The United Kingdom is known for its relatively liberal gambling regulations. For example, the gambling law accepts TV commercials and all types of online gambling, unlike many other countries. There are a variety of bets you can place in the U.K., such as sports betting, all sorts of casino games, skill games and poker.
This, however, does not mean that there are not strong policies, which monitor troubled gamblers, as well as under-aged players which might fall under the ‘traps’ of online or offline gambling operators. The United Kingdom is often reworking or setting new gambling reforms.
The Proposition of the Secretary of Culture
Currently, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Maria Frances Lewis Miller, has interest in the way the gambling industry operates and states her expert opinions on the matter. Her most recent suggestion was that citizens who wish to gamble at betting terminals should be both limited in time as well as financially. In this way, the chance of becoming addicted or acting instinctively will become much lower. Even though the proposition might not be perfectly polished, most people agree with the idea.
Ms. Miller announced her proposition after a similar one was offered by the Association of British Bookmakers earlier this month. The proposed reform was a self-regulation, which would not be mandatory. However, any gambling operator that wishes to establish a gambling business under U.K. legislation should meet those requirements, among several others. It is yet to be determined whether those reforms work in practice. Some experts argue that the industry is in no need of new regulations, as it has its own tools of self-regulation and is protecting its players.
More Changes to the Licensing Process
Ms. Miller further explained that the idea of the Government is to regulate the gambling operators from the start of their operations, e.g. to influence the license requirements by adding additional voluntary preconditions.
Currently, there is a huge number of online gambling operators that serve U.K. citizens but do not have licenses, as their headquarters are situated abroad. Therefore, these companies avoid some of the regulations under which local gambling providers operate in the country. That is why the Government is working on refining the Gambling Bill – to drastically decrease money transactions by operators who are not properly licensed.
Despite the fact that this amendment proposal was declined by 14 votes favoring the opposition, the major money processing companies have self-regulations against unlicensed operators, serving as a temporary replacement of the Government.
Visa, MasterCard and PayPal combined make up most of the companies which process payments and deposit funding to the gambling establishments. They have come together on their own terms, refusing to work with operators that have no U.K. licenses. This is an astounding example of industry self-regulation and the aspiration toward helping the players’ community to stay healthy. Another ‘safeguard’ of the U.K. players will be a gambling bill that adds a 15% higher tax for bets placed remotely, that is, via the Internet.
