The UK has a history of incredibly lax gambling laws – in fact, until 2005 there was no regulatory body at all. The UK has had a lot of work to do to reverse the problem of years of lacking legislation, but what’s actually happening?
Recent Changes to Gambling Regulations
The most recent changes to gambling legislation happened more than three years ago and included a ban on using credit cards to gamble and severely reducing the maximum bet allowed on Fixed Odds Terminals (FOBTs).
A large chunk of the population argued that this wasn’t enough, and over the past few years there has been an increasing number of protests. One of the biggest issues that protesters have is the advertising allowed around football matches. The government have been promising a more in-depth review since 2020, but this has been repeatedly delayed due to the pandemic. Most recently, the review was pushed back from October 2021 to March 2022. So with the review around the corner, it’s a good time to look at what you can expect to be discussed.
Advertising at Football Matches
Current regulations state that bookmakers aren’t allowed to advertise before 9 pm. Despite this, we regularly see bookmakers appearing on TV on weekend afternoons. This is due to a loophole that allows bookies to sponsor a team or stadium, even if they’re playing before the watershed.
A ban on front of shirt advertising has already been discussed, following on from protests, and looks set to go ahead. However, many critics argue that this isn’t enough because the most prominent advertisements are on pitch hoardings. It’s likely that we can expect the level of regulations on sponsorships to be discussed, and potentially expect the rules to be tightened around this.
The Backlash Against Free Bets/Promotions
One of the biggest ways that companies have brought players in is by offering free bets or promotions to new users. Critics have argued that this is damaging because it can encourage younger and more impressionable people to sign up. It’s also an issue because it could encourage recovering gambling addicts, or someone that hasn’t realised they have a problem yet, to sign up for more accounts and get in more debt. A lot of free offers work by offering you a free bet if you place a certain amount of money or bet on a specific event. Additionally, casinos will often offer you free bets but then require you to wager the same amount of your own money before you can access any winnings.
With so many people complaining about these structures it’s likely that we’ll see this at least discussed in parliament, even if it doesn’t receive stricter regulation.
Social Media Advertising
Bookmakers regularly use social media to advertise their offers, and this can be damaging for multiple reasons. First of all, in the UK it is illegal to gamble if you’re under 18. A lot of minors sign up to social media using fake birth dates in order to access full services, which means that bookies could potentially be advertising to children. There have been a number of reports of children using their parents’ cards and ID to sign up, spending hundreds because they see it as a game and don’t understand the consequences.
Secondly, social media advertising could result in current or recovering gambling addicts being encouraged to sign up to new accounts and gamble even if they’re already in debt because of it.
What New Gambling Regulations Are We Likely to See?
With both of these things in mind, new regulations could potentially force social media platforms to give more control over the ads that people see. This could involve settings to stop you from seeing gambling-related advertisements. Alternatively, they could simply further restrict how bookmakers use social media and the content of their advertisements.
Whilst it is impossible to say for sure what future gambling regulations we are likely to see, we do know that they are usually trend based. As such, with the popularity of microtransactions in games and online gaming in general on the rise most would assume that any new regulations to be introduced will be surrounding these. Microtransactions in games are certainly on the rise, and offer players the chance to spend real money on the chance to win virtual prizes – when you consider that currently there is no real regulation around this it stands to reason that something to protect those that take part in these is likely to be introduced.
Gambling regulations are designed to keep gamblers safe and as such tend to follow the trend of what is happening because those are the transactions that are currently being undertaken.
Keeping Gamblers Safe
One of the biggest responsibilities of the UK Gambling Commission is to keep those that wish to undertake gambling safely, this includes those that are vulnerable to the problems that gambling might cause. As such, there is likely to be more responsibility placed on casinos and online gambling platforms to watch for patterns and vet anyone that chooses to sign up to use their services. Things like exclusive clubs for big spenders, online casino sign up offers and rewards for those that spend the most time on casinos may become harder to host and more limited, as the UK Gambling Commission tries to move away from allowing platforms to encourage people to spend more than they can realistically afford to lose. These are changes we’re likely to see in the future, even if we don’t see them in 2022.
There are so many possible changes that will be discussed in parliament next month that it’s impossible to mention everything. There are growing issues with advertisements, social media, age concerns and even the fact that banning credit cards hasn’t stopped gamblers from getting into debt through using things like a payday loan to secure extra funds. The government are unlikely to tackle everything, but it’ll be interesting to see what they deem as most important.
