One more gambling company has changed the terms of its online promotions after an investigation. As revealed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the online gambling operator BGO Entertainment Ltd has formally agreed to change the way its bonus promotions are being offered to customers who play casino-like games on the Internet.
The change follows an investigation carried out by the country’s primary competition and consumer authority in collaboration with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The probe was aimed at making sure that consumer protection law is not violated by the promotions of the local online gambling industry, which is currently estimated to approximately £4.7 billion. It was carried out after some concerns about possible unfair terms and practices within the local gambling sector emerged.
Now, formal commitment to the Competition and Markets Authority was given by BGO Entertainment, with the online gambling company making a pledge to make sure that its bonus promotions’ terms and conditions will be clear and transparent. The operator also promised to inform its players about any major restrictions that may occur to its policy. In addition, before entering into the commitment with the CMA, BGO Entertainment had made certain changes in its promotional policy in order to address some of the Authority’s concerns.
BGO Joins Other Online Gambling Operators’ Commitments
The newly-announced commitments were made as a response to the CMA’s concerns that some of the gambling operators’ promotional terms were likely to be unfair. In addition, the Authority also revealed concerns that some of the gambling companies’ practices could be misleading to customers and could be violating consumer protection legislation.
Under the commitment made, BGO Entertainment will not release any promotional terms that require customers to play a certain game multiple times before providing them with the opportunity to withdraw their money from their accounts. Furthermore, no terms and conditions that do not allow customers to withdraw their full balance due to certain limits set on withdrawals. The company also pledged that no players would be obliged to take part in publicity.
In addition, BGO Entertainment has also made a separate agreement, under which no terms that could be used for making unfair changes into promotion’s terms after players have opted in would be used.
BGO Entertainment is not the first company to have made such commitments. The beginning of February 2018 saw three other operators, including William Hill, Ladbrokes and PT Entertainment, make similar commitments to the UK’s competition and consumer authority. On February 1st 2018, the UK Gambling Commission made a warning to operators, reminding them to take immediate actions to make sure their promotions meet the requirements of consumer laws and make some changes in case it is necessary.
The Senior Director for Consumer Protection of CMA, George Lusty, reminded that gambling operators should see that their no unfair terms and conditions apply to players, including after a customer has already opted in. He explained that the local gambling industry was taking steps in the right direction to change online terms and conditions that could be found misleading or unfair.
