P
pokerballsaa
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Hi all, so at the moment, living in England I would consider myself lucky that there are no real restrictions on where or what I can play. If I win, it's tax free and that is another positive to living here.
However, lately there seems to be more and more things coming into play to "help" prevent people from becoming addicted to gambling.
There is now a law that in betting shops, you can not stake more than £2 per spin on casino games/slots. This, as expected has just made the shops make less money and forced the people that the rule is set up to "help" move online, where there are no restrictions.
There also seems to be more fines being issued to betting firms for allowing addicts to lose too much money, because apparently they should spot them and not let them bet.
Not totally sure I agree with the things that are happening, and I certainly don't see it helping people at all. The people that gambling in the shops are just going to move online or to a casino where they can potentially lose MORE money than they could in a shop. And firms being issued with a massive fine because they have customers that have become addicted, does nothing to help anyone. Again with my last point, even if they noticed someone was addicted and decided not to allow them to bet there anymore, they will just go somewhere else. This isn't going to change who they are and they will only get better/accept help when they are ready.
There is also possible talk of online betting companies having to request bank statements/pay slips to verify that you can afford to bet, before they will let you. I am not sure how this would ever work and how they could tell you what you are and are not allowed to bet.
Anyway, with the way the industry seems to be being forced to go, I wonder how long it will be before they start putting things into place that will have an affect on poker. Just wondering what others thought about this.
However, lately there seems to be more and more things coming into play to "help" prevent people from becoming addicted to gambling.
There is now a law that in betting shops, you can not stake more than £2 per spin on casino games/slots. This, as expected has just made the shops make less money and forced the people that the rule is set up to "help" move online, where there are no restrictions.
There also seems to be more fines being issued to betting firms for allowing addicts to lose too much money, because apparently they should spot them and not let them bet.
Not totally sure I agree with the things that are happening, and I certainly don't see it helping people at all. The people that gambling in the shops are just going to move online or to a casino where they can potentially lose MORE money than they could in a shop. And firms being issued with a massive fine because they have customers that have become addicted, does nothing to help anyone. Again with my last point, even if they noticed someone was addicted and decided not to allow them to bet there anymore, they will just go somewhere else. This isn't going to change who they are and they will only get better/accept help when they are ready.
There is also possible talk of online betting companies having to request bank statements/pay slips to verify that you can afford to bet, before they will let you. I am not sure how this would ever work and how they could tell you what you are and are not allowed to bet.
Anyway, with the way the industry seems to be being forced to go, I wonder how long it will be before they start putting things into place that will have an affect on poker. Just wondering what others thought about this.
