UK Government White Paper Released: Risks 6-figure Rise in Black Market Gambling!

UK White Paper risks a 6-figure rise in black market gambling due to strict rules, bet caps, and control of bonuses. Will over-regulation backfire? (Image by Chris Boland on Unsplash )

The UK White Paper is finally here, but a few possibly overzealous new rules are being proposed that could result in being counter-productive to ‘protecting problem gamblers’!

Unlicenced casino operators, labelled as the UK black market, will be rubbing their hands together if the UK white paper presses the self-destruct button on its own industry.

Although many of the new rules look fairly reasonable. The trigger for the affordability checks of £125 of monthly losses suggested is the most worrying.

Plans to slow down more online casino games and cap online slots’ max bet limits to between £2.00 to £15.00 may send high rollers over to unregulated casinos where there are no responsible gambling obligations and few financial rules placed on operators.

As per my previous ‘BGC Supports Tiered Levy System’ report, a levy of 1% of the entire gambling industry’s revenues is also in the white paper. The money is to be contributed to the problem gambling. This is not a bad idea, but also one that could severely affect operator profits.

Combining the cost of technology to implement affordability checks, plus fewer bets per hour by slowing games down and lower max bets affecting revenues, we could see more UK operators exit the market as did LVBet, Royal Panda, and Energy Casino. This situation is already leaving players with less choice. That could also mean more players seeking out black market casinos in search of a more diverse gambling experience.

In addition, not only will operators be put off entering the UK gambling market, but so will slot developers. My fear is players will suffer from a lack of choice – once again another path to the black market in search of variety.

The Irony! The latest BGC welcomes gambling white paper news report states that only 0.2% of gamblers have issues with addiction. How bizarre! The new rules are purportedly there to protect others, but in reality, once some of these proposed rules come into action, if the government gets it wrong, it puts a far larger percentage at risk. Read on to find out why!

Monitoring Bonuses or Free Spins Offers – How bad will this be?

OK, so we can live with affordability checks despite the risks, which I will get into below. 1% levies on gambling companies, well, as players this won’t affect us too much in the short term, while the long-term remains to be seen. Even caps on slots, as inconvenient as they are for high rollers, most of us can live with this. Speaking for myself, I only bet $0.50 per spin.

However, if you really want to push UK players over to non-UK licenced online casinos, then over-limiting free spins bonus offers and deposit match bonus deals is the way to do it. How many people come to the Casinoplusbonus no deposit bonus lists because they are ‘bonus hunters’? I can tell you, it’s the majority of site visitors. It’s OK, we will survive because there are MGA and Curacao markets. The point is, 9 out of 10 UK visitors are looking for bonuses. The UK needs to be very careful in how it approaches this touchy subject because bonuses are a pillar in the success of the current UK gambling market.

Risky Measures: For now the white paper says it “We will undertake a review of incentives such as free bets and bonuses to ensure that they are constructed in a socially responsible manner and do not encourage excessive gambling”. Let’s hope that doesn’t mean abolish free bets and no deposit bonus offers!

Affordability Checks – Risking low limits…

The white paper needs to be particularly careful on this point. The fact that there is a loss limit before it kicks in is a positive. No one should disagree with this because we don’t want people losing half their salary every month. Having a trigger is also better than making these checks mandatory. Therefore, I agree the industry needs them.

However, £125 is shockingly low considering the warnings provided by YouGov and other surveys!

Implementing such low triggers for affordability checks via the new white paper could result in up to a million+ gamblers heading to non-UK online casinos. It would confirm my fears highlighted in the last part of my UK gamblers reject affordability checks news report.

It states: “My Concerns: 4.1% (41 respondents) went to an unlicenced operator. This may seem small, but with 29% (19.4 million) of the UK population gambling online, that’s approximately 795,400 people”.

In the White Paper It Says: “We therefore consider a lower threshold of £125 net loss a month will be appropriate”.

My opinion on this is that they should change the affordability check trigger to £125 net loss per week – even then I am being generous. Therefore, the abovementioned 4.1% of respondents in the OLBG and YouGov surveys amounting to 795,400 gamblers in the UK who said they would seek out black market gambling may stay on UKGC casino platforms.

A Final Word – Arrogance has long been the UK government’s downfall!

Hopefully the information in the draft are just warnings areas such as bonus deals will be slightly tampered with. However, One bad decision on the bonuses or the affordability checks regulations could ruin the entire industry and put millions at risk by exposing them to the alternative non-UK casino industry labelled ‘the black market’.

See the full white paper: Here is the PDF link for the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 – Published April 2023.