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The United Kingdom is on the verge of placing strict limits on maximum bets for online slot games among other changes to its gaming regulations. The question when one country tightens its gambling policies is always whether others are likely to follow suit. But a regulatory limit on slots wagers is unlikely in the US.
With online casino play establishing a foothold in US jurisdictions and hoping for expansion, any jurisdiction mimicking the UK’s rules would be entering controversial territory. Gaming operators would likely oppose such caps, and their chances of successfully resisting would be higher on this side of the Atlantic.
The governments of the United Kingdom and United States of America can be very different. Their approaches to regulating gambling are one way in which they contrast. The UK’s centralized regulation makes it easier to impose harsh restrictions. Conversely, the US state-by-state approach means each regulator is under pressure to keep its market competitive with other jurisdictions.
So there’s little reason for gaming licensees in the US to worry about such restrictions at this time. Each jurisdiction in the US will have to make that decision for itself, but will be considering the financial benefits and drawbacks of any new iGaming regulation.
If such changes did come to the US, there would be both negatives and positives for players. As unlikely as the policy is to happen in the US, its upsides might spur responsible gambling advocates to keep an eye on how things process in the UK and push for something similar.
United Kingdom confirms slot cap plan
According to Rob Davies of The Guardian, the Parliament of the United Kingdom’s Dept. for Culture, Media, and Sport has confirmed that it will establish new limits for the number of pounds that players can risk on individual plays in online slots. Those limits will ease based on player age.
For players who are at least 25 years old, the limit will be five pounds per spin. For players who are at least 18 but younger than 25, the limit will be two pounds per spin.
While the government also expects to mandate gaming licensees’ funding of resources for problem gambling research and treatment, the slot caps will be the biggest change for users of regulated online casinos in the UK. Operators of those casinos will also have to adjust their systems to comply with the new rules.
For players in the US, this could prompt curiosity for whether such regulations could cross the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, that seems unlikely because of the way that gambling is regulated in the US.
One big difference between gambling regulation in the UK and US
For the most part, the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulates gambling for the entire nation. By and large, the Congress of the United States of America leaves the regulation of gaming to each jurisdiction.
That’s why only seven US states have regulated systems for online casino play to date and also why those systems differ from each other significantly. For example, Rhode Island essentially gave Bally’s a monopoly over online gambling within its borders whereas New Jersey has an open market where nearly 30 brands are available to players.
For that reason, any attempt to enact limits on slot wagers that would be universal for all US residents would have to convince gaming regulators in all 50 states plus territories like Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. of the merits of the idea. Given the current patchwork of online gambling laws in the US, such cohesion on limits for online slot play seem unlikely.
While the case might be easier to make in states where iGaming is already regulated, the balance of gaming and tax revenue that comes from online slots would also present obstacles for betting limits.
Slots are the cash cow of online casino win
When it comes to online casino play, slots are king. The majority of the games in the portfolios of popular online casinos like BetMGM Casino and FanDuel Casino are slots and that’s because they bring in the majority of the action.
In Pennsylvania during October 2024, for example, slots accounted for about eight out of every 10 dollars that licensees won from players. More than any other category of games, licensees are likely to oppose new restrictions on slots as a rule.
Such rules could also be unpopular due to the diminished tax revenue for governments they could represent. This kind of change would introduce alterations and disruptions for players as well.
Stricter limits could change online casino players’ experiences
A US state imposing new limits, especially limits that change with players’ ages, on online slot play would produce more than lower limits for bets on such games. Some of the games in online casinos’ portfolios would undergo significant modifications.
The economics and therefore the math in a slot with a $5 limit and a much higher limit are different. The BetMGM Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme and BetMGM Jackpots slots are good examples of this discrepancy.
BetMGM Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme has a maximum wager of $25,000 while BetMGM Jackpots’ max bet is $4.50. Those maximum bets act as a framework for other elements in the games, including the maximum payouts.
BetMGM Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme players can win as much as $2.5 million if they get lucky. Meanwhile, the maximum payout in BetMGM Jackpots is just under $450,000.
This is because a simple rule of thumb in online slots is that the higher your wager, the greater the value of the wins you get a chance to claim. In many games, you only get access to the top paylines if you bet the maximum.
While UK Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross said that the government is “committed to implementing strengthened measures for” people at risk of harms associated with problem gambling, one expert questions how effective the caps on slot bets will be.
Slot wager limits leave room for improvement
Lynn Zakeri, LCSW and owner of Lynn Zakeri & Associates, believes that limits on slot wagers is a mostly positive measure, as players’ losses will span over a greater period of time. In theory, that affords players more opportunities to end their playing sessions.
Zakeri expresses doubts at the same time.
In my clinical opinion, this does not affect gambling as an addiction. The addiction is to continue trying to win, regardless of what the winnings are. It could even backfire if a gambler were to tell themselves ‘it is simply another $5’ each time they are betting versus another $500 each time. While some people are more likely to want to ‘win big,’ they may also believe that there is a better chance of winning smaller amounts, thereby increasing their number of attempts at winning smaller prizes.
The potential benefits and disadvantages of this proposal are an example of what gaming regulators have to try to balance in both the UK and the US. Because of the concerns about limiting the size of bets on slots and the differences in regulatory frameworks, players in the US are unlikely to see those kinds of limits anytime soon.
