In the past, some countries believed gambling to be a harmful practice or a disrupting force to society.
What they failed to realize is that anything fun can be prone to abuse and that people can abuse anything (even painkillers) if left unchecked.
Worst of all, they believed that if they just ban gambling, people will stop gambling. Nothing could ever be further from the truth.
Luckily, regulators came around and looked into the matters from a more realistic point of view. The results are already visible, and most of them are positive. To show how exactly, here are the top six problems that were made better by regulating online casinos in the UK.
- Protection of local users
By introducing regulations, you’ll ensure that people betting for real money have consumer protection. The reason why we stress out real money is because even in regions where there’s no real-money gambling, there are social casinos. Here, you have slots that people just play for fun. Naturally, the stakes here are substantially lower. This is why it was important to differentiate that what we’re talking about here are UK online slots for real money.
By regulating, you’re assuming the power for the enforcement of rules and regulations on the subject matter. Online casinos that want to operate in your jurisdiction have to play by your own rules, or they won’t get a necessary license. This gives you the leverage actually to enforce some of these rules.
This is also the only way for you to address the issue of problem gamblers.
Then, you have programs like GamStop, which allow you to blacklist yourself from some of these sites if you believe you’re spending too much time and money on this. It’s always better to exercise self-restraint, but if this is not possible, having a program like this is quite helpful.
2. Prevention of money laundering
When you finally regulate online casinos, you can insist on a strict verification process for all users. Sure, they still have multiple options online to play on anonymous casinos. Still, if they want to play on one of the locally licensed platforms, they’ll have to confirm their identity and have all their transactions monitored. This is one of the best ways to prevent money laundering and tax evasion by players.
This way, you’ll also get the tools to monitor suspicious money transactions. You see, luck-based games are a convenient excuse for anyone to “explain” how they got an incredibly generous payment to their account. If you’ve watched Breaking Bad, you probably remember that this is how the protagonist initially tried to justify their drug money.
Without regulation, it’s impossible to establish collaboration with financial institutions and the IRS. In other words, this is the first in a long line of dominos that need to fall in order for the financial system to work.
Most importantly, once they’re licensed, they’ll have certain reporting obligations to uphold.
3. Ensuring fair play
When these casinos are regulated, they have to submit to independent audits and testing. This means that they’ll be inspected by skilled and knowledgeable third-party institutions. This alone ensures a much higher integrity of games, as well as the integrity of the organizations behind these games.
Moreover, there’s an assured transparency of in-game mechanics and odds. In this scenario, you don’t just have to take the word of the organization for it.
The prevention of rigged games goes far beyond just the mechanics. It also elevates the player’s trust. You see, with casino games, there’s a saying that the house always wins. While this has all to do with the odds and nothing to do with rigging, that’s not how the players see it. This is one of those conspiracies that most players believe even if they won’t verbalize it.
The way you regulate all of this is by insisting on it as a part of their licensing requirements.
4. Tax revenue generation
First of all, there’s so much potential tax revenue that can be reinvested in public services. People play either way, you get to decide if this money leaves the country, weakening the local economy and increasing the inflation in the process. Why inflation? Well, because the money leaving the country is needed but is no longer in circulation, the government has to print some more.
One more contribution that a lot of people are downplaying is higher transparency in tax reporting. This is something that these online casinos will be obliged to do.
This regulation will make a massive contribution to the region’s economy. It’s not just about the taxes either. You see, there are a lot of jobs, and this is even an encouragement for local tourism. Soulhull already saw six million visitors last year, which is a 9% increase. Now, to what degree the recent regulation of online casinos impacts this, is still not certain, but what remains is that the impact is clearly positive.
This tax revenue can be used for all sorts of useful and humane purposes. For instance, it could be turned into funding for social programs.
5. Enhancing security and data protection
The casino industry is particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. After all, it deals with personal and financial information, and a lot of money is in play. This makes it a great target. By regulating, you’re paving the way to more robust cybersecurity measures and their implementation.
The protection of personal information is incredibly important, and the best way to handle it is through more extensive regulation. Only by insisting on regulating casinos can you ensure compliance with GDPR. This is crucial for user protection for any platform that collects user data.
The most important aspect is the prevention of identity theft, especially account takeover. This is especially troublesome for people who permanently have some funds in their account deposit. With higher security, there’s a higher aptitude for spending (since it’s clear that it is safe.)
6. Encouraging responsible gambling
There’s nothing wrong with gambling itself. Some people like the risk, and they like luck-based games. Most people can control this habit, but it’s only those few who are problem gamblers that the government might have to step up. We’ve already mentioned GamStop as one of the tools for self-exclusion, but there’s more that the government can do.
You don’t have just to restrict their access. You can give them the tools that will allow them to put limits on deposits and losses. You can even insist that every online casino where you are licensed has to do this.
Then, you can provide your players with access to support services. Knowing who to call in the moments of crisis can make all the difference in the world.
Another thing you need to consider is the promotion of responsible gambling practices. Setting a time limit and a money limit, as well as accepting losing as a part of the game, are just some of them. Most importantly, you need to acknowledge that gambling is entertainment and not a money-making activity. When you get this out of the way, everything else will just fit into place.
Power of regulation gives you power of control
If you refuse to regulate online gambling, you won’t stop people from gambling online – you’ll prevent them from doing so via legitimate means. You’ll give more power to illegal and offshore casinos, fail to collect a massive amount of tax revenue, and, most importantly, fail to protect your users. By introducing regulations, you’re making these online casinos conform to your rules, seeing as how you have the power to issue them a license (or withhold it). Like always in life, ignoring the issue won’t make it go away.
