Across the UK, online casino fever is continuing to spread across the country with millions continuing to benefit from the vast number of platforms with legal licenses and the incredible range of games available. However, due to new regulations introduced over 2024 that targeted the growing concern over online gambling addiction, players started to seek other avenues to access online casino play without the restrictions and limitations placed on game play by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the UK government.
What Regulations Were Introduced?
2024 saw new regulations introduced aimed at bringing more awareness to the risks of gambling addiction. This included wagering limits on online slots games with different limits determined by age; £2 for players aged between 18-24 and £5 for over 25’s. In addition to that, “frictionless” affordability checks were carried out on players that lost £500 in a month on gambling. This was reduced to £150 this February.
Players To Get More Help
Due to the accessibility to online gambling, the UKGC has constantly faced the challenge of how to monitor people legally and ensure people’s health is being cared for. One of the avenues to help identify a gambling issue beyond the regulations mentioned above is to employ the assistance of anti-gambling companies such as GAMSTOP and GamCare to give people more power over their gambling habits and raise greater awareness of potential dangers.
What is GAMSTOP?
GAMSTOP is an organisation that helps people take control of their gambling activity. By registering to GAMSTOP, players will be excluded from using online casinos licensed by the UKGC for a self-defined period of time. This could be a few weeks, months, or years.
Due to the greater recognition of gambling addiction, online casinos are also implementing deposit and spending limits to help people set boundaries, but by seeking additional support with a dedicated organisation, further help is at hand to eliminate risks before they appear.
More Options in the Digital World
With the results of the new regulations implemented last year still to be determined, players looking to play on limitless platforms have looked for different avenues to provide this. And in casinos not on GAMSTOP, they have an alternative that is not covered by laws and regulations set for UK-licensed online casinos.
The rise of the digital era has opened a new world of options, and the online casino industry has benefited massively from the shift to a more digital lifestyle. With non-UK-licensed online casinos, the risks are still the same as they are in a land-based casino, but by monitoring spending and more importantly, spending within your own limits, the maximum experience can be extracted from playing on these platforms.
A clear direction indicating which direction the UKGC will travel with regards to potential new regulations will become clearer once the results of the pilot projects around affordability checks are assessed and announced. For online casino enthusiasts, for now there are alternative avenues to pursue.
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