The gambling industry is evolving year after year on the entire globe, but the fastest growth has been noticed on the UK gambling market, where the sector reached 14.5 billion GBP. The number of gaming machines across the country had a 2.4% increase, while many betting shops and bingo premises decided to close their doors.
This fast development of the gambling industry is a direct result of the evolution of the online casino market. Still, more than that, gambling laws are beneficial to the entire system. Tony Blair is the one that made the laws a little more accessible for gambling promotion. Therefore, The Gambling Act of 2005 is the reason for the growth since it has opened the doors for TV advertising for three domains: sports betting, online casinos, and poker.
Another effect of this law is that it laid the regulatory groundwork for the fixed-odds betting terminals. This is mainly important because it drew the attention so many times in a negative way, especially form organisations that protect players. Even though the stake was cut down to 2 GBP from 100 GBP, statistics say that in 2017, the income from online casinos, online poker, and online bingo has reached 4.5 billion GBP while back in 2009, it was only 817 million GBP. Only the fact that the industry became fully licensed and regulated, has driven gambling to become a real industry.
The UK is the first country to introduce online gambling regulations. Therefore, all forms of online gambling are legal as long as they own a UK casino license from the UK Gambling Commission – UKGC. Players who want to know which casino is safe to use can visit Betterplay UK gambling portal, where they will find a detailed comparison between different gambling and betting sites that are licensed in UK. Here they can find exclusive offers or user reviews that will help them have the best gambling experience.
In the UK, the legal gambling age is 18, and this is the only condition to become a player. Also, the 2005 act has abolished the rule, which stated that players would have to wait 24 hours before signing up as a member of an online casino. On the other side, UKGC has made sure that companies abide by more than one regulation to operate correctly from the ethical and legal point of view.
UKGC is the governing office in this industry, and it also has the task to guide and advise, and even research in which involves licensing, compliance, and enforcement. Every operator, both online and land-based, must be licensed before opening to the public. Most recent reports from this governing body have indicated a 1% rise in gambling during 2018, and one issue that has been identified is that minors can quickly sign up for gambling while the casinos don’t notice it. Approximately 14% of 11 to 16 years old children have used gambling websites without getting caught. Only in May 2019 online casinos have modified their registering rules by requiring stricter age and ID checks.
This new regulation can bring an alternative benefit to its users since 15% of all reported user complaints regarding withdrawal delays are due to unproperly verified profiles. The comprehensive verification and also the ID check during the registration process would reduce withdrawal delays while protecting children and teenagers from gambling addiction. More than that, it will also aid UKGC in preventing money laundering or other criminal activities that can be committed using online casinos.
The gambling industry is continuously changing, and the regulations have a significant share of guilt in this process. The goal of the regulations is to ensure players are getting the most satisfying gambling experience while service providers are offering their services in an ethical and fairly way.
