What UKGC offers in terms of protection for UK bettors

We’re all savvier than ever today when it comes to any online service, but especially online betting. We’re all more and more aware of the issues of data breaches, cyber-attacks and fairness in games, among other things, so it’s vital that we understand just what protections are being offered by regulatory bodies when it comes to gambling. Today, we’re going to look at some of the most important protections that the UKGC offers for bettors in the UK. 

1. Data protection 

For a lot of people, their big concern in the modern digital sphere is how their data is used and protected by companies which hold it. Around 65,000 attempts to hack medium and small sized businesses occurs every day, a small number of which are successful. When you have your sensitive, personal, financial information stored with such a site, these attacks can put it at risk. 

The regulation from the UKGC means that bettors are required to store your data in line with the rules of the Data Protection Act. This guarantees your data won’t be stolen or misused by the company.

It’s really important that you ensure you are protecting your data online, and you should do this in your betting by sticking with regulated operators. 

2. Fairness 

But what about in terms of the actual games and bets themselves? Betting, more than most other industries, is something that requires intimate intervention from regulatory bodies to ensure fair games are being operated. Without it, operators would simply make their games only as fair as they need to be in order to keep you coming back. 

When you bet with a licensed UK operator like RhinoBet UK, you know that they are adhering to fairness regulations and that you stand a real chance of winning in any given game. While the house edge is always going to be somewhere around 10%, unregulated sites may have no fairness in place whatsoever. This is a really important protection. 

3. Stake limits 

One of the big sticking points of gambling regulation in recent years has been around the issue of stake limits on fixed-odds betting machines. Previously, there was little regulation about how high the stakes could be. These kinds of high-risk, high-reward games are extremely problematic for problem gamblers, staking sometimes hundreds of pounds in a single bet. 

New regulations have massively reduced those stake limits, from up to £200 now to less than £10. This protects you and protects problem gamblers from being effectively preyed on by operators. 

4. Gamstop 

A fantastic and really important initiative that has arisen in recent years is Gamstop. By UKGC regulations, all licensed operators must participate in this self-exclusion program. Gamstop exists to give bettors the chance to forcibly prevent themselves from being able to bet for a certain amount of time. 

For a period of the bettor’s choosing, they can be prevented from using any licensed site in the UK. Even if you may not need this for yourself, it’s very reassuring to know that companies are willingly participating in such an initiative. Again, this is great protection for problem gamblers, and shows a responsible and considerate culture from gambling operators. Again, though, they have to be required to participate in this by the UKGC. 

So, while there is plainly a long way to go, and regulation currently does not go far enough to prevent problem gambling entirely. But consumers are well protected in some of the most important and fundamental ways by the UKGC, so there is no doubt that you should stick to regulated sites rather than unregulated ones.