The UK Gambling Commission has chalked up another win in the ongoing quest to regulate gambling among UK-licensed operators. Tasked with assessing 2021’s online slots reforms that were aimed at increasing player protections, the UKGC has discovered favourable results in helping players gamble more responsibly.
Said reforms included restrictions on the speed of a number of spins – which is possibly one of the most popular bonus offers used by gamblers who enjoy playing online slots. Other reforms included displaying session duration and net wins and losses.
With the publication of the assessment just this June, the Gambling Commission acknowledges that the effects of 2021’s reforms have been a win, but that it is important to remain vigilant in online slots’ governance, especially since this gambling pastime is booming in popularity.
The growth in online slots
The Gambling Commission is well aware of the increase in players accessing online slots. Following a report, it shows that there was a significant increase in the Gross Gambling Yield generated by the online slots segments, up from just “£1.6 billion in 2015-16 to nearly £3.0 billion in 2021-22.”
Slots are a popular pastime among players of all ages. While older players may head to the casino to play some slots, the growing number of online slots available as well as the ease of use of playing on mobile means that all age demographics can enjoy new digital slots games.
However, with this increase in popularity comes a mandate for the Gambling Commission to oversee these slots providers’ operation.
The 2021 online slots reforms
In 2021, the UK Gambling Commission announced a slew of new reforms related to online slots gambling. The changes were designed to bring about stricter consumer protection measures to make online slots gambling safer for players. The particular focus on online slots was because the Gambling Commission identified online slots as having the highest average losses among online gambling. The measures themselves were designed to drag this number down.
Among the changes are:
- The session must show the net position (all session winnings minus losses) in the account holder’s currency
- No autoplay; requires a bet like a button press for each game and holding down the bet key must not be able to be used as a workaround
- No ability to skip forward to see the result of a game
- Faster spins (like Turbo feature, etc) are not allowed, except in free spins or games where there are no additional bets placed
- Time spent (second, minutes, and hours) in the gaming session must be displayed once the game is opened
- Withdrawal cancellations are not permitted
- Withdrawal must be as easy as possible
- Controls so that multiple slots cannot be played at once, including split or multi-screen
- A minimum of 2.5 seconds between one game starting and another commencing
- Wins equal or less to the amount bet must not trigger win graphics or sounds
The changes to the way that slots are to be provided to players were required to be rolled out by operators by the 31st of October, 2021.
The assessment of the changes
A report into the effects of the changes to online slots regulation was published at the start of June 2023. The report, Assessment of online games design changes, looks at some of the predicted outcomes from the changes and whether these have actually come to pass, especially in relation to the changes themselves. The report also highlights some areas that could have shown increased harm due to the measures, and whether this actually occurred.
It is exciting to note that the report did not find any evidence that any of the changes resulted in any consequential harm to players. It also found that players did not experience any drop in enjoyment in playing the games since the measures were rolled out.
In the assessment, there have only been a few effects among players that can be attributed to the new measures. This is, that players experience reduced play intensity; that is, playing the slots games slower than they did previously. Considering that the measures were introduced mainly as the UK Gambling Commission was concerned about high losses among players, this is very positive, as it means the speed at which players can accumulate losses tumbles.
Other effects included a drop in the number of players accessing multiple games at once, that players were spending less on higher stakes bets, and that fewer players were spending an hour or more per session on playing slots.
Other theorized changes such as decreased levels of binge gambling on slots, fewer complaints about online gambling, and increased levels of intentional gambling have not come to pass; all levels were the same as before the measures being implemented.
