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** 1 March 2023
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** UK
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** UK gambling groups braced for sweeping reforms to protect customers (#1)
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** North Shields shop ordered to close after fake cigarettes seized in raid by Trading Standards (#2)
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** UK
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** UK gambling groups braced for sweeping reforms to protect customers

UK gambling groups are preparing for the release of a major government review into the £10bn industry as soon as late March, which will introduce a statutory levy to fund public health initiatives and tighter financial checks on customers.

The sweeping reforms are expected to ban so-called VIP packages on betting sites, pressure football’s Premier League to end front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship and legally oblige operators to allocate 1 per cent of gross yields to gambling harms care, raising an estimated £140 million a year, according to Whitehall insiders.

Coming after almost two years of delays, which have been strongly criticised by medical professionals and campaigners, the white paper will mark the first overhaul to the rules governing the industry since 2005.

As well as the ban on VIP loyalty schemes that can spur spending, stakes on online slots will be capped at between £2 and £5. But sector insiders briefed by government officials said the most controversial and complex measure — affordability checks on gamblers — was still being debated.

Proposed caps of £125 on monthly losses or £500 on annual losses before the activation of checks, which featured in an earlier draft of the review, could be watered down, said people close to discussions.

According to the Gambling Commission, about 0.3 per cent of British adults were problem gamblers at the end of 2021, but a survey by polling company YouGov put the figure at 2.8 per cent, or almost 1.4 million people.

Heather Wardle, reader in sociology at Glasgow university, said the hold-ups had exacted “a very real human cost” and that the review’s pledge to “protect people from harms” jarred with “an underlying economic model by which . . . growth is coming from those who are harmed most”.

Source: The Financial Times, 28 February 2023
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** North Shields shop ordered to close after fake cigarettes seized in raid by Trading Standards

A North Shields shop has been ordered to close temporarily after a Trading Standards raid discovered fake cigarettes on the premises.

The shop must close for three months after Trading Standards officers from North Tyneside Council found fake cigarettes on the premises and in vehicles parked nearby on five occasions. The council was granted a three-month closure order by North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court - the first time the council has used a closure order to tackle the supply of illicit tobacco.

Councillor Carole Burdis, Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety said: “The supply of illicit tobacco has a detrimental effect to local communities. Half of all long-term smokers will die from a smoking-related disease, so we need to make sure that children and young people are not attracted to or get hooked on tobacco.

"The trade in illicit tobacco doesn’t care whether children and young people suffer from the social, health, or economic effects smoking causes. Illicit cheap tobacco undermines price as one of the key drivers to bring down smoking rates, honest businesses cannot compete with illegal tobacco sellers and attracts criminality to neighbourhoods.”

Source: Chronicle Live, 24 February 2023
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