Connect with us

Published

on

The government has announced a raft of gambling reforms, including a new statutory levy on big firms, in a bid to crack down on online addiction.

Other measures announced by Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer include maximum stakes for online slot machines and checks to “better protect even those unable to afford small losses”.

What do the plans include?

• Statutory gambling levy – ensuring operators help fund treatment services and research. As things are, the amount given is not mandated and some betting firms have paid as little as £1

• New stake limits for online slot games – it will be between £2 and £15 per spin but there will be a consultation on measures to protect 18 to 24-year-olds

• Player protection checks – to safeguard those most at risk of harm before unaffordable losses are incurred

• Further Gambling Commission powers – so the regulator can tackle black market operators through court orders and with internet service providers

• Bonus offer rules – to stop them harming vulnerable people. How free bets are constructed are to be looked at and targeted

• Loopholes closed for under 18s – to ensure they cannot gamble online or through cash fruit machines

• New industry ombudsman – to deal with disputes and rule on redress where people suffer losses due to operator failings to protect players

However, a ban on gambling advertising is not included in the measures – despite the Premier League already announcing a voluntary ban on it on football shirts.

The reforms are formally set out in the government’s gambling white paper published today following a series of delays.

Teachers on strike – as ministers go to court to stop nurses’ action – politics latest

UK bookmakers have already started to put estimates on the revenue hit they are likely to face.

Flutter Entertainment, which includes the Paddy Power and Betfair brands and has welcomed the planned shake-up, said its current view was a gross impact of between £50m-£100m per year.

Outlining the government’s plans in the Commons, Ms Frazer said the white paper will “force companies to step up their checks” to protect vulnerable customers.

She told MPs: “When gambling becomes addiction, it can wreck lives. Shattered families, lost jobs, foreclosed homes, jail time, suicide.

“Gambling problems in adults have always been measured in terms of money lost, but you cannot put a cost on the loss of dignity, the loss of identity, and, in some cases, the loss of life that it can cause.”

Ms Frazer said the white paper would cover six areas of reform, including affordability checks “when losses are likely to be unaffordable or harmful for punters”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gambling Review ready for release?

She also touched on advertising, which she said saw punters “drawn back into the orbit of online companies with the offer of a free bet or some free spins”.

“So, to help stop problem gamblers being bombarded, the Gambling Commission has beefed up its rules on online VIP schemes, already resulting in a 90% reduction in these schemes, and it will now consult on making sure bonus offers are not being deployed in ways which only exacerbate harm,” she said.

Responding for Labour in the Commons, shadow minister Alex Davies-Jones branded the white paper “very light in substance” while also criticising the delay to its publication.

She said Labour “welcomes many of the measures in the announcement” and said it was a “move in the right direction”.

However, she criticised the fact that the Premier League had voluntarily decided to ban gambling sponsorship only on the front of football shirts and argued that the measure was “weak” because it won’t come into effect for three years.

She also called for clarity on the proposed levy on gambling firms and the beefing up of the gambling regulator, adding that it was “vital that affordability checks are set independently from the industry” to ensure the safety of customers.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith welcomed the white paper but said it did not go far enough to protect children from advertising.

The government has been under pressure to act following a number of cases in which people have taken their own lives over their addiction to gambling.

According to the Gambling Commission, around 138,000 people could be problem gambler, with around 1.3 million people engaging in either moderate or low-risk gambling.

Last year, the parents of Jack Ritchie, 24, accused the government of being “asleep at the wheel” in their failure to regulate an industry they described as “predatory” and “parasitic”.

A landmark inquest into the suicide of Mr Ritchie found that regulation, NHS treatment and government warnings about the dangers of gambling were “woefully inadequate”.

Read more:
How problem gambler was able to dodge checks to spend thousands
Westminster Accounts: As betting firms spend more than £200,000 wooing MPs – what can they expect from the gambling white paper?

The inquest in Sheffield was the first of its kind to examine the link between suicide and gambling and the way it is regulated.

Gambling With Lives, a charity that was set up by families bereaved by gambling-related suicide, said ahead of the report’s publication: “We’ll welcome any positives in today’s white paper, but it seems much will be pushed to consultation, meaning more delay.

“We’ve waited years, more than 1,000 people have died while the industry has made billions in profit from harm. We need action now to stop the deaths.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

New figures show the NHS received 990 referrals for treatment between April and December 2022, compared with 668 the same period the previous year.

NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch said she was “delighted that the government has committed to tackling this cruel disease”.

Peter Jackson, chief executive of Flutter Entertainment plc, said welcomed the white paper and said it was a “significant moment” for the sector.

He added: “Whilst we will need to review the detail of the proposals once published, we believe proactive change will lead to a better future for our industry.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

Continue Reading

Business

Octopus Energy sparks £10bn demerger of tech arm Kraken

Published

on

By

Octopus Energy sparks £10bn demerger of tech arm Kraken

Octopus Energy Group, Britain’s largest residential gas and electricity supplier, is plotting a £10bn demerger of its technology arm that would reinforce its status as one of the country’s most valuable private companies.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Octopus Energy is close to hiring investment bankers to help formally separate Kraken Technologies from the rest of the group.

The demerger, which would be expected to take place in the next 12 months, would see Octopus Energy’s existing investors given shares in the newly independent Kraken business.

A minority stake in Kraken of up to 20% is expected to be sold to external shareholders in order to help validate the technology platform’s valuation, according to insiders.

One banking source said that Kraken could be valued at as much as $14bn (£10.25bn) in a forthcoming demerger.

Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are among the investment banks invited to pitch for the demerger mandate in recent weeks.

A deal will augment Octopus Energy chief executive Greg Jackson’s paper fortune, and underline his success at building a globally significant British-based company over the last decade.

More on Energy

Octopus Energy now has 7.5m retail customers in Britain, following its 2022 rescue of the collapsed energy supplier Bulb, and the subsequent acquisition of Shell’s home energy business.

In January, it announced that it had become the country’s biggest supplier – surpassing Centrica-owned British Gas – with a 24% market share.

It also has a further 2.5m customers outside the UK.

Octopus energy wind turbine. Pic suppled by Octopus.
Image:
Kraken is an operating system licensed to other energy providers, water companies and telecoms suppliers. Pic: Octopus

Sources said a £10bn valuation of Kraken would now imply that the whole group, including the retail supply business, was worth in the region of £15bn or more.

That would be double its valuation of just over a year ago, when the company announced that it had secured new backing from funds Galvanize Climate Solutions and Lightrock.

Shortly before that, former US vice president Al Gore’s firm, Generation Investment Management, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased their stakes in Octopus Energy in a transaction valuing the company at $9bn (£7.2bn).

Kraken is an operating system which is licensed to other energy providers, water companies and telecoms suppliers.

It connects all parts of the energy system, including customer billing and the flexible management of renewable generation and energy devices such as heat pumps and electric vehicle batteries.

The business also unlocks smart grids which enable people to use more renewable energy when there is an abundant supply of it.

In the UK, its platform is licensed to Octopus Energy’s rivals EON and EDF Energy, as well as the water company Severn Trent and broadband provider Cuckoo.

Overseas, Kraken serves Origin Energy in Australia, Japan’s Tokyo Gas and Plentitude in countries including France and Greece.

Its biggest coup came recently, when it struck a deal with National Grid in the US to serve 6.5m customers in New York and Massachusetts.

Sources said other major licensing agreements in the US were expected to be struck in the coming months.

Kraken, which is chaired by Gavin Patterson, the former BT Group chief executive, is now contracted to more than 70m customer accounts globally – putting it easily on track to hit a target of 100m by 2027.

Earlier this year, Mr Jackson said that target now risked being seen as “embarrassingly unambitious”.

Last July, Kraken recruited Amir Orad, a former boss of NICE Actimize, a US-listed provider of enterprise software to global banks and Fortune 500 companies, as its first chief executive.

A demerger of Kraken will trigger speculation about an eventual public market listing of the business.

Its growth in the US, and the relative public market valuations of technology companies in New York and London, may put the UK at a disadvantage when Kraken eventually considers where to list.

One key advantage of demerging Kraken from the rest of Octopus Energy Group would be to remove the perception of a conflict of interest among potential customers of the technology platform.

A source said the unified corporate ownership of both businesses had acted as a deterrent to some energy suppliers.

Kraken has also diversified beyond the energy sector, and earlier this year joined a consortium which was exploring a takeover bid for stricken Thames Water.

This weekend, Octopus Energy declined to comment.

Continue Reading

Business

Ryanair urges EU chief to ‘quit’ over air traffic strike disruption

Published

on

By

Ryanair urges EU chief to 'quit' over air traffic strike disruption

The boss of Ryanair has told Sky News the president of the European Commission should “quit” if she can’t stop disruption caused by repeated French air traffic control strikes.

Michael O’Leary, the group chief executive of Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said in an interview with Business Live that Ursula von der Leyen had failed to get to grips, at an EU level, with interruption to overflights following several recent disputes in France.

The latest action began on Thursday and is due to conclude later today, forcing thousands of flights to be delayed and cancelled through French airspace closures.

Money latest: ‘Lifeblood of mortgage market’ enjoying lower rates

Mr O’Leary told presenter Darren McCaffrey that French domestic flights were given priority during ATC strikes and other nations, including Italy and Greece, had solved the problem through minimum service legislation.

He claimed that the vast majority of flights, cancelled over two days of action that began on Thursday, would have been able to operate under similar rules.

Mr O’Leary said of the EU’s role: “We continue to call on Ursula von der Leyen – why are you not protecting these overflights, why is the single market for air travel being disrupted by a tiny number of French air traffic controllers?

More from Money

File photo dated 02/09/22 of a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS passenger airliner comes in to land at Stansted Airport in Essex. Ryanair has revealed around 63,000 of its passengers saw their flights cancelled during last week's air traffic control failure which caused widespread disruption across the industry and left thousands of passengers stranded overseas. In its August traffic update, the Irish carrier said more than 350 of its flights were cancelled on August 28 and 29 due to the air traffic contr
Image:
Ryanair has cancelled more than 400 flights over two days due to the action in France. File pic: PA

“All we get is a shrug of their shoulders and ‘there’s nothing we can do’. We point out, there is.”

He added: “We are calling on Ursula von der Leyen, who preaches about competitiveness and reforming Europe, if you’re not willing to protect or fix overflights then quit and let somebody more effective do the job.”

The strike is estimated, by the Airlines for Europe lobby group to have led to at least 1,500 cancelled flights, leaving 300,000 travellers unable to make their journeys.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary speaks to journalists during a press conference at The Alex Hotel in Dublin. Picture date: Thursday October 3, 2024.
Image:
Michael O’Leary believes the EU can take action on competition grounds. Pic: PA

Ryanair itself had axed more than 400 flights so far, Mr O’Leary said. Rival easyJet said on Thursday that it had cancelled 274 services over the two days.

The beginning of July marks the start of the European summer holiday season.

The French civil aviation agency DGAC had already told airlines to cancel 40% of flights covering the three main Paris airports on Friday ahead of the walkout – a dispute over staffing levels and equipment quality.

Mr O’Leary described those safety issues as “nonsense” and said twhile the controllers had a right to strike, they did not have the right to close the sky.

DGAC has warned of delays and further severe disruption heading into the weekend.

Many planes and crews will be out of position.

Mr O’Leary is not alone in expressing his frustration.

The French transport minister Philippe Tabarot has denounced the action and the reasons for it.

“The idea is to disturb as many people as possible,” he said in an interview with CNews.

Passengers are being advised that if your flight is cancelled, the airline must either give you a refund or book you on an alternative flight.

If you have booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can claim the full cost of the return ticket back from your airline.

Continue Reading

Business

CBI kicks off search for successor to ‘saviour’ Soames

Published

on

By

CBI kicks off search for successor to 'saviour' Soames

The CBI has begun a search for a successor to Rupert Soames, its chairman, as it continues its recovery from the crisis which brought it to the brink of collapse in 2023.

Sky News has learnt that the business lobbying group’s nominations committee has engaged headhunters to assist with a hunt for its next corporate figurehead.

Mr Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, was recruited by the CBI in late 2023 with the organisation lurching towards insolvency after an exodus of members.

Money latest: Has bond market calmed after chancellor’s tears?

The group’s handling of a sexual misconduct scandal saw it forced to secure emergency funding from a group of banks, even as it was frozen out of meetings with government ministers.

One prominent CBI member described Mr Soames on Thursday as the group’s “saviour”.

“Without his ability to bring members back, the organisation wouldn’t exist today,” they claimed.

More from Money

Rupert Soames
Image:
Rupert Soames. Pic: Reuters

Read more:
Starmer could be ousted as PM ‘within months’
Reeves’s tears a hard watch but reminder of her challenges

Mr Soames and Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI chief executive, have partly restored its influence in Whitehall, although many doubt that it will ever be able to credibly reclaim its former status as ‘the voice of British business’.

Its next chair, who is also likely to be drawn from a leading listed company boardroom, will take over from Mr Soames early next year.

Egon Zehnder International is handling the search for the CBI.

“The CBI chair’s term typically runs for two years and Rupert Soames will end his term in early 2026,” a CBI spokesperson said.

“In line with good governance, we have begun the search for a successor to ensure continuity and a smooth transition.”

Continue Reading

Trending