How things have changed over the years
The Gambling Act of 2005 was passed in the UK Parliament and it primarily applies to England, Wales and Scotland. Designed to manage and control all kinds of gambling activities, this act has been worked out to pass all authority to the local courts in terms of gambling licenses. This act also resulted in the formation of the Gambling Commission.
This act clearly led out the objectives as follows:
• Prevention of crime due to gambling. This also pervades any kind of association with crime related to gambling.
• Guaranteeing that gambling activities take place in a fair manner.
• Safeguarding children and vulnerable people from being exploited due to gambling.
There were controversies related to some provisions of the act, specifically when it was in its original. The controversies pertained especially, to setting up of 8 “super casinos”. By the end of the Parliamentary session this number was cut down to one. This act also took initiative to control gambling on the internet for the very first time. The bill also addressed the prevention of illegal lotteries. People were allowed to purchase lottery tickets only if they came at the usual selling prices.
This act was designed by the Gambling Commission and it aimed to redefine the different categories of gaming machines and their placement locations. From December 1, 2014, the Gambling Licensing and Advertising 2014 Bill came to introduce quite a few updates to the Gambling Act 2005. A number of changes are to take place and the most prominent one being Point of Consumption tax that has been changed to 15% for the offshore operators.
These proposals got the gambling industry in a panicking state and quite a few gaming brands took to delimitation of their presence in the UK industry and few others pulled out completely.
The UK government was known to have had a liberal attitude to the element of commercial gambling. Now online gambling is legalized in many countries including Canada and Australia. People now play online slots online.