1 September 2007
With effect from 00.01 on Saturday 1 September 2007, all gambling in Great Britain (except spread betting and the National Lottery) becomes subject to the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005.
Gambling Commission
The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the public interest. It does so by keeping crime out of gambling, by ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and by protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Commission also provides independent advice to government on gambling in Britain.
Betting
The Gambling Act 2005 defines betting as: ‘making or accepting a bet on the outcome of a race, competition or other event or process; the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring; or whether anything is or is not true’.
General betting licensees are able to offer facilities for betting as premises-based bookmakers (off-course) and on tracks (on-course), as well as by remote means (for example by telephone or over the internet). They must have rules that cover issues such as voiding late bets, maximum payouts, treatment of errors, and the treatment of withdrawals and non-runners. On-course licensees’ joints must also display specified information.
Pool betting incorporates racecourse pool operators and football and other sports pool operators and ‘fantasy football’ type competitions. It can be conducted in person, for example the Tote which accepts pool bets on tracks and in high street betting shops, or remotely, for example an internet betting site run by one of the football pools operators.
Betting intermediaries provide a service designed to facilitate the making or acceptance of bets between others. Remote betting intermediaries, often called betting exchanges [e.g., BetFair, Betdaq], generally operate through the internet. An example of a non-remote betting intermediary is a tic-tac, who normally works within a betting ring on a horse or greyhound racing track.
Spread betting is not covered by the Gambling Act 2005, or regulated by the Gambling Commission. Regulation of spread betting [e.g., SpreadFair] is undertaken by the Financial Services Authority.
Professional sports players have been warned that they face two-year jail sentences if they break new laws that come into force under the Gambling Act today.
The Professional Players Federation (PPF), an umbrella group for players’ unions, has issued a code on gambling to its members and has called on the government to do more to educate athletes about the risks they face under the new regulations. [...]
Sun:
The Gambling Act 2005 is a wide-ranging piece of legislation which covers most forms of gambling.
- The Gambling Commission was created as the new regulator for the industry, replacing the old Gaming Board.
- It is responsible for casinos, bingo, gaming machines, arcades, lotteries, remote gambling and betting.
- The Act allows remote gaming operators – such as gambling websites – to be based in and regulated by Great Britain for the first time, making them subject to the rules set out in the legislation.
- Existing casinos will have a number of restrictions lifted, such as the requirement for people to be members of casinos in order to go inside.
- The Act also sets out provision for three new types of casino – the one regional “supercasinoâ€, plus eight large and eight small casinos. The supercasino element is currently under review.
- Licensed betting operators in shops and online have new conditions imposed on them, such as having to display gambling helpline information and training staff to identify problem gamblers.
- Betting shops will be able to open from 7am to 10pm all year round instead of just in summer, subject to local authority consent.
- The Act reforms the advertising rules for gambling operators, allowing casinos and some others to advertise on TV for the first time.
- Gambling adverts will be subject to a code of practice policed by the Advertising Standards Authority.
- Operators have also signed up to a voluntary set of rules which set a 9pm watershed for TV commercials for gambling services, except around televised sporting events.
- The law sets out new limits on stakes and prizes for poker games held in pubs.
- As with casinos, bingo halls will no longer have to make people members in order to let them inside.
- Changes to the rules for bingo prizes means bingo halls will no longer have to return all stakes as prize money. Instead, they can keep some money behind to offer as rollover prizes.
