Gambling Commission says series of changes will keep players safe

THE United Kingdom Gambling Commission has announced plans to keep itself at the forefront of gambling safety and legislation.

Gambling Commission Chief Executive Neil McArthur announced a range of initiatives aimed at problem gamblers, protecting children and predatory advertising.

The latest raft of changes to regulation comes as it was revealed the sector has grown 10 per cent be worth 4.7 billion in the last 12 months, while participation rose from 15.5 per cent to 18.3 per cent in 2017.

“Britain has the largest regulated online gambling market in the world and we are continually looking for ways to make it even fairer and safer for consumers,” McArthur said.

“The proposals we have announced today are intended to protect children better, reduce the risks to vulnerable consumers and build on the measures we already impose on operators to know their customers and intervene at an earlier stage before consumers experience harm.”

Minister for Sport and Civil Society Tracey Crouch said the British Conservatives are intent on making sure the gambling industry is safe and sustainable.

She said she believed the new measures would help protect “children and vulnerable people” from problems brought about by online gambling.

The new measures include:

• Banning free to play online casino games, until the user has proven their age.
• Reviewing and improving age verification processes.
• Setting limits on players gambling until affordability checks have been done
• Cracking down on irresponsible marketing, advertising and unfair terms.
• Making dispute procedures and complaining about a gambling service easier
• Putting stricter controls around clients who are deemed at risk of developing problems with their gambling

The Commission has also vowed to review the services and tools available to consumers to keep track of their gambling.

They will also look at each gambling product and attempt to determine whether particular outlets pose greater risks than others, with one of these being advertising, or slot games that could be more appealing to the underage.

Other key areas the UKGC will look into over the coming months include, whether betting or wagering on credit should be allowed to happen, assessing whether it should be easier to make withdrawals from accounts and whether procedures around dormant accounts are tight enough.