The UKGC was established in 2007 under the Gambling Act 2005. Its competence included almost the entire gambling market: land-based and online casinos, betting, bingo, national lottery, etc.
One of the main tasks of the UKGC was to make sure that none of the licensees violated the rules established by the above mentioned law. Operators must honestly pay 15% income tax, keep an eye out for “dangerous players” and fully comply with the rules of “responsible gaming”.
Failure to comply with the rules is punishable in two ways: license revocation, large fine.
In 2023 alone, the UKGC managed to recover:
- £620,000 from «Blue Planet Limited».
- £316,250 from «TGP Europe».
- £305,150 from «Skill On Net».
- £490,000 from «PPB Counterparty Services Limited».
- £600,000 with «Star Sports».
- £9,400,000 with «888».
- £3,250,000 with «Betfred».
- £7,100,000 with «Kindred».
And a record £24,000,000,000 (!) from William Hill, owned by the same “888” company.
Add up the fines, take into account the margin of error of the fines I’ve missed, and we get £46.08 million seized from gambling brands in just seven months.
The vast majority of the hacks were minor errors in financial reporting, minor flaws in mechanisms and various bureaucratic traps that companies left their money in.
Global gambling law reform has only brought operators new license hurdles and mandatory tax levies. At the same time no one fights, for example, against gambling lobbyism in the British Parliament. Only last spring it led to several major scandals and suspensions of influential officials. The work of the UKGC has not stopped the epidemic of gambling addiction – publications are full of stories about divorces, suicides and conflicts caused by an aggravated form of gambling addiction.
