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British government wants to fight gambling addiction
Gambling on a smartphone can become a problem. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
The British Minister for Culture Lucy Frazer is committed to curbing the gambling addiction of some of her compatriots. According to her, Britons spend billions on betting every year. That can become a problem.
The British government wants to better protect addicts with a reform of the gambling law. Culture Minister Lucy Frazer presented the corresponding plans in the House of Commons on Thursday. This should close gaps that have arisen due to the shift in the gaming market to smartphones, said Frazer. In a guest post for The Times, she previously wrote: “You used to have to book flights to get to Las Vegas, now there’s Las Vegas in every cell phone.”
According to Frazer, Britons spend £10 billion (about $14 billion) on betting every year. One in three put money into the Grand National horse race. Frazer stressed that for the majority of Britons, gambling is “a harmless way to spend a fiver”. However, the omnipresent possibility of gambling on the smartphone leads some people down a “dangerous path”.
planned legislative changes
According to the planned changes in the law, caps on wagering are intended to protect players from bankrupting themselves financially. Online slot machines, for example, are said to have caps of between £2 and £15.
Also to be checked are thresholds above which a superficial credit check becomes mandatory. According to a white paper published on Thursday, a threshold of £125 a day is under discussion. More detailed checks should therefore be carried out from losses of 1000 pounds a day or 2000 pounds in a period of 90 days.
Critics say the plans don’t go far enough. The Liberal Democrat MP and former party leader Tim Farron criticized that there are still no restrictions on advertising from betting providers. Last but not least, children would also be “bombarded” with advertising on TV, he wrote in an open letter to the minister.