The wild west
that was the UK gambling boom is officially over.
Whatever the law of unintended consequences says doesn't
really matter because no one will take it into consideration before casting
their vote. What's done is done and the online gambling world is changing
because of Brexit, but maybe a change that was coming anyway. The UK market,
long super-super-saturated with online casinos and online bookmakers, is having
a shake-up. And consumers will ultimately be the losers.
Multiple
reasons led to the feverish attraction the UK market had to new and old
gambling companies alike. And not just bookmakers and casinos, but also a whole
raft of software providers and service providers took up licenses from the
United Kingdom Gambling Commission, even though many were and are based
overseas in the usual hotspots. Malta, Gibraltar, Cyprus and many other small
islands, where they make up their own tax rules and licensing bodies, are home
to nearly all the big names operating and licensed in the UK. Its not generally
known but even the software providers behind platforms like the
new nektan casinos
have to be licensed to offer their product to people in the UK, and they are
based in Gibraltar.
But as this is the strictest (although not very)
licensing domain in the world it seemed a bit odd that all these new and old
gambling operations still clambered to get here. The reason was the promise of
pots of gold, a good name for a slot, that investors were convinced were
forthcoming.
EU Single
Market The first reason for getting an office and a license in the UK
was that it was part of the
European Union Single Market and as such allowed any business
based in it to offer its services to anyone else in the 500 million plus
populated economic region. This is no longer the case. Of course being based in
less expensive countries would give the same benefits but not the same cache
and seriousness that the UKGC regulator wants to see. That UKGC license was the
reason for the next attraction.
UKGC License Getting one of these meant that you had
passed the toughest test of any authority in the world and therefore more
likely to be able to offer your services around it in any other country.
Toughest however is a comparative term and in reality the threshold wasn't very
high, nonetheless it gives every holder a lift when presenting their product to
the gambling public. More over holding a license from the UK leads onto the
next reason, sport sponsorship.
Sport Sponsorship The number one televised sport in
the world happens to be Premiership football and the third biggest football
league in the world is the Championship. If you want your name on their shirts
as a sponsor and your business is gambling then you must have a license to
offer services to people in the UK. Two thirds of these football clubs agreed
main shirt sponsorship deals with gambling operators because these are the
people with most money to spend, not necessarily wisely, on getting worldwide
air time and brand recognition. And the primary target for these sponsors is
not the UK but continental Europe and Asia where all the free spending punters
are.
The Wheels Have Come
Off Although new players are still appearing there are many operators
who have withdrawn their services from the UK. Some because its just too
expensive and pressure on the UK government to restrict gambling is growing,
but Brexit finally going through was the final straw. The reasons for having a
UK facing arm of a business are no longer there.
Betclic, Everest
Gaming and Expekt went in the last quarter of 2019. Royal Panda, a jewel
acquired by LeoVegas in 2017, closed its doors in January 2020. Aston Casino
and MaxEnt also pulled out of the UK market at the same time. Meanwhile the
sports orientated portal Blacktype, famous for once saying that it would not
bar professional punters from having a bet (which it reneged on), went into
administration. Horse Racing sponsor and bookmaker come casino, Betbright, had
done the same earlier in 2019.
Meanwhile the relatively new player to
the market, MoPlay, had its
license suspended by the UKGC and the Gibraltar authorities
simultaneously for basically being bankrupt. Not only did they stop trading in
February 2020 but unlike others before them, were not able to let people
withdraw their money because it doesn't exist anymore. This of course shines a
light on what a UKGC license really means because it does not guarantee
players' funds and that is after all else is what people are most concerned
about.
Even William Hill, one of the oldest and largest bookmakers, has
been struggling to move forward on the global stage. Back in 2016 it was unable
to complete a merger with Rank and 888 which would have seen it better able to
compete with the high spending new players. It hasn't been able to attract any
new interest since then and so is largely focused on the future elsewhere in
the world.
US Market Gets
More Attractive So to the final nail in the coffin of the UK gambling
expansion. As state after state begin overturning the antiquated federal laws
restricting sports betting in their region, so the big international gambling
operators, most of them with UK origins, are signing deals with US casinos to
offer sportsbooks. This was previously restricted to Las Vegas but now promises
to spread across the vast gambling nation of the USA. William Hill was one of
the first to get in on the act and already has self-service betting terminals
all over Las Vegas but is spreading its wings to other states, like Michigan.
There is not going to be a shortage of online gambling outlets in the
UK anytime soon but it is going to get harder to get loyalty offers that reward
the general punter and the pros are going to find it harder to place bets. The
wild west that was the UK gambling boom is officailly over.
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