Betting and Gaming Council calls for gambling to be included in new Online Harms Bill
UK-based standards body wants a clampdown on illegal gambling sites that are easily accessible for children
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has today called on the UK government to crackdown on illegal gambling operators under the remit of the new Online Harms Bill.
The BGC has called on the government to act as unregulated operators do not require age verification and their ID procedures are lax, paving the way for children to access these illegal sites.
New age verification procedures were introduced in May 2019 for UK operators which required the full verification of name, age and address before an account could be opened and before any bet can be placed.
As justification for this stance, the BGC has cited recently undertaken research which showed that an estimated 200,000 people in the UK have used an illegal gambling site within the last year.
Subsequent questioning on this issue has found that many users are unaware that they are using unlicensed sites as they are accessing them via major search engines when looking for gambling terms.
The BGC told EGR that four in 10 search results for key gambling terms on search engines are unlicensed black-market operators with over £1.4bn in stakes being placed through unlicensed operator sites illegally targeting the UK.
Unlicensed sites are receiving 27 million visits from UK IP addresses, and while some unlicensed websites block UK users, the prevention is easily circumvented by the use of Virtual Private Networks.
In 2018, the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling warned that internet service providers, app stores and search engines should be vigilant of the fact that third party operators could use their products to provide illegal gambling to children and at-risk groups and should be proactive in preventing it.
In a statement issued to EGR, BGC CEO Michael Dugher said: “Search platforms are promoting black market gambling operators for profit, putting the British consumers, including children, at risk. None of the UK’s strict licensed safeguards are in place on these illegal sites.
“We welcome the Online Harms Bill, but it also provides the government with a chance to clamp down on the black market and help protect punters who want a flutter in a safe environment.”