The director of the UK Gambling Commission, Matthew Hill, has announced that the gambling industry (both online and on the highstreet) needs to work on ‘detoxifying’ it’s image if it’s to continue in it’s current state in the UK. Concern has been arising about FOBT machines in high street bookmakers, as well as over the rise in TV advertising (something Betfair has dived heavily into) which is leaving many with a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to the gambling industry.
The British people are very concerned with player protection and more needs to be seen to be done to show that the industry has it’s players best interests at heart. Gambling has always been a part of British culture, as with most of the world, and there is no reason why the industry should not flourish, but it should do so with healthy gambling habits and happy and healthy gamblers.
“Some may argue that we are approaching something of a tipping point in terms of public tolerance for gambling,” Hill said. “The calls for greater prescription and just simply for ‘something’ to be done are growing,” he added.
Without some kind of recognised lean towards cleansing the gaming image, Hill is concerned that the market may become stricter and even over regulated, making it very hard for casinos to offer their product and limiting what players can do, limiting their enjoyment of a perfectly valid past time. It remains to be seen what the online casinos in the UK will think of this viewpoint and whether they’ll act, proactively, to show themselves to be on board. As the director of the Gambling Commission, Hill’s opinions matter and I have a feeling that both high street bookmakers and online casinos alike will be clamouring to show Hill that they really care about their UK players and will do as much as they can to make the public feel safe and comfortable with the continuation of the gambling industry.