Greece Increases its Maximum Wagers – Will This Influence the UK?
Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, March 4, 2022
If you’ve been following the iGaming marketplace in the UK of late, you’ll know there remains a strong push among certain factions of government to heavily legislate the sector and impose stringent caps on deposits and bet limits.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith is among such factions, having declared war on the current government if they water down the long-awaited review of gambling laws in the UK. In this post, we’ll explore the proposed measures feather, while asking whether lawmakers are likely to be influenced by recent developments in the Greek market.
The State of Play and Potential Legislation on the UK
Smith is a key member of the so-called “All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling-Related Harm” (APPG), which recently initiated a review into iGaming on these shores and recommended a number of measures to help safeguard British gamblers. These measures included a £2 betting cap on virtual slots and casino verticals (we’ll have more on this below), a complete TV and online advertising ban on gambling brands and a mandatory levy on betting firms to fund treatment for those affected by addition and harms.
It’s the latter point that has sparked fury in Duncan-Smith, with the government allegedly poised to remove any notion of a mandatory levy and instead increase voluntary contributions among operators. This is arguably due to the fact that iGaming brands on these shores are already facing a heavy tax burden, with this driving a significant contribution to the UK Treasury that the government doesn’t want to endanger.
However, the Tory grandee has said that this is unacceptable, suggesting that the imposition of a mandatory levy is non-negotiable and central to any package of measures that are put forward to operators as part of the new licensing laws in the UK. All will be revealed in the government’s White Paper due to be launched next month, but there’s no doubt that this could create something of a legislative stand-off while online operators await the new laws with bated breath.
Will the UK be Swayed by Greece?
Certainly, there’s no guarantees pertaining to this White Paper, which could include one, all or none of the APPG’s recommendations for the iGaming industry in the UK and criteria laid down in licensing laws.
Aside from the imposition of a mandatory level, operators will also be keen to see if the government does introduce a £2 betting cap online. As we’ve said, this will be imposed across online slot and existing casino verticals, potentially changing the market beyond all recognition and impacting heavily on bookmaker revenues.
This measure would also mirror the so-called “FOBT cap”, which was imposed in the offline gambling industry in April 2019 after an extended review by the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Previously, the maximum bet threshold had been as high as £100, with this slashing the average UK bookie’s turnover by more than 50%.
Of course, online sportsbooks would react to such a cap simply by minimising payouts and adjusting the variance of slots, safeguarding profit margins even as revenues are diminished. However, it would still represent a game-changer in the market, especially with slots driving nearly 70% of the online gross gaming yield (GGY) in the UK.
What’s interesting, however, is how the UK seems on the brink of following this course when other European markets are embarked on a completely different journey. Take Greece, for example, where the nation’s government recently confirmed that they intended to ease player wagering restrictions across all online casino and poker verticals. At the beginning of the year, the maximum bet limit was fixed at €2, but positive market developments have encouraged the government to revise their stance.
In fact, the Greek authorities have already increased the maximum wager threshold from €2 to €20, with this measure effective from May 2022 onwards. This will be effective across all online, slots and poker verticals, with the changes following a Year-1 Review of the countries relaunched gambling regime carried out by the Ministry of Finance.
At the same time, all jackpot values associated with RNG (random number generated) games have doubled from €70,000 to €140,000 as part of the same regulatory shift, with this being overseen by the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC).
Interestingly, the HGC also moved to afford operators far greater license with regards to slots gameplay. More specifically, they’ll be able to reduce the game (or spin) times from three to two seconds, enabling players to effectively stake more of their cash every single minute. This type of progressive measure is certainly commonplace in the contemporary marketplace, highlighting how the legislative and regulatory forces in the UK appear to move against the wind.
The Last Word
Despite swimming against the tide, the UK government and UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) are unlikely to be swayed by the recent findings and policy changes in Greece. But why exactly should this be the case?
The simple reason is that the UK is already an incredibly mature and saturated marketplace, where there remain a huge number of operators and comprehensive regulatory framework. In this type of market, there’s significant demand and a large number of players gambling on a regular basis, arguably making safety and safeguarding are more important priority than driving growth.
Conversely, markets like Greece are still in their infancy, so concerns surrounding problem or underage gambling aren’t dominant in the minds of legislators. In fact, the government is more likely to be preoccupied with optimising taxation revenue generated from operators, so increasing maximum bet limits and payouts are understandable courses of action.
The question that remains is how far will the UK government go to restrict and curb the market’s excesses and will they compromise their own tax levy returns to deliver fully on the recommendations of the APPG for Gambling Related Harm.