The Betting and Gambling Council (BGC) has launched a comprehensive video campaign to educate UK players about what a gambling Black Market site is.
It is an educational video that follows a UKGC report, which revealed that some online players are unaware they’re playing on a site not licensed by the UK Gambling Authority. Although we don’t believe that the reason for releasing the video was a direct result of that research project.
While it is a good idea to release such a video in order to keep UK players safe, the content of the video isn’t strictly factual. What would worry me is if you release a video, and we’re not all the facts are correct, players who already play at Black Market casinos are going to lose trust.
There will also be some points in the video that I believe will attract more players to the online black market gambling scene. However, this is just a bit of a catch-22 for the BGC.
In this new piece, I will cover some of the points made in the video and share my perspective as an experienced online Gambler and journalist.
Source: I found the news report directly on the official BGC news feed. You can head over to the BGC Launches Powerful New Campaign Video news report or watch the same video below.
Watch the Full BGC Video Here
Which parts of the video are not strictly true?
Well, as a UK citizen, but with Canadian and British citizenship, I do believe that players should stick to playing at online casinos or any online gambling site for that matter, that is licensed under their domestic gambling laws. In the case of the UK, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission UKGC).
However, I also want to call out the BGC for some of the points that it made in the video that are not strictly true or are possibly slightly misleading.
Here’s where it gets hazy:
The video highlights the following four points comparing two similar-looking online casino sites:
- One of these sites supports age verification
- One bans credit card deposits
- One has strict ID checks
- One has built-in player protections
We Review the Key Points Made in the Video
The video starts off well and explains that black market casinos don’t follow the same level of protection as casinos licensed in the UK. That much is true to a certain extent, and most importantly, playing at an overseas online gambling site means you’re not covered under British law.
Once it states these four, the video claims that one of these sites does not have any of these features, which is just not true.
- Age Verification (Slightly False Claim): Online casinos licensed by the Curacao and Anjouan authorities use strict age verification; however, UKGC-licensed gambling sites verify your age before you can deposit. On the other hand, Curacao and Anjouan casinos and sportsbooks only require you to pass the age verification checks when you want to make a withdrawal.
- Bans on Credit Cards (True): This part is true in the UK. You cannot find any gambling activity using a credit card. This was part of the UK Gambling Act of 2005, and it was a smart move by the UKGC to introduce this rule to prevent people from gambling while in debt. Unfortunately, Black Market casinos do not have the same bans.
- Strict ID Checks: Again, the BGC is not being completely clear about strict ID checks. Yes, in the UK, there are strict ID checks, which is brilliant; however, the licensing authorities in Curacao and Anjouan also require strict ID checks. Therefore, the BGC refers to websites that do not operate under any overseas licensing framework, yet this has not been made clear in the video. Therefore, hypothetically, some players may see these ID checks on Black Market sites and believe that the website is a UK-approved gambling site.
- One has built-in player protections. One of the UK’s claims to fame is its excellent responsible gambling tools, which allow you to control deposit limits, loss limits, session times, and track your time spent gambling using reality checks. It is true that most black market websites do not have these tools available, yet there are some sites that do, for example, any online casino that uses the SOFTSWISS aggregator platform.
Overall, yes, the BGC is oversimplifying the dangers of not gambling on an online casino under the UKGC licensing Authority. However, it should also be noted that not all these overseas casinos are free from ID checks, built-in player protection, and age verification. I believe adding this small point would educate those who watch the video a little bit better; at the same time, it would also instill more Trust and less confusion.
What About Points Made That May Appeal to Some Players?
As I mentioned, there is a catch-22 here for the BGC. Firstly, there are people who will watch this video who have tried UKGC casinos and can no longer play because they are unable to fund them using a credit card. This video basically says that if you go to a black market casino, you can find your gambling using a credit card.
Another issue is that street ID checks and a lack of age verification are mentioned in the video. With the current climate in the UK regarding online privacy, particularly the recent issue of digital ID cards, the video is almost highlighting to some players that they can play at Black Market casino and remain anonymous.
At the same time, those who are underage may now believe they can play at the black market online casino or sportsbook, which in some cases is likely true however for the most popular online casinos out there it’s not true and they could end up depositing money and then when it comes to the KYC check they cannot prove they are over 18 and they will lose that money.
Casinoplusbonus Thoughts and Opinion
Overall, it’s great to see the BGC being proactive. I’m a huge supporter of many of the activities the organisation gets involved in, and I love the fact that the BGC is a significant proponent of the UK gambling Market, for example, fighting against the raising of gambling taxes and standing up for operators and players alike.
With that said, I think the video is a little bit of a scare tactic and doesn’t fully or honestly what a black market online casino or sportsbook is and I think it’s not entirely truthful and could mislead people who have already passed age verification an ID checks at black arket casinos those are the exact people that might be thinking oh well my Casino offered that so no problem while they are still unaware that they are playing at a non-UKGC online casino platform.
For legal online casinos licensed in the United Kingdom, we have reviewed several gambling platforms here on Casinosplusbonus via our UK online casinos page. All sites on this page are fully regulated by the UKGC licensing authority.
Leave A Comment