The UK Gambling Commission is scheduled to investigate the use of credit cards by gamblers betting with bookmakers as the country considers a ban on such bets.
UK Culture Secretary, Jeremy Wright also said he wants to hold meetings with bookmakers and major retail banks to discuss why 20 percent of deposits to gambling firms are made with credit cards, according to the Guardian newspaper.
The commission will launch a call for evidence on the matter in February, the paper said. The move is part of a broader crackdown that will also lead to regulators addressing slow progress on self-exclusion schemes, which are designed to help addicts opt out of betting.
“Gambling operators must step in and act when people are showing signs of risky gambling. Their licenses are at risk if they do not,” Wright said. “We should also ask if it is right that people should be able to gamble on credit and this is an area that the Gambling Commission are going to look into.”
Britain’s Labor Party has previously said it wants a ban on gambling with credit cards.
The move comes after a recent study found that many problem gamblers in the UK are finding ways to cheat self-exclusion programs.
More than 50,000 people have signed up to GamStop, a national self-exclusion program which was launched in April 2018 to allow problem gamblers to ban themselves from online betting platforms.
However, an investigation by the BBC found gamblers could simply open new accounts by making a few small changes to their personal profiles
The gambling commission will soon announce the results of a consultation on using ID verification, which would prevent customers gambling using incorrect details on online gambling sites, according to UK reports.
