BETTING & GAMBLING COUNCIL
The BGC on Safer Gambling Week and why enforcement is the only solution for black market gambling
Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, tells Rory Kuypers about the reasoning and motivations behind Safer Gambling Week.
What were the motivations for launching Safer Gambling Week?
The aim of Safer Gambling Week is to kickstart a national conversation between staff, customers and their friends and family, about safer gambling, as well as highlight the range of tools that are available to help people stay in control of their betting.
Safer Gambling Week is now in its eighth year, and will once again see a blitz of safer gambling messages both online and in land-based venues, to spark a nationwide conversation about betting responsibly. Our members promote these tools all year round, but a single dedicated week, bringing together the whole sector alongside huge support from cross-party MPs, from the government and the independent regulator the Gambling Commission, really turbocharges that work - and these figures show it makes a real difference.
How do you feel the launch of the event has impacted the industry? Safer Gambling Week continues to be a powerful advert for increasing use of safer gambling tools in the regulated industry. Millions of customers now use safer gambling tools including deposit limits and time outs. This is a pillar of the regulated industry and is in marked contrast to the unsafe, unregulated and growing online gambling black market, which provides no safer gambling support, contributes zero tax and does not support sport. The record numbers for both impressions and use of safer gambling tools last year show the industry has never been more committed to ensuring the many millions who enjoy a regular flutter continue to do so in a safe and responsible environment.”
Black market gambling is a growing issue in the UK according to recent reports with 1.5 million Brits illegally staking every year, why do you think that is? The report published by Frontier Economics was the first major study on the black market since the publication of the previous government’s White Paper on gambling reform. It found illegal operators are aggressively targeting UK customers, significantly undermining player protections, while sucking millions from sport and the Treasury.
Worryingly, according to the research, more than one in five 18-24 year olds who bet already use the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market online, and via secure online messaging apps. Worst of all, these sites are making a mockery of the rules set up to protect the most vulnerable by aggressively advertising their services to those who have self-excluded. The government and the regulator risk sleepwalking into this issue. Simply giving the GC more powers and more resources to tackle the black market won’t, in itself, work. Enforcement is only part of the solution.
The fact is onerous and ill-judged regulations drive customers from the regulated sector to the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market. Proposals by anti-gambling prohibitionists like advertising bans or intrusive, blanket, low level affordability checks will not protect customers, in fact they will give another leg up to unscrupulous black market operators, the last thing anyone wants.
Every comparable market in the world tells us the same thing. The best defence against this growing illegal, gambling black market is getting the balance of regulations right.
Simply giving the GC more powers and more resources to tackle the black market won’t, in itself, work. Enforcement is only part of the solution
GIO NOVEMBER 2024 13
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