The United Kingdom Gambling commission regulates the gambling industry in Great Britain. It was set up under the 2005 Gambling Act and it issues licences to operators and those who provide services in the various sectors of the industry including land based casinos, online casinos and software providers, lotteries and betting operators. The Commission, which has over 200 employees, also makes sure that all types of gambling remains fair and untainted by criminal activity while at the same time, protecting under age and vulnerable people from the various problems that may be associated with excessive gambling.
Report on gambling 2012 to 2013
The recently released Gambling Commission report covers the period from the beginning of October 2012 to the end of September 2013. During this time the total income from every type of gambling was 6.69 billion pounds sterling which is an increase of a quarter of a billion pounds on the period of twelve months up to March 2013. Revenue from online gambling operators licensed by the Gambling Commission rose by 127 million pounds to reach just over a billion pounds. This is the first year that income from internet gambling has been the same as that from land based casinos in the United Kingdom. Even though revenue in both online casinos and in land based casinos increased by 16 per cent over the time covered, non- internet based betting and lotteries provide almost half of the gambling income at 3.3 billion pounds.
Changes in Gambling Legislation
There will be changes made to the 2005 Gambling Act from December 1st 2014 incorporating new rules contained in the Gambling Licensing and Advertising Bill. These will make it a legal requirement for all online casinos operators offering their services to players in Great Britain to hold a licence from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission even if they already have a license from another recognised regulatory authority, which is the case for 85 per cent of online gambling operators at the moment. This point of consumption based legislation means that the Gambling Commission can insist that all gambling operators will be obliged to offer the same protection to players, children and other vulnerable people in the United Kingdom and that they will also pay a 15 per cent tax on income.
Leave A Comment