UK Operator Complaints Increase by 5000% in the Last Five Years According to UKGC

BBC’s Panorama programme has obtained figures by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) that claim the amount of consumers in the UK who filed in a complaint about a gambling operator at least once has grown by almost 5000% in the last five years!

In 2018, 8,266 people had ed a complaint – which is a far-cry from 2013’s 169! The majority of reported issues were relating to operator not paying out a winning bet or not operating socially responsible.

A Way of Looking at it Positively

A special report was broadcast in the UK on Monday, August 12th…

…and this is one of the headline findings of the said report. In the opinion of Neil McArthur, UKGC’s executive director, this rise can even be seen as a positive one for the UK gambling industry, as it hints at consumers taking more responsibility and a more proactive approach.

“We are pushing the industry to know its customers, and part of this is actually, possibly, a good sign because it’s suggesting that consumers are demanding more of the gambling operators, and I would encourage them to continue to do that.”

No Max Stakes in Plans

Of course, the complaints rise is in direct correlation with increase in UK’s betting activity…

…in fact, during the 12 months leading to September 2018, the consumers in this country spent $17.5 billion on gambling – and despite the fact this was an actual decrease of 0.4% over period of 12 months leading to March 2018, it’s online gambling that rose and continues to rise (it was up 5.6 BN GBP)

There are no maximum stakes for online gaming in plans, although this measurement was successfully lobbied for in case of fixed-odds betting terminals. This was confirmed to BBC Panorama by the Commission.

The FOBT maximum stakes rule came into effect this April 1st, as the maximum limit was lowered from 100GBP to 2GBP, as an effort to tackle problem gambling.

Amanda’s Case

Panorama’s hard look at the gambling scene also covered some cases of players losing large sums of money gambling online. One of them, Amanda, had lost 633,000 GBP over several years. In the process, she managed to waste away the money she made by selling her own house.

She had gambled with Jackpotjoy online casino…

…whose representatives said that they acted in accordance with regulatory requirements and encouraged her to use all the responsible gambling tools that were at her disposal. “This included the use of deposit limits, cooling-off periods and alternative withdrawal methods; tools which Amanda was aware of and used during the time she played with us,” they said.

Licensing Changes

UKGC is ready to introduce its latest set of logistical and operational changes that will see the licensing process altered…

…so that players are better protected right from the start. By raising alternative dispute resolution standards, these rules will enhance requirements on how operators interact and identify consumers that show signs of problem gambling.

“These changes have been designed to make gambling fairer and safer for consumers and we expect gambling firms to meet their responsibilities in these areas,” commented Paul Hope, executive director of UKGC.

Source:

“UK operator complaints rocket 5,000% in five years”, igamingbusiness.com, August 12, 2019.