GVC Holdings CEO Says Illegal Gambling Will Flourish If £2 Limit Is Placed On Online Slots
The Gambling Related Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group (GRH APPG) in the United Kingdom caused quite a stir in the online gambling industry last week when it released a report suggesting that the government should amend gaming regulations and impose a £2 limit on online slot bets.
The report was put together after the APPG carried out a six month study on the online slots industry which is thriving in the UK.
iGaming operators depend heavily on online slot income as it accounts for the majority of revenue generated by online casino games. The £2 limit will significantly eat into the profits of iGaming operators and hence they were not very thrilled with the recommendation.
GVC Holdings is one of the biggest gambling operators in the country and owns a number of flagship online casino brands. However, GVC did not send a representative to be a part of the six month research project nor did its CEO Kenny Alexander get involved or provide any assistance to the APPG. As a result, the APPG went after GVC and accused Alexander of being a coward for not showing up.
Kenny Alexander finally responded to those taunts and said that he did not want any criticism directed to any of his employees for not showing up to the meetings. Alexander hit back at the APPG and called termed their £2 limit on online slots as ridiculous. He also said that while he had many weaknesses being a coward wasn’t one of them.
He warned the UK Government to not go ahead with these ridiculous recommendations and imposing minimum bet limits on online slots would backfire as it would drive players away from legalised online casinos and send them on to unlicensed and illegal online gambling websites.
Problem Gambling Not Yet A Major Concern
One of the reasons for this proposed reduction in online slot bets is because anti-gambling groups and the UK government is concerned over the increase in problem gambling numbers. Alexander isn’t too worried as of now as he says that in his opinion the UK is not facing a problem gambling epidemic.
However, he believes that the UK could end up with a problem gambling epidemic if the government decides to enforce this £2 minimum online slot bet proposal! Alexander believes forcing players to bet only £2 will make licensed sites unattractive and send them straight to unlicensed casinos which are not regulated
Carolyn DuttonAuthor
Carolyn is our legislation expert, with a background in law she is able to cover the current state of gambling around the world
