comment
Clive Hawkswood, Chief Executive of Remote Gambling Association. chawkswood@rga.e
u.com
“The UK Gambling Act 2005 provides for distinct online gambling licences to be made and the establishment of a new statutory regulator, the Gambling Commission. However the legislation did not prevent operators based outside of Britain from taking bets from companies who were also left free to advertise if they were licensed elsewhere in the European Economic Area or a so-called ‘white list’ jurisdiction. The relatively high fiscal cost of being based in Britain led to nearly all of the big operators moving to, or remaining in, other jurisdictions such as Gibraltar, Alderney or the Isle of Man. The British government has gradually moved to a position where it is no longer comfortable with these arrangements and now has a policy intention of changing the laws so that any company can take bets from UK based consumers who will need to have a Gambling Commission licence. This in itself is not a cause for concern because the operators who dominate the UK market already operate in a way that is very comparable to the Commission’s requirements. The fear is much more that the licensing will lead to a significantly increased tax burden. The UK online market is worth around £1.5bn per annum. That would put it at around 15 per cent of the total UK gambling market and would still be the largest in Europe. It is a relatively mature market so growth will not be as marked as in some other jurisdictions, but it is well established and secure.”
• Remote gambling via a computer, laptop or handheld device was most popular followed by mobile phone and interactive/digital TV.
• The remote gambling sector has an 11 per cent share in terms of yield and a 12 per cent share in terms of licences which has grown over the last 12 months by a staggering 22 per cent.
GamBlinG act 2005 The Remote and Gambling Software Technical Standards August 2009 governs all the regulations concerning the UK gaming market. These include the following points:
funds: All gambling (except subscription lotteries) must provide customers with easily accessible information to their current balances.
• Pages or screens used to move money in to and out of accounts or products must display the customer’s current account or balance.
• If a credit or debit balance is held the pages or screens used for gambling must display the customer’s current account or product balance and if this is not practical a link to this page must be shown.
playeR pRotection: Self exclusion procedures require individuals to take action to self exclude either over the
it is an offence in BRitain to
pRovide facilities foR Remote
GamBlinG without oBtaininG the
coRRect licence.
internet, which can be a box that must be ticked in order to indicate that they understand the system or via telephone which is a direct question.
• Licensees should then encourage the customer to consider extending their self exclusion to other remote gambling operators currently used by the customer.
• Self exclusion period is a minimum of six months with an option for customers to extend to a total of five years.
• Customers who have entered into self exclusion agreement can do so without any cooling off period. However they can consider the process further and may return at a later date to enter self exclusion.
• At the end of the chosen period the self exclusion remains in place unless the customer takes positive action in order to gamble again. No marketing material should be sent to the individual unless agreed.
• If the self exclusion is not renewed the customer is given one day to cool off before allowed to access gambling facilities.
• The licencee should retain records relating to the self exclusion agreement until the agreement has been formally ended.
• Facilities must also be provided to give customers the opportunity to impose their own financial limits as part of the registration process. For telephone gambling this is a question asked and for internet etc customers should select a deposit or spend limit. The ‘no limit’ option should not be the default option.
• Limits can either be deposit limits, spend limits or loss limits. The period or duration of the limit should be no less than one day.
• Customer should have easy access to their account and gambling history and include all information such as deposits, withdrawals, movement of funds, payments off credit accounts, gambling history.
licensinG fees: An Operator Licence Application Fee is payable
66
united kinGdom
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