United Kingdom

Online gambling operator Bet365 is being publicly shamed by a disgruntled punter who says she can’t get her winnings off the site. On Tuesday, The Guardian published the story of an unidentified female punter who claims to be having difficulties convincing Bet365 to fork over her £54k account balance....

The UK Gambling Commission has written to operators to warn them about facilitating betting on television programmes and other novelty markets. The regulator said that there had been repeated instances of operators offering markets on pre-recorded TV programmes such as Great British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing, and other...

The referendum that marked a historic time for Britain and Europe was a momentous event for punters too. Brexit vote broke the record for gambling on non-sporting events in the UK—eclipsing even the widely popular Royal baby and previous elections in the country—with punters putting down an estimated £120 million...

Ladbrokes has admitted that betting markets got the EU referendum outcome completely wrong and will have to “face up to some tough questions”. As the polls closed on Thursday night, Ladbrokes was offering 4-1 on an out vote, with its betting suggesting that a remain verdict was a 90%...

The EU referendum will be the largest political betting market in history, with about £100m expected to be gambled on the outcome. Around a third of those stakes are predicted to be placed when voters go to the polls on Thursday, as punters starved of any Euro 2016 matches...

The UK Horseracing Bettors’ Forum (HBF) has estimated that 20,000 British online accounts were closed by operators over the last six months. The estimation was included in a publication of the results of a survey conducted between 3 April and 30 April, which found that over 4,000 accounts were...

The Friday morning discussion of new referrals to the National Problem Gambling clinic provides a sharp picture of why pathological gambling is such a catastrophe for those who become addicted and their families. Medical staff gather in an airy upstairs room of the Fulham, south-west London clinic and take...

In an important, disturbing and often distressing investigation for the Guardian last Tuesday Tom Lamont laid bare the grim reality of daily working life for the staff in many of Britain’s 9,000 betting shops. He detailed violence, intimidation and long, unsociable hours, often worked under the modern regime of...

Ladbrokes Coral would be the third-biggest UK online sports-betting operator, in terms of traffic, should the merger be allowed to complete. Based on last year’s traffic numbers, released by digital research firm SimilarWeb, Ladbrokes is the fourth most popular i-gaming site in the UK with 15.1 million average visits...

Betfect has announced that William Hill has signed up to the sports-betting social network. Betfect went live last year with Ladbrokes as its first major partner. The new partnership is a considerable milestone for the social network that aims to revolutionise the betting industry with its platform. Betfect, a...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its provisional findings into the merger of the Ladbrokes and Coral betting businesses. In a statement issued on 20 May 2016 the CMA said that the merger “may give rise to competition concerns” with regard to betting shops “in a large...

The Gambling Commission has welcomed the Government’s announcement of a domestic charter for Sports Governance in the UK and will support ongoing work towards the preparation of a Code of Sports Governance in the UK. The Commission’s Sports Betting Intelligence Unit continues to receive a steady flow of reports...

Two men have been ordered to pay over £32,000 in fines and legal costs to Kingston Council following a crackdown on illegal gambling at a London private members’ club. Nicholas Clark and Luke Flack pleaded guilty to gambling offences at Kingston Crown Court on Friday 29 April. The offence...

The BBC’s Daily Politics has discussed how betting shops are the safest places to gamble in the UK. Chief Executive Malcolm George reported on the issue for the programme’s “SoapBox” feature, before debating with MP Kwasi Kwarteng and Baroness Prosser. In the film, Malcolm noted that anyone can buy...

William Hill called for investors to attend a trading update and online review on 23 March. The results at Cheltenham had been awful, the worst in living memory according to James Henderson, William Hills Chief Executive. Then the surprise: social responsibility measures had caused the company to see 3,000...