UK gambling operators are waiting with baited breath as the government officially kicked off its long-delayed review of the Gambling Act 2005.  

On Tuesday (local time), the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) announced the official launch of “a major and wide-ranging review of gambling laws to ensure they are fit for the digital age, as committed to in the [Conservative party’s 2019 general election] manifesto.” 

The DCMS has issued a call for evidence that will run until March 31, 2021. The subjects up for discussion/criticism/poo-flinging include online stake and spend limits, with the government widely expected to press for an online slot limit that mirrors the £2 maximum stake imposed on fixed-odds betting terminals in betting shops back in April 2019. 

Also up for grabs are gambling age limits and the future parameters of promotional offers and gambling advertising. The latter is most certainly to encompass sports sponsorship, which has proven a consistent target for the usual UK media suspects, although even football fans are now expressing weariness at the ubiquity of gambling logos on team shirts.