In February 2021, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced a package of changes aimed at enhancing the controls and protections for the customers of online gambling operators.
The regulator of the UK gambling industry unveiled the changes after holding a consultation with the public, some representatives of the gambling sector and other stakeholders because it felt that the gambling operators need to face tougher player protection measures that could make online casino games safer by design and less intensive so that players are given better control over their gambling.
At the time, the UKGC focused primarily on online slots because their features increase the intensity of gameplay, as well as the corresponding risks to players. As the gambling watchdog confirmed at the time, slot games are currently the online gambling products featuring the highest average losses per player rates.
We’ve announced new rules which will improve safety around online slots games, giving players more protection when gambling online. See the below thread for a round-up of what the new rules are: https://t.co/owFijwp14C
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— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) February 2, 2021
As Casino Guardian reported, the Gambling Commission had announced that four key features of online slots games would be banned as of October 31st, 2021 – autoplay; slot spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds; imagery and sounds giving the illusion of a win when the player’s return is equal to or smaller than their stake; and features that allow players to speed up their play or give them the illusion they control the outcome of the play.
Online Slots Carry Higher Gambling Addiction Rates for Consumers
As mentioned above, the changes announced in February 2021 and then implemented in October 2021 were aimed at helping the regulatory authorities tackle the intensity of online gambling by the introduction of greater protections set to reduce gambling-related harm.
The rising popularity of virtual slots games has helped the gambling industry boost its online casino revenue, with the overall online gambling revenue rising to almost £3.18 billion in the year that ended in March 2020, in comparison to £2.36 billion in the year that ended in March 2016. According to data provided by the UK Gambling Commission, approximately 70% of that income has been generated by slot machines but unfortunately, this form of gambling also features higher problem gambling rates and more serious gambling-related harm.
We’ve banned autoplay features within slots games. The autoplay feature can lead to players losing track of their play. Plus, we have also banned slot spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds. https://t.co/owFijwp14C
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— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) February 2, 2021
The country’s gambling regulator also revealed that British slots players spend about £67 on a monthly basis. In comparison, British gamblers spend about £45 on real-event betting and £36 on other online casino products every month.
According to a survey held by the National Health Service (NHS) in 2018, less than 4% of online sports bettors were categorised as addicts, with the rate for online casino, slots and bingo games being 8.5%, which is one of the highest rates measures among conventional online gambling products.
Effects of Online Slots Autospin Feature’s Removal on the UK Casino Market and Players
Although the UKGC implemented the alterations in some of the online slots games’ features, little has changed in gambling stocks in October last year. At the time, experts have noted that the very few changes at the time indicated that online casino businesses investors did not believe that the new rules of the country’s watchdog would have a major impact on the operators’ income.
On the other hand, the new curbs implemented by the gambling regulatory body on online slots games have been aimed at bringing further improvements to the online games’ designs so that British gamblers face fairer and safer services. By slowing down spin speeds or suspending some gaming features that have been found most concerning, the UKGC aimed at making online slots games safer for users.
Specifically, the autospin (also known as autoplay) feature has been considered an extremely dangerous one for users, as it made it hard for players to remain focused on their play. Although players find it quite tedious to click the button for a new spin every time, experts had previously noted that autoplay can actually lead to customers losing track of their gambling, which on the other hand, could lead to large monetary losses.
Now, several months after the changes have been enacted in online slots games, British players do not seem to be glad about the “safer” operations of web-based casino games. Some of them, especially the ones who already play sensibly, have criticised the UKGC for making the changes.
A user of the Casino Meister forum wrote:
“Some of the changes have been positive like no reverse withdraw, the only really next change I would like to see is a minimum RTP of 95%+ if they really want to protect customers they should stop the greed by casinos and developers.But I doubt that will happen, the casino industry is killing themselves when they jump on board the lower RTP train, it is getting more and more known out there, even for the average Joe. Having the highest RTP will eventually be bragging rights and probably where most customer ends up playing eventually.”
A user of the Casino Meister forum has noted that automated click technology is being used by millions of players to skip the boredom of clicking the button manually, so the change would also make the gaming experience worse for such players. Some UK gamblers claim that the autoplay feature could only lead to loss of control if online casinos do not provide players with the chance to set the number of spins in advance, and noted that many regulated and responsible casinos already do that.
Other players have been worried that the actual goal of the regulator is to make British people quit playing online altogether rather than simply protecting them against gambling-related harm. At the time when the UKGC made the announcement about the changes, some of them shared fears that the new rules could force a large number of casinos to leave the UK market after the changes came into force.
On the other hand, there are currently plenty of free autospin applications available for both PC and mobile devices, so the ban on online slots’ autospin feature implemented by the UK gambling regulator turns out to be not as effective as the Commission has hoped it to be.
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