AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
.jpg)
Highlights
- UK Gambling Commission has decided to crack down on the betting industry.
- The issues faced by the UK online, crypto gambling market will be potentially eliminated with the new rules.
- Members of British Parliament are criticising the proposed regulations as they doubt UKGC’s ability to manage the immense operation.
Online and crypto gambling are relatively new phenomena but have gained popularity at an unprecedented rate in recent years. While more and more people are taking it up, simultaneously a number of concerns are forcing the countries across the world take actions.
The entire global gambling market has been facing regulatory pressures and senior officials in Britain have particularly been facing a lot of concerns in the UK market. Due to these rising concerns, the UK Gambling Commission, or UKCG, which is responsible for the regulation of gambling and supervision of the gaming law, has planned to crack down on the betting industry. This move is bound to influence the operators within the British island.
Regulations on payment methods
A significant influence is already exerted by the UKGC on the ways used by bettors to make deposits while participating in online gambling activities, like live dealer table games and the latest slot games. Gamblers will have to use payment methods other than credit cards while making deposits into accounts at online casinos as they are not an accepted form of payment methods anymore. The other methods include debit cards, e-wallets like PayPal and the recently booming method of payments with cryptocurrencies.
The bettors using UKGC regulated casino options find it very convenient to go for casino games with crypto and Ethereum gambling online. Nevertheless, there are regulatory issues associated with crypto as well due to extensive scrutinization to ensure the legality of the funds. Additionally, a Curacao license is generally carried by several online casino platforms accepting cryptocurrencies.
ALSO READ: FTSE 100 trades in green, casino and gambling stocks moves up
Changes for online slot games
The UKGC is trying to bring one of the biggest changes to online slot games, which is that the users of slot games would be provided with information they want to become mandatory by the casino operators. According to data, around 70% of the casino games that are in circulation at present may be influenced by these new rules. The total win and total loss amount spent on a slot game is a critical piece of information that the users of slot games want to be made available mandatorily.
To make fully informed decisions, betters must be provided with all the necessary information with accurate figures available during their gaming experience, and thus the regulator is determined to cut down the manipulation and alteration tactics that are used in online gambling activities.
In addition to the availability of mandatory information to users, the regulator wants to actively monitor the online slot machines that are under the hold of casino operators at present. UKGC also wants to oversee these machines because it wants to protect people from getting addicted to these games after they play them for a significant period of time and shield them from the further substantial losses they may incur.
ALSO READ: Is sports betting legal in the UK? What are the top sports betting stocks?
Moreover, UKGC will be able to judge what every game brings to the table by regulating and monitoring the games, and thus it will be in a position to prevent the harmful impact of certain bonus features in the games on people playing these games. This is a popular practice in several countries, and many of them have banned the use of features like ‘Bonus Buys’.
Bottomline
The UKGC’s new proposed regulations may provide a safer and better way of online gambling. However, it has certain disadvantages as well. The harshest criticism towards these new regulations currently comes from the members of the British parliament as they doubt that UKGC, a group so small as compared to the overall online casino industry, has the ability to manage such a vast operation seamlessly. Concerns about the resources available with the regulator to carry out this operation have also been raised. It is still unknown if the UKGC will be able to manage such an immense workload.
ALSO READ: 3 Gambling Stocks in Focus as NHS Suggests Taxing Gambling Firms For Social Cause
