What is UKGC and can it be trusted?
Choosing a proper casino is not the most difficult task as the variety is huge and, lately, the honesty and fairness within the sector is only going up. However, even when the surroundings are positive, you may still encounter some rotten apples.
This is where the regulation in the online gambling sector becomes important, and while there are many regulatory bodies around the world, today we will take a look at the major European regulator – United Kingdom Gambling Commission, examine its role within the sector and, ultimately, conclude whether UKGC regulated casino and betting companies can be trusted.
What does UKGC oversee?
Play-casino-online.co.uk, resource for new UK online casinos, informs that under UK’s law, the gambling winnings are untaxed. Any activity that is seen by the government as gambling falls in the scope of UKGC responsibilities. Such activities include casino operations, running a bingo spot, establishing a lottery or a bookmaker. UKGC’s responsibility includes overseeing both online and offline sectors. However, the UKGC does not have a say when it comes to allowing bookmakers and other gambling companies to occupy a certain physical location. Historically, this has been a decision of one of the local authorities.
There is also another exception. While the tax office seems spread betting as gambling, the companies offering such services are monitored by the Financial Conduct Authority. The reason for this is rather simple, spread betting aka FX & CFDs trading is quite complex in its nature and requires a special attention from the financial regulator. However, recently another financial product – binary options, has been moved from the FCA’s into UKGC supervision. The nature of this product is much less complex and it certainly resembles gambling much more than it resembles financial trading.
UKGC and the cryptocurrencies
The UKGC was one of the first gambling regulators to officially recognize cryptos as a currency and let licensed casinos accept cryptocurrencies as a mean of payment. This is certainly a great practice as it has started moving the bitcoin gambling sector into the white area.
Can a UKGC casino be trusted?
According to our research, any gambling operator is required to pay quite hefty fees to apply for the license and to maintain it. Besides that, the UKGC is doing an excellent job overseeing the companies that it regulates. While there have been some cases when UKGC failed to supervise a gambling company in a proper way, those cases are rather rare. Hence, considering how thoroughly UKGC handles licensing applications and how well it has managed to maintain the high standards of conducting the business, we can conclude that UKGC casinos and betting companies can be trusted and should certainly be chosen over unregulated companies.
Follow this link and read the original article by Play-casino-online.co.uk editor David Burton.