Chief Executive of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), Andrew Rhodes, appeared at the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) in Toronto this week, reporting on a wide range of issues that currently face the UK gambling market. BonusFinder, an online casinos comparison site, reveals the latest on the UK’s stance on the ever-controversial crypto gambling.
As well as pointing to the fact that the UK leads the way in gambling regulation, Rhodes also highlighted a number of topics particularly pertinent to the market.
In particular, he raised the issue of crypto gambling regulation, stating that legislation will likely need to be introduced within the next year or two to manage the increasingly popular sector.
The UKGC’s current crypto position
The UKGC does not strictly prohibit casinos from accepting cryptocurrency payments. However, in a 2023 report, the commission addressed licence applications from crypto casinos.
They highlighted the Treasury Committee’s belief that cryptocurrencies should be referred to as crypto-assets because they do not perform the same role as currencies.
The report went on to state that they consider all applications equally, including those from crypto casinos. Applicants must be able to show ‘source-of-funds proof’ where they intend to finance gambling operations through activities like the launch of crypto assets.
They further stated that, due to the volatility of crypto-assets, applicants who intend to accept crypto deposits and withdrawals must be able to show they have considered the impacts of price fluctuations as well as additional factors like fees, funds, security and anti-money laundering requirements.
UK crypto regulation incoming…
According to Rhodes, dealing with the issue of cryptocurrencies and their use at online casinos was a problem he didn’t envisage having to deal with for another five years.
But, as the assets become more popular, especially with younger demographics, he has been forced to reassess this position and said, “I think that is now maybe 12 months, 24 months away as we are seeing this grow.”
Speaking at the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) conference, Rhodes described a generation of crypto casinos launched that would “not have a space in the legal market,” before going on to say that:
“These are going to be Governmental level questions. They’re not, I think, in reality going to be questions for individual gambling regulators, but that pressure is definitely not going to go away and we can certainly see that building within Great Britain.”
Other topics Rhodes mentioned
Rhodes also covered a host of other topics in his wide-ranging speech. One of which was the prevalence of Society Lotteries. Society Lotteries are those where 20% of all money raised must go to charitable causes.
According to Rhodes, the market in the UK for these types of lotteries has now reached £1bn and hinted that while the Commission does not currently govern these types of events, their growth could see that change in the future.
Finally, the speech touched on the illegal gambling market. The UKGC has reported nearly 200,000 URLs belonging to illegal gambling operators to search engines. This has resulted in 100,000 URLs being removed.
The Commission is also monitoring 1,000 illegal operators to shut them down and protect UK players from black market activity.
