How is the UKGC linked to Online Casino Platforms

It is possible to become a victim of your own success, and this is exactly what happened to the UK gambling industry once it went online. Before 1996, gambling was easier to control because it was contained. If you wanted to place a bet, you would have to attend a betting office. If you wanted to play table games and slot machines, then you would have to visit a land-based casino. 

However, the invention of the internet made gambling far more accessible, and the public could do what they did at betting shops and casinos, in the comfort of their own homes, courtesy of online casinos such as cozino.dk. To access these sites, potential punters had to have stable internet access and a laptop or desktop computer. An early experiment in online gambling came in 1996 with the introduction of the first online casino. This proved a huge hit and even though it was more table games focused, the video slot era was just dawning.

Video Slot Game Takeover 

The first video slot was a huge hit with punters, and this opened the floodgates to what eventually became the dominant form of gambling. Online casinos slowly became more slot-focused and the demand for these games from the public and gambling brands themselves created an industry worth billions of pounds. Hundreds of online casinos opened and filled their digital platforms with slots. This became an increasingly hard environment to control and unscrupulous organizations took full advantage of this poorly regulated gambling arena. 

The UK Gambling Commission and Online Casinos 

An agreement was reached that a professional body needed to be created to protect punters and license and regulate betting brands online and across the United Kingdom. On the 1st of September 2007, the UK Gambling Commission opened its doors, and its purpose was to license and regulate all forms of gambling in the UK, including online casino platforms. A set of criteria was introduced that all gambling brands had to adhere to if they wanted to be granted a license to operate in the UK. Any organizations that refused to meet the standards set by the UK Gambling Commission were either blocked from the UK or fined for breaking or not meeting the set rules. 

The UK Gambling Commission Today 

Nowadays the UKGC logo on an online casino platform acts as a mark of reassurance to punters, as they know they have chosen a licensed and regulated gambling brand to play at. Furthermore, their presence also lets players know that the games at licensed sites have been tested for fairness. 

The commission is still player-focused, and its priorities are player safety. This is why online casinos must offer safer gambling tools to all punters. They also introduced a ban on gambling with credit cards and forced online casino platforms to keep customer’s funds in separate accounts, to the casino business ones. This way, if a casino goes bust, customer funds are still withdrawable. 

The commission is still a work in progress and punters do feel like it can do more, especially when it comes to slot game-fixing, as many gamblers are still not convinced that slot spins are truly random.