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Promoting Safer Gambling Is ‘Mission Critcial’ For The Industry
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OPERATORS are doing more to promote safer gambling than at any time in the last two decades, John Hagan, chairman of the Industry Group For Responsible Gambling, on Thursday told the inaugural EGR UK Summit.
Speaking on the opening day of Responsible Gambling Week, Mr Hagan hailed the commitment of gambling companies to create a safer environment for their customers, but said the campaign had reached a ‘critical stage’ and the challenge was to reach occasional gamblers who did not think responsible gambling messages applied to them. He highlighted YouGov research, commissioned by the IGRG, which showed many adults who played the lottery, bought scratch cards or enjoyed betting on sport did not think they were gambling.
The EGR UK Summit, held at Twickenham Stadium in association with Responsible Gambling Week, brought together operators, affiliates, suppliers and regulators to discuss safer gambling strategies across the industry.
Introducing an industry panel to review responsible gambling initiatives over the last 12 months, Mr Hagan said: “Responsible gambling is a shared responsibility and it’s incumbent on operators to provide a safer environment for its customers without fear of cutting across its commercial goals. A fairer and safety gambling environment is critical to the future of the industry”.
But having worked in the industry for the last two decades as a lawyer, he said he had witnessed a transformation in operators’ approach to responsible gambling in recent years. Despite the cynicism of the industry’s critics, a raft of player protection initiatives announced in the last 12 months showed operators were serious about enhancing player protection.
Lyndsay Wright, director of sustainability at William Hill, said there was increasing pressure from investors to justify their actions and they were asking: “How do we know you are doing the right thing?” but she rejected the idea of voluntary online stake limits as a catch-all solution. She said William Hill had launched a new advertising and social media campaign focused on portraying gambling “in the way we know it should be” as a community-based, recreational activity and Responsible Gambling Week had given the company a focus for its safer gambling campaign.
Ben Wright, head of safer gambling at Sky Betting and Gambling, told the conference that winning customers’ trust was paramount and safer gambling must become integral to every company’s culture. He said Sky Betting’s profit and loss tool was one of the most successful it had launched to customers, part of the process of “normalizing” safer gambling.
Wes Himes, interim chief executive of The Betting and Gaming Council, pointed to the success of the pre-watershed whistle-to-whistle advertising ban as a sign that the industry was taking safer gambling seriously. Preliminary figures showed there was less than an hour of gambling-related advertising around live TV sport in September 2019, compared to 6.6 hours in September 2018. Meanwhile, amongst 4-17-year-olds there had been a 97% drop in the amount of exposure to gambling advertising.
Tim Miller, executive director of The Gambling Commission, said in his conference keynote address:
“Every year, Responsible Gambling Week develops further and gets better. It has moved from being an initiative led by one sector to something that is much more collaborative, much more cross-industry. That is not easy to do. John Hagan and his colleagues have done an amazing job to bring so many operators and sectors together”.
He said the campaign had to consider where to go next and operators should ask themselves two questions: Are the right people in our business engaged in Responsible Gambling Week, not just those with a social responsibility remit? How can we ensure the campaign reaches a wider audience?
But he echoed Mr Hagan’s view that there had been a “sea-change in operators’ approach to responsible gambling, hailing the commitment by large operators to support education, research and treatment as “an important step forward”. He said the Gambling Commission’s primary areas of focus in the coming months would be on developing common standards around game and app design; developing a code of conduct around inducements to gamble; and embracing technology to promote social responsibility.
Responsible Gambling Week (November 7th-13th) is the biggest ever campaign in the UK and Ireland to promote safer gambling. The objective is to get people talking about how to gamble responsibly, without putting themselves and others at risk, and to provide year-round advice and help at www.responsiblegamblinguk.org. More than 120,000 staff at thousands of gambling venues and online sites are taking part in the campaign, which is supported by leading football clubs, racecourses, pubs and charities and voluntary organizations.
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: Promoting Safer Gambling Is ‘Mission Critcial’ For The Industry
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The Pokémon Company and Skyesports Unveil the 2026 Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League – India
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The Pokémon Company has announced the return of the Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League (PUACL) with the launch of the PUACL 2026 India League, a $20,000 multi-stage online tournament that will determine the team advancing to the prestigious PUACL 2026 Offline Finals, an international championship featuring a significant prize pool and global participation. The PUACL 2026 Offline Finals will be held at the Yokohama Buntai Arena in Yokohama, Japan.
The India League will be fully executed by Skyesports, one of the country’s leading esports tournament operators.
The PUACL 2026 India League brings together 10 of the country’s top esports organisations. The participating teams are:
- Autobotz
- GodLike Esports
- Marcos Gaming
- Meta Ninza
- Reckoning Esports
- Revenant XSpark
- S8UL
- Team Tamilas
- True Rippers
- WELT Esports
With the growth of Pokémon UNITE in the region and a rising competitive base in India, the 2026 season aims to strengthen the pathway from local champions to international contenders. The league will feature a Group Stage across five match days, followed by the King of the Hill Playoffs, where the top eight teams compete for the title and qualification to the global finals.
