The United Kingdom Gambling Commission is permanently working on modifying things in the gambling industry.
They want to make sure that primarily all participants are protected, therefore, they are always looking for various ways to upgrade the system.
What Is Their Current Problem?
Recently, we mentioned how this regulator was trying to prohibit credit cards, and now they are on a mission to lower the maximum stake.
For instance, before making this decision, players were able to wager £100 per spin, while now, after these modifications, they can’t invest more than £2.
The UKGC’s chief executive explained to bookmakers their expectations.
Carefully Supervising Operators:
Neil McArthur, chief executive of the Gambling Commission commented on this newly created situation:
“We have been closely monitoring operators’ plans to manage the implementation of the stake cut and we will continue to watch very carefully to ensure that any changes and developments to these products are done with a focus on customer safety.
Together with Government and the industry we must continue our ongoing work to make the whole industry safer – this includes continuing to make progress with making other products safer, as customers may move to gamble in other ways following the stake cut – including online, mobile and on the high street. It’s imperative that operators invest in and use data, technology and measures to identify harmful play and can step in to protect players when needed. They should be innovating to protect their customers, as much as they do to make a profit.”
Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport added:
“Reducing the potential loss per spin from £100 to £2 is a significant step forward in protecting vulnerable people. The Government’s actions and ambitions stretch much further and we are looking at further treatment of those who have suffered from gambling-related harm, whether gambling on credit should be limited and considering what actions are necessary to tackle problem gambling online.”
May – A Month Of Change:
The UKGC is thoroughly analyzing player protection on other high street machines.
Data showcases that the risks associated with Category B1 and B3 machines merit close scrutiny, which is the reason why the regulator said in their advice to the Government that they wanted to cautiously investigate player protection alternatives.
Things like tracking play, communicating messages concerning gambling safety, utilizing time and monetary limits, as well as alerts – all of them are part of these options.
All these rules and regulations will come into force next month and probably the most important ones will be in correlations with issues regarding kids gambling and how to stop them from using free-to-play versions of gambling games on licensees’ websites.
The UKGC is currently doing their best to incorporate beneficial things into the industry and decrease or completely get rid of the harmful ones.
For instance, they are working on prohibiting credit cards for online gambling purposes as well as implementing industry funded gambling blocking software.
Source: “UKGC Warns Gambling Industry Not To Circumvent FOBT Stake Cut” https://europeangaming.eu/portal/compliance-updates/2019/04/02/42387/ukgc-warns-gambling-industry-not-to-circumvent-fobt-stake-cut/. European Gaming. April 3, 2019.
