Quarterly Online Survey on Online Gambling Behavior
The Gambling Commission partnered with Yonder to carry out quarterly online surveys on 8,000 adult Britons to find out about the characteristics of online gambling. Key outcomes include:
- Significant changes have occurred in how people gamble over the past few years, with online gambling becoming more popular every year. Many high rollers are drawn to the lucrative high roller rewards offered by operators.
- Mobile phones remain the most common way to access online gambling, especially among younger people. Three-quarters of players aged 18-34 use their smartphones to gamble, compared to only 14% of people aged 65 and older.
- While mobile phones remain the most popular device for online gambling, laptops, PCs, and tablets stabilized their decline. Laptops are the second most common way to access online gambling, used by four out of ten online gamblers.
- Although most online players still gamble at home, one in five also gambled outside the home.
- Online players typically have an average of three open accounts, with a significant portion of younger players having more. However, the current approach by operators to customer data involves monitoring games only on their own products, which offers a narrow view. Therefore, the Gambling Commission has challenged the industry to develop ways to use data to create a “single customer view.”
- Most online players placed bets in games, with the highest bets made by younger players. The popularity of esports betting is also growing, primarily driven by young men.
Definition of Gambling
The Gambling Act defines gambling as "gaming, betting, and participating in a lottery."
Examples of the most popular forms of gambling in the UK include:
- National lottery
- Buying a lottery scratch card
- Playing bingo
- Placing a bet on a football match or a horse race
- Placing a bet in a casino
- Online betting
Gambling is a reserved matter.
The UK government launched a review of the Gambling Act with a call for evidence.
The Terms of Reference for the review had three objectives:
- Examine whether changes are needed to the system of gambling regulation in Great Britain to reflect changes in the gambling landscape, particularly due to technological advances.
- Ensure there is an appropriate balance between consumer freedoms and choice on the one hand, and the prevention of harm to vulnerable groups and wider communities on the other.
- Ensure that customers are suitably protected whenever and wherever they are gambling, and that there is an equitable approach to the regulation of both the online and land-based industries.
Regulatory Bodies for Online Gambling
In the United Kingdom, several various bodies take the responsibility of producing and regulating gambling laws and regulations. Irrespective of whether it is iGaming operators or terrestrial gambling establishments such as betting shops and casinos, national level licensing may involve scary relations with other local councils and licensing boards with regard to licensing.
United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC)
The UK Gambling Commission is the body that controls and supersedes all other jurisdiction over the gambling law in the UK. The UK Gambling Commission, which was firmly established under the Gambling Act, occupies the pivotal role in respect to the regulation of the online gambling industry. It grants operator licenses and ensures that the iGaming operators strictly comply with the rules on fair play, consumer protection, and AML. The Commission keeps constant patrol in pursuing its compliance enforcement which can have dwindled effects like imposition of sanctions, fines, or withdrawal of licenses in the event of non-compliance.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
The ASA, or Advertising Standards Authority, then further regulates or monitors the compliance with the standards of advertisement in the UK as it applies to the advertisement of gambling activities. The ASA is an authority whose mission is to ensure the fair, open, and non-misleading nature of any advertisement and, therefore, protects vulnerable groups and under-18s from the potential hazards gambling activities could bring. The codes set down by the ASA must be followed by iGaming marketers, which clearly state that the advertisement must not link gambling with financial success, sexual seduction, or enhanced attractiveness anymore. Additionally, the ASA has a continuing monitoring program of compliance and can impose fines, demand retractions, and require changes of any non-complaint advert when necessary.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Although not part of gambling regulation, the FCA does regulate every financial and payment service used by the gambling operators to ensure safe and legal transactions. It requires the operators to have sufficient systems and controls in place to deal with a wide range of financial crimes, conduct due diligence, and report suspicious activity of any kind. The FCA enforces compliance on iGaming operators to ensure that players have a fair view of legal compliance, operational integrity, and trust by stakeholders or customers. Compliance also provides ways of mitigating the risks posed by extremely high fines and infamy.
