As the UK Gambling Commission recently releases the latest stats around the prevalence of gambling in the UK, the government’s Minister of Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose, has urged Britain that it’s time to change increasingly lax laws around games like the National Lottery and bingo online, as well as the associated side games (e.g. poker, blackjack, roulette) featured on the likes of free online bingo sites.
The Minister has suggested that all gambling companies, whether they’re based in Britain or overseas, should need a licence from the UK Gambling Commission in order to operate and offer their services in Britain.
Mr Penrose’s suggestion comes in the hope that people in Britain, as well as their families, will be safeguarded from the associated evils of irresponsible gambling habits: “The current system for regulating remote gambling doesn’t work. Overseas operators get an unfair advantage over UK based companies, and British consumers who gamble online may have little or no protection depending on where the operator they deal with happens to be based.
“So our new proposals are an important step to help address concerns about problem gambling and to plug a regulatory gap, ensuring a much more consistent and higher level of protection for those people in the UK who gamble online.
“We will create a level playing field, so all overseas operators will be subject to the same standards and requirements as those based in Britain, as well as being required to inform the Gambling Commission about suspicious betting patterns to help fight illegal activity and corruption in betting.”
The UK Gambling Commission’s study demonstrates a steady increase in the prevalence of gambling in the UK since 2009, reporting an increase of 0.1%.
And what’s more, the report’s findings coincide with the latest Communications Market Report from Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, which found that there’s been a rise of nearly 4.5 million in people using web-capable smartphones.
The UK Gambling Commission is therefore urging the government to be aware that tighter restrictions need to be put in place to prevent vulnerable people gambling irresponsibly in the private world of their portable smartphone, tablet, laptop or netbook.
Just 12% of the UGC’s poll answered that, between September 2010 and June 2011, they had taken part in some form of remote gambling, with about 50% of those respondents giving the National Lottery as their chosen means of gambling.