The UK has always been known for its consumer-first approach across all legislation. The Gambling Act 2005 is the primary legislation that regulates all forms of gambling in the country. Of course, some of the compliance issues are outdated according to the current situation of the gambling industry.
The government is about to implement some new clauses to reform the existing gambling law. The goal is protecting vulnerable users in the “smartphone era”. From the look of the press release, authorities are worried about the widespread use of smartphones for on-the-go gambling.
The reforms are supposed to cover horse racing betting, traditional sports betting, and UK online casinos as per British Gambler. Thanks to modern technologies like HTML5, all of these services are widely available on smartphones.
While this is good news for the iGaming industry, the number of addiction cases also increases dramatically. In some very unfortunate cases, it led to extreme measures like suicide! Experts are primarily blaming the ease of access at these 24/7 online casinos.
According to current data, there are over 300,000 problem gamblers in the UK alone. The majority of these players are more vulnerable to online casino games compared to other gambling components like sports betting, bingo, or land-based casinos.
The UK government has been running awareness campaigns and holding responsible parties accountable for quite a while now. In recent times, William Hill paid a hefty £19 million in fines for failing to protect customer interests.
One of the primary compliance terms for a UKGC license is that the gambling providers must limit the amount of loss players can sustain. Authorities are noticing an increasing number of failures in this regard, allowing players to lose a lot more than they should.
Some important points of the proposed reform act include:
- Mandatory levy on gambling operators to fund problem gambling treatment and research.
- The limits for online slots will be capped to a maximum of £15 per spin.
- The 18-24 age group is the most vulnerable to problem gambling so the authorities are still consulting action plans for young adults who gamble.
- The UKGC will most likely get additional power to work with ISPs to block illegal gambling sites.
- Reforming casino bonuses and free bets to ensure a safe gaming experience for players.
- A new official could be appointed to deal with disputes in case the gambling operators fail to comply.
