The US is currently undergoing a major expansion when it comes to the gambling space. Everything from sports betting to online casinos and poker sites is expanding across the country as more states ease up their gambling laws. This movement is only going to grow over time, particularly as the bigger states like New York and Florida state to allow platforms to get up and running.
While there are a lot of great companies in the space that holds a huge amount of potential, there are some issues that potential investors need to be aware of before jumping straight in. Currently, the gambling sector in the country is a bit of a land grab at the moment.
Operators are often spending heavily in order to acquire customers, with large sums of money going towards advertising, partnership agreements, and acquisitions. State regulators are also looking to get to grips as best as possible with the new regulatory frameworks. One key area that is likely going to cause a large level of debate in the coming years is responsible gambling.
With online gambling becoming more widely available, there is the belief that problem gambling levels might also increase. Therefore, regulators might need to make changes and enact some restrictions on how operators do business and advertise. This article will look at what sort of restrictions are in place in the mature UK online gambling market and the knock-on effect that it has on the gambling space.
The UKGC and GamStop
Online gambling has been available in a regulated sense in the UK since the launch of the internet on a broad scale. Therefore, the sector has gone through many changes over the years. It can act as somewhat of a road map for many US states as they wonder what the future will hold.
The main party in charge of regulating the UK gambling sector is the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). It aims to make sure that responsible gambling is being promoted as much as possible. This means it has to often bring in restrictions when it sees certain negative trends popping up.
Over recent years this has meant the introduction of a ban on credit card use for gambling purposes, restricting certain types of game features, as well as calls to significantly cut down on the max allowable bet for online casino games. One of the areas that UKGC gets help with is in the form of widespread self-exclusion.
It works alongside GamStop, which offers people the chance to self-exclude from every single online gambling site that has a UKGC license. This means that people can put in place a block on themselves accessing any gambling account for an extended period of time, with this block not being able to be reversed.
How Do Non-GamStop Casinos Work?
With the UKGC trying to find a balance between helping protect at-risk gamblers and providing a good level of choice to people, it is sometimes seen as straying towards being overly restrictive. This is why some people in the region are starting to look outside of these licensed platforms in order to gamble online.
According to non-gamstop-casinos.com, casinos not on GamStop are those sites that operate outside of this region and are not licensed by the UKGC. This means that they do not have the same level of restrictions in place.
People generally see the non-GamStop casinos as being a much freer way for you to gamble. The is because the libraries of games are usually a lot larger, there are few restrictions on payment options and game features, as well as offering bigger bonuses and bet sizes. There are concerns for UK regulators about these platforms as problem gamblers can get around GamStop self-exclusion by transitioning towards these types of sites, which is not ideal.
GamStop Sites vs Non-UK Casinos
It is a useful exercise comparing these two offerings in a side-by-side manner to highlight what their respective pros and cons might be. This gives people a good overview of what each type of casino has to offer in the UK market:
Pros
UKGC-Licensed Sites
- Widely available
- Part of GamStop
- No debt accumulating payment options
- Conflict resolution services on offer
Cons
UKGC-Licensed Sites
- Restrictions on game features
- Not as many payment options
- No reversal of self-exclusion
Pros
Casinos not on GamStop
- More game and payment options
- Bigger bonuses and bet sizes
- Extra customization opportunities
- Fewer verification checks
Cons
Casinos not on GamStop
- No mass self-exclusion
- Lack of a dispute resolution service
- People can use these sites to avoid GamStop
What Strategy is Right for the United States?
The United States authorities can look at what has been done well in the UK and what can be improved upon in order to optimize rules and regulations going forward. They are going to find the right spot between having enough protections in place for people who might have issues controlling their gambling and providing a great level of freedom to their players.
If there is a skew on one side or the other, then there will likely be problems. This could be in the form of people starting to use offshore sites or that the sector becomes too much of a freefall and is starts to see gambling addiction rates increase. As time goes on, the authorities can see what is working with their own rule sets and what can be done to boost their chances of being a success.
H2-6 A hugely exciting moment in time
It is a very exciting time to be involved in the growing gambling sector in the United States. As companies continually expand and more states go online with different forms of gambling, there is a monumental shift in what we are seeing. The authorities in the US will do what they see fit when it comes to protecting gamblers as much as possible while still having a great array of gambling options.