Online gambling in the United Kingdom is about to get even better thanks to a new set of rules and regulations proposed by the UK Gambling Commission, the country’s gaming regulator. The country’s online gambling market is one of the largest, if not the largest, regulated market on the planet and safety and fairness have been one of the biggest concerns. With these new rules, the commission hopes to address these concerns more effectively.
With regards to safety, one of the commission’s main objectives with the new rules is the protection of minors and other vulnerable parties from any form of gambling-related harm. Following a recent survey of Britain’s gaming market, the UK Gambling Commission found that the number of minors who were participating in gambling activities or had access to such services had quadrupled. This was, of course, an extremely nerve-racking trend that needed to be dealt with as fast and as effectively as possible.
To that effect, the commission resorted to slashing the 72-hour grace period that online gaming operators were allowed to carry out identity and age verification checks. As it turns out, the grace period had created a loophole that allowed minors to access gambling services. Even though some operators have been very strict with their verification checks by indiscriminately requiring customers to verify their identities and addresses before being granted any access to the gaming services, many others have been quite reluctant in that regard.
The new regulations are very clear cut and therefore the operators will now be required to perform mandatory checkers before the users are allowed to deposit funds into their accounts or gamble. Moreover, even the so-called free bets, bonuses and free spins will now be restricted to only the individuals whose identities have been confirmed.
Easier Transaction Processing
A 2018 CMA report revealed that many online gamblers were frustrated with being required to avail additional identification information whenever they needed to withdraw funds from their casino accounts. The commission had this in mind all along and with the new rules, it has made the process more straightforward. Operators will be required to collect all of the customers’ details including age, name, and addresses during the sign-up process – they will also issue relevant and necessary queries during this phase. The operators will also need to inform their customers of the required information and how said information can be supplied to them beforehand so as to significantly speed up the withdrawal process. To avoid any form of confusion in the future, the online gaming operators will be required to ensure and guarantee that the customers’ details remain safe and accurate, obviously.
