of BCLC’s diverse operations. The work between SCCG and BCLC will involve a thorough review of technological infrastructures, strategic market positioning and the integration of various gaming modalities.
The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – April 29-May 5 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)
Soft2Bet strengthens integrity monitoring with IBIA membership in Ontario
Soft2Bet, a leading casino and sportsbook platform provider, has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and activated its membership in Ontario, Canada, following its licensing in the Canadian province.
Soft2bet obtained its Certificate of Registration from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) at the end of March, where the company’s Ontario-focused brand Tooniebet.com will now feed into IBIA’s world-leading sports betting integrity monitoring platform before worldwide implementation in the coming months.
IBIA includes over 50 of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming companies, who operate over 125 sports betting brands. Soft2Bet’s decision to join the association further strengthens its own internal betting integrity protocols and IBIA’s position as the world’s leading sports betting integrity monitoring body.
David Yatom Hay, General Counsel at Soft2Bet, commented: “Soft2Bet is delighted to be joining the IBIA as we strengthen our own betting integrity monitoring processes and play our part in furthering the IBIA’s long-standing work on this key issue. Ontario is a world class iGaming jurisdiction; it will be the first market where we will implement our IBIA membership and we look forward to deploying the monitoring infrastructure worldwide in all the other markets in which we operate.”
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “Soft2Bet is a very welcome addition to IBIA, further strengthening our position in the Ontario market. The operator’s decision to join IBIA demonstrates its desire to utilise the best integrity protection available for its sportsbook product. The association is delighted to be able to integrate Tooniebet within our integrity monitoring system and looks forward to working closely with Soft2Bet to maintain the high integrity of its sportsbook.”
IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and is run by operators and for operators to protect regulated sports betting markets from match-fixing. IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets.
Through the IBIA monitoring network it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts. IBIA members generate more than $300bn in annual betting turnover (handle), accounting for approximately 50% of the global commercial regulated land-based and online sports betting sector, and in excess of 50% for online alone.
IBIA recently released a report on the Availability of Sports Betting Products which highlighted Ontario as a leading regulated gambling jurisdiction, with an expected onshore channelisation for sports betting of 92% in 2024 forecast to rise to 97% in2028. IBIA currently represents over 60% of the private sports betting operators licensed in the province. All online sportsbetting operators licensed in Ontario are required to be part of a betting integrity monitoring body.
IBIA’s Q1 2024 report detailed 56 alerts during the quarter. IBIA alerts contributed to the investigations and subsequent successful sanctioning of 21 clubs, players and officials in 2023, an increase on the 15 sanctioned in 2022.
In a thrilling display of fortune and skill, Tusk Casino announces a monumental win by Adelheid, a passionate player from South Africa, who secured an astonishing R189,000 from a mere R100 bet on the renowned casino slot game, Gate of Olympus. This remarkable achievement underscores the high-stakes excitement that Tusk Casino offers to its players.
Adelheid’s journey to this significant win was facilitated by his engagement with SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za, the premier online casino and gambling guide specifically designed for South African players. Since its inception in 2003, SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za has been a cornerstone in the online gambling community, offering expert reviews, trustworthy recommendations, and the latest gambling news, thereby guiding players like Adelheid to reputable and enjoyable online gambling experiences.
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Tusk Casino is renowned for its vast selection of over 3000 slot games, provided by world-leading game developers such as Pragmatic Play, Yggdrasil, and NetEnt. The casino distinguishes itself with generous bonus offerings, including a 50 Free Spins No Deposit On Wheel of Fortune on Registration, and a R5,000 Welcome Bonus for first-time deposits, making it an enticing choice for both new and seasoned players.
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Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – April 29-May 5
Soft2Bet strengthens integrity monitoring with IBIA membership in Ontario
South African Online Casino Player Strikes Gold with R189,000 Win at Tusk Casino
South African Online Casino Player Strikes Gold with R189,000 Win at Tusk Casino
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