Gaming Commission’s Moves to put an End to some of the Misleading Adverts Conducted by Bingo Operators

Consumer protection is a core concern to UK gaming Commision, they have made it crystal clear to bingo company that is set to undertake some serious scrutiny into their games advertisement programmes. This scrutiny is meant to track any element of false advertisement entailing their existing bonuses and promotions.

These new rules are meant to effectively protect all their customers from being duped by some of the enticing Bingo advertisements. The commission is set to impose as many fines as possible to any Bingo site in the UK that will be found guilty of breach of consumer law and set advertisement rules.

Such breaches may entail them carrying out an advertisement that is more appealing to children who have not yet attained the age of the majority together with carrying out misleading advertising campaigns.

The rules will take effect on 31st October of this year. In addition to this, the commission is set to effect an 8-week deadline that will see all the casino operators have sorted out their all customers complaints.

These new rules also seek to punish those Bingo company sites that are prone to sending spam promotion SMS and emails to their esteemed customers. These companies as of 31st October will be expected to strictly follow the UK codes of advertisement whenever they provide efficient customers complain resolution process.

Actions fighting breach of consumer law will be easily affected by the new rules. Such breaches include false promising bonuses and promotions together with restrictions that are very unreasonable. Through the aid of sites such, consumers are guaranteed to come up with the best choices as the website regularly give reviews on online Bingo operations based in the UK.

The Commission’s CEO made it clear on press statement that they are set to protect the interest of customers and Bingo company as their core priority. He further states that the new changes will make customers be safe from misleading and irresponsible adverts.

Punter’s justice founder, in addition, commended the commision for finally coming to recognize the need for stringent measures in the gaming industry. He further states that it is just a matter of time for them to establish whether the new measures will make it possible for gamblers to receive prompt justice over unfair treatments by gaming sites.

In 2016, with the assistance of CMA, the commission had carried out some detailed investigations to see whether these gambling sites were fairly treating their esteemed customers.

These investigations found some Bingo company sites guilty of going on contrary to what consumer law stated. In effect to this, CMA sought legal intervention against the firms that had the fault of breach of consumer law.

For the past years, ASA in partnership with UKGC had found some of the Bingo sites guilty of having adverts that are more appealing to children. These adverts were found to possess pages with graphics that are more enticing to children. A good example is on the scenario expressed by Coral interaction where they used a childish wizard image in the name of promoting a game called lucky wizards.

 

UK Gambling Commission Slaps Stride Gaming with Hefty Fines

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has slapped the Stride Online gaming operator with a hefty penalty. It has done this by issuing a notice to that effect. The notice is still pending and has not yet come to effect for the time being.

Stride GamingBefore arriving at this crucial decision, the gambling commission carried out an extensive review of the activities of the said gaming operator. It mainly focused on how the gaming operator carried out its activities.

It alleges that the said operator has not been diligent and faithful in all its dealings. This is why, in the opinion of the gambling commission, the operator deserved a hefty financial fine. This gaming operator has a vast interest in the field of online gaming and gambling.

These include but are certainly not limited to Regal Wins Casino, Magical Vegas, Spin and Win, Kitty Bingo, and Jack Casino. On its part, the operator has advised its market base and subsidiaries that it is presently considering the various approaches to take in response to the latest developments.

Some of the steps the operator is currently contemplating are lodging a formal complaint to the gambling operator as regards the proposed financial penalty. It also considers appealing the decision of the gambling operator and the accompanying penalties in a competent court of law. It even considers asking that the size of the penalty be reduced.

The markets have responded adversely to these developments. Stride gaming has lost a whopping one-third of its market value. This has mainly been occasioned by the loss of interest that most stakeholders have developed in response to these allegations.

Its shares fell by around 33% immediately the announcements. The slide slowed down to around 31.75% later up to the close of the business day. This slump in market value has no doubt adversely affected the daily revenue as well as the short-term financial standing of the firm.

The wider market was not spared either. Indeed, these shocking revelations have also sent the overall gaming market tumbling down. The London’s Alternative Investments market all-share index slumped by around 1.5% in the same week that the announcement was made by the gambling commission. The FTSE 100-share index was not adversely affected though. This is because it registered a paltry 1% slump in value.

This slump in the overall gaming share is understandable. Stride is the third largest online bingo operator in the United Kingdom. It commands a 12% market share. This loss of confidence, therefore, means a huge impact on the gaming market as a whole.

Given the significance of gaming to the British society, it waits to be seen the repercussions and long-term consequences of these developments. In particular, it is interesting to see the courses of actions that the various stakeholders are going to employ to counter these adverse developments.

These developments notwithstanding, the UK gambling and online gaming industry are still robust and reliable. The developments will hardly have any adverse effects or impacts on the resolve of the British society in enjoying their favorite pastimes.

 

 

Gaming Tax Online: UK Government Plans to Increase in 2019

The UK government has passed a bill that is set to increase the point of consumption (POC) tax to all online gaming platforms as of 2019. Since the UK government has an obligation to level the playground for both its citizen who gambles as well as the online gambling companies, therefore they decided to raise the POC earlier before they initiate their earlier proposed fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) maximum limits that are scheduled to start on April 2020.

gambling taxThe owners of online casinos seem not to be satisfied by the government’s decision claiming that it will limit on their profits. The government will announce the new POC tax rate before the end of this year.

These new changes on the gambling industry have resulted due to an investigation that was carried out in October 2016 by the competition and markets authority (CMA) to ensure that these gambling companies operate responsibly in accordance to the consumer protection law.

As a result of this investigation, new rules have been suggested in order to create fairness and protect problem gamblers in the gambling sector. On May 2017, the government said that is intending to lower the limits for maximum stakes on FOBT to £2 from the currently set price £100. These FOBT limits pose as a major setback for the online casinos in terms of profits and job loss that is expected to hit them immediately after its implementation.

In 2016 about £4.7 billion gross revenue was generated from the online gambling sector in which this was an approximate of 34% of all money that generated in the gambling economy. With that said if an immediate FOBT implementation will have to take place, the central government will also be affected since it will have reduced the amounts of revenues expected to be collected from online gambling. In addition to that, the issue of FOBTs limits raised major concerns from all shareholders because of its side effects to the overall economy. Due to the treasury concerns about unemployment levels and reduction in revenues, they opted for a raise in the POC taxes and postponing the implementation on FOBT limits.

Other countries like France, Spain, and Australia have already implemented a high tax rate on gambling companies, but as at now, the POC tax in the United Kingdom stays at a 15% rate. Some critics claim that it is a selfish move by the government in the fear that there might be a loss in the budget so raising tax was a way of guaranteeing high revenues before initiating the FOBT limits.

The rise in tax will affect all online casinos whether operating from inside or outside the country as long as your players are from within the UK. It is very evident that this will, in turn, have to make these online gambling firms to raise prices of their odds. Therefore, the effects of increasing the tax will as well be felt by online gamblers since their customers will be the ones financing their burden. The two-year delay between the implementation of the FOBT limits and the POC tax increase would be necessary in avoiding massive instant loss of jobs or closure of the online gambling sites.

The CMA and the gambling commission are in the forefront to ensure all online gambling firms are aware of these new regulations and are ready to monitor all operations as from next year to ensure all online gambling firms comply with these regulations. The government treasury argued that the increase in POC duty would be the key solution to cover any negative impact brought about by the FOBT regulations such as protecting jobs of its citizens who work for online gambling firms and stopping the machines ruining lives of problem gamblers.