Insight
ONLINE GAMBLING Industry Collaboration
Neil McArthur, Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, UK
“I am challenging you – both mobile and online game designers – to work together to produce an effective Industry Code for Game Design, which can be published no later than next spring’s Raising Standards conference. If such a Code is developed to address the risks, the Commission will move to bring it into LCCP and Technical Standards to ensure a level playing field for all.”
As MPs demand a ‘root and branch review’ of regulation, industry body the Betting and Gaming Council secures Safer Gambling Commitments from market leaders
The report’s recommendations came after a pledge by the Gambling Commission to play their part in raising standards, including addressing concerns around gambling with credit cards and introducing protections for consumers online through potentially mandating changes around VIP schemes and inducements. The Commission revealed they had received an offer from one major operator to lead the development of a code of conduct on the treatment of VIPs and associated inducements to gamble.
Te Chief Executives of leading gambling companies in the UK have announced a package of Safer Gambling Commitments to address the harm gambling can cause to customers and young people. Te pledges were made on the same day the Betting and Gaming Council, the new industry body, was launched with a focus on championing standards.
Te Safer Gambling Commitments represent the most comprehensive set of measures made by a wide group of leaders across the sector to support the UK Gambling Commission’s National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. However, news of the commitments coincided with the release of an interim report commissioned by the Gambling Related Harm All- Party Parliamentary Group which raised concerns that the Gambling Commission is not fit for purpose.
Te report followed a six-month inquiry into the harms caused by online gambling following disquiet among parliamentarians, charities, academics, families and individuals at the high levels of harm caused by online gambling. Te report condemned the lack of action from the Government and the Gambling Commission to effectively address these issues and claimed that this inaction has allowed the industry to continue to prey on vulnerable gamblers.
A RADICAL OVERHAUL Te key recommendation of the report is that the
Government should urgently introduce gambling legislation to implement a £2 stake and prize limit for online slot machine style games. Te report condemned the disparity in content controls between online and offline games and highlighted the Government’s acceptance of the principle that harm can be reduced by lowering stake and deposit limits. It also claimed an urgent need to ban the use of credit cards to gamble online, with it being ‘inconceivable that gamblers are able to fund their addiction using
P42 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
debt.’ Te report called for online gambling operators to sign its Charter for Regulatory Reform to signal their intention and support for the policy proposals and recommendations.
Carolyn Harris MP, Chair of the Gambling Related Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group, criticised the Gambling Commission’s for its regulation of the online gambling sector: “Tis report highlights the urgent need for a root and branch review of the regulation of online gambling. Stakes and prize limits online would be a major step forward in reducing the harm caused by the sector. It is not at all clear why the Gambling Commission is not looking at this as a matter of urgency. It is an abdication of its responsibility as a regulator. Tere must be consistent and appropriate regulation of all forms of gambling. I also urge the Government to urgently review the provision of research, education and treatment in the sector. Gamble Aware are not effectively carrying out this function and it should immediately be brought into a public health setting.”
Te report also recommends that banks be given an increased role in relation to affordability checks, and for the restriction of VIP accounts and inducements. It wants online gambling operators to significantly improve the measures they take to protect vulnerable and at-risk gamblers by simplifying their terms and conditions for easy comprehension. Te report recommends operators commit to fund blocking software, offered without charge, to gamblers who self-exclude from their website. Te report wants the sector to urgently adopt a more responsible approach to advertising in order to protect children and the vulnerable, with a ‘duty of care’ placed on gambling operators. Tese proposals were supported by the findings of GambleAware’s separate investigation into gambling advertising, which found little evidence of technology being used to proactively target
UK government calls for tougher stance against online gambling
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 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