The schedule for the PUACL 2026 India League is as follows:
- Group Stage Day 1: November 29, 2025
- Group Stage Day 2: November 30, 2025
- Group Stage Day 3: December 14, 2025
- Group Stage Day 4: January 11, 2026
- Group Stage Day 5: January 18, 2026
- King of the Hill Playoffs: January 31, 2026
The total prize pool for the India League is $20,000, while the PUACL Offline Finals will feature a significantly larger prize pool. The India League champion will secure India’s slot at the global event, competing against the best teams from across Asia.
Speaking on the announcement, Shiva Nandy, Founder and CEO of Skyesports, said: “Pokémon UNITE has built a strong and passionate competitive community in India, and the return of the Asia Champions League gives our teams another platform to show what they are capable of. We are proud to execute the India League once again and to provide a clear path for Indian players to compete at the highest level in Asia. This league showcases the quality of talent we have in the ecosystem and the growing opportunities for teams and professionals who are committing themselves to the title. With ten leading organisations competing, the stage is set for an exciting season and we look forward to sending a representative from India to the global finals.”
The PUACL 2026 India League will be broadcast live on official Pokémon UNITE and Skyesports channels, giving fans across the country the opportunity to follow their favourite teams throughout the season.
With established organisations such as S8UL, GodLike Esports, Team Tamilas, and Revenant XSpark in the mix, the level of competition is expected to reach new heights, building momentum for India’s presence on the international Pokémon UNITE stage.
Last year, GodLike Esports emerged as the champions of the India League, and made it to the PUACL Finals in Japan. Here, the team was eliminated in the group stage. The team will be looking to reclaim its title in 2026 and put up a better international showing.
The post The Pokémon Company and Skyesports Unveil the 2026 Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League – India appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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This December, Tom Horn Gaming invites players to the snowy mountain peaks in its new release, Santa Yetti, a playful holiday adventure where the jolly king of the mountains swaps his sleigh for snow boots to deliver frosty fortunes and festive fun.
Santa Yetti brings a flurry of excitement to the reels with Expanding Wilds, Multipliers, Respins, and the Respin Booster feature.
The Snowman is a Wild symbol. When it lands on any of the three reels, it expands and triggers a single respin. During the respin, seven win lines transform into twenty-seven ways to win, piling up prizes like Christmas presents. When all three reels are fully stacked with the same symbol, the total win is multiplied by ten, creating a snowstorm of rewards.
Players can also activate the Respin Booster, which increases their total bet by 1.5x and boosts the chance of triggering a respin by 300%. The feature remains active until manually switched off, giving players full control over their gameplay. For those feeling extra lucky, the Star Gamble Ladder appears after every base game win, allowing them to gamble their winnings by guessing the next star’s colour – pink or blue. Each correct guess doubles the prize and pushes the player up one level. The Golden Star can randomly appear at levels two to five to double the win instantly, no guess required.
“Santa Yeti brings together everything players love about Tom Horn games – fun, engaging mechanics, and a great story to match. It’s festive, it’s fresh, and it’s packed with features that keep the excitement rolling. We wanted to end the year on a high note, and Santa Yetti does exactly that with humour, charm, and plenty of win potential,” said Ondrej Lapides, CEO at Tom Horn Gaming.
Blending simple yet fast-paced gameplay with dynamic mechanics, Santa Yetti offers short, mobile-optimised sessions that are sure to delight both casual spinners and seasoned players. Its engaging format and rewarding features make it a perfect choice for operators looking to boost engagement during the high-traffic festive season. With its playful theme, quirky light-hearted style, and generous win potential, Santa Yetti is set to make this Christmas truly santastic.
The post Tom Horn Gaming Unwraps a Frosty Treat with Santa Yetti appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Emily Tofield has been the appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Ygam, the UK’s leading charity dedicated to preventing gaming and gambling harms among children and young people. She will officially join the charity on the 6 January 2026.
Emily joins the charity following a 20-year career in leadership roles across UK government, local government, higher education and research, the media, and the not-for-profit sector. Her previous roles include posts in the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the University of Sussex, and at the City of London Corporation. With a distinguished breadth of expertise in strategic communications, she is recognised as a leading adviser across strategy, corporate affairs, reputation, marketing, policy, and fundraising.
Emily is an experienced non-executive, currently serving on the board of the Kent homelessness charity, Porchlight. She is Chair Designate of the Girls’ Learning Trust (GLT), the largest all-girls state multi-academy trust in the UK and was recently appointed to the Board of the British Dietetic Association (BDA).
Mike Wojcik, Chair of Ygam, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Emily to Ygam following a highly competitive recruitment process. Her depth of experience and proven leadership across stakeholder and political engagement, and social impact, will be instrumental as we enter our next strategic cycle. Emily joins an exceptionally strong leadership team, and this appointment marks an important new chapter for Ygam as we continue to strengthen our position as a trusted expert voice and sector leader dedicated to preventing gaming, gambling, and digital harms among young people.”
Emily Tofield, Incoming Chief Executive of Ygam, said: “Ygam has reached record numbers of young people as part of its critical mission to protect children and young people from gaming and gambling harms and to help safeguard their digital futures. As a passionate advocate for the benefits of prevention, it is a huge privilege to take on the role of Chief Executive of such a respected national education and prevention charity whose work already makes a difference to so many. High-quality, inclusive, evidence-based, preventative education around gaming and gambling harms remains as important today as when Ygam was founded, and I’m looking forward to working with the impressive Ygam team to further grow its reach, partnerships and impact in the years ahead.”
The post Ygam appoints Emily Tofield as new Chief Executive appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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