How UK Specific Online Gaming Review Platforms Prioritise Player Safety in an Ever-Changing Regulatory Landscape

Following former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments that the government should yet again increase taxes on the betting and gaming industry, punters who regularly play at online casinos and visit their local betting shops are feeling the negative effects of the tax increases.

Like with any industry, companies facing tax increases are usually forced to increase their prices one way or another to cope with the lost revenue and more often than not, the impact of this is felt by the customers.

Casino Customers Paying the Price

The United Kingdom remains the most regulated country in the world (outside of outlawing gambling completely) when it comes to offline and online gambling. Any online casino wanting to allow UK gamblers play at their site (legally) must first earn a license from the regulatory body, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC).

There are plenty of online gambling licenses in the world which online casinos can apply for, but the UKGC license is the most difficult to receive as casinos must adhere to stringent tests in order to guarantee the safety of the players personal details and money deposits.

Due to the recent increase in the gaming levy tax plus increased affordability checks on players, many UKGC licensed online casinos have been forced to make some of their revenue back at the expense of players and this includes raising the RTP on many of their playable casino games. RTP stands for return to player and is basically used to assess the house-edge the casino has on any game. When looking for the highest RTP casino games in the UK, players look to play those with as close to 99% RTP as possible.

Of course, the casinos themselves rarely advertise such RTP decreases which is why UK specific review platforms are so important for players.

A Trustworthy Companion Within a Chaotic Industry

Almost all aspects of the gambling industry have been rather chaotic over the past five years since further regulations have been applied to the industry. The only elements of the industry which have stayed in order are the review platforms.

There are dozens of UK specific casino review platforms online and we spoke to Jean Prince who is the Editor in Chief at SlotsHawk which has been operating since 2019. Prince told us:
“It is certainly true that the gambling industry in the UK remains a hugely turbulent arena and that does not look like letting up any time soon.

“Whilst UKGC licensed casino sites in particular are struggling, they usually put the costs onto the player and this can happen in a variety of ways and it includes increasing the house edge on games in order to increase profits at the players’ expense.

“This is why we implore players to take advantage of review sites like SlotsHawk because we have a team full of experts whose job is to help casino players get the best value for their money and this includes pointing out where casinos are looking to take advantage of players.

“Although on paper player safety is paramount to what the UKGC is trying to do with its strict regulations, it does sometimes seem like the opposite will happen as players will go to where they get the best value for their money and it is at the point now where unlicensed sites offer better offers and a lower house-edge on their casino games.

“We would still never recommend any unlicensed sites because they are by their very nature dangerous to play at because they do not really have to answer to any higher power when it comes to keeping players’ private details and deposited money safe.”

The SlotsHawk team recently conducted an RTP test where they took 20 different slots and spun them 10,000 times in order to reveal how close they actually came to their RTP. This is just one of a number of experiments they have conducted on casinos. They also regularly interview casino games studios too so they are up-to-date on what is happening which means they can then inform their readers on the best strategies and more importantly, keep them away from games and casinos which may not have their best interests at heart.

Of course, there are plenty of other well-known casino review websites too; SlotCatalog, Oddschecker and AskGamblers to name three.

An Ever-Changing Environment

Watch this space. There are lots of calls inside and outside of parliament for further tax increases on companies within the betting industry. In fact, hardly a week goes by without a discussion surrounding the industry.

Premier League football clubs recently voted to ban gambling companies from sponsoring the front of football shirts, whether they regret this decision based on finances remains to be seen.

However, this goes to show the beating that the industry is currently taking. It seems that everyone wants to be seen giving the cold shoulder to the gambling industry.