Main provisions of The Gambling Act 2005
The Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced the Gambling Act to control all forms of gambling in the country. The act has been designed adaptively to regulate gambling in a way that suits the changing world and its trends. It also means to make gambling in line with the digital age. The primary provisions of the Gambling Act 2005 are the following:
- Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime.
- Ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly.
- Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
The ideals followed by the act are quite simple. The act regulates casinos in such a way that casinos are only accessible to persons above the age of 18, and no child shall be permitted to enter such premises or log into them at all. Casino workings are meant to be a productive, adult-centric activity that shall be maintained such that it does not cause any disorders in the system.
With its inception, the Act replaced the Gaming Act of 1968, the Betting, Gaming, and Lotteries Act of 1963, and the Lotteries and Amusements Act of 1976. This has successfully reigned upon previous anomalies and brought about a modernized regulation for casinos.
The act, for the first time, regulated internet-based gambling. Online casinos are left to function in the country with full regulation in the hands of the governing authority through a proper license. Online casinos in the UK need the countryβs specific license to function, precisely, a Gambling Commission license.
Online casinos in the UK are regulated on a point-of-consumption basis. The act further promotes legal proceedings to be undertaken in case someone wishes to take legal action over unpaid winnings, which were previously not allowed or acknowledged.