UKGC To Ensure iPoker Sites Are Crime Free, Fair and Open

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Monday, November 9th, 2015 | Written by Stephen Smith

Online poker is legal in the UK, as long as it takes place on a site licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), a regulatory body established under the Gambling Act (2005) to oversee gambling in the nation of roughly 65 million people. In addition to land-based gambling enterprises, the UKGC also regulates remote gambling activities, but recently a number of concerns have arisen that has led the commission to begin a thorough investigation of those licensed online poker sites currently operating in the United Kingdom. As a UKGC statement subsequently explains:

“We’ve been asking licensees who offer peer-to-peer poker for information and their views on current issues identified in relation to this product. We want this information in order to assess whether the current controls in Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS) are sufficient to ensure online poker is crime free, fair and open and children and vulnerable people are protected.”

What’s at Issue?

Online poker players in the UK have been lodging complaints about what is perceived as a lack of fairness in the game. Many recreational players are finding themselves targeted by professional players who use advanced tracking software to analyze their style of play and predicts their moves, thus increasing the chances of being beaten by opponents. Another major problem is the use of poker-playing bots, which appear similar to human players, but are actually nothing more than sophisticated programs that are often capable of winning at an unfair rate.

UKGC Launches a Fairness Review

In response to the complaints received, the UK Gambling Commission has announced its intention to carefully review how the primary online poker sites in the UK operate. The commission is calling its inquiry a survey and has stated that the goal isn’t to penalize the sites but to uncover areas of improvement. The review is as much an evaluation of how well the guidelines set by the UK Gambling Commission are protecting players as it is an assessment of what the sites are doing to actively prevent cheating. Many industry experts believe that the ultimate outcome of the survey will be that sites will need to develop and introduce software that will make it harder for people to use tracking software and bots at the virtual tables.

So far, PokerStars and PartyPoker, the two primary online poker sites in the UK, have been supportive of the UK Gambling Commission review. Both sites are already taking steps to make things fairer for players. The sites have proactively put measures in place to limit the ability to use tracking software. Furthermore, the sites has also eliminated the option to choose your own seat at the virtual tables, cutting down on the likelihood of player monitoring and the targeting of weaker, amateur players. Ultimately, making this fairer is beneficial for the sites as well as for players, because when beginners and casual players have a fair shot at winning, they’re more likely to log in to play.

These changes have not gone down at all well with many of the sites’ regular grinders, who have been able to make a comfortable living from the game over the past few years. Nevertheless, while once iPoker sites offered favorable rewards programs to these professional players, these days they are increasingly being looked upon as chiefly responsible from keeping new players away from the game.

Recreational Players First

In fact, online poker is only able to survive as a profitable business because of the fresh funds brought to the game by recreational players, who are rightly seen as the lifeblood of the industry. This valuable group of players helped power the poker boom from 2003 to 2006, before the US government introduced the UIGEA which subsequently shut US players out of the global online poker market. Since then, global online poker traffic and revenues have been on the decline, leading the industry to revise its business model to cater more to recreational players. As PartyPoker Ambassador Tony Dunst, explained after introducing the sites recent improvements:

“These changes at partypoker are designed to create a more hospitable environment for recreational players. Unfortunately, many of the tools and tactics that professionals use to maximize their edge have made the games too difficult for new players to survive. Without them, grinders will merely pass money back and forth while being raked, and games will inevitably dry up. I think these changes will help level the playing field for casual players, and preserve the quality of games for professionals.”

Part of Larger Improvements to UK Gaming

With 2015 being the 10th anniversary of the 2005 Gambling Act, the UK Gambling Commission has plans to completely revisit the present legislation. The commission has charged all iGaming providers in the UK to provide information about how they are safeguarding their sites to prevent money laundering. Once the information has been gathered, the commission intends to use it to assess what changes needed to be made to the 2005 Gambling Act to prevent illegal activity.