UKGC Stamps Down Once More
February 25, 2022
The UK iGaming industry has been through a large number of changes over the past two years – some of the first changes would target payment options with a ban aimed at credit card gambling and wagering which would come into place in 2020, further changes were made throughout the same period of time with short term restrictions on advertising and the messaging involved with it. Some of these changes were only temporary, and others have stuck around for a more permanent basis.
2021 also saw a more substantial change most notably aimed at slots – in an effort to make slot games fairer, changes were made to slow the rate of play down whilst also restricting some features such as turbo spins and the ability to re-wager winnings that were already chosen to be withdrawn. The package of changes was quite big but was implemented quickly in line with the guidance to have everything in place before the end of the year, and the new set of changes outlined by the UKGC does follow on from this somewhat with new terms being aimed at fairness and further transparency for players too.
Terms and conditions and terms of play will have to be updated in line with this new set of guidance – aimed at stopping unfair consumer practices and tidying up some of the grey area that was present in this space it may lead to some stricter guidance. This may mean that the treatment of customer funds for un-stake deposits may look to change, or how funds are managed in the case where the licensee believes there has been illegal, irregular, or fraudulent play, but this is yet to be expanded upon.
Other changes mean that some operators may need to take another look at how they provide their bonus offers or how wagering requirements are listed on the site too – they now must comply with the updated code on rewards, bonuses, and other requirements to make the wording here more transparent as some services are purposeful more obscure on exactly what these terms mean. No exact deadline date has been given just yet for when these changes must be put into place, but the UKGC has a history of requiring changes to be implemented quickly and on a mandatory basis too so it wouldn’t be surprising to see these changes coming and updated terms of service on a player’s favorite operators in the short term rather than long term.
