Recently released statistics from the UK Gambling Commission show that remote gambling is on the rise as more gambling companies begin to capitalise on the advancement in technology.
The Commission reported that there has been a slight increase of almost 0.1 per cent in the amount of people playing games like the lottery and bingo online. Although this increase is only slight, the fact that 4.5 million more people than last year access the internet via their smartphone, according to the recent Communications Market Report from Ofcom, suggests that it could continue to rise for some time yet.
An approximate total of 11.8 per cent of those surveyed said that, between September 2010 and June 2011, they had participated in some form of remote gambling in the previous month, with around half of those stating the lottery as their chosen form of gambling. Free online bingo has also been enjoying a rise in popularity in recent times, with bingo halls experiencing noticeably lower turnouts in recent weeks.
Computers, laptops and handheld devices accounted for the most part of the remote gambling, with 10.5 per cent stating that they had gambled in such a way. A further 3.2 per cent had used a mobile phone to take part in online gambling, while gambling digitally and interactively through a TV was enjoyed by just 1.4 per cent of respondents.
Gambling in general is on the rise across the nation, as the Commission’s research also revealed that 56.7 per cent of adult respondents admitted to gambling in the month prior to the poll. This is put into perspective when you compare it to the 55.2 per cent that gave the same response in 2009 and the 55.5 per cent in 2010. Bingo cards comprised 3.4 per cent of those forms of gambling.
Plans to change the law behind remote gambling emerged earlier this year from the Minister of Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose. His plans stipulated that all gambling organisations, in the UK and overseas, will require a licence from the UK Gambling Commission to operate, which means that the British public will be protected and discouraged from irresponsible gambling on remote platforms.
The Minister said: “The current system for regulating remote gambling doesn’t work. Overseas operators get an unfair advantage over UK based companies, and British consumers who gamble online may have little or no protection depending on where the operator they deal with happens to be based.
“So our new proposals are an important step to help address concerns about problem gambling and to plug a regulatory gap, ensuring a much more consistent and higher level of protection for those people in the UK who gamble online.
“We will create a level playing field, so all overseas operators will be subject to the same standards and requirements as those based in Britain, as well as being required to inform the Gambling Commission about suspicious betting patterns to help fight illegal activity and corruption in betting.”