While all of this is going on, the UK gambling industry is in a difficult position. Rumors continue about what might be in the White Paper. The former gambling Minister Chris Philp (who resigned during that chaotic week that ended with the resignation of the Prime Minister) has said that online casinos and slot games are his biggest worries.
As Mr. Philp was leading the review, it’s likely therefore that it contains some strong measures in those areas. That is one of the aims of the review of the 2005 Gambling Act. The desire is to create legislation that deals with the digital age, not the current outdated one.
When visiting an online casino, there are already some regulations in place requiring how deposits are made. Credit cards cannot be used in the UK. Building up losses on a gambling site is bad enough but at the same time, players using credit cards have more payments to make in the future. It is suggested to lower stakes made at UK’s online slot sites. Also, the legislation suggests that you can only use the money in your account, not gambling on credit.
There is talk of limiting the maximum stake that can be made on games at online casinos. That happened with the gambling machines seen in betting shops. The reduction in the maximum sake cost gambling companies a lot of money and led to some redundancies. If the same happens for games at online casinos, then more money is going to be lost by those who run them.
Other possible measures could see increased affordability checks. Can a player afford to be gambling and possibly lose the amounts that they are putting into their accounts? Gambling companies are already under fire when it comes to this subject.
The UK Gambling Commission keeps a close eye on how companies deal with customers who may be experiencing gambling problems. They are not afraid of suspending a license as they did recently with Bet-at-Home. Other companies have been fined, with 888 having to pay £9.4 million.
It’s not just the companies who are worried about increased affordability checks. Gamblers are too, seeing it as an unwanted intrusion when they might not even have a gambling problem. This could lead to many leaving the regulated sites and joining the unregulated underground sites.
That could cause the gambler problems but as with lower stake limits, affect the finances of the online casinos. It’s going to be a long, hot, and worrying summer.
