The Gambling Act 2005 in a nutshell
Per capita, UK gamblers generate more online gambling activity than anywhere else in the world with a total gaming industry spend in the region of $91BN. The recently introduced Gambling Act 2005 replaces legislation dating as far back as the mid nineteenth century and governs nearly all forms of gambling from gaming in arcades and adult gaming centres, betting, bingo, casinos, gambling in clubs and pubs, lotteries (except the National Lottery) and remote gambling.
Probably the biggest change under the Act is that casinos, bookmakers and online betting sites such as Grosvenor Casinos or Blue Square can now advertise their services and products on TV and radio in the UK for the first time. The UK casino white list (which allows online casinos licensed in white-listed gaming jurisdictions to advertise in the UK) so far includes the States of Alderney and the Isle of Man and Tasmania.
The changes also open the door for the first £1m bingo prize and lift restrictions on casinos, such as membership requirements.
With unprecedented authority and powers unrivalled internationally Britain’s Gambling Commission now has the ability to levy unlimited fines to withdraw licences, bring prosecutions, enter premises, seize goods and suspend and void bets. Local authorities are now staffed with over 1,500 licensing officers (alongside 50 specialist Gambling Commission compliance officers) to inspect gambling premises and enforce the new laws.
According to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, responsible for gambling, key changes to the industry's regulation include:
* Betting shops and remote gambling sites based in the UK will be governed by a dedicated regulator, the Gambling Commission.
* Local authorities can now impose sanctions on operators, limit open hours and reduce numbers of gaming machines.
* Local people will be able to object to new gambling licences and seek reviews of existing ones.
* New codes governing advertising come into force, requiring ads to be socially responsible and banning the use of models under 25 or linking gambling to sexual success.
* Adverts from outside Europe that fail to meet the UK’s strict regulatory requirements will be banned. Gambling operators in jurisdictions that did not apply to be white listed were also automatically banned from 1st September 2007. These include major online gambling centres like Costa Rica and Belize.
* TV advertisements (subject to a voluntary 9pm watershed - with the exemption of betting ads during sports events).
* The membership requirement on casinos no longer required.
* Bingo clubs can offer rollover jackpots.
* Questions on phone-in quizzes on TV and radio must be harder. This is to prevent pay-to-enter phone quizzes that are too easy operating as if they were lotteries and therefore evading limits on stakes and prizes and the legal requirement for licensed lotteries to give 20 per cent of profits to charity.
* Gambling operators will be required to display prominently information about responsible gambling and how to get help for problems. They will also have to work proactively to prevent underage gambling and contribute to problem gambling treatment and research, education and public awareness.
* Betting cheats, including sportspeople, will face a two-year jail sentence.
* UK-based betting operators will be required to pass information to sports bodies to prevent cheating.
* Gambling debts will become legally enforceable, helping to ensure winners get paid.
Gambling Commission chairman, Peter Dean, said: “We are a nation of gamblers, even if some who admit to the occasional flutter would shy away from that description.
"Parliament has set the basic rules about what gambling is permitted. The Gambling Commission’s task is to ensure that gambling is crime-free, fair and safe. It is a cause of great satisfaction to me that we now have the proper tools to do this within a modern system of gambling regulation which is second to none in the world.”