The end of October marked a number of sweeping changes to online UK casinos with the regulations hoping to give players more transparency and allow for games that have more often been seen as less fair to provide better odds for players too. With big changes coming to online services as a whole with many other options that can be found here remaining unchanged, it does raise the question of whether or not these changes will extend across to other markets too.
Slots have been the initial target, with many of the changes being aimed at making the games more fair and by allowing players to track their play time here too – the removal of auto-play and turbo features will slow down the way many players approach slots and will also provide more tracking of how much time has been played with wins and losses too, and the slowing down of slots in general will mean players are less likely to lose track of how much they’ve played. The tracking features are something that will most certainly find their way across to other games, and something that some services have already implemented more tracking too, whilst it is only mandatory for slots in the UK, other countries may increasingly look to this as an option with a growing crackdown for online services.
The other change had been pointed towards the way re-gambling earned winnings is handled with the option being removed to do so and this will cover all games and not just slots – this changed had also been aimed at preventing players from losing track of spending by taking the winnings already requested for withdrawal and spending it again. For some, this is something that may not have already been known about, but some services offer this as a big selling point and something looking to be cracked down on – and is something else that will likely be seen introduced in other markets if successful initially within the UK.
(Image from eurogamer.net)
There are many operators who likely won’t see this change though, those registered and represented in countries like Malta and Gibraltar which have become somewhat of a gambling haven for online services will likely remain unchanged for a longer period of time with only mainland options facing the pressure for change particularly where certain games are concerned, and something that has already covered online gaming platforms that include games of chance like loot boxes and other similar features too. It is still very early where regulation is seeing adjustment and change though, so it will happen quickly, and likely come from some unknown places, but does provide an opportunity for more unique changes too.
