The UK gambling industry is one of the best performing in the world. It’s estimated that online gambling revenue could be as high as £10.9 billion this year. Can the online gambling side maintain such figures with the possibility of stricter regulation in the future?
This century has seen many changes in the UK gambling industry. 19 years ago a Gambling Act was passed by the Labour Government. It introduced several changes at a time when online gambling was starting to become popular.
A UK Gambling Commission was created in 2005 to help look after the changing industry. There was a need to pass new legislation as there were rather out-of-date laws in place. Fast forward 19 years and we are pretty much in the same situation.
The online side of the UK gambling industry has grown considerably since 2005. There have been so many technological changes since 2005. It was not thought then that in the future gamblers would have the ability to gamble on sporting fixtures and casino games 24/7 on their mobile phones.
Sites have been launched that test the bonus codes that are seen at legal UK gambling websites. These are used as part of the offering of casino bonuses to new and existing customers.
In the lead-up to the 2019 General Election, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that there was a need for gambling laws that dealt with the digital age rather than the analogue one.
Their election manifesto promised to reform the gambling laws. Action in particular was promised against the booming online casinos and making gambling safer, especially for younger players.
Progress on reform has been slow however and little has actually changed. The UK Gambling Commission has been busy though and they have issued license holders with penalties totalling millions of pounds. They have also spent time gathering evidence about what is needed to reform the gambling industry.
It wasn’t until last year that a White Paper was published by the Conservative Government. It listed a number of measures, mostly aimed towards online casinos. Still no concrete action was taken though and more consultation took place.
There has been movement in 2024 in the area of maximum stake limits for online slot games. No maximum stake limit is in place at present and players can swiftly lose a great deal of money without needing to be playing for too long.
From September of this year, the plan is that players aged 18-24 cannot gamble more than £2 on one spin of an online slot game. If aged 25 and above, that limit goes up to £5 but how will the 2024 General Election affect the gambling industry?
Just what is needed to reform the industry hasn’t received a great deal of airtime. More mentions have been given to politicians allegedly betting than protecting players from gambling harm.
The Conservative Party election manifesto didn’t mention gambling. We can just imagine that if still in power they’d continue to slowly implement the changes listed in last year’s White Paper.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats did mention gambling in their manifestos. Labour has pledged to introduce reforms and work with the gambling industry. The Liberal Democrats also want to see gambling reforms including stricter affordability checks and a compulsory levy on betting companies.
There have been plenty of delays to gambling reform and it is likely more are on their way. The newly elected government is likely to keep gambling reform low down on their to-do list. If they valued it higher, then the election campaign would have been mentioning it more.
The concern of the gambling industry is how strict the new regulations will be. When maximum stake limits were introduced for the gambling machines seen in bookmakers, that cost companies a great deal of revenue. This led to shop closures and staff redundancies being made.
Will reducing the maximum stake limits for online slots have the same results? There is a strong possibility that it will and that’s worrying for the gambling industry.
There is also the fear that stricter affordability checks may lead to disgruntled gamblers heading to the unlicensed black market. Customer protection is lower at those unregulated sites so it wouldn’t be a good move to make.
The UK gambling industry has been making huge strides in recent years. Whether the estimated future revenue figures can be achieved may well depend on how strict regulation is.
To read more, Click here
