iGaming content for UK-regulated betting sites

By Ross Young

Do you operate a sportsbook, casino, or gambling affiliate site in the United Kingdom? If so, you will know that your content must be UKGC compliant.

At Magic Word Media, we work with many UK-based sportsbooks, casinos, and affiliates, crafting bespoke copy for their latest games, sports markets, and promotions.

We know what to include in our content to ensure it’s UKGC-compliant while engaging with existing and potential customers.

Here, we explain what you need to know before publishing content on UK-regulated betting sites and how Magic Word Media can help you with killer copy that converts.

The role of the UK Gambling Commission

The UK has perhaps the strictest regulatory procedures in the world for iGaming companies, both gambling websites and affiliates.

Every casino that offers its services in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales must have applied for and obtained a license from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

While the online gambling landscape in some countries is a bit like the Wild West, the UK online gambling industry is strictly regulated and comparatively safe for users.

According to research by XACE, there are 2,819 licensed casino operators in the UK. This is a significant number, given that in other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, there are only 51 operators of 83 gambling websites.

The sheer number of licensed sites in the UK market indicates how sizeable a task the UKGC has to keep players safe and to identify and penalise unscrupulous companies that provide unfair gambling opportunities.

UKGC-compliant content – key things to understand

It’s not within the remit of this blog post for me to detail every responsibility of the UKGC. If you’re interested, go here to learn how the UKGC promotes safer gambling.

Instead, I want to ensure your website’s content complies with UKGC policies and procedures. After all, whether you operate a sportsbook, casino, or affiliate site, you must be careful about promoting gambling-related services in the UK.

Alongside my colleagues at Magic Word Media, I write thousands of words weekly for UKGC-regulated sportsbooks and casinos. I understand firsthand the importance of producing accurate and compliant copy.

With that in mind, I want to share some key details that will help to guide you as you prepare to publish content on your UKGC-regulated website:

The legality of gambling in the UK

Gambling is legal in the United Kingdom. Anyone 18 or older can legally open a sportsbook or casino account and place real-money wagers. This, and other key details regarding legal betting, are laid out in the 2005 Gambling Act.

Therefore, casino and sportsbook messaging can be pretty broad, as it appeals to a vast potential demographic, from 20-year-old weekend football bettors to 65-year-old Tuesday-night bingo players.

Recognising that specific content is required for each market segment is crucial and will help you convert visitors to customers.

As with any type of online content, your content should be compliant, engaging, and relevant to the targeted audience.

Responsible gambling messaging

The UKGC promotes responsible and safe gambling. I touched on responsible gambling in a recent blog post here. Still, it’s concerned with encouraging gamblers to bet within their means and to retain control without getting into financial issues.

As the UK’s regulator, the Gambling Commission states that it’s “our job to ensure that gambling businesses follow the rules when promoting gambling products and interacting with customers. If businesses don’t follow the rules […], we can take action where appropriate”.

In practice, every gambling business must be careful when promoting products, services, and opportunities.

While responsible gambling terminology can be fairly nuanced, I recommend advising gamblers not to spend more than they can afford to lose. Encouraging people to visit your website’s Safer Gambling page to access tips, tools, and resources is also helpful.

In the UK, whether to gamble is down to personal preference, but gambling companies must encourage people who choose to place real money wagers to do so responsibly and within their means.

Promoting irresponsible gambling by encouraging people to chase losses or to go after big wins is likely to get your website flagged and may result in a UKGC-led investigation.

Language to avoid

Though the UKGC does not specify which phrases and language you should avoid to ensure responsible messaging, there are a few examples that I’ve come across in my work that I’d like to point out.

I’m careful not to overpromise when writing about online gambling. Avoid telling people that they can “earn money”; it’s much better to suggest that there’s a fair chance of “winning”.

Equally, you should be realistic when writing about odds, payouts, and potential wins. Crooning about “life-changing wins” and encouraging people to “chase” jackpot payouts can be interpreted as irresponsible gambling messaging.

Though people may wish to play for big prizes, our job as content creators is to manage their expectations and explain how these games work.

Therefore, our content always includes references to Random Number Generator (RNG) technology, Return to Player percentages (RTPs), and how customers can interpret this information to make informed decisions about the games that they play.

Features not permitted in the UK market

I also know that the UKGC does not permit the mention of some features that are available in games in different jurisdictions. For instance, the bonus-buy feature in slot games, where you can pay a fee for instant access to a free spins bonus round, is unavailable in the UK. Also, auto spin is not permitted, while the maximum wager per slot spin recently decreased to £2.

As I often write content for clients with betting sites in different jurisdictions, I need to know who I’m writing for and whether to include such features in the copy. Omitting the bonus-buy feature from a UKGC site is essential, but the feature may well be available in other countries like the US.

As per recent guidelines, we’re also not allowed to write about the maximum bet size at UK casinos, as the regulator believes it promotes irresponsible gambling. Therefore, our UKGC copy is careful when mentioning game betting limits to ensure it isn’t flagged.

How Magic Word Media provides iGaming Content for UKGC betting sites

Producing content for UKGC-regulated betting sites requires industry know-how and experience. There are many things to consider before publishing content on a UKGC betting site or affiliate platform, which is why you need expert iGaming writers' services.

As a Senior Writer with Magic Word Media, I’m delighted to write for some of the biggest names in sports and casino betting in the UK market.

We work with numerous UKGC-regulated sites and produce high-quality iGaming content weekly for their platforms, writing about newly released games, upcoming sporting events, and odds.

If you’re looking for a content team to work on your site, be it to refresh and update your content to ensure it’s UKGC compliant or to produce new, ongoing content for your latest products, games, or services, we’d love to help you out.