The £2 slot stake limit: Navigating the fine line between player protection and industry sustainability

The UK Government White Paper proposed max online slot stakes between £2 and £15 in April 2023. The consultation period regarding slots is now underway (despite delays). It aims to capture the broadest spectrum of stakeholder opinion regarding proposals and allow the Gambling Commission of Great Britain to finalize the new regulations better. There may also be extra rules for players aged 18-24 (identified as the most at-risk age group) and additional regulations for game design. 

There is a compelling case for why these new restrictions are required to protect players and why tightening restrictions may cause the perfect storm of conditions encouraging players offshore and damaging the UK gambling industry’s sustainability.

Gambling review details

The last UK Gambling Act was passed in 2005; it liberalized the UK market, created the Gambling Commission, and made way for online gambling. The current gambling review updates this legislation, making regulations fit for the digital age where players have 24/7 easy access to products.

From the regulatory point of view, gambling operators have had time to proactively demonstrate their commitment to protecting vulnerable players. However, instead of rising to the challenge, there have been many cases where operators have not acted in players’ interest or been too slow to intervene in cases of gambling harm, limiting player accounts. 

While the rate of problem gambling in the UK is statistically stable, gambling addiction has gained mass media attention, often focused on singular first-person narratives of loss. There has also been intense lobbying from gambling charities, supported by the families of people affected by gambling addiction. In 2019, this led to a manifesto promise from the Conservative Party to update gambling legislation and tackle gambling addiction rates, culminating in the gambling review.

Proposed changes to online slot stake limits

The gambling review brings new or updated regulations in many areas, including affordability checks, rules for game design, bonuses, advertising, and complaints, giving more powers to the Gambling Commission. 

Online slot games are the UK's biggest driver of gross gambling yield (GGY). According to Gambling Commission industry statistics, in 2021-22, online slots contributed over £3 billion to the industry’s GGY, totaling £9.9 billion across the entire land-based and online industry, excluding lotteries. There are currently no limits in place for maximum online slot stakes. While stakes start from 1p, they can go up to £500 a spin.

As part of the review, each white paper proposal will be hashed out during consultations conducted by the Gambling Commission. Each asks specific questions regarding an area of new regulation to get a broader opinion on proposals. 

The online slot consultations discuss the most appropriate slot limits, suggesting maximum stake sizes of £2, £5, £10 or £15. It will also cover a potential £2 or £4 limit for players aged 18-24 or an option not to have a particular limit for this age group.

What’s the evidence?

Regulators have identified online slots as the riskiest casino games due to the associated significant losses, long sessions, and binge play. However, to break this down, we must start with what we know about who plays online slots and how they bet. 

According to the UK Government, this is the breakdown of the percentage of stakes by bet size and contribution to GGY. As you can see, 90% of all stakes from UK players are less than £1.

Similarly, NatCen’s Patterns of Play research (with data from seven operators across 2018-2019 and a sample size of 20,000 accounts) found that 1% of accounts provide over 40% of slots GGY. 

While the specific data differs (the data above from the Gambling Commission shows approximately 10% of players generate 30% of slots GGY), both data sets show the same conclusion: that a very low percentage of players lay high slot bets, with the majority spending below £1. 

Operators have also provided the Commission with evidence showing that low-stake players irregularly raise their bets on some spins, suggesting the ability to increase the stake at specific points matters for how they want to enjoy the game.

Additionally, according to the UK Government, the following conclusions are the “summary of the best available statistics about current slots play” (based on Gambling Commission market impact data for 2022/23, which covers approximately 80% of the online gambling market by GGY): 

• The mean stake size is 60p.

• The average game session is 17 minutes, with only approximately 15% of sessions lasting over an hour.

• The average number of spins per session is 145, and the average loss is  £4.26.

• The Commission estimates that the average spin takes 7 seconds. The minimum allowed spin speed is 2.5 seconds.

Our experience of players at Slot Gods also reflects the data. More experienced players tend to play for longer periods at lower stakes to achieve as many spins as possible and trigger the maximum win multiplier. 

Simultaneously, these players value increasing and decreasing the stake at certain points in the game. These players gamble responsibly at low stakes and within their limits. They also prefer features like autoplay and faster spin speeds, which the Commission has recently restricted.

