UK APPG Declares Final Recommendations On Online Gambling Amendments

Published: 19/06/2020

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The UK APPG on gambling-related harms has recently proposed certain guidelines for online gambling amendments. The final report set by APPG publishes over 30 recommendations regarding the regulatory change. Other than that, its core proposal is for the complete ban on gambling advertisements.

Table of Contents

The Report By Survation

Recently, a poll was conducted by the Survation through Clean Up Gambling, to assess the support of the public. The Director of Strategic Communications from Survation, Carl Shoben analyzed the survey. According to him, the public of the UK along with individuals who gamble regularly accepts that there must be major modifications to the online gambling operations. They also ask for more protection in terms of online betting and how gambling can be further driven towards young people.

The research was also made by the Survation in the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlighted that all regular gamblers become addicted to gambling and are found to bet stakes at higher rates than before. The marketing agency also gives a message to the government to emphasize on the aids for change cuts across several political lines. Their report also highlighted that liberalized gambling under Labour support can bring out more stringent regulation in the UK.

Final Amendments Made In The Report

The final report issued by APPG is followed by the interim report that includes more than 30 regulations, and the major ones are as follows:

APPG proposed a comprehensive review of how gambling products are operated and classified according to safety and addictiveness.
Gambling operators should provide appropriate information on the players’ chances of winning.
There should be the implementation of a single sign-on mechanism.
The improper use of NDAs must be conducted by the gambling commissioner.

The report also indicated the replacement of the gambling act 2005. All the MPs in APPG also believed it, as a great opportunity to impact gambling policies, regardless of the result of the general election.

The interim report proposed by the APPG is driven by Carolyn Harris. The report strictly focuses on online bets and slot machines. If there is a prohibition on land-based gambling then the same should be followed on online gambling as well. The average monthly disposal income in Britain is around £450, but online bookmakers keep an eye on players’ finances only when they lose their thousands of pounds.

Industry Makes Major Strides

The chairperson of betting and council, Brigid Simmonds OBE stated that gambling companies are dedicated to making safe gambling for their customers. They only utilize the tools that online owners have at their disposal. Their members are consistently investing in innovative technologies to make comprehensive use of algorithms and data to instantly determine the risk involved in gambling. They also communicate with their customers during the initial stage and further promote the latest affordability checks on customers.

Although, this report also highlights that gambling companies haven’t updated MPs about the affordable level of gambling. Moreover, they also didn’t mention when their customers are losing a significant sum of money.

Carolyn Harris reviewed the complete report. She targeted the industry’s regulator for the guidelines that were not ideal to be applied to online gambling and need more superior powers to sanction gambling companies. Moreover, the spokesperson is not satisfied with the report as they were not given a chance to present any evidence. They further added that the report doesn’t present their conservable progress and measures on most of the areas.

Now, the regulator has proposed certain rules to the companies suggesting the usage of NDAs. The report by the cross-party group was also called for the modifications in the act to prevent bookmakers who seek the information from regulators.