UK LEGAL COMMENT
UK Gambling Regulation – 2023 in Review
Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis looks back at an important year for UK gambling regulation.
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023 was an important year for UK gambling regulation, with the Government’s White Paper on gambling reform finally published in April. After numerous delays, we finally know what the Government’s proposals are to
ensure gambling regulation is “fit for the digital age”. Or do we? The White Paper set in process a number of consultation exercises which must be completed before the final detail of the regulatory reforms is known. As we enter 2024, the year the Government anticipated the majority of the proposed reforms would come into force, it’s a good time for a stock take of progress on the various workstreams.
Financial risk checks The White Paper proposed three categories of checks on the financial circumstances of online gambling customers: financial vulnerability, binge gambling and sustained heavy losses over time. The Gambling Commission carried out a consultation exercise on its proposals in Autumn 2023, which will, once finalised, be implemented through its LCCP. Perhaps the most controversial element was the
suggested ‘light touch checks’, to assess customers losing £125 in a rolling 30-day period or £500 in a rolling 365 day period for risk of financial vulnerability. The proposed check would include reviewing public records of CCJs, IVA, HCJs and administration orders, as well as public and geodemographic data about the customer’s postcode area and average salary for their stated employment role and status. This final part has been criticised, as the Government’s intention was that these checks would take place in the background, without the need for the customer to provide additional documents or information. Whilst some gambling operators do ask customers for details of their employment, it has never been a regulatory requirement to obtain such information on registration, nor is this practice necessarily widespread. It now appears that implementation of the new
requirements will be delayed until such time as the checks can be truly frictionless for customers, as the Government intended. In the meantime, online operators must continue to grapple with the vague and contradictory statements made by the Commission as to what checks should currently be undertaken.
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Online gaming and stake limits for slots Further consultations took place in Autumn 2024 on a stake limit for online slots games and changes to the Gambling Commission’s Remote Technical Standards to introduce responsible game design requirements for other online games. For slots, a stake limit of £2, £5, £10 or £15 was subject
to a Government consultation exercise, with lower limits potentially applying to customers aged under 25. For non-slots games, bans on turbo features, auto-play, illusion of false wins and simultaneous games are proposed, along with requirements for a minimum game speed and display of net position and time spent playing. Although responses to these consultations and final
proposals are still awaited, it seems likely these changes will be brought into force in or around mid-2024.
Ombudsman Work to establish the proposed gambling ombudsman is being led by the Betting and Gaming Council. In July 2023, the industry body indicated in oral evidence to the DCMS committee that the timing was a challenge, but it was on track for the ombudsman to be operational in around summer 2024. It wouldn’t be surprising to see some slippage to this timetable, especially as the Council’s Wes Himes pointed out that the minimum time to create an ombudsman is typically three years. The ombudsman is expected to deal with, and if appropriate provide redress in relation to, complaints from consumers about a gambling operator’s compliance with social responsibility obligations.
Statutory levy Creation of the proposed statutory levy on all gambling operators is already allowed for within the Gambling Act 2005, but the Government consulted in Autumn 2023 on the rate of such a levy. It proposed a rate of 1% of GGY from all online operators (except society lotteries), 0.4% from non-remote casino and betting operators and 0.1% from non-remote arcades, non-remote bingo and all society lottery operators. All operators with annual GGY under £500,000 would be exempt from the levy under these proposals. The levy would be collected and distributed by the Gambling Commission, either along with the operator’s annual fee or on a set date and failure to pay would be grounds for licence revocation.
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