Great Britain is, without argument, the most developed online gambling market in Europe. It legalized this entertainment form in 2005 under the Gambling Act brought to life by Tony Blair’s government, which deemed this pastime to get regulated via a newly created body – the UK Gambling Commission, or UKGC for short. It now operates on behalf of the DCMS, or the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and bears the reputation as the Old Continent’s most stringent gambling regulator. Currently, land-based sportsbook and gaming locales, with lottery, casino, and UK sports betting sites, generate annual revenues of around 4 billion pounds in Britain. Moreover, the latest stats show that the share of Brits gambling weekly now stands at a staggering 26.9%, clearly outlining the popularity of these activities.
Though the brick-and-mortar sector took a sizeable hit in 2020, on account of wagering shops and casinos closing down thanks to government-induced lockdowns, the Internet betting industry saw a spike in interest during this period. However, because of this rise in gambling numbers, multiple parties spoke up on the dangers of problem gambling, given the wide accessibility these wagering hobbies enjoy today. Hence, the UKGC reacted to this by adding new measures that limit the online gambling experience as a means to try and curb the increasing gambling addiction rates.
So, over the past three years, the UK Gambling Commission has continuously introduced novel restrictions that aim to stop people from betting too much. The latest set came in April 2023, when this organization proposed a levy on gambling operators to fund education, research, and treatment for problem gamblers and to provide affordability checks. Also, a wager limit between two and fifteen pounds is also getting pushed through, as is the need for companies supplying gaming/betting services to run more detailed examinations on clients who suffer net losses of over one thousand pounds within one day or two thousand pounds within three months. These are only the latest in a long list of measures brought forward to this market as of late, with new ones likely on their way.
GamStop and What It Has Meant for UK Bettors
In March 2020, the self-exclusion network titled GamStopdebuted in Britain. It initially should have gone live three years prior. Yet, various delays pushed this date to 2020 when the UKGC mandated that all gambling sites in Britain tie into this obligatory database run by The National Online Self Exclusion Scheme Limited. What is GamStop? Essentially, this is a digital ledger that makes note of every UK online gambler who has activated a self-exclusion ban. Once an individual performs this action, their name and information go into the GamStop database that all Internet gambling sites in Britain licensed by the UKGC access, and that makes this person ineligible to continue their gaming/betting ways at any other British online casino or sportsbook until their designated self-exclusion ban expires.
There is no way for anyone to bypass a triggered GamStop ban. The action itself is irreversible, as its goal is to help those with impulse control issues not fall prey to their urges to gamble despite an awareness of the negative consequences this may bring upon their financial and emotional state.
Other Recently Introduced Online Gambling Restrictions
Despite the April 2023 reforms the UKGC published, in October 2021, this body announced multiple measures that caused a sizeable overhaul of the UK Internet gambling sphere, particularly its gaming side. Following consultations with gamblers, operators, and the general public, the UKGC decided to limit slot spins to 2.5 seconds, eliminate autoplay, and not allow winning animations to play in cases where the awarded sum is lower than the bet funds.
Furthermore, in this set of measures, the UKGC passed a permanent ban on reverse withdrawals and introduced new rules that stamp out irresponsible VIP site practices. Naturally, all this got passed in hopes that it would foster a safer online gambling environment for Brits.
