Rumour: UK to Force Casinos to Introduce Maximum 2 GBP Betting Limit

The gambling authority in the United Kingdom is considering to enforce a maximum betting limit of just 2 pounds for each bet placed at every online casino which legally accepts British players.

The news, which was shared in quality newspapers such as The Guardian, sent shock waves through the stock market where the shares of the major gambling firms all declined sharply.

The rumour that the maximum betting cap would be introduced was started when Neil McArthur, the CEO of the UK Gambling Commission, told a group of parliamentarians in Westminster that his organisation would be open to a proposal by several MPs to further regulate gambling.

These MPs – who hail from political parties across both sides of the aisle – are currently investigating the consequences of online gambling among citizens in Britain. The MPs share the opinion that online betting causes significant harm to society and therefore should be regulated by the legislators.

The proposal by the MPs would reportedly not only affect online casinos but also bookmakers, another favourite pastime of many British citizens.

As a result the shares of William Hill went down by around eight percent last Thursday. The shares of the parent company of Ladbrokes, GVC, went down by seven percent. Also online casino software developers Playtech suffered a decline on the stock market by seven percent.

The stocks of gambling companies such as 888 and Flutter also went down, albeit by smaller percentages.

According to local media, all publicly traded gambling business lost an estimated 500 million GBP due to the talks of the introduction of a potential betting cap.

A gambler placing a bet at the Hippodrome Casino in London. ©Screenshot

A spokesman of the UK Gambling Commission was quoted in The Guardian that the are “looking at online stake limits as part of our ongoing work to reduce the risks of gambling-related harm”.

The spokesman added: “This work is in addition to us focusing on VIP practices, advertising technology and game design. We will publish our assessment and next steps for online stakes and further protections later this year.”

It is not the first rumour of a massive overhaul of gambling practices in the United Kingdom which caused a major shock with online casinos, bookmakers and shareholders.

When in November last year The Guardian had revealed that the cross-party parliament committee recommended strict curbs of popular online casino games, stocks of casinos and bookies fell by an estimated 1.2 billion GBP.

In the United Kingdom, online casinos and bookmakers are currently regulated by the Gambling Act from 2005 which was introduced by the Labour government of Tony Blair. The act also created the UK Gambling Commission.

It has the following three objectives listed:
1) Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime
2) Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way, and
3) Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

As you are most likely on this website because playing casino games is your favourite hobby, you might have wondered how online casino operate.

For sure you will have encountered once or twice the situation where you as a let’s say person living in Belgium cannot register for an account at a certain online casino, while for example German or Swedish gamblers are welcome. Some online casinos even have outright blocks of IP addresses from a certain country – making their entire website inaccessible if you happen to try to surf to an online casino from a certain country.

This is because there is a vast difference between gambling laws in countries in Europe and across the wider world. While some countries have very liberal gambling laws, others have very strict laws when it comes to gambling.

There are a number of countries which have next to no laws when it comes to their citizens gambling. There are also European countries where online casinos can legally operate, as long as they have a valid license in one of the EU member states.

Some countries however force gambling operators to first register with the local gambling authorities and to fulfill a number of criteria before they can open their online casino to citizens of the country.

Other countries outright forbid online gambling altogether, while in other countries it is technically forbidden but sees the government turning a blind eye. There is no way to summarise here what the exact gambling policy is which counts for your country – as this really is wildly different from nation to nation!

At Gambling City we have collected the best online casinos currently found on the internet. All of these casinos have full licenses in respectable countries (such as for example Malta) where there is proper oversight by local gambling authorities.

We have reviewed all of these casinos and listed the pros and cons of each of them, so that you can make up your own mind which online casino is the best fit for you. Even though some of them might not accept players from a certain country, there are always some to be found which are open to you!

Enjoy playing, but play responsible – and always respect your own limits.