

Compliance Updates
Betting and Gaming Council Members Boast Record Compliance on Age Verification Checks
The members of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) have achieved record compliance rates for age verification checks, according to leading industry auditor Serve Legal.
Independent figures provided by Serve Legal, show bookmakers boasted a 91.4% age verification pass rate, across thousands of annual checks.
Meanwhile, casinos have a near-perfect pass rate of 98%.
This represents a 30% compliance increase across the audit volume since 2009, when Serve Legal began working with the regulated betting and gaming sector.
Regulated betting and gaming is now the leading sector in the UK for age verification compliance, better than supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol forecourts and delivering 10-15% higher compliance rates than the alcohol and lottery sectors annually.
BGC members take a zero-tolerance approach to betting by children and have significantly raised standards to protect young people.
The most popular forms of betting by children are legal arcade games like penny pusher and claw grab machines, bets between friends or family, and playing cards for money – not with BGC members.
BGC members enforce strict age verification on all their products to prevent underage gaming and will further strengthen age verification measures by increasing the checking age from “Think 21” to “Think 25” across betting shops and casinos. This policy will require anyone who is over 18 but looks under 25 to provide ID.
The BGC also funds the £10m Young People’s Gambling Harm Prevention Programme, delivered by leading charities YGAM and GamCare, which has reached more than two million 11 to 19-year-olds, and those working with them, in the UK.
Wes Himes, Executive Director of Standards and Innovation, said: “The BGC and our members are incredibly proud of these compliance rates, which put us ahead of our peers in every department.
“I am hugely grateful to Serve Legal for their work over the last 15 years, who have been instrumental in this change. Serve Legal, alongside our members and their dedicated staff, have led the charge in raising standards and setting a new benchmark for excellence.
“Bookmakers and casinos play a vital economic role on the UK’s hard-pressed high streets, as well as in the leisure and tourism sector. But economic contribution has to go hand-in-hand with the highest standards.
“We are delivering that, which should be welcome news to customers and communities across the country. Our work to raise standards goes on, and I expect these compliance rates to continue improving across the land-based betting and gaming sector.”
Serve Legal is the market-leading provider of ID and compliance testing services in the UK & Ireland. Providing extensive, independent audit services to national retailers, leisure operators and sports broadcasters, Serve Legal’s site audits help clients protect and improve operational and compliance standards.
Over the last 15 years, Serve Legal has conducted over 200,000 bookmaker and casino site audits, to ensure due diligence across a range of compliance issues for BGC members.
Audit checks were conducted at single-site businesses through to national brands with thousands of locations on UK high streets.
Serve Legal Client Manager Ali Deering said: “Compliance challenges can be greater for smaller independent bookmakers. The BGC have done admirable work in bringing them up to speed with the latest compliance support, to offer a level playing field with other big names in the industry. At Serve Legal we are proud to be supporting all of the BGC’s members, including casinos, with their due diligence and celebrate the tangible successes in each of them!”
The improvement comes as a result of new measures on customer interactions and improved “challenge on entry” standards for age verification.
Serve Legal CEO Ed Heaver said: “The Serve Legal team are incredibly proud of the work conducted by the BGC and their members. Their impressive dedication and work ethic has paid off in some highly impressive statistics, showing the 30% compliance increase across the industry over the time that we have worked in the sector. We thank the BGC for pioneering their mission of customer safety alongside ours.”
The BGC’s commitment to protecting young people extends beyond land-based betting and gaming, including recent commitments on advertising.
In 2019, BGC members introduced the whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting commercials during live sports before the 9 pm watershed, which led to the number of such ads being seen by children at that time falling by 97%.
BGC members have also introduced new age-gating rules for advertising on social media platforms, targeting ads to those aged 25 and over unless a platform can verifiably prove that its age-gating systems can prevent under-18s from accessing regulated betting and gaming advertising content.
The BGC has also written to the Government, asking them to urge social media companies to cooperate more closely with the betting and gaming industry in limiting marketing seen by young people and problem gamblers.
Recent data from the Gambling Commission published last year showed young people’s exposure to betting and gaming adverts and promotions had declined compared to the previous year.
Of 11 to 17-year-olds, 55% had seen regulated betting and gaming adverts offline, compared to 66% in 2022, and 53% had seen adverts online, compared to 63% in 2022.
The Government has previously stated research did not establish a causal link between exposure to advertising and the development of problem betting and gaming.
The regulated betting and gaming industry is determined to promote safer gaming, unlike the unsafe and growing online black market, which has none of the safeguards strictly employed by BGC members.
BGC members overall contribute £7.1bn to the economy and generate £4.2bn in tax while supporting 110,000 jobs.
Each month in Great Britain around 22.5m adults have a bet and the most recent NHS Health Survey for England estimated that 0.4% of the adult population are problem gamblers.
The post Betting and Gaming Council Members Boast Record Compliance on Age Verification Checks appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
Taichi Tech Limited Fined £170,000 for Unfair Terms and Conditions

