

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.
AGCO
AGCO Updates Responsible Gambling Training Standards for Gaming and Lottery

As of July 11, 2025, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) no longer requires Registrar approval for responsible gambling (RG) training programs for casino and lottery employees. This change applies to both the Gaming and Lottery Standards and supports a more flexible, outcomes-based approach.
What’s changing
• Standard 2.5 has been updated to remove the need for Registrar approval of RG training.
• Training must still be mandatory, regularly updated, and based on best practices.
• Employees must understand responsible gambling, their role in player protection, and how to support those showing signs of gambling harm.
What this change means for operators and lottery retailers
• Casino and lottery operators now have more flexibility to design and update RG training.
• Existing PlaySmart training remains valid.
Why this change matters
This change reduces red tape, encourages innovation, and maintains Ontario’s high standards for player protection. This also aligns with AGCO’s outcomes-based regulatory approach and brings greater consistency across gaming sectors, including iGaming.
The post AGCO Updates Responsible Gambling Training Standards for Gaming and Lottery appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Compliance Updates
VIDEO | Spanish, Brazilian regulator speak at 2025 Gaming in Spain Conference

2025 Gaming in Spain Conference once again brought together key stakeholders in Spain’s regulated iGaming industry.
If you were there, thank you for attending – also on behalf of our co-hosts Xavi Muñoz and ECIJA Law Firm!
Willem van Oort, Founder of Gaming in Spain, commented: “We are extremely pleased to have organized another successful Gaming in Spain Conference. All major stakeholders in Spain’s regulated online gambling market were present, as well as several experts from Brazil and other Latin American countries who highlighted the opportunities offered by these transatlantic markets. We almost can’t wait to see everyone again next year!”
In case you missed the event, full video recordings of key sessions are included below.
Mikel Arana, Director General, DGOJ: “Algorithms, advertising & deposit limits: Outlines and obligations”
The post VIDEO | Spanish, Brazilian regulator speak at 2025 Gaming in Spain Conference appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
Ratification of the 2026 Betting Framework for LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX, Incorporating Excessive Gambling Mitigation Strategies

Each year, the National Gaming Authority approves the gaming and betting programme for the coming year for operators holding exclusive rights (FDJ and PMU). This approval, where applicable, specifies the conditions for implementing the gaming programme. This is one of the manifestations of the Authority’s close monitoring of operators holding exclusive rights to ensure that they comply with their enhanced obligations, particularly with regard to the prevention of excessive gambling.
First, data from the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI) communicated by LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX shows that, for the first time since 2020, the proportion of both excessive and problem gamblers is increasing in 2024 compared to 2023 for all activity under the operator’s exclusive rights, whereas these proportions remained stable between 2020 and 2023.
Furthermore, LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX has indicated that it wishes to “ensure the attractiveness of the lottery and sports betting offering at points of sale by 2026 through product range promotion, innovation and digitalization”. The operator is thus proposing an intensification of its commercial offering, through dynamic promotion of all its game ranges, a strong innovation strategy and the use of incentive design techniques.
Taking these elements into account, in its decision of July 3, 2025 the ANJ decided to approve the programme for the 2026 games, subject to several strict conditions.
Generally speaking, and given the ambiguity of these messages, the company LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX must refrain from accompanying the marketing of its new games with promotional messages offering incentives relating to the probability of winning associated with the game offered compared to other games that it markets (statements such as: “more than x chance(s) out of x of winning”, “Best chance of winning €X”) as well as the “minimum winnings” that may be won.
With regard to online games, the company must strive to limit the share of gross gaming revenue generated by excessive and problem players, across all ranges, all segments of the offer and all games offered online. With regard more specifically to the range of online games with successive draws, online scratch cards available from the physical distribution network at 3 euros and more, and that of “Web Exclusive” games, it must reduce this share substantially; in particular, the company must withdraw or modify games with the most excessive level of play.
With regard to draw games, the digital extension of the “Amigo” game is not authorised and the freeze on the range of successive draw games implemented in 2025 is maintained in 2026. The company LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX must continue to reduce the share of gross gaming revenue (GGR) of the “Bingo Live” game generated by excessive players and take new measures to substantially reduce the risks of the Amigo game in the physical distribution network.
With regard to scratch cards offered in physical distribution networks and online, the freeze on the number of launches of new €3 games or relaunches of already authorised games is maintained at three in 2026. The number of launches of new €5 games or relaunches of already authorised games is limited to two in 2026. The number of scratch cards marketed in 2026 in physical distribution networks and, where applicable, available online based on a unit stake of €5 does not exceed nine.
Concerning games sold exclusively online, the ANJ is requesting a reduction in their total number, which particularly concerns the ranges of games at €2, €3 and €5.
The post Ratification of the 2026 Betting Framework for LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX, Incorporating Excessive Gambling Mitigation Strategies appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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