Virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting are just some examples of a wide variety of games that you can do on the internet and that goes under the category of Online Gambling.

Making their first appearance in 1994, internet gambling websites and apps have become very common products.

Even more than traditional games, online gambling needs to be regulated, considering that it’s a rapidly changing industry and it is very open to abuse.

But what are the regulations of gambling in the UK?

A popular market

Online gambling has become a very popular market, especially in Europe where it generated €24.5 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2019 and has an expectation of €31.2 billion generated by the end of 2022.

The biggest market shares are in the UK, with over 30% of Europe’s Online Gambling market revenue, as stated by the European Gaming & Betting Association in recent studies.

Additionally, the industry is anticipated to rise steadily over the next years, with total gaming revenue rising from € 31.2 billion by the end of 2022 to € 52 billion by the end of 2026 – which is incredible given that real-world gambling is expected to remain stagnant.

Gambling regulations in the UK in the past

Over twenty years ago, the first regulation to target the market was the Malta Gambling Authority that in 2001 opened a wave of regulating acts in many countries.

In the UK, regulations arrived in 2005 with the Gambling Act while the European Gaming and Betting Association and others started to rise.

There are different types of online gambling platforms and they all can be targeted by regulations. Every nation decides which form of Online Gambling to legalize and which to limit, while some countries even opt for a ban of specific games.

Regulations in the UK
As said, all the recent gambling regulations UK come from the 2005 Gambling Act, with later additions and modifications. The institution that acts as the core regulator and authority for gambling in the country in the United Kingdom is called the Gambling Commission.

The aim of the set of UK laws is mainly to prevent the risks of gambling such as underage activity, money muling, fraud, and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) – these are even more common on Online platforms where the player ID cannot be easily verified unless specific technology is integrated into the websites.

How to comply with gambling regulations

For Internet Gambling companies is vital to comply with the regulations.

Being such a fast-evolving business, iGaming can be a difficult market to set also because many platforms operate across different countries and are therefore subject to various regulators, all doing things their own way. Therefore, Online Gambling operators need to set up strong systems that provide identity verification, AML measures, and a secure and detailed database of players. Luckily technology offers many tools that exploit AI and, in a few minutes, complete the whole process over a mobile phone or a computer camera.