Deadline for integrity views Politics
The Gambling Commission has reminded the industry that the deadline to submit information and views on a number of issues relating to fair and open betting is 11 January 2012. The regulator released ‘Betting integrity issues paper: inside information and fair and open betting’ last October in a bid to seek opinions on the range of the circum- stances which are relevant in considering whether using inside information for betting is misuse of that information.
THE COMMISSION WELCOMED THE RESOLUTION OF THE CORRUPTION CASE INVOLVING PAKISTAN CRICKETER
Working to reduce the burden of regulation While it has the admiration of gaming regulators aboard, some of the businesses it presides over are less
enamoured with the Gambling Commission. Chief executive Jenny Williams discusses how the organisation will be adapting its approach in 2012 in order to help the UK’s gambling industry.
INTERVIEW A
s the economy tightens, what is the Commission doing to bring down licence
fees and reduce regulation? We recognise the tough times some parts of the industry are facing and intend to cut fees signifi- cantly for nearly half of all operators, and freeze them for almost everyone else in 2012/13. Around 1 per cent of operators (mostly the larger operators) will see a fee increase to ensure fees reflect changes in the struc- ture of costs and to make them more equitable between operators cur- rently in the same fee band. The changes come on the back of three years without any increase, equivalent to a cut of around 7 per cent in real terms over the period. Having said all that, the Commission, while plan- ning to reduce budgets, is also under pressure to increase expenditure on such activities as sports betting integrity and the legal costs of dealing with test cases.
In addition we have been streamlining and reducing the burden of regulation where we can. To give you just some examples: • we abolished the casino gaming reserve because its cost to industry massively outweighed its effective-
when small operators change the legal status of their business, for example following the dissolution of a partnership or the death of a sole trader.
JENNY WILLIAMS: ‘WE DON’T MEASURE SUCCESS BY THE NUMBER OF CRIMINAL
ness and we have imple- mented changes to make it easier for operators to intro- duce new casino games; • we put a huge effort into helping the Department for Culture, Media and Sport develop its proposals for B3 gaming machines and these proposals have now taken effect;
• we worked closely with the industry on important changes to the Category C technical standards, which were designed to provide more space to innovate; • we have reduced the reporting burdens on lotter- ies and are consulting on whether existing personal functional licences are worth retaining and, if so, can licensing, compliance and enforcement for per- sonal licences be less costly; • responding to calls from many in the betting sector, we plan to reduce some of the licence fees payable
26 BettingBusinessInteractive • JANUARY 2012
What is the latest position on the merger with the National Lottery Commission? The National Lottery Commission has joined the Commission in its offices in Birmingham and the two bodies are sharing support services such as legal, HR and finance. The two Com- missions and their boards remain distinct although Philip Graf, chair of the Gambling Commission was appointed on the basis that he would chair the merged body. The actual merger is dependent on consultation and the approval of a statu- tory instrument in parlia- ment. This is expected to take effect by the end of the financial year 2012/13.
The licensed betting indus- try was pleased to see the convictions in the Pakistan cricket case, shouldn’t the Commission be seeking more prosecutions in order to tackle betting integrity issues? We welcomed the resolu- tion of this case, not least because we had been working with the ICC on the run up to the prosecution. However, criminal convic-
tion is just one way of tack- ling betting integrity issues and often action by a sports governing body can be more immediately effective and cost effective than pursuing a criminal conviction, for example, by fining or banning an individual. So we don’t measure success by the number of criminal convictions. The challenge for all those involved - the Commission, the betting industry, sports governing bodies and other law enforcement agencies - is to find the best way to work together to deter potential corruption and ensure that offenders are dealt with quickly and effectively. But let’s remember that, thanks to the existing pro- tections in place, the number of suspicious betting reports we receive from operators and others represent a tiny proportion of the number of betting markets in Great Britain. We play our part in deterring and detecting organised crime in involvement in sports betting by analysing and following up all suspi- cious betting patterns reported to us. We use our criminal powers to investi- gate if the considerable cost and time involved is war- ranted (indeed we have a small number of cases cur- rently under joint investiga- tion with the police) but
more typically sports gov- erning bodies have a key role here. As the recent BHA case demonstrates, sports are able to act on the evidence of suspicious betting pat- terns, investigate under sports rules and impose sig- nificant sanctions. The BHA is not alone, the Football Association, the Interna- tional Cricket Council, the Rugby Football League and the Greyhound Board of Great Britain have all taken action against participants in recent years and we recognise the importance of that work in tackling the threat to betting integrity. And sports, some with direct support from the betting industry - are also raising player awareness about illegal approaches and how to avoid being drawn into corruption.
What is the Commission doing to help local authori- ties tackle illegally sited machines?
Since the Act came into force in 2007 the Commis- sion has been working with local authorities to provide intelligence, support and advice. We’ve also been working with the Institute of Licensing and LACORS (the local authority co-ordi- nation organisation) to spread information at local, regional and national level. And now following the abo-
lition of LACORS we have just set up a Local Authority Liaison Unit including one of the key staff members from LACORS to act as a single point of contact for local authority licensing officers and make sure the experience of LACORS is not lost. Additionally, our Concordat with local authorities sets out who leads on what and includes good practice examples to develop the best joint working possible.
As far as illegal machines are concerned, intelligence on this topic continues to be the most common call to the Commission’s confidential intelligence telephone line (0121 230 6655) and in turn local authorities provide us with information on what they are finding. And while they have always had support from the Commis- sion in seizing gaming machines and other evi- dence needed for investi- gating suspected illegal suppliers, many authorities have been uncertain about dealing with illegally sited machines. To assist we recently published a step by step guide for licensing offi- cers giving advice on how to deal with illegal machine sitings, including enlisting the support of the police and informing HMRC to check that the appropriate AMLD payments are being made.
ACTION IMAGES / ANDREW COULDRIDGE LIVEPIC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76