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It’s been announced today, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) are to ban all credit card gambling in the UK across all verticals, in an ongoing effort to protect vulnerable gamblers.
Excluding Lotteries
The ban will come in to effect on the 14th April 2020, giving operators three months to make necessary adjustments to their business. The ban includes online and offline services with the exception of non-remote lotteries who contribute to good causes.The year long consultation last year looked at making changes to the industry to protect vulnerable gamblers from the harm of gambling with the government looking at ways to help the growth of the industry and contributions to the economy.
Credit Card Gambling
Along with credit cards, the consultation also reviewed the use of E-wallets including PayPal for making deposits, its more than likely this will be included in the ban.It’s estimated 22 per cent of gamblers using credit cards are deemed as problem gamblers. The financial service authority, UK Finance, estimated 800,000 UK consumers use their credit cards to gamble.It’s been a tough few years for the UK gambling industry with various restrictions implemented by regulatory bodies, including the maximum bet on FOBT’s heavily reduced from £100 to £2. This has affected high street betting establishments with the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes closing 700+ shops throughout the UK with huge loss of employment.With the ban now imminent, what does this mean for the UK gambling industry? Will we see a shift in players opting to play at unregulated casinos where regulations are more relaxed or will we see more UK operators opting to leave the UK market and concentrate on more relaxed regulated markets?It’s too early to make any firm predictions but it certainly will have a detrimental effect on operators and players who enjoy gambling responsibly.