The Future of UK Slots - Everything You Need to Know

The gambling world in the UK has been booming for a good 15 years now. The firing gun on this revolution was fired by the 2005 Gambling Act, which massively liberalised the UK’s aged and restrictive gambling laws.

Oldies like me will remember the gambling world before then as one almost entirely based around drab book-makers shops and fruit machines in pubs.

That act changed everything. But its reign is about to come to an end.

There is big pressure on for changes in the law around gambling. That’s because at the same time as the law was liberalised a parallel revolution was happening in the explosion in internet access, both in speed and accessibility.

Put it all together and you get a situation wherein 2021 gambling businesses are amongst the highest-earning in the UK and certainly the most high profile, linked to almost every top football team and dominating TV advertising.

Change is on the way. But what might it mean for the future of UK slots?

Let’s have a look.

1 – UK slots are already heavily regulated and players are protected

The UK is a regulated gambling environment. That doesn’t mean that it is regulated enough, or too much, or that the regulation is well run or well written. But it does exist, and it is illegal for anyone to offer gambling games to anyone in the UK without a licence from the UK Gambling Commission.

That gives players at least some protections against bad practice. And it has also introduced some further safeguards for UK players.

2 – In the UK you can’t buy a feature any more

One way slots companies up the stakes for players is a quite simple deal – give us a load of money and we’ll give you a bonus feature! Pretty simple right?! In fact, you might actually argue that it is a better deal than gambling to try to win a feature.

Some such features simply reduce the odds against winning a feature and others offer a simple cash-for-feature deal.

However, the UK Gambling Commission doesn’t like this, as this rule explains:

“Gambling products must not actively encourage customers to chase their losses, increase their stake or increase the amount they have decided to gamble or continue to gamble after they have indicated that they wish to stop.”

This rule was invoked in 2020 to get six games taken off the UK facing sites.

Simpler is this: an outright ban on autoplay, “which,” the UK GC says, “can lead to players losing track of their play.”

Autoplay has become more and more sophisticated in recent years, and it’s possible to trigger features to stop in a number of ways linked to losses, wins, or financial milestones. Pretty much every game features autoplay, so this is going to be a big and quite visible change.

3 – In the UK things are going to slow down

The UK Gambling Commission has pre-empted a major review of the Gambling Act by making some rule changes of its own.

The first of these is slowing down slots.

This was announced by the UK GC as follows:

“An outright ban on features that speed up play or give the illusion of control over the outcome and slot spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds.”

This will probably mean your turbo spin feature will be turned off on most slots in the UK. The other restriction here is less well defined. Features that give the illusion of control over the outcome might cover a number of features, including flashing lights or meters that encourage timed pressing of a spin button. That’s a technical issue and one that slots designers are probably going to have to negotiate with the UK GC as new titles are released.

4 – Telling the truth

The UK GC also outlawed, “sounds or imagery which give the illusion of a win when the return is in fact equal to, or below, a stake.”

Again, this seems quite a specific and technical restriction. It’s not a feature we’ve come across at all in our slots experience but it must presumably exist.

5 – There are more changes to come

Alongside changes to games, casino sites will have to change too, and they must now show the total loss or win during a session and they must show the duration of any slots session.