The Purpose Of A License
Gambling is regulated more now than ever before. In the mid-1990s, online gambling exploded in popularity as the first online casinos hit the market. The invention of the first-ever online casino was quickly followed by the creation of video slots and the two became a hit with the British public. Anonymous gambling in the comfort of your own home also proved to be a highly appealing combination for punters as well.
These new developments attracted a new cliental and some were new to gambling altogether. In fact, people started gambling from a more diverse background and this included a large number of women.
With all these new consumers in place, and their game of choice being slots, the United Kingdom set up the UK Gambling Commission. This government body came into being in 2005 and its purpose still is to regulate arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, gaming machine providers, gambling software providers, lottery operators and all UK-based remote gambling. A casino with UK Gambling Commission backing is more likely to pay winnings on time and resolve disputes fairly, than an unlicensed venue that does not have to abide by any laws.
The Need For Online Gambling Safety
With profits from online gambling approaching £4.7 billion and an estimated 9 million people across the UK gambling online, the Gambling Commission is continuously looking at ways to make gambling fairer and safer for consumers.
The sheer number of people gambling made the creation of the UK Gambling Commission inevitable. Before this, the gambling industry was largely unregulated and this led to slots sites appearing and disappearing at will and a lot of the time, they vanished with punters winnings. This is no longer possible thanks to strict rules set in place by the UK Gambling Commission that has helped reduce the number of unscrupulous operators.
Now it is far harder for slot sites to obtain a UK gambling license. Slot operators must have safeguards in place to protect player funds and customer’s cash must be kept separate from casino funds. This prevents casinos using customer money for their own upkeep and should slot sites go bust, then they will still be able to pay players their winnings. Furthermore, all slot games are regularly tested for their randomness of each spin. This is to ensure that results are fair and have not been fixed in any way to hugely favour the house. Before licenses were issued, games and the software platforms they were played on remained unchecked, leading to the odds being stacked against punters.
Final Thoughts
With slot spins being produced by Random Number Generators and the Return To Player percentages being published for each slot, it is now safer than ever to indulge in some online slots action.
