GambleAware is on a mission. It wants to ensure that responsible gaming is at the forefront of all U.K. gambling operators’ minds at all times and is developing a new system to help it achieve that goal. As the country’s main responsible gambling advocacy group, GambleAware is always looking at how to support its objectives, and is now bringing in Expert Link to give it some additional support. The two entities are going to team up to develop GambleAware’s new ALERTS initiative. 

ALERTS, Affected Lived Experience Research, Treatment and Support Group, was devised to enhance responsible gaming initiatives in the U.K., while also supporting equality and diversity in the gaming industry. It is built around individuals with “lived experience” in gambling harm, and GambleAware is funding the program for 18 months. After that, the goal is to have the group auto-sufficient and self-sustaining, possibly even sourcing its own funding to become more independent. 

Expert Link has been brought in to co-design the platform because of its work with “marginalized communities,” according to GambleAware. It has worked with individuals who have experienced social condemnation and has been involved in the creation of policies to address social issues. It’s hoped that ALERTS, with the assistance of both GambleAware and Expert Link, will become an integral part of national gambling policies to help shape the UK’s gaming industry. Explains GambleAware Research Director Alison Clare, “We hope this new group will serve as a single, inclusive network that is representative of all people with lived experience of gambling harms across Great Britain. We know there are other lived experience groups already out there doing good work in this area, and this new group will fill any gaps and reach those who are harder to engage with. Our ambition is to see this independent network grow and develop so that it can help inform all aspects of the gambling debate, from policy and regulation, to research, treatment and prevention.”

ALERTS will work through a membership model, with those members setting priorities and internal structures. Expert Link will help establish the start-up process and will likely continue to be involved after it’s up and running to ensure it stays on track. The platform will focus on existing treatment services and act as an advisor to several entities, including GambleAware, the National Clinicians Network Forum and the National Gambling Treatment Services. 

It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for Imperial Pacific International (IPI), but it hasn’t been anything the casino operator didn’t bring on itself. From a chairperson who is “clueless” about certain laws to a repeated inability to pay its debts, the company behind Saipan’s Casino Palace in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has had to face one problem after another. However, at least there is some good coming out of all the drama, as CNMI lawmakers are moving to reshape the commonwealth’s gaming industry and make it more sustainable. 

One of the measures being discussed, according to the Saipan Tribune, involves separating the oversight of IPI to segregate its casino operations from its hotel operations. A bill, Senate Bill 22-09, was introduced by Senator Victor B. Hocog to allow the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) to regulate IPI’s casino activity, while all non-gaming activities would be regulated by other entities. The CCC had initially been created because of IPI’s casino license, and shouldn’t be involved in other facets of the operation, according to Hocog. 

The bill was drafted on request of IPI and found support when it was discussed by the CNMI Senate. Most of the chamber’s members signed off as it went through its first, and final, reading, but not everyone was ready to approve the measure. Senators Paul A. Manglona and Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero voted against it, while Senator Teresita A. Santos abstained from voting. 

Part of the reason the two senators disapprove of the bill could be because they have plans of their own. Manglona and DeLeon Guerrero have filed Senate Bill 22-23, which would authorize a second casino license in the CNMI. Currently, IPI has an exclusive licensing agreement in the commonwealth, which has already proven to be a huge mistake, and, should the CCC decide to revoke that license, the new bill opens up the possibility of increasing the local gaming market. IPI’s license revocation, should it occur, would allow that license to be reissued and a second one issued, according to the legislation. 

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is certain that opening the state’s gambling market will bring a lot of much-needed financial relief. The idea of being able to capitalize on the revenue offered by sports gambling and online gaming has him seeing huge dollar signs, but, unfortunately, his hands are tied. As has been the case in other states in the same situation, Connecticut has to first get past tribal compacts before increasing its gambling market, and this has repeatedly proven to be a very difficult task. However, in an update provided by Lamont Wednesday, progress seems to be taking place. 

Lamont explained during a budget address two days ago that he and his administration are busy working with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes in order to try to bring more gambling options to the state. He indicated that progress is being made, but didn’t explain how far along the negotiations are. If he could, Lamont would already have online sportsbooks and casinos up and running, but convincing the tribes to agree to the changes is problematic. 

Lamont asserted during his address, “Our neighboring states are moving forward with sports betting and [iGaming], and Connecticut should not leave these opportunities for other states to benefit from our inaction. My administration has been in active negotiations with our tribal partners to bring the state’s gaming economy into the digital age. And I am submitting legislation which reflects what I believe to be the best bet in ending this stalemate of inaction in a way which is in the best interest [of] the entire state.” 

Two years ago, Lamont tried to get the tribes to agree to put a new joint casino project in the city of Bridgeport, not in East Windsor where they were headed. To entice them, he offered to throw in sports gambling and iGaming, but the tribes rejected the idea, suggesting that they aren’t interested in either activity. However, as 2020 brought massive revenue shortages because of COVID-19, the two tribes have shown that they are now more amenable to the idea. Casinos operated by the tribes saw significant losses last year and have already backed off the new East Windsor property idea.

The Daily Mail, possibly believing they’ve uncovered the sports scandal, are reporting the scandalous deals data providers make. The British tabloid has revealed their big investigation into data provided by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) reaching gambling operators before the general public.

In a report from their SportsMail section, they declare:

“Under the terms of contracts with data companies agreed between the ATP and IMG, and the WTA and StatsPerform, websites owned or funded by bookmakers are permitted to publish live scores ahead of sport’s official channels in the hope fans will be drawn to them and then be tempted to gamble.”

They go on to note that this is a deliberate practice, and suggest that it’s done so as to push the public to use gambling sites to check scores, rather than other sources of data.

In order to succeed in business, entrepreneurs have to be able to think outside the box and introduce new solutions to existing problems. That’s the route one inspiring and would-be businessman took when he decided to turn the casino floor at the Encore Boston Harbor into a pop-up methamphetamine drug store last September. Either that, or he was just really high. 

32-year-old Matthew Gorman of New Hampshire decided that it didn’t make much sense for meth users to have to go out of their way to purchase their vice, so he brought the vice to them. According to reports, Gorman was caught red-handed last September at the Wynn Resorts-owned property and busted for possession of meth, as well as two semi-automatic pistols and three large-capacity magazines. As a result, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office slapped him with five counts of possession of a large-capacity firearm, two counts of possession of a loaded firearm and a single count of possession with intent to distribute meth, considered a Class B substance.

The charges were upheld by a grand jury in Massachusetts’ Middlesex County. Given the fact that casinos have a great amount of experience monitoring and surveilling those who visit their properties, it would have been difficult for Gorman to find a way to plead not guilty, even if he hadn’t been caught with all the evidence in his possession. Massachusetts casinos began to reopen in July following a shutdown caused by COVID-19 and, even if security was a little rusty, casinos have too much at risk not to remain vigilant. With reduced capacities in response to the pandemic, security personnel and the eyes in the sky have a much easier time keeping tabs on what is happening on casino floors.

Now that the grand jury has weighed in on Gorman’s entrepreneurial spirit, next comes the sentencing. It will be up to a judge to determine the best penalty for his crimes, but it’s doubtful his spirit is going to be rewarded kindly. According to Massachusetts law, intentionally distributing meth is worth ten years in prison and a fine of as much as $10,000. Add to that possession of a large-capacity firearm, and the sentence jumps to at least 15 – five years for each possession charge. If Gorman is sentenced for all five firearm possession charges, he could be looking at 35 years behind bars.