Brands with a licence from the UKGC will promote their own responsible gambling advice and policies, which is taken from the LCCP (Licence conditions and codes of practice). The UKGC also sets down non-specific frameworks for its licensees to interpret. The banning of credit cards to fund betting and gaming accounts, for example, was widely seen as a sensible approach. Some regulations have been broadly welcomed. Nonetheless, after a few years of being criticised for toothlessness, the UKGC has sprung to life in the last couple of years, and some of its moves have been interesting, to the say the least. Ireland, for example, has been trying to update its laws to reflect the internet age, with much of the legislation dating back to a time before colour television. While critics now contend that it failed to fully anticipate the scope of the internet, the UK is, in fact, light years ahead of many countries, many of which have gambling bills stuck in parliament. The vast majority of the UK’s gambling law still derives from the 2005 Gambling Act. But over the last few years, the UKGC has become much more active in regulating online gambling, particularly the online casino sector. Depending on who you ask, it’s either not doing enough, or it’s doing too much. The UKGC (UK Gambling Commission) is one of those regulatory bodies that gets criticised from all sides of the political divide.
