The gambling market in great Britain

Abstract

The market in Great Britain is perhaps the most diverse of any single jurisdiction in which gambling is regulated: a National Lottery, on- and off-course horse race and greyhound betting, sports betting, casinos, a hierarchy of gaming machines whose stakes and prizes vary from the substantial to the minimal, bingo and a wide portfolio of noncommercial lotteries. Many of these publicly available gambling opportunities are accessible both on- and offline, private gambling, though not directly regulated, is also permitted by law. These various forms of primarily commercial and good-cause gambling media are regulated by two major pieces of legislation, each of which established a regulatory body having responsibility for licensing operators and enforcing the conditions under which their licences were granted. The Gambling Act 2005 established the Gambling Commission, which is responsible for the entire gambling market in Great Britain with the exception of spread betting, which is a financial product regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Loussouarn, 2013). Following their organisational merger on ist October 2013 the Commission is now also responsible for the National Lottery Commission (NLC), established by the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 to regulate the National Lottery (Gambling Commission, 2013d, p. 5; House of Commons, 2012, paragraphs 46-47; National Lottery Commission, 2013, p. 5)1.