More Insight into the Fixed Odds Betting Review

United Kingdom government gives a little more insight into the fixed odds betting terminal review

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has made it very clear that they are planning on doing an evaluation on fixed odds betting terminals. In fact, recently there have been a lot of rumors that the Commission is going to place a ban on gambling ads during sporting events following this review, although that has been far from verified as authentic. The UKGC has given some further insight into what they will be looking into during this investigation.

One of the major concerns is how accessible these gambling machines are to children. Since they have been commonly placed right on the street, the concern is that it will be too easy for minors to hop onto these games and begin playing without being notified by the operator. There is actually very little that these games do to prevent kids from being able to play on them, so it’s likely that the Commission will run some trials to see if an ordinary minor is able to play.

Another area to look into is the massive amount of money that players can lose in a very short amount of time. These machines have a high cap on how much a person can bet in a single spin, making it essentially possible for a person to lose £100 every 20 seconds. This results in a higher number of people making bets based off of emotions to try and win back their major losses, which has been shown to cause addictive gambling and put people into a lot of debt. Many players are betting a lot more money than they can afford and are finding themselves in very difficult circumstances.

It is likely that some new policies will be drafted in order to protect minors and problem gamblers from being sucked in by these games. There might be new notifications to warn against problem gambling, some form of identity verification to stop minors from being able to play, a strict limit on the amount of money that players are able to bet on a single spin, and other restrictions along these lines. Of course, we won’t know what the Commission has in store until the review process is completed.

The review into fixed odds betting terminals is long overdue. It has been a pressing matter for the UKGC for quite some time, and it’s good that they are finally taking some initiative to look into how these games can be improved. The Commission has made it very clear that they don’t intend to punish the thousands of good players that enjoy these games, and will try to be as open as possible. They are now taking direct consumer feedback so that they can come up with resolutions that pertain to the public interest. Despite this, it is almost certain that some changes are coming because there has been a lot of criticism on fixed odds betting terminals, but hopefully it won’t be anything that will ruin them.