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UK: Online gambling probed by competition watchdog

By  |  October 23, 2016

The UK’s online gambling industry is being investigated by the country’s competition watchdog to test whether millions of customers are being treated fairly.

The Competitions and Markets Authority has stepped in after the Gambling Commission raised concerns about a raft of potential breaches of consumer law, “including misleading promotions and unfair terms being used by firms to block players’ payouts.” The move follows a series of complaints from punters, who claimed that certain sites are deliberately making their terms obscure, and payouts harder to come by. According to the Times, customers have lost as much as £3.5 billion in this way.

On Friday, as a first step to crackdown on businesses that flout the rules, the CMA has used consumer protection legislation to issue information notices to various online casinos. These firms will now have to provide evidence that they’re complying with the law; if it finds otherwise, the regulator will be able to take them to court under the terms of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Full Content: ARS Technica UK

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