Effects on the industry 

Considering all the data, approximately 30-40% of slots GGY comes from players laying high stakes. Restricting these bets will immediately affect operator revenue. Additionally, if, as many in the market suspect, the new restrictions become a reason for players to move to illegal casinos where they can enjoy restriction-free play, the impact may be bigger.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has dived deeper into the matter, finding that many players would change betting sites if they don’t like the upcoming regulatory changes. As such, it’s legitimate to question the necessity of the new reforms, especially when AI and other forms of addiction prevention are improving.

Different ways to protect vulnerable players

With the proposed limits set to benefit a tiny percentage while affecting the entire market, rather than restricting bets, banning game elements, and introducing measures that may further incentivize an increasingly attractive black market, it would be better to double down on responsible gambling efforts. This means conducting more research into those suffering from gambling addiction and working more with newly available technologies that increase the standards of player protection.

Understanding gambling addiction

The first step is correctly understanding and measuring gambling addiction. Gambling addiction is experienced by less than 0.5% of the UK population, although approximately only half of all UK adults gamble, meaning the rate of problem gambling in the UK among actual gamblers is likely higher. But gambling addiction is not something every player experiences or is at risk of. Some people are more prone to it.

Blanket rules for all gamblers do not consider research, which has shown that gambling addiction is a psychological, behavioral issue, more common to men, and in many cases, accompanied by problems with impulsivity, anxiety, and other substance abuse. Alcohol disorder is particularly salient in those diagnosed with gambling addiction. Genetics, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors also play a role.

The Gambling Commission argues their approach is evidence-led, yet the gambling review is based on figures that have been called into question and on a rate of problem gambling that even Commission Chief Andrew Rhodes has highlighted as problematic because it measures across the entire UK population rather than gamblers (the Commission is currently re-designing the metrics used to account for problem gambling in the UK). Isn’t the first step in addressing any problem a sound understanding?

Education and support

Better education and awareness of problem gambling and the strategies and treatments can be effective in helping consumers gamble responsibly. By creating a culture of safer gambling and increasing spending on research, treatment, and awareness, the industry can help players identify potential gambling harms and input limits before they begin playing. 

Those quick to criticize will say that this strategy is already in place, but voluntarily. However, research has suggested that mandatory opting in or out of RG tools, like budget limits, increases responsible gambling behaviors. Moreover, many players must be aware of support services like GamCare.

With the mandatory levy coming into effect, there will be significantly increased resources for additional research, education, and support. This will also provide opportunities for industry stakeholders (operators, regulators, advocacy groups, and healthcare providers) to collaborate more closely to provide comprehensive support.

AI and improving data analytics

Across the last year, AI and machine learning have been making a consequential contribution towards player safety at UK gambling sites. For the main part, this is because AI has increased online casinos' data collection and processing capabilities, making it far more adept at flagging unusual account behaviors, fraud, and gambling harms. 

One of the main criticisms of the Gambling Commission is that operators have been slow to act in the past when gambling harms have occurred. AI is improving this, automating lower-level RG interactions and highlighting cases where human intervention is required in real-time. 

Machine learning means that, over time, AI will become better at highlighting cases of problem gambling via live account data. This information can also be used to model gamblers correctly, so preemptive protective measures, like early support and intervention, can be taken.

Better research and redesign of responsible gambling tools

The effectiveness of responsible gambling tools and how players use them is an under-researched area. While academic research has highlighted some areas (like personalized messaging is more effective than non-personalized reminders, budget setting works best under certain conditions, and that players struggling with addiction manage their addiction better when using a blend of tools and resources, like talking therapies) we lack understanding in many areas. Moreover, researchers and operators have highlighted the need to redesign RG tools to make them frictionless, more attractive, and integrated to increase player use.

What’s the bottom line?

Online and mobile gambling has made gambling more accessible, and vulnerable people need protection. But over-regulation, following a ‘throw mud and see what sticks’ approach, isn’t the answer. Rather than restricting all players with the potential of increasing vulnerability by incentivizing offshore gambling, we should be doubling the focus on those consumers more predisposed to addiction and needing additional support. This means financing in-depth research and discovering what prevention and support methods work best and how to implement them.