What the US can learn from the UK’s sports gambling laws

By: Michael Stolte

The United Kingdom (UK) has long recognized sports gambling as a part of its citizens’ lives and has enacted legislation over the years to allow for the industry to flourish.[1] In the UK, sports gambling has been legalized since 1961.[2] The UK has seen one main advantage of sports gambling’s legalization: the increased tax revenue.[3] In the UK, “gambling is a 13.8 billion (approximately $18.2B) gross yield industry annually,” but that is a small portion of the potentially “$150 billion a fully-realized US market could generate.”[4] However, with the positives of increased revenue, there are still potential risks and hazards to legalization such as gambling addictions and match-fixing.[5] With the growing legalization of sports gambling in the United States (US), this article examines how the UK handled the issues of gambling addiction and match-fixing, and why the US should take the necessary steps to prevent that epidemic from spreading to its soil.

There are a number of ways in which the UK has tried to help these people with gambling addictions, one of them is through the National Health Service (NHS).[6] The website includes a questionnaire to help someone determine if they are a problem gambler, links that will direct to you to somewhere to get help, tips for those who are problem gamblers as well as those affected by someone else’s gambling, and lastly, stories of those who were problem gamblers and are in recovery.[7] Much of the support for problem gamblers in the UK comes from charitable organizations outside the government such as: gamblers anonymous, which uses “the same 12-step approach to recovery from addiction as Alcoholics Anonymous”; The Gordon Moody Association, which offers courses to those with a problem; and GamCare, which offers information, support, and counseling for problem gamblers.[8] Lastly, there is also the National Problem Gambling Clinic, which is a division of the NHS that offers help to those with more severe issues and asks those who are not suffering from one of the listed to criteria on their website to first contact the National Gambling Hotline.[9]

Despite everything that the UK has done to prevent gambling addiction, one frightening statistic is that a 2017 study done by the Gambling Commission, in which it found that 12% of eleven to fifteen-year-olds said they had gambled in the last week.[10] Another concerning aspect in this area, as pointed out by Marc Etches, Chief Executive of a charity called Gamble Aware is that, “[w]e have a generation of fans who believe you have to bet on football to enjoy it and that is disturbing and concerning.”[11] This can lead to a generation of problem gamblers with addictions, and much of that seems to be the result of the amount of access, promotion, and culture that has developed around sports gambling, specifically with the English Premier League in the UK.

One area where the UK has done a particularly good job, and where it has put considerable time and resources, is into preventing match-fixing. To help prevent match-fixing the UK works with a group called ESSA, ESSA’s main goal is to protect against “potential fraud caused by the unfair manipulation of sporting events and associated betting.”[12] ESSA attributes much of its success to “its ability to quickly gather detailed intelligence on suspicious betting activity and to pass the appropriate information on to the relevant regulators and sporting authorities.”[13] ESSA filed 260 alerts in 2018.[14]

An example of a suspicious betting activity that ESSA monitors is if there is a sudden or abnormally large amount of money wagered on a sporting event or contest.[15] This is because if someone is fixing a match for money, that person is being paid money from someone who is then placing a large bet with a sportsbook because they believe they now know the outcome of the game.[16] By monitoring things to look for this type of suspicious betting activity ESSA can try to prevent or stop match-fixing before it takes place or aid in investigations into whether match-fixing is actually taking place.[17] While ESSA is not something directly related to the UK government, it has a prominent presence as it works with three of the four largest sportsbooks in the United Kingdom, and a total of twenty-seven sportsbooks.[18]

In terms of more direct enforcement from the UK government to prevent match-fixing, there is the SBIU.[19] The SBIU lays out ways in which all people involved including players, coaches, and referees can be monitored and protected from outsiders who want to influence the outcome of the games.[20] The SBIF focuses on education and preventative measures to make sure that all of the above-mentioned people are fully aware of the policies, rules, and codes of conduct for gambling.[21]

ESSA and the SBIU are both organizations that have been very beneficial and are organizations that should attempt to be duplicated in the United States.[22] However, the US needs to be aware of the risks associated with legalized sports gambling, specifically the UK’s issue with gambling addictions.[23] While many states are eager to implement their own sports gambling laws, they should look to the UK not only as an example but also as a cautionary tale for what could happen if they do not take all the necessary steps to execute a successful sports gambling regulatory scheme.

#BlogPost #SportsGambling #UnitedKingdom

[1] Jane McManus, Great Bettin’: In the U.K., sports gambling has been legal since 1961, so we went across the pond to see how it works, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, May 26, 2018 2:30 PM http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/u-s-learn-sports-betting-u-article-1.4011058.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Brett Smiley, A History of Sports Betting in the United States: Gambling Laws and Outlaws, SPORTS HANDLE (Nov. 13, 2017, 11:00 AM), https://sportshandle.com/gambling-laws-legislation-united-states-history/.

[6] NHS, Help for problem gambling, NHS, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/gambling-addiction/.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] NHS, National Problem Gambling Clinic, NHS, https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/cnwl-national-problem-gambling-clinic/refer/.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] About ESSA Sports Integrity, http://www.eu-ssa.org/about-essa/ (last visited Feb, 28, 2019).

[13] ESSA Sports Integrity, http://www.eu-ssa.org/ (last visited Feb, 28, 2019).

[14]ESSA 2018 Annual Integrity Report, ESSA (2018), http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/ESSA-2018-Annual-Integrity-Report.pdf.

[15] About ESSA, supra note 163.

[16] Eden, supra note 9.

[17] About ESSA, supra note 163.

[18] Our Members, http://www.eu-ssa.org/our-members/ (last visited Feb, 28, 2019); Number of Betting shops supra note 56.

[19] SBIU, supra note 107.

[20] Id. at 3.

[21] Id.

[22] About ESSA, supra note 163; SBIU, supra note 107.

[23] NHS, supra note 157.