Online gambling has experienced a significant worldwide boom over the last decade. Many countries have had to create or revise regulatory frameworks within which this burgeoning industry can operate. In some cases, this has succeeded beyond expectations. In others, it has fallen short of them.
The UK, home of the UK Gambling Commission, is one country that appears to have found the right balance of player protection, proper licensing, and operator accountability. All these, and many other factors, help contribute to a safer online gambling environment that allows UK punters access to the best gambling entertainment possible.
Because the UK has managed the growing wave of online gamblers and operators well, many other countries have turned to it for guidance. More than this, UK regulations have become a driving force behind how online gambling tech is developed, creating better innovation that leads to a safer iGaming community.
Let’s examine the regulations that have helped shape the UK gambling ecosystem and their influence on the future of online gambling globally.
Advertising
One of the most controversial regulatory changes in recent history within the UK is the decision to limit advertising opportunities for online casino operators. This was agreed upon and pushed through a partnership between the UK Gambling Commission, the Committees of Advertising Practice, and the Advertising Standards Authority.
There are five key points to advertising regulation within the UK:
Ad Content
Firstly, no operator ad may appeal to anyone under the age of 18, irrespective of how it is received by adult viewers. As such, operators need to make their advertisements engaging yet not alluring to younger viewers.
Ad Personnel
Secondly, no advertisement for online gambling, whether casino or sports betting, may contain an actor or actress under 25. This ensures no relatability between younger viewers and those on screen or in print.
Ad Suggestiveness
One of the most important bans on operator ads is that no advertisement may allude to the fact that gambling is a method to achieve financial success or instant wins. Further, gambling may not be made more attractive through sexual suggestiveness or similar means, so any ad promoting something like how you can find your favourite slot games must focus strictly on the games themselves.
Licensing Requirement
Tying the three prior regulations together, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) can refuse to license or revoke the license of any operator that fails to comply with the above stipulations of the Advertising Standards Authority.
Direct Opt-In
Finally, all gambling advertising may only be sent to players who have explicitly and directly opted into receiving such marketing.
The above regulations, which appear harsh toward regulators at first, have been put in place to protect vulnerable adolescents and youth and ensure that gambling is only undertaken by players who are of legal age.
Many other countries have followed suit, with almost 16 different countries also issuing partial or total bans on gambling advertising. The most significant include Italy, Norway, Australia, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Various other regions are also in the process of instilling similar bans on advertising.
Player Information
Aside from restricting who has access to information and advertising surrounding online gambling, the UK is also one of the strictest countries when it comes to assessing players and their ability to play without causing themselves financial harm.
The UKGC requires any licensed operator to implement extensive know-your-customer (KYC) checks to achieve this. These, in turn, require every player to verify their legal identity, address, and other personal information.
Additional checks and balances include stringent affordability checks, through which some players must prove what they earn to wager above a certain amount. Player tracking has also become vital to UK operators, with all money spent or won actively tracked to determine patterns of potential problem gambling.
These innovations have inspired other countries to adopt similar methods and caused developers to change how they develop online casino systems.
Casino management systems are developing more adaptable and fluid security roles in their software to accommodate more extensive personal information and ensure that gambling is limited based on particular necessities (such as a completed and verified profile).
Casino operators are also adapting their software to ensure that the registration process for new players is still seamless, despite all the additional checks and balances required for them to play.
Player Safety
The final major way UK regulation is shaping the iGaming industry is through policies that hold operators wholly accountable for player safety. These are enforced when an operator is found to have allowed a particular player access to online gambling systems despite a negative pattern in their gameplay or when an alert is triggered due to their gambling excessively.
According to regulation, the fault when this occurs is not on the player—who may have been battling a gambling addiction or faced other issues. Instead, the responsibility for the player lies with the operator, who should monitor all players to ensure they are gambling safely and responsibly.
Like more stringent player information requirements, operators’ additional responsibilities have changed how casino systems are developed and how operators manage their casinos—not only in the UK but also in many other countries.
Advanced tracking and monitoring systems, often powered by AI, are now commonly installed to regularly check all player activity and accounts against specific parameters. These include how long players access online games, how much they spend, how often they deposit, and various other metrics.
If a player’s gambling behaviour seems unusual according to these metrics, alerts are immediately sent to customer support representatives who can address the issue directly with the player or provide aid to help them stop gambling.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking for a new quality site to play on or wondering how a casino knows what games you play most often, it is important to understand that the iGaming industry is constantly evolving. Much of this change is driven by innovation in technology and systems.
However, much of this change is also due to shifting regulatory landscapes and how operators and gamblers are expected to act according to the law. As the UKGC strives to make online gambling safer and more enjoyable, this landscape will likely continue to evolve, with tech innovation not far behind.
