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UK Punters Want Politicians Out of Online Gambling
By Shane Addinall Mar 08, 2021 IndustryThe UKGC has lost the trust and support of Britons says the latest YouGov survey commissioned by Betting and Gaming Council. Crazy loss limits and fear of “mission creep” is driving punters to illegal sites – the numbers don’t lie.The internet has created an interesting imbalance of power in many areas of life – what once used to be strictly controlled can now very easily become uncontrollable if enough people choose to ignore local legislation.
The UK Gambling Commission has come under fire many times over the years for its inability to understand the ebb and flow nature of regulated gambling. With many of their tougher stances being called “draconian” in the past, however, they hold firm that they are not concerned about driving players towards black market casinos rather than drawing them towards regulated ones.
As much as the UKGC may feel denial is their best defence a study commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) is finally putting some hard numbers to what most industry pundits have been saying all along – they have lost the confidence of the gambling public.
The Numbers Do Not Lie
The final push to see what Britons feel about the Gambling Commission’s knee jerk decision making is the drive to install a £100 per month loss limit. This limit would not be based on your financial status but be a blanket loss limit for all UK punters across all gambling verticals.
Here are what the people had to say about government interference:
- 51% of respondents want politicians out of gambling decision making.
- 59% of respondents admit tighter restrictions send them to unregulated sites.
Far from being “big talk” a February 2021 report by international account firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed that Britons gambling at illegal sites has more than doubled in the past 24 months from 210,000 to 460,000! Further investigation in the real money implications of this increase proved that these players have staked more than £2.8 billion at these unlicensed tax-exempt casinos.
In addition to the millions the UKGC has cost the country, should they succeed in gaining cabinet approval for the proposed £100 loss limit the horseracing has projected their annual revenue loss to be around £60 million in betting levies alone.
With the UK economy has suffered a 9.9% GDP drop off in 2020, it is bordering on criminal to allow these levels of taxable revenues to continue to funnel offshore where they cannot serve the best interests of Great Britain.
Treat Britons Like Adults
One of the issues raised by respondents during the survey was their fear of “post-Covid mission creep”, where the government would use decisions made for the good of the public as a smokescreen behind which to take more and more control of their daily lives.
Head of the BGC, Michael Dugher, echoed this sentiment saying:
“My view is that limits are good, which is why people betting are now strongly encouraged to set their own limits on how much they spend.”
In a free-market economy, tax-paying adults should be allowed to determine for themselves how they want to spend their time and their money. It is not up to the government to begin policing hobbies unless you want to end up like China where the government controls even the most basic forms of entertainment, literally enforcing how many hours per day can be spent on video games and completely outlawing gambling.
Dugher went on to add:
“The BGC fully supports the Gambling Review, and we want to see big changes, but it’s important that ministers get those changes right.”
Hopefully, the Commission takes note of the findings of these and other surveys and makes a concerted effort to find the balance between protecting the at-risk community and despotism.
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