The UK is one of the countries that is known to have the greatest number of gamblers out there. Gambling of most kind is accepted and legal in the country and so it makes sense that its locals are just used to gambling in general.
It is estimated that around 2.1 million locals are gambling in the UK. The most popular way for the locals to gamble is sports betting. In fact, this is even advertised on television when young people are watching. This is why the UK government wanted to step in and call for a safer gambling practice in the country.
It seems like checking casino reviews is no longer enough to ensure the safety of gamblers from the UK. The UK gambling commission and the Labour Party have been urging for changes in the gambling regulation in the country.
The British MPs have called for new gambling restrictions to be placed and online casino games are mainly impacted by this. The Labour Party is also pushing for a ban on the use of credit cards when it comes to gambling online.
Carolyn Harris, the MP of Swansea East and chairman of the APPG expressed their party’s intention regarding this. She said, “We intend to go after the online companies just like we did with the fixed odds betting terminals… The consequences of this on people’s lives are absolutely unbelievable.”
These initiatives are not yet really finalized but ever since these started during the Responsible Gambling Week, some of the UK’s largest betting companies have taken a big hit to their shares.
GVC, a betting company in the UK has seen a drop of 18 percent in its business since July. However, their online revenues still went up by 12 percent.
This happened after betting terminals were limited to accept £2 from £100. However, with more parties going after the online casino operators, even the online revenues might eventually get affected.
In fact, since the Responsible Gambling Week, online betting operators like Bwin, Ladbrokes Coral, Sportingbet, and Partypoker all have experienced a 10.5 percent drop in their revenues. Even the 888 Holding was affected by this as their shares dropped by 13.9 percent.
William Hill also saw a decline of around 12.5 percent from its shares. One of their analysts has said that even the investors were not expecting such a thing to happen. This surely surprised them all, especially that the online stakes were affected.
Now, the casino firms are not really veering away from what the government really wants to happen. They still would like to show that they too are desiring to ensure that responsible gambling is also at the heart of their businesses.
This led UK betting firms to commit five pledges to promote safe gambling in the country. The five pledges will be independently monitored. Reports will also be made regarding these. These five pledges aim to prevent underage gambling and to protect young people.
The firms also pledged to increase their support for treating gambling problems and harms. They also aim to strengthen and expand the codes of practice when it comes to advertising gambling-related activities.
Their main goals are to ensure that they help protect and empower their customers and that they also get to promote a culture of safe gambling. They are, in fact, allotting £10 million for programs to be delivered to teenagers and young people in the UK regarding safe gambling practices.
The firms also aim to create new and universally accepted standards for safer gambling practices in the UK. This means that they will be developing an open-source collaboration closet from companies to come up with safer gambling tools.
These commitments from the betting firms will be facilitated through the Senet Group. This is an industry-funded body that supports the Gambling Commission’s work to ensure that gambling services are made safe and fair.
The chairman of the Betting and Gaming Council, Brigid Simmonds, shared her thoughts regarding the pledges and commitments from these firms.
“The Betting and Gaming Council welcomes these commitments from the chief executives. This is a major step towards preventing underage gambling and addressing harm.”
“Working together as an industry we will create a culture of safer gambling – increasing the competency of professionals who educate young people, increasing support for treatment, strengthening and expanding codes of practice and empowering consumers. These are commitments that the BGC will champion and drive forward to build public and institutional trust in our industry,” she added.
