UK LEGAL COMMENT EKH-Pictures/Adobe Stock
UK Gambling Commission proposes changes to its licensing, compliance and enforcement policy – Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis explains
All change U
nphased by the fact that it has not yet responded to its consultation on remote customer interaction, which closed ten months ago, the Gambling Commission is pressing ahead with further consultation exercises. It
has recently launched a new consultation on proposed changes to its Licensing, Compliance and Enforcement Policy Statement. This policy document sets out the Commission’s approach
to determining applications for operating licences, as well as variations of licences and changes of corporate control. The statement also explains how the Commission will enforce compliance, both with the requirement to hold and licence and with licence conditions where a company is licensed. As such it contains provisions for how the Commission will handle enforcement action and licence reviews. It is an important document, as breaches of its own policy can give grounds to challenge decisions and actions taken by the Commission. A number of the proposed changes to the statement
reflect the way the Commission is in fact operating in practice. To avoid an accusation that it has already brought in changes to its policy without consultation, the Commission describes a number of changes as clarification of its requirements or processes.
22 DECEMBER 2021 For existing licensees, the most relevant “changes” are
likely to be those relating to assessing the source of funds for those providing funding to the business (particularly relevant for change of control applications) and those regarding the conduct of compliance assessments and regulatory action. Operators concerned about the proposed changes can submit a response to the consultation until 9 February 2022.
Source of funding
The Commission “wants to make it clearer” how it considers the suitability of a licence applicant and persons relevant to an application, and what matters will be relevant to that assessment. The significance of this to existing operators is that, when a new person becomes involved with the business (for example as a new controlling shareholder, director or manager), they will be assessed under this criteria. The risk associated with a new controller failing to pass the assessment is that the licensee’s change of control application is going to be rejected, resulting in a revocation of the licence.
Some crucial additions to the policy are that the Commission will look at “the legitimacy of the source of the capital and revenue finance of the operation” in addition to the resources available to carry out the
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