In the United Kingdom and the influential Betting and Gaming Council lobby group has released the results of a survey showing that only about 16% of those who regularly enjoy sportsbetting would be willing to submit to strict affordability checks.
The London-headquartered organization used an official Thursday press release to detail that the figure comes from an investigation carried out by YouGov as the nation’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is continuing to consider whether such assessments should be implemented as part of an effort to make wagering safer and help fight the alleged growing pervasiveness of problem gambling.
Capricious concerns:
The Betting and Gaming Council represents approximately 90% of British gaming, sportsbetting, casino and bingo operators including behemoths such as William Hill, Entain and Flutter Entertainment and noted that its examination showed that fewer than one in five punters would be in favor of requiring providers to check their bank accounts or wage slips before allowing them to have a flutter. The enterprise also asserted that 58% of those surveyed would be unwilling to give such firms the right to carry out the range of arbitrary blanket checks being recommended by many ‘anti-gambling campaigners.’
Significant signal:
Michael Dugher (pictured) serves as the Chief Executive for the Betting and Gaming Council and he proclaimed that the results of his organization’s survey should come as a ‘wake-up’ call for the government as it prepares to lay out its official recommendations via the publication of a ‘white paper’. The former Labour politician disclosed that the same poll moreover found that 59% of punters believe the imposition of stringent affordability checks could lead to a large or substantial rise in the number of players using unlicensed online sportsbetting sites.
Read a statement from Dugher…
“We strongly support the gambling review as a once in a generation opportunity to raise standards and promote safer gambling. Ministers have said it will be an evidence-led process and these findings are a wake-up call showing the potential dangers of introducing blanket affordability checks on anyone who likes a flutter.”
Illicit interests:
The Betting and Gaming Council pronounced that ‘there are thousands of illegal gambling websites’ that do not follow the same strict standards as those in ‘the licensed and regulated sector’. The organization declared that such black-market services often target problem gamblers, miss the mark on age and identity verification duties and fail to offer the same cooling off and deposit limit tools as its own members.
Dugher’s statement read…
“We believe that technology should be used to identify those showing signs of problem gambling so that swift interventions can take place. Any changes introduced by the government must be balanced so that they rightly protect the vulnerable while not driving the vast majority who bet safely and responsible towards the unsafe online black-market where there are none of the safer gambling measures used by our members.”