SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published a PSA warning against the use of unregulated providers to mark today’s Safer Internet Day.
“Does a website look like any other legal licensed site, but lets you deposit funds with a credit card or crypto? Does it promote the fact they’re not onGAMSTOP? Offers unusually large account opening bonuses?
“Some things really are too good to be true and the same can be said for betting sites,” the LinkedIn announcement said.
According to the UKGC, some of the signs that customers should be on the lookout for when choosing an online gambling provider include a very high prize amount with no stake limits, no RTP information, intrusive marketing and no age verification.
The UKGC also reminds that questionable websites will not have any messaging indicating whether or not they are licensed by the Commission, however, players can visit the UKGC public register to check if they are unsure.
In episode 450 of the iGaming Daily podcast, Duncan Garvie, Head of ADR Services at CasinoReviews.com, touched upon the issue of unlicensed operators copying the style of games from legal suppliers and then uploading them to their websites without any player protection measures.
“There’s no guarantee that the [fake] game functions in any particular way. In fact, it can actually be maliciously coded to do the opposite,” Garvie said.
“For instance, what could happen is the developer could look at the pay table and say, we don’t want to pay out big wins, so we’re just going to make the top wins on this game inaccessible so nobody can ever hit them.
“The player doesn’t know the difference because they look at the game and see the same game that the legitimate provider is providing but they can’t hit the big wins.”
