Australia’s government has confirmed plans to ban gambling advertising during live sports broadcasts before 8:30pm.

Last month, broadcasters and betting operators expressed opposition to reports that Communications Minister Mitch Fifield was preparing new restrictions on gambling advertising. Fifield has now confirmed that these changes will be incorporated into next week’s federal budget and will take effect in March 2018.

The changes will prohibit gambling adverts during live sports broadcasts – be they on television, radio or streamed online – that air before the traditional ‘mature audience’ watershed of 8:30pm. The ban will apply starting five minutes before a live sports event begins and will last until five minutes after the match finishes, or until 8:30pm, whichever comes sooner.

Fifield insists that the ban will ensure “a clear and practical zone for families and children to watch live sport.” Tellingly, the ban retains the existing exemptions for lotteries and race betting operators, because no child has ever grown up to become a race betting or lottery addict.

Authorities in Taiwan have broken up an illegal online gambling ring that catered to local gamblers as well as punters on the Chinese mainland.

On Friday, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that the country’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) had raided multiple locations in Taichung City on Wednesday, arresting 33 individuals suspected of involvement in the illegal online sports betting operation, which focused primarily on European football matches.

CIB officials said their investigation had determined that the site had been in operation since last December. Since that time, the betting site had handled wagers totaling NT$340m (US $11.3m), averaging around NT$2.25m per day.

The CIB fingered a man identified only as Tseng as the brains behind the operation, which reportedly employed over a dozen people working in three shifts around the clock. These staffers were responsible for recruiting customers through social media and text messaging services, as well as setting up bank or Alipay accounts through which Chinese customers’ bets would be deposited and any winnings paid out.

UK online poker operator PKR has reportedly filed for administration after suspending online play earlier this week.

On Wednesday, PKR’s website alerted players that its parent companies PKR Ltd and PKR Technologies Ltd had “experienced recent financial difficulties and are in the process of taking professional advice.”

On Friday, this message was updated to confirm that the two companies had “filed applications to Court for Administration orders, which will be heard in the week commencing 8th May 2017.”

The message went on to say that further updates would be released following next week’s hearings that would “include contact details for players and creditors to address queries and details” of the administration process. In the meantime, the site’s social media accounts have gone dark, leaving players with few answers to their many questions.