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NHS to Open Two New Gambling Addiction Clinics in England

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The NHS is going to open two new gambling addiction clinics in England to meet the increasing demand for specialist support for gambling addiction.

The two new clinics, based in Southampton and Stoke-On-Trent, will open from May and mean there will be seven specialist clinics in place across England.

The north of England has the highest prevalence of at-risk gamblers, with 4.4% of adults in the North West and 4.9% in the North East being at the most risk of addiction.

Between April and December last year, 668 people with the most severe gambling addiction issues were referred to NHS gambling clinics – up from 575 during the same period in 2020 – a 16.2% increase.

The news comes alongside a letter from NHS mental health chief Claire Murdoch to GambleAware, confirming that the NHS will be fully funding its own gambling services from April – bringing the support in line with other NHS services.

The decision follows feedback from patients and clinicians opposing the conflict of interest from the gambling industry, which generates profits of over £14 billion a year in the UK, in funding treatment for addiction.

Research published by Public Health England (now the UK Health Security Agency) last September estimated around 0.5% of the adult population, around 246,000 people, are likely to have some form of gambling addiction with around 2.2 million people either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction.

NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch said: “Gambling addiction is a cruel mental health condition that can devastate people’s lives – our pilot clinics are already having a lasting impact in helping people to take back vital control of their lives.

“The opening of two new gambling clinics in May, as a part of our £2.3 billion investment into mental health services, will mean we can help even more people with the most serious gambling problems.

“It is also absolutely right that the NHS now funds these clinics independently, recognising the harmful effects this addiction can have on the nation’s mental health, and that predatory tactics from gambling companies are part of the problem, not the solution.”

Later this year the NHS will launch a new Gambling Harm Network and Clinical Reference Group, which will bring expertise together and enable clinical teams to share best practices for helping to treat gambling addiction.

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WA Technology ready to transform partners’ operations at SBC Summit

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WA Technology ready to transform partners’ operations at SBC Summit
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Leading supplier ready to unveil latest innovations for LatAm operators at stand C155, Feira Internacional de Lisboa

WA.Technology, the award-winning B2B iGaming solutions provider, is ready to unveil its latest innovations across its lottery and sportsbook platforms at the SBC Summit in Lisbon later this month.

Already recognised as one of Latin America’s most successful B2B partners, the premium solutions provider is set to showcase multiple product launches specifically designed for LatAm operators.

The result of more than a year’s R&D work, a major highlight of WA.Technology’s latest launches will focus on giving its LatAm partners a major advantage across the fast-growing lottery vertical.

Already hugely popular across online, WA.Technology will unveil its latest WA.Lottery product at stand C155, which promises to revolutionise how online operators engage with retail lottery bettors across Latin America.

WA.Technology’s partners will now be able to integrate the provider’s newly upgraded lottery product directly into their online casino or sportsbook via a seamless wallet integration.

Representing a high-performing acquisition tool for all partners, players can access more than 70 of the world’s biggest lottery formats, including weekly prizes of $100m across all LatAm and Brazilian draws.

Highly popular Lottery games from the USA, such as Powerball and Megamillions, will also be available, with jackpots reaching in excess of $1bn.

In addition, WA.Technology will unveil its new fantasy sports and Pick’Em Play Props offering, which is being rolled out imminently to big-name operators across the Latin American market.

Designed for players to unleash their sporting expertise across Daily Fantasy Sports and Free-to-Play predictor games, both represent a tried-and-tested acquisition tool for LatAm operators to boost engagement, retention, and cross-selling opportunities.

Axel Antillon, Regional Director for Latin America at WA.Technology, expressed his excitement for the upcoming event: “The SBC Summit is fast approaching, and we can’t wait to showcase our portfolio of solutions to delegates at the event! At WA. Technology, our mission is to provide our operator partners with all the tools they need to scale their business within new markets.

“LatAm is quickly emerging as a major powerhouse for the gambling industry, with markets such as Brazil and Peru opening up, while Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico are all experiencing tremendous growth. Our wealth of local expertise, combined with our top-tier solutions and a reputation for excellence, mean WA.Technology is fast becoming the market’s go-to platform provider.”

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The World Tote Association (WoTA) announces election of a new Board; welcomes new members for 2025-26

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10th September 2024 – At the WoTA General meeting, hosted at the recent Asian Racing Conference in Sapporo, Japan, Board members worked collaboratively to establish a dynamic agenda for the organization, focused on multiple key objectives:

  • Creating stronger national and global betting pools, especially through commingling, to support the respective horseracing industries
  • Expanding pari-mutuel pool betting through additional markets and sporting events content for the additional collective benefit of WoTA operators
  • Addressing the challenges of illegal wagering
  • Working collectively on diversity and inclusion to further growth within the pool betting sector

Furthermore, WoTA members have elected the new Board who will drive the Association’s activities for the coming two years.

Fundi Sithebe, CEO of 4Racing in South Africa, and Keith Johnson, President of 1/ST TECHNOLOGY group/AmTote have accepted nominations to co-chair the Association. Riko Luiking, General Manager of German Tote, has likewise accepted the role of Treasurer.

Sithebe and Johnson take over from Alex Frost, CEO of the UK Tote Group, and Hans Lord Skarploth, CEO of ATG in Sweden, who have successfully co-chaired the Association since October 2022. During their tenure as Co-Chairs, the board initiated further commingling between members and a new sport pool project.

On taking over as Co-Chairs, Fundi Sithebe and Keith Johnson said: “We are delighted to be taking over as Co-Chairs of the World Tote Association. Over the last five years WoTA has made significant progress in developing the relationship between members and increasing understanding of the role pool betting plays in supporting horseracing around the globe. We thank Alex and Hasse for their excellent stewardship, and the entire WoTA Board for their efforts, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to further our collective ambitions for the good of horseracing and society as a whole.”

The new WoTA Board will focus on the stated key objectives to ensure WoTA progresses its overall aim to see the growth of pool betting and make an increased contribution to horseracing and has a positive relationship with customers, governments, regulators and society.

WoTA is also proud to welcome the Jockey Club of Turkey and Zeturf Group as full members of the Association.

Members of the WoTA Board for 2025-26:

  1. Keith Johnson – 1/ST TECHNOLOGY / AmTote (Co-Chair)
  2. Fundi Sithebe – 4Racing (Co-Chair)
  3. Alex Frost – UK Tote Group
  4. Hans Lord Skarplöth – ATG
  5. Paul Cross – Tabcorp
  6. Michael Fitzsimons – Hong Kong Jockey Club
  7. Driss Belghazi – Sorec
  8. Adrien Billon – Carrus Group
  9. Andreas Reimblad – Veikkaus
  10. Simon Leong – Singapore Pools
  11. Riko Luiking – German Tote (Treasurer)
  12. Andrew Archibald – United Tote

Biography of the WoTA Co-Chairs for 2025-26:

Fundi Sithebe, Chief Executive Officer of 4Racing

Fundi Sithebe was appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 4Racing PTY on 1 June 2021. 4Racing is the largest of the three horseracing operators within South Africa, and the company is responsible for horseracing operations, totalisator betting and broadcast operations of horseracing. The business has the largest sports pool offering in South Africa, licensed by the provincial gambling boards. A large part of her responsibilities is to ensure a successful turnaround, stabilising and the growth and sustainability of the horse racing business whilst managing the day-to-day operations, transformation and modernisation of the various business units.

Fundi was previously the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) responsible for daily operations on both aeronautic and non-aeronautic operations.

One of her biggest passions is the inclusivity and growth of female representation in the industries she serves in. She was previously a member of a few non-profit initiatives within the aviation industry (namely, Southern African Women in Aviation and Aerospace (SAWIA), Women in Aviation (W&A) as well as chairperson of Akani Aviation Leadership Initiative South Africa) that aimed to ensure a larger and a sustainable base of females in the aviation industry, and ensuring greater gender representation in the horseracing industry is an important objective for her.

Keith Johnson, President of 1/ST TECHNOLOGY group/AmTote

Keith joined the industry via AmTote in 1989 having just earned a BSBA degree from Auburn University.  Embracing the racing & wagering industry that his family had decades of roots in, Keith progressed within AmTote from its operational ground up, gaining extensive industry knowledge and experience within multiple departmental positions including field operations management, hub operations management, regional operations management, sales, and executive leadership positions, ultimately being promoted to President of AmTote in 2016.  In 2024, Keith was promoted to President of the broader 1/ST TECHNOLOGY group, which is inclusive of AmTote, PariMAX, Xpressbet, 1/ST BET, and BetMIX business units.

 

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Regulated Online Casinos using Military-Grade Technology to Outsmart Cyber Criminals

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With cybercrime running rampant and data breaches on the rise, trusted online casinos globally are arming themselves with the latest military-grade encryption technologies to outsmart even the most sophisticated cyber thugs.

Minimum Deposit Casinos (MDC) – a leading global casino resource portal – said data breaches were becoming more common and costly as resourceful criminals lurk everywhere on the internet. For the gambling industry, data encryption goes beyond protecting financial transactions: it’s about securing every interaction – from logins to game history. Every piece of player information is encrypted, making it virtually impossible for unauthorized parties to access.

“Regulated and reputable online casinos cannot afford to gamble on security. Player safety and protection is a non-negotiable. That’s why they are investing heavily in multi-layered next gen encryption – the same technology used by governments and global financial institutions – to become impenetrable to digital threats,” said Miranda Raaff, Head of iGaming Information at MDC.

“This level of high-tech security means that even in the event of a possible data breach, encrypted information remains unreadable and useless to cybercriminals. The integration of state-of-the-art firewalls, end-to-end encryption, and real-time monitoring systems means online casinos are safeguarding every transaction from deposits to withdrawals, as well as securing every player interaction in transit.”

The urgency of this move has never been more critical. With high-profile breaches like those at energy giant Halliburton, data broker company National Public Data (NPD), and auto giant Toyota – billions of individuals’ sensitive information could be exposed.

“The stakes have never been higher. The mission of regulated online casinos is to outsmart cyber hooligans at every turn and that’s why they are constantly adapting their defenses to combat new threats in the fast-changing cyber world. Player trust is the cornerstone of their success, so they are doing everything in their power to protect it,” concluded Raaff.

 

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