Earlier this year, we brought you the news about the Gambling Commission changes enforcing new rules about online casino’ offering no wagering requirements. This sparked some interest from affiliates and operators alike, as they began to speculate what this change could mean for them and how it might affect the way they commonly promote new customer incentives on their sites.
Is this good news for the casino industry?
As compliance crack downs come into force, this change has largely seen as a bad thing by operators as it would ultimately affect their acquisition. This might not be the case though, as changing the way that operators engage and solicit new customers more transparently with offers that are clear, easy to understand and simple to claim, can in fact help the popularity of the industry overall.
These guidelines for best practice should be followed by both affiliates and operators. However, many sites out there are still sticking their heads in the sand when it comes to making concrete changes to their marketing. This could be to their detriment later down the line, as they make the gambling industry have a more unscrupulous image as time goes on.
The industry is maturing and there is a desire to regulate and ensure transparent behaviour especially with affiliates who want to comply with advertising codes and grow their businesses. Creating a more transparent and fair environment for customers will no doubt have a knock on effect in making this industry a more popular and trusted one in the future.
Pavlov Sideris founder of NoWagering commented, “Regarding the Enforcement Report – I urge operators AND affiliates alike to, in particular, take note of the Gambling Commissions’ research last year which concluded that public trust and confidence in gambling is declining, and ask themselves if this is really the direction in which they want our industry to head. We all need to take responsibility now, and understand that unless our ‘customers’ are happy, then it may not be long before we have none left.”
Excessive wagering and unfair terms
Excessive wagering requirements can be seen as unfair measures to prevent players from ever being able to withdraw their winnings. This is a serious concern for the commission, as they want to ensure that these bonus are fair. We may see more sites lowering their wagering requirements in future and making the industry fairer as a whole. We may see a change in the way that brands engage customers or incentivise them for loyalty, more so than trying to take a quick punt and try something free as a sign up incentive.
NoWagering.com have also addressed the issue of policing at risk gamblers too, as this is yet another area that the UKGC want to see improvement on. No matter how much a site wants you to deposit a lot of cash with them, they have to be doing due diligence to find out where this came from and how you’re able to spend it with them.
As we see the net tighten around operators and affiliates, a best practice approach is the only one that should be used. This allows brands to even the playing field and keep themselves compliant. Non compliant promotions may be seen as a good way to get ahead but if all operators are playing by the same rules then this should be stamped out.
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