Poll results: Universal self-exclusion is inevitable

UK-facing operators will have to get to grips with the operational challenges of an inevitable universal self-exclusion scheme, the majority of respondents to this week’s eGaming Review poll say.

eGR revealed last week that the UK Gambling Commission was working on a scheme that would enable customers to block themselves from all UK licensed sites at once through a single UK licensee, effectively preventing them from legally betting online.

Such a scheme would require close coordination from all UK licensees, but 60% of respondents considered its introduction to be an inevitable move as part of the Commission’s recent efforts to improve responsible gambling measures.

Just over 20% of voters concluded that while the scheme may work in principle, it would require a considerable amount of work from operators to get off the ground and, as a result, its success is hard to gauge.

An identical minority meanwhile said the scheme is doomed to fail owing to operational difficulties. With the Commission’s number of licensees set to boom after the introduction of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill later this year, introducing such a scheme might just be an initiative too far.