Are online gambling companies treating their customers fairly? The UK’s Competition and Market’s Authority (CMA) has been reviewing the industry for a while now, and with the recent story about gambling company LeoVegas said to be “failing” problem gamblers, it’s a market that needs a very close eye on it.
The CMA has been asking online gambling firms to agree to a number of undertakings as they continue to watch over this lucrative but also somewhat problematic industry.
The CMA has written to more online gambling firms about their practices recently as a number of enforcement actions have been taken to ensure the market is healthy, and ensure online gamblers are free of unfair obstacles and practises.
A recent development is that gambling firm BGO Entertainment has follow in the footsteps of commitments made by William Hill, Ladbrokes and PT Entertainment surrounding the use of bonus promotions to online customers. BGO has reportedly promised to be clearer when it comes to the terms and conditions of its promotional offers, as well as making sure to flag significant restrictions.
This is said to include making sure there are no terms that could be used to change a promotion after a player has taken it up.
The CMA has highlighted a number of concerns that they have generally raised with online gambling firms as follows:
- Daily, weekly or monthly limits on withdrawing funds that appear unreasonably low;
- Potentially arbitrary short deadlines on the time customers have to verify their identity as a condition of withdrawing funds, sometimes providing for forfeiture of consumer’s funds if missed; and
- Dormancy terms that allow firms to confiscate funds or impose apparently excessive charges after a certain period of inactivity.
(Source: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/online-gambling)
We will continue to keep an eye on the developments of the CMA’s investigations and commitment to ensuring that the online gambling industry is competitive but also safe, with the interest of gamblers being the top priority.