Grab a coffee and read about this van-tastic aid road trip for Ukraine through our compliance consultant Andrew Mason’s eyes. He regales us with a play by play of his recent road trip to Poland with the #SendingLoveToUkraine crew from Cornwall and Devon. From the decision-making process behind joining the volunteer group and the organisation, to the loading of the ambulances and vans, the drive itself and meeting up with the Ukraine volunteers who met them in Warsaw – Andrew gives us the best summary of what the team experienced on this exhausting but incredibly worthwhile and rewarding trip. 

Slots, slots and more slots! After almost 20 years, the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has finally given the casino industry a much-welcomed boost by levelling the playing field between those casinos that have been around since the 1960’s with those newer 2005 licences. Read all about the changes and what they mean in our Compliance Consultant Nigel Harvey’s summary article ‘Slots galore - Levelling the casino playing field’

What’s the craic with the GRAI? If you’re an operator who is or wants to offer Irish punters gambling products like betting, gaming, and the lottery, whether online or in physical shops, you must do two things; 1. Read this article, and 2. Get specific licences for each activity and beef up your safer gambling framework. Our ever savvy Compliance Consultant Louisa Clark perfectly summarises the latest update from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Act 2024 in this month’s Compliance Chatter article: ‘Ireland’s New Gambling Landscape: A Sharper Focus on Safer Gambling Challenges’. 

Back to the promo drawing board. But never fear the team at #BetsmartTowers have read and digested the Gambling Commission's latest consultation response around making promotions fairer and simpler, and are ready to share their thoughts. Get Andrew Mason’s great article ‘To promo or two promos?’ hot off the press.

Ready for inspection? It’s time to get your ducks in a row. Recently our CEO and Founder, Kirsty Caldwell gave readers an insight into the new processes for regulatory assessments from the #GamblingCommission and hinted we can expect a more targeted approach in 2025, alongside the new assessment ‘mechanics’ which have already been rolled out.  

Thanks to recent speeches from the GC’s CEO, Andrew Rhodes, we may have a few more clues as to what ‘a more targeted approach’ might mean. Our AML and compliance consultant, Nigel Harvey, has tried to read between the lines to give clients a head start on how to prepare for when the notification of a visit, on site or virtually, comes. 

We don’t have a crystal ball...or do we? As featured in EGR and iGamingFuture, our CEO and co-founder, Kirsty Caldwell has put together 6 expert predictions based on probability, facts and gut instinct with almost 20 years' experience in the industry. Whether your strategy is complete or not, these may help guide and inform you on important aspects within the gambling industry. 

Finally, the event everyone has been waiting for, Betsmart’s 12 days of festive industry recognition, begins. We were overwhelmed by the number of nominations sent in, thank you. The judging team enjoyed reading about the great and innovative work going on across our industry, which made opening nominations to our network so worthwhile. There were so many deserving nominees, and it took several meetings at Betsmart Towers, but we finally managed to establish the winners. Day by day we will announce who is in our winners circle.

Licences galore – which should be avoided? As previously mentioned we’ve worked in over 26 different countries around the world and a service we frequently get asked for is a pros and cons analysis of various jurisdictions based on the clients' requirements. However, we have seen a change in the types of requests for ‘rest of the world’ licences over the last 12 months and a move towards specifically ignoring certain jurisdictions. To read our thoughts on that and what may have caused it, read our latest article.

Nominate your winners today! Continuing last year’s inaugural Betsmarties award festivities into 2024, we wanted to continuously improve the process to recognise more people, more operators and more organisations spanning across the gambling industry. 

With a variety of types of #games which are technically possible to play for free, giving users an experience akin to real-money #gambling, why don’t they fall under regulation and aren’t required to have a gambling #licence? How can members of the public be protected if the powers that be are unable to regulate or manage them? Thanks to @Joe Levy, Kirsty puts the pieces of the regulatory puzzle together and gives recommendations on how to level the playing field for users and businesses alike.

PML Holders and leadership teams working within the gambling industry can collectively take a deep breath and expel a long sigh of relief, knowing that renowned compliance and governance experts Betsmart Consulting and Gambling Integrity have teamed up to provide the ultimate training and advisory support for these under pressure yet underserved individuals.

Does size matter? The misconception that bigger always means better has been a long-debated topic, yet Andrew Mason, our seasoned compliance consultant, has set about debunking the myth, and gives every organisation the best 6 questions to ask a consulting firm to determine the perfect cultural and operational fit for their business.  

Ignore at your peril. If you missed Andrew Rhodes’ new blog earlier this month, highlighting key issues and the GC’s expectations around account withdrawals, we’d suggest you have a read of this article and then delve into the detail outlined by the Commission’s CEO.

Labour’s manifesto commitment is all well and good, but find out what the 9 key considerations for all operators should be ahead of a change in government, and what it would mean for the industry in practice.

Join Kirsty and Helen as they discuss with refreshing common sense how the white paper is impacting the industry from casino, game design, remote technical standards to multiple jurisdictional compliance and safer gambling

Stay up to date and in the know on the hottest topic in UK gambling, Financial Risk Checks, and the latest parliament debate and GC blog.

Whistleblowing, Governance and Exec Management oversight – what can gambling companies learn from the Post Office Inquiry?

The inaugural Betsmarties Awards recognise 12 hugely talented and innovative individuals and organisations. Keep an eye out for our 12 LinkedIn posts every day from 05 Dec.

Betsmart and Evolve Sports Integrity’s new partnership offers sports betting operators a unique, one-stop, full-service solution for all of their compliance needs.