Betting Shares Fall After MP’s Call For Online Gambling Limits

A group of influential Ministers of Parliament recently proposed radical changes that could affect gambling as we know it. To combat what they called “a public health crisis” of gambling addiction, they called for a reduction of the maximum slot stake to $/€2. This has not been taken well by the industry. Following their decision to re-structure online gambling, shares in Britain’s biggest betting companies such as:

Their most urgent recommendation was to bring the maximum slot machine stakes down to the same level of fixed odds betting terminals. According to the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary group, slot machines are the crack cocaine of gambling and making them less lucrative could help players curb their addiction. In a recent press release they stated that there is no justification for players to stake anything over $/€2 for slots. They further advised that the way slots are right now, players can easily stake thousands of Pounds in a matter of minutes and not even realise it’s happening.

Labour MP for Swansea East and APPG chair, Carolyn Harris, called the gambling industry an unregulated wild west. She stated their intention to target slots and make radical changes as they did earlier this year. In April 2019, the maximum stake for fixed odds betting terminals were slashed from a maximum stake size of 100 to just $/€2. Since then, betting companies have sought growth in online revenues and in the three months following their drastic stake cuts on FOBTs, same-store revenues for UK retail business betting group GVC fell. GVC owns prominent sportsbook and casinos such as Ladbrokes, whose shares fell 18%. William Hill and Paddy Power shares fell 12.5% and 888 Casino Holdings saw a drop of 13.9%.

Members of Parliament re-iterated that reducing the maximum online gambling stakes to $/€2 would force gaming enthusiasts to spend less and stop them chasing their losses by doubling up significant sums with each successive bet.

With smartphones these days being the most popular way to play online casino games, the amount of money earned from online gaming increased from $/€1.2bn in 2007 to $/€5.6bn in 2018. This is unacceptable for MP’s who also criticized the Gambling Commission for not having looked into maximum betting stakes online. The Gambling Commission answered back by expressing their dissatisfaction at not having had the opportunity to give evidence to the APPG before the report was published.

Kenny Alexander, chief executive of GVC, said in a statement that over regulation does more harm than good. She further explained that these measures could lead to an increase in problem gambling as clients will be forced to move away from responsible, regulated casinos and play their favourite casino games through the black market. William Hill confirmed that a flat $/€2 stake is more likely to push players into unregulated sites.

Changes in Casino Payment Methods

A recent report in The Guardian informed that parliamentarians also proposed putting an end to the use of credit cards to fund online gambling. Moving money securely and speedily to play online casino games is one of the key factors to enjoyable online casino gaming. Players like to know they can fund their casino accounts easily with a variety of casino payment methods and transfer their winnings quickly back to their accounts. With recent suggestions made by British Parliament to not allow credit cards to be used to fund accounts, players will have to re-think which banking methods to use. Popular providers such as:

have many advantages associated to them and although credit cards might soon be removed from the available payment methods list, there are plenty more on offer!

Changes to VIP Perks

The other area under the spotlight is VIP accounts at online casinos. The article went on to say that MP’s will be targeting tighter restrictions for VIP accounts. Their attempts at reducing gambling addiction focused on the fact that high rollers can potentially accumulate huge debt because of the enticing offers casinos make to their VIP players. Exclusive tickets to concerts and sports events, free bonuses, regular offers for Free Spins and other cash bonuses are seen as ways to pull the gambler in and make them an offer they can’t refuse. According to the Guardian, suggestions have been made for VIP gamblers to have regular checks made on them such as obligatory checks for affordability, but it remains to be seen whether this will be instituted or not.