Is the UK Gambling Commission Focused on the Correct Objectives?

Acting Joint Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, Sarah Gardner, created a stir amongst license holders when she spoke at the recent 2021 Shard Financial Vulnerability Summit.

While the entire regulated industry shares the view that protecting at-risk gamblers and the youth from gambling harm is vital, they did not agree with the threat of harsh additional restrictions which would specifically impact the online gambling market.

The criticism of her statement centres around the notion that the restrictions are due to the current lockdowns while all the data presented by entities such as PwC shows no increased risk of problem gambling or even an increase in gambling participation once you consider that offline gamblers have moved their play online.

More Details What Are Their Actual Objectives?

To try to understand what the Gambling Commission will be doing over the next few years we felt it was worth reviewing their recently published three year strategy and objectives guide.

For the balance of 2021 up to the end of 2023 the UKGC will be looking to address the following 5 key objectives:

✓Protecting vulnerable groups from being harmed by gambling

The Commission rightly chooses to classify gambling harm as a publish health issue and as such is determined to address aggressively and proactively in upcoming years. The main concern is that while problem gambling rates have stabilised, they are not improving.

Within this praiseworthy stance on protecting the gambling populace the Commission highlighted a few specific focus points:

The use of licensing, compliance, and enforcement activities to ensure licence holders treat players fairly.
Maturing current Codes of Practice and licencing requirements to protect players at all stages of the buying journey.
Using hard evidence to support the evolution of current policies and the development of new ones.
Stricter enforcement of the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.

✓Creating a fairer market with a focus on consumer information

While gambling is a long-held pastime in the United Kingdom the Commission claims that players are not aware of how games and bonuses work. As such they intend to ensure that operators provide clear instruction on all aspects of gambling online works with an emphasis on reducing technical and industry jargon.

They are also investigating what information to make public about licenced operations in order to raise public trust and facilitate “additional reputational incentives to raise standards”.

✓Eliminating criminal groups from the gambling market

The Commission is committed to enhancing the country’s already sizable investment in agencies and groups dedicated to shutting down sites illegally offering casino games to UK players, organisations bent on manipulating sporting events for profit and criminal groups seeking to fund terrorism via gambling channels.

✓Increase Funding to Good Causes from The National Lottery

The current National Lottery licence is due to expire in 2023 and the Commission is working to ensure that the transition is a smooth one. This is exceptionally important given that the National Lottery is an important part of the funding of good causes in the UK.

Since its inception in 1994, the National Lottery has raised more than £42 billion in support of approximately 625,000 causes related to the arts, sports and heritage, and at-risk communities.

✓Improve the effectiveness of the current gambling regulation

The final aspect of the Commission’s three-year plan is to focus on optimising and improving the effectiveness of the country’s gambling regulations. Given the challenges of the recent pandemic and the surge in digitalisation is caused the Commission is determined to be “a flexible and agile regulator with professional and engaged staff”.

Their key areas of development in this regard are:

Providing the government with insightful and unbiased reviews of the Gambling Act and how it needs to be adjusted to serve the people.
Developing a diverse and upskilled team of people to drive effectiveness and efficiencies in all departments.
Streamline how and where the available resources are employed, as well creating transparency around the same.
Ongoing critical reviews of the real world impact of the actions and strategies being employed.
Staying abreast of new technologies and developments such as AI and automation to help as many people as possible.

VIP Is The UK in the Best Hands?

The one concern with all the good work and praiseworthy objectives stated above is that their announcement was preceded by this statement:

“… we will not restrict our discretion by requiring conclusive proof that something is unsafe before taking appropriate action to prevent harm.”

When there are hundreds of regulated operators who comply with the law and pay a lot of money to participate in the market this kind of declaration does not evoke a sense of trust that they will be treated fairly. It is this devil may care approach to dealing with compliant business owners that have seen many operators relinquish their UK licence and simply leave the market altogether.

For our money, we would love to see the UK reposition itself as a leading regulator simply because that would mean both players and the industry are being well served and protected.