Review of the Gambling News in 2023

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By Dave Sawyer, Last updated Jan 2, 2024

So another 12 months have been and gone and 2023 is now behind us, so as we enter the year 2024, Casinomeister News returns from its festive break and we take a look at the year just gone and see what made the headlines throughout 2023.

With conferences returning, ever tightening regulation of iGaming being actioned by regulatory authorities, to a record year in returns to players thanks to the Player Arbitration Service run by Max Drayman and Gourdfollower here on Casinomeister.

January 2023

iGaming conference specialists SiGMA were all set for a busy 2023 with the lifting of all Covid 19 restrictions, which had affected the holding of industry conferences across the globe, with the Malta based company announcing that 2023 was predicted to be their busiest year yet.

GAMSTOP, the free, independent national self-exclusion scheme for online gambling,  revealed in January 23 that a record 84,000 people registered with their service during the course of 2022, the highest annual figure since the service launched in April 2018.

Keep an eye on the Gambling News here on Casinomeister in the coming days, to see if this figure was broken during 2023.

February 2023

Rightlander, the advertising and affiliate compliance monitoring specialist, picked up the award for ‘Best Technology for Affiliate Programmes’ at the IGB awards ceremony in London held in the month of February 2023.

Regulation as mentioned at the top of the article was a running theme throughout 2023 and during the month of February we reported on the fact that regulation in the UK at least was set to get ever tighter. Here we laid out just some of the areas being looked at by the UK government.

March 2023

The month of March was no different sadly, with several operators being clobbered with regulatory action in the form of fines, payments in lieu of sanctions and the such like.

Kindred owned brands being hit saw the Swedish operator having to fork out £7 million, whilst well known UK High Street bookmaker and online heavyweight William Hill had bestowed on them the dubious honour of being the recipient of a record fine handed out by the UKGC. An eye watering £19.2m!

You can read about it here.

April 2023

On the 1st April, we reported here on Casinomeister News that the UKGC were set to enforce all UK licensed operators to have a minimum RTP set on all games of 99.9%. Rumour is forum member Dunover is still clearing up after his cat who he scared half to death with his screams of joy upon reading the news here.

The self exclusion service GAMSTOP celebrated its 5th birthday and also announced that more than 365,000 people had registered with the service from its inception to the end of March 2023.

Online casino Casumo announced they were exiting stage left the German market on 28th April.

May 2023

The sad news that poker legend Doyle Brunson passed away at the age of 89 was reported on during May. Brunson who became known as the ‘Godfather of Poker’  was a two time WSOP Main Event winner and was also the first player to win $1m in poker tournaments.

A plethora of new games was announced during the month of May from numerous casino game studios, while operator Skill On Net had regulatory action taken against them by the UKGC.

June 2023

British broadsheet The Guardian announce that they will no longer accept advertisements placed by gambling companies. In the article that can be read here, Anna Bateson, the Chief Executive of Guardian Media Group (GMG), explained on The Guardian’s website that the decision was driven by research findings, a shift in public attitudes, and The Guardian’s own reporting.

With not even half of 2023 complete, the Player Arbitration Service run by Casinomeister was already looking to achieve a record return to players during the course of the year.

Max Drayman commenting: “We have completed almost 250 PABs  so far and just topped €300,000 returned to players.”

July 2023

NHS England issues a warning regarding the risks associated with easily accessible gambling options, as a growing number of individuals in England are seeking help for gambling addiction.

The Glitnor Group announce that they are to acquire a 37.5% share in PlayStar, with Jörgen Nordlund, Co-Founder at Glitnor Group, stating: “Through our investment work with Glitnor Ventures, Glitnor Group aims to identify the best up-and-coming talent the iGaming industry has to offer – and in PlayStar, we believe we’ve identified the perfect partner in the U.S.”

August 2023

iGaming Business announces a strategic partnership with Glücksspielwesen.de, the gambling-focused arm of Germany’s monthly news title for public servants, Behörden Spiegel.

At the end of August we sat down with Connor Blinman the Head of Games at the casino game studio Gaming Corps, to find out what has been happening with them since we last spoke with them and to find out the latest news coming out of the studio.

September 2023

More regulatory action and this time the month of September saw In Touch Games have their UK licenses suspended by the UK Gambling Commission. Meaning sites operated by In Touch Games to include bonusboss.co.uk, cashmo.co.uk, drslot.co.uk, jammymonkey.com, and slotfactory.com unable to accept players from the UK.

Arguably the biggest story of the month though was the reported cyber attack on MGM Resorts, which caused hotels and casinos operated by the group to include the famous Bellagio unable to check in guests!

October 2023

Microgaming’s PlayItForward initiative celebrated its 10th year, with the Isle of Man based iGaming company helping to develop and support the dreams and ambitions of the island’s brightest young talents, regardless of social or economic backgrounds during this time.

A glut of games were released with a Halloween theme, including another ‘Book Of’ slot game with Spinomenal’s Book of SpinOWeen

November 2023

November saw Big Time Gaming and Light & Wonder join forces to unleash Bonanza Falls.

During Safer Gambling Week PlayOJO  launched their “Too much of ANYTHING can be bad” campaign as part of their work to support Safer Gambling Week.

December 2023

Casinomeister launches their Great PAB Giveaway of 2023, in recognition of having negotiated the return to players of over €1m during the course of the past 12 months.

2023 was a record year which saw the small but dedicated Casinomeister PAB team deal with over 500 PAB’s and pick up the Best ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution) Award at SIGMA 2023 in the process.

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