2020 A Time For Change In UK Casino Market
2019 witnessed the first noticeable motion in UK casino legislation. This was marked by the introduction of limits on fixed-odds betting terminals. Up until that point in time, The Gambling Act of 2005 has for the most part remained stationary and unchanged.
Then came 2020, a year of even more change and a significant rise in activity and motion. According to a tweet posted to the U.K. Gambling Commission’s Twitter page early in 2020, the commission considered betting to be out of control – and certainly an industry in need of a major overhaul.
These are just some of the major changes we’ve witnessed this year so far.
New Focus On Underage Gambling
Statistics published earlier this year by the UKGC indicate 450,000 children between the ages of 11 and 16 to be regular bettors.
In order to try and better regulate the system in such a way that fewer children and young people have access to betting offerings and casino products, the commission earlier this year issued a significant new instruction to online casinos; the age of every customer must be manually verified via a form of identification that can be checked by the operator’s compliance department.
No More Credit Card Deposits
Following the disturbing results of a survey conducted earlier this year indicating nearly 22% of all Britons to be on-credit gamblers, deposits at online casinos are no longer permitted to be made with the use of a credit card.
Supporting research furthermore indicated that there existed an increasing number of people who were landing themselves into extreme debt because of their gambling with the use of credit cards and credit facilities.
The current (new) regulation governing the use of credit cards was signed into force on April 14, 2020.
Sports Gambling Partnerships
Now that government has accelerated its betting review process into specifically gambling sports partnerships, football clubs expect to learn their fate by as early as next season.
Football and gambling enjoy a historical romance in the U.K. If government were however to have its way, leagues such as the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) may soon have to wave their lucrative casino and betting sponsorships farewell.
The review and call for evidence period is expected to last no longer than three months.