The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) have now issued an official reminder to all industry stakeholders that its call for evidence on its ‘gambling with credit cards consultation’ will be closing on the 6th of November.
The UKGC launched their credit card consultation on 14 August after they finished their initial responses on 24 July. After establishing wagering with borrowed money as a risk factor, they found that consumers can gamble with more than they can afford.
A total of 110 responses have been submitted to the UKGC’s first stage of its credit card consultation. These have come from a diverse range of stakeholders, which have included operators, members of the public, charities and financial institutions.
Within the next phase of research, the commission have stated that it now aims to conjure evidence which is in relation to the options of either ‘banning or restricting’ credit card transactions across all forms of remote gambling.
The UKGC detailed: “The preferred option for most who responded to the call for evidence was to prohibit gambling online with credit cards in order to achieve this aim. We will take the most appropriate course of action in view of any further evidence obtained during this consultation, alongside the data already submitted”.
The new ban will see affiliates have to contemplate whether to remove ewallet promotions from their sites, as full removal would be compulsory if the new law comes into fruition.
Within their update, the commission has stated that it requires evidence from e-wallets, in order to address concerns related to transparency, as operators have no means of which method of payment was used – ‘debit card, a credit card or a separate balance within the e-wallet’.
The update stated” “We will be writing to e-wallet providers at the start of the consultation and we encourage them to consider, and provide details of, the solutions they can deliver to facilitate any regulatory change.”
Concluding its statement, the Commission underlines that it will enforce either a ‘prohibition or restriction on credit card wagering’ which will be enforced through changes to UK gambling’s ‘Licence Conditions-& Codes of Practice’ -LCCP‘ frameworks, this is likely to be implemented by next April, subject to its review of evidence.