An online gambling business has been fined £170,000 by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for regulatory failures including the use of unfair terms and conditions.
Taichi Tech Limited – trading as Fafabet – will also have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
A Commission investigation revealed Taichi Tech Limited had stated that: “Fafabet have the right at their own discretion to close accounts or forfeit winnings” within their bonus terms for new casino promotions.
The Gambling Commission’s investigation concluded that Taichi Tech Limited breached the fair and open licensing condition by including a discretionary term allowing the operator to close customer accounts or forfeit winnings without clear justification. Such terms lack transparency and may lead to unfair outcomes for consumers.
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) is the general consumer protection legislation, and it is explicitly referenced within the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) that gambling companies must follow. The LCCP requires licensees to ensure that their terms and practices are fair, clear, and do not breach consumer protection law. Operators must therefore have regard to the CRA as part of their overall compliance obligations under the LCCP.
The investigation also found failures relating to anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches.
Examples included:
• some customers were able to gamble large sums within a short period of time, despite the operator holding limited customer information
• in certain cases, individuals exhibiting potential markers of harm — such as high-velocity spending over short periods — received insufficient customer interaction from the operator
• where safer gambling emails were sent but not acknowledged by the customer and concerning behaviour continued, there was no further follow-up or intervention by the operator.
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement and Intelligence at the Gambling Commission, said: “We expect all operators — regardless of their size or customer base — to comply with consumer protection legislation and ensure their terms and conditions meet regulatory standards.
“Licensed operators must ensure their terms are clear, fair, and transparent, so customers fully understand what to expect.”
He added that the Commission’s assessment identified deficiencies in the operator’s social responsibility and anti-money laundering controls, including failures to effectively manage risk and implement adequate consumer protection measures.
The operator has acknowledged that it previously fell short of the standards expected by the Commission and has since taken steps to address these shortcomings. As part of the regulatory outcome, the operator is required to commission an independent third-party audit to provide assurance of ongoing compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements.
The post Taichi Tech Limited Fined £170,000 for Unfair Terms and Conditions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Central Europe
Turnover of Legal Gambling Market in Hungary Increases

The Regulated Activities Supervisory Authority (SZTFH) has announced that the turnover of the legal gambling market in Hungary has increased.
The SZTFH and its predecessor have been blocking illegal gambling websites since 2014, preventing them from being accessible to Hungarian players. Thanks to the more than two thousand blockings ordered so far in 2024 and 2025, the traffic and turnover of the legal market is sharply increasing compared to the total market, which can be considered a significant improvement compared to the illegal market presence in previous years.
One of the main goals of the SZTFH is to take action against websites offering illegal online gambling that are not licensed in Hungary and the prohibited advertising sites that promote them, and to whitewash the Hungarian online gambling market. In the past two years, several legislative changes have come into force that have resulted in the acceleration and extension of the blocking procedure to advertising and contributing sites, and have created the opportunity to track and immediately block illegal sites that are constantly jumping to new domain names every day in order to evade the authority’s measures. Thanks to the change in the legal environment and the intensive action of the Authority, the number of visits to illegal gambling sites has now decreased significantly.
In the case of services offered by organisers who are not licensed to organise gambling in Hungary, the Authority has no possibility to oblige the gambling organiser to comply with the guarantee rules protecting the interests of the players, and the claim for the payment of the prize cannot be enforced before a Hungarian court. Gambling organisers who are not licensed by the Authority also violate the interests of the Hungarian State in the economic activity of organising and operating gambling. In addition to the above, by not joining the player protection register kept by the Authority, which prevents players who have been excluded from gambling voluntarily or by a court from participating in gambling, they also constitute an obstacle to the effective enforcement of goals related to player protection.
The SZTFH is committed to the elimination of illegal gambling and the whitening and increasing the competitiveness of the Hungarian gambling market in order to protect the interests of Hungarian players, and therefore will continue its intensive blocking activities with great effort and the use of innovative solutions in the future. Players can find out about the gambling organizers licensed in Hungary and the illegal sites blocked by the Authority on the Authority’s website.
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Compliance Updates
MGA Signs MoU with MFSA

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) to enhance the collaboration and reinforcing the long-standing relationship between the two regulatory bodies.
This agreement complements an existing multi-party MoU between the Sanctions Monitoring Board (SMB), the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), the MFSA and the MGA, which remains in force and governs cooperation in areas related to anti-money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
While the multi-party MoU continues to provide a robust basis for coordination in these specific areas, the MGA and the MFSA identified the need for a separate bilateral agreement to govern their broader relationship. The newly signed MoU sets out a structure for closer cooperation in areas of mutual regulatory interest, with the aim of supporting each authority in the effective discharge of its respective functions.
In addition, the MoU includes provisions relating to training and education, with the aim of equipping both authorities with the necessary skills and knowledge in areas where there may be regulatory overlap. This commitment to capacity building is intended to strengthen institutional competencies and support the overall effectiveness of the respective regulatory frameworks.
MGA CEO Charles Mizzi said: “This agreement marks another step forward in our commitment to strengthening inter-agency collaboration. The relationship between the MGA and the MFSA is an important one, and through this MoU we are not only enhancing the exchange of information but also fostering a shared commitment to high regulatory standards and professional development.”
MFSA CEO Kenneth Farrugia said: “The MoU that the MFSA entered into with the MGA is a reflection of our commitment and dedicated efforts to strengthen ties with other local authorities, as we continue to recognise the value of inter-institutional collaboration. This agreement enhances our mutual cooperation on due diligence and enforcement, which is essential in view of the similar players in the respective industries that we regulate and serve. The MoU itself goes beyond the exchange of good practice and intelligence, as it also focuses on the upskilling of our supervisors who are instrumental to the daily operations of both authorities.”
The post MGA Signs MoU with MFSA appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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