Television show modified after gambling probe

Red or Black?, the Simon Cowell televised game show in the UK will be back for another run soon, but with some important changes following its run-in with the Gambling Commission earlier this year.

The show will now air as pre-recorded episodes each week rather than the nightly live shows of its first series, according to The Sun newspaper.

The move is said to allow producers to fully investigate the winners, after controversy over the criminal records of some past contestants.

Football striker Robin Van Persie and England cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Mark Ramprakash will be among the sports stars that will appear in the new series, The Sun claims.

Another change is the axing of the giant roulette wheel after the Gambling Commission declared that it glamourised gambling.

A new game, dubbed ‘The Vortex’, will replace the wheel, which sees contestants predicting how long a ball will drop down a ‘mini velodrome’.

“It will still be as tense as the roulette wheel,” an insider source told the newspaper. “It could even be more exciting as the ball will hang around for longer.”

Winners will receive GBP 500,000 each show, with a possible roll-over reaching GBP 3.5 million.