As our use of technology continues to grow and shows few boundaries, one of the bigger changes that always happens comes in the way of regulation – as access begins to open in many different areas this same regulation can be set out to both help those at risk, but also cause restrictions – we’re seeing a prime example of this within mobile gaming, particularly online casinos.

In 2019, a regulation initiative within the UK called Gamstop was launched in an effort to curb the growing gambling addiction within the UK as mobile casinos and mobile gaming as a whole continue to dominate the gaming industry – the demographic of those playing mobile games is changing quickly and now middle aged women with disposable incomes are now the primary market – the change to an audience with disposable income has allowed for the ongoing issue to spread. The self-inclusion program would blacklist users from being able to access the operator services and for the first few months it would require for operators to voluntarily register to the service – but this has recently changed. By the start of April this year, it was required that gaming operators within the UK would have to register with the initiative or risk losing their gaming license, bringing in to question the voluntary requirement put out at first.

To avoid the restrictions placed upon them by Gamstop, many operators are beginning to register outside of the UK in countries that have slightly more relaxed gambling laws that are more consumer friendly, as they aren’t registered within the UK these sites aren’t blocked by the scheme and also allow for some additional benefits to many – anonymous registration amongst them, alongside alternative anonymous payment methods such as crypto. For now these sites are safe, but as an increasing focus is put toward online gambling, many are asking whether or not it is possible for this initiative to extend outwards and overseas to those avoiding the mandatory registration – there have already been concerned drawn toward Gamstop and how although blacklisting your information may prevent you from accessing these sites, there are plenty of ways to get around the block and also issues regarding marketing materials from these services still getting through to the same people the initiative is set to protect. 

The growth of the mobile gaming market isn’t set to slow down, 2020 is poised to reach a nearly $200 billion in 2020 with an expected 2-5% growth every year moving forward, as the libraries of downloadable apps and games continues to grow it’s likely we’ll continue to see increasing regulation in the tech market, and the example of Gamstop is just one of the many few in recent years – not all seem to be as effective as others and as mentioned there are still grey areas that can be skirted around, but as also seen when enforced they can be highly effective and can spread in the way intended very quickly, whilst also getting many businesses on board with the strategy.

As our use of technology continues to grow and shows few boundaries, one of the bigger changes that always happens comes in the way of regulation – as access begins to open in many different areas this same regulation can be set out to both help those at risk, but also cause restrictions – we’re seeing a prime example of this within mobile gaming, particularly online casinos.

In 2019, a regulation initiative within the UK called Gamstop was launched in an effort to curb the growing gambling addiction within the UK as mobile casinos and mobile gaming as a whole continue to dominate the gaming industry – the demographic of those playing mobile games is changing quickly and now middle aged women with disposable incomes are now the primary market – the change to an audience with disposable income has allowed for the ongoing issue to spread. The self-inclusion program would blacklist users from being able to access the operator services and for the first few months it would require for operators to voluntarily register to the service – but this has recently changed. By the start of April this year, it was required that gaming operators within the UK would have to register with the initiative or risk losing their gaming license, bringing in to question the voluntary requirement put out at first.

To avoid the restrictions placed upon them by Gamstop, many operators are beginning to register outside of the UK in countries that have slightly more relaxed gambling laws that are more consumer friendly, as they aren’t registered within the UK these sites aren’t blocked by the scheme and also allow for some additional benefits to many – anonymous registration amongst them, alongside alternative anonymous payment methods such as crypto. For now these sites are safe, but as an increasing focus is put toward online gambling, many are asking whether or not it is possible for this initiative to extend outwards and overseas to those avoiding the mandatory registration – there have already been concerned drawn toward Gamstop and how although blacklisting your information may prevent you from accessing these sites, there are plenty of ways to get around the block and also issues regarding marketing materials from these services still getting through to the same people the initiative is set to protect. 

The growth of the mobile gaming market isn’t set to slow down, 2020 is poised to reach a nearly $200 billion in 2020 with an expected 2-5% growth every year moving forward, as the libraries of downloadable apps and games continues to grow it’s likely we’ll continue to see increasing regulation in the tech market, and the example of Gamstop is just one of the many few in recent years – not all seem to be as effective as others and as mentioned there are still grey areas that can be skirted around, but as also seen when enforced they can be highly effective and can spread in the way intended very quickly, whilst also getting many businesses on board with the strategy.