Bookies on a loser as credit card betting ban hits shares

SHARES in the UK’s top bookmakers slumped after the Government ignored industry objections and imposed a ban on consumers using credit cards to gamble online.

The Gambling Commission argues the use of credit cards to bet is a clear sign that customers are “problem gamblers” liable to get into serious trouble. Bookies’ shares fell today, meaning losses since speculation of the ban started on Friday have topped £500 million.

The industry has warned the ban could simply push such troubled customers into the hands of less scrupulous operators.

One senior industry insider said: “There is a risk of unregulated, unlicensed operators offering credit card gambling outside of the UK framework. At the moment, we monitor people who use credit cards closely to see if they have a problem. Now there is a ban, we won’t be able to do that.”

Others claim there is nothing to stop a problem gambler from taking cash out on a credit card and betting in shops.

Regulator Neil McArthur said: “The evidence suggests using credit cards increases the risk of people getting into significant financial harm, both in terms of spending money that they do not have to gamble, and making it more likely that they’ll chase losses, because of the cost of borrowing money on credit cards to gamble.”

William Hill shares fell 2% to 182p, GVC lost 0.5% to 917p, 888 fell 1.5% to 150p and Flutter lost 1% at 9102p. The industry backed a separate move by the regulator to make all betting companies join GamStop, the gamblers self-exclusion scheme.

Some say Government is unfairly targeting traditional bookies. They note that lottery operators and gaming companies which offer games that mimic gambling are excluded from the credit card ban. Broker Peel Hunt said the full impact of the ban on bookies’ profits won’t be clear until later this year

It said: “Generally operators have said that they expect only a marginal impact from the change announced today. Still, saying anything else would imply knowledge of players spending borrowed money that they cannot afford, which isn’t supposed to be happening anyway.”

The Gambling Commission claims there are hundreds of thousands of problem gamblers in the UK. Mc- Arthur said: “Our research suggests more than 20% of credit card gamblers are problem gamblers, and more are at risk, and that’s why we’ve taken action.”​