When it comes to online gambling, affordability checks are crucial to help ensure that individuals are not getting ahead of themselves and are spending more than they can afford to lose. Unfortunately, the mass availability of online casinos has given way to the rise in problem gambling as such it can be easy for individuals who may be experiencing some form of addiction to lose track of their spending.
As such affordability checks are designed to review a player’s financial situation by assessing their day-to-day expenses, income and gambling history to determine whether they are spending within reason. Failing to do so can result in serious financial and psychological repercussions. However, despite this, an alarming amount of players would opt out of these checks if given the option.
According to a recent YouGov study, which surveyed over 1000 players, it was revealed that 65.4% of gamblers are apprehensive to supply personal documents such as payslips, bank statements and the link if asked by their provider. On the other hand, 34.6% claimed they would provide such information.
These findings come prior to the soon-to-be published white paper on gambling in the UK – an update that concerns operators as well as players on the lookout for no deposit UK free bonuses amongst other offers worth looking into.
Different Income Brackets
The findings were very reflective of the players spending range with those spending less than £5 a month representing 75.5% of the consumers least willing to provide their personal documents to defend their gambling habits. On the other hand, those who spent roughly £301 and £500 each month, were among the 50.4% who were willing to participate in the affordability checks.
Finding Alternative Options
Unfortunately, the survey also exposed an ongoing issue within the industry revealing that 3.9% of the participants opted to find another licensed operator when pressed to provide the documentation for the affordability checks. However, most concerningly a further 3.2% would prefer to wager with an unlicensed business rather than give them the required information. Additionally, only 0.8% stated that they would stop betting altogether in order to avoid presenting the documents.
Mandatory Checks
While there have been rumors that the highly anticipated White Paper on gambling will implement mandatory affordability checks, many of the industry titans have attempted to lobby against this due to its potential negative impacts on the industry’s revenue. This argument was substantiated by a recent report commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) and conducted by Ernst & Young.
The report detailed that the sector has remained robust following the Covid-19 pandemic however both the re-opening of land-based venues as well as the implementation of affordability checks contributed to the dip in online revenue in 2021-2022. Additionally, the industry will now have to deal with the ongoing cost of living and energy crisis.
The report also argued that compulsory affordability checks conducted to prove players can afford to place their wagers can unwillingly push customers to the black market. Black market gambling refers to those online casinos that do not hold a UK Gambling Commission license and are unregulated, as such the rights of the players are less protected since the online casino does not have to abide by any rules. These include ensuring their gaming practices are fair by conducting a third-party audit and safeguarding players’ financial and personal information.
In fact, European countries that have been implementing tougher sanctions on betting such as enforced affordability checks as well as applying advertising and stake restrictions, have witnessed an influx of black market betting. France’s black market now accounts for 57% of all money staked while in Italy it’s 23%. Norway on the other hand revealed that 66% of money bet is on unregulated sites.
Call For Action
The main concern when it comes to implementing mandatory affordability checks if that it will cripple the UK gambling market which accounts for an estimated 180,000 direct and indirect employees. The YouGov survey is the most recent confirmation following a string of studies exposing underlying concerns and issues to the enforcement of checks mainly driving players to black market gambling.
Despite the delays the government needs to ensure that the white paper will take into consideration all concerns raised and ensure that any new regulations will push the industry to have a more sustainable future not at the expense of players’ safety and overall well-being.
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