UK Doubling In On Improving Healthy Gambling
Last year, a range of initiatives were introduced by the UK Gambling Commission and other gambling-related bodies in the UK intended to promote responsible gambling.
These initiatives have met with differing degrees of effectiveness, leaving space for progress. Luckily the Gambling Commission would not abandon its search to clean up the casino industry and make it safe and sustainable.
Neil McArthur, the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, came to defense of the gaming industry recently. This was in London at the annual conference on the CMS rule. While he indicated that some of the recent media assaults on the industry were needless and undoubtedly full of misinformation, he also went ahead urging the country's gaming licensees to work harder on their responsible gambling efforts.
He also pointed out that over the past few years, customer trust in the gaming industry has dwindled. This can be due to elevated cases of advertising-related abuses and safe gambling committed by the casino operators. It's clear that a lot needs to be done.
The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Gambling Related Harm has been strongly critical of the role of UKGC in controlling the market. They pointed out the gaming commission for being over-familiar with some of their licensees, which is why they were slow in dealing with criminals. The legislative committee will work on updating the 2005 Gambling Act by 2020, which they believe would further streamline things quite a bit.
Licensees Reminded About Declaration Of Ownership
One of the items United Kingdom aims to emphasize this year is the need for its licensees to explain the origins of the funds they use to finance their activities and make new acquisitions. That comes on the wake of a recent announcement that MaxEnt Ltd., one of its licensors, has experienced a change of ownership without alerting them.
The UKGC suspended the company's license and looked further into the origins of funds that the firm used to purchase and run the gaming business during an inquiry. Which suggests, of course, that several other businesses could quickly fall under the spotlight for similar breaches as well.
FSA And GambleAware Announce Safer Gambling Platform
GambleAware has collaborated with the Football Supporter's Association (FSA) to create a new 'safer gambling hub' in an attempt to add to the continuing battle to encourage safer gambling. This information platform is part of the BeGambleAware campaign which is one place for football fans to be educated about the dangers of impulsive betting.
Although this can sound like a minor measure, it will surely matter in the long run as the UK proceeds to wage ware against growing cases of gambling-related damage.